METAIRIE, La. (WGNO) \u2013 New Orleans continues to elevate its already veteran-led defense.<\/p>\n
This time, new additions in the trenches and the secondary.<\/p>\n
The Saints add defensive end Jonathan Bullard and safety Julian Blackmon, who bring a combined experience of 14 years in the league and both former third-round picks.<\/p>\n
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For Bryan Bresee, entering his third year in the league, he\u2019s been able to learn a little from the new pair.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been awesome. It\u2019s been a short time so far getting them in here but they\u2019ve been great\u201d, says Bresee. \u201cI got to talk with them the last two days and pick their brains a little bit as well but they\u2019ve been awesome.<\/p>\n
In the second week of training camp, day five is when the Black and Gold will practice in pads for the first time and that\u2019s when we\u2019ll see more physical performances.<\/p>\n
As Bullard and Blackmon get more settled with the team, it hasn\u2019t been much of a learning curve. For them, it\u2019s about adjusting to a new system.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe guys we\u2019ve signed, they\u2019re veterans and they understand how this thing works\u201d, says head coach Kellen Moore. \u201cWhen you play a lot of football, a lot of the times, it just comes down to language. You\u2019ve played a lot of similar schemes at other places. It\u2019s just connecting the dots of what the language is and how it\u2019s going to apply.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blackmon comes to New Orleans with a high ceiling.<\/p>\n
Spending last season in Indianapolis, he suffered a torn labrum in week 1 but despite that injury, he started a career-high of 16 games, recording 86 sacks, 3 picks and 1 fumble recovery.<\/p>\n
Stepping up to fill the shoes of newly retired, Tyrann Matheiu, Moore says Blackmon\u2019s game is similar to the honey badger.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAnytime you do lose a player, you\u2019d like to fill in the gaps as closely as you can and so we feel like we accomplished both of those things. We got a really really good player who\u2019s played a lot of football at a really really high level and certainly his position, where he\u2019ll play certainly complements and tends to lean towards how Tyrann played.\u201d<\/p>\n
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