Hour 2: Saints training camp standouts

715 now on this Monday morning, August 3rd, Saints went inside yesterday as I understand. Well, let's find out as we join Jeff Noak, WWL Saints Sidelined reporter. How you doing, Jeff? Doing good, Tommy. I'm all right. It's been hot, huh? Yes, yes. I can confirm it has been hot. Although yesterday, because of the storm's practice went inside. That should not be the case today. They're going back outside. They'll be in pads for the first time, so that's exciting. The fans will be out there, so that's exciting. But yes, yes, the cooling towel has been in great use to this point. Do you think that the heat adversely affects them in terms of getting the work done? Because really, if you think about it, And I mean, it has just been brutally hot. Anybody's even cutting grass outside knows that. And I just wonder if sometimes that doesn't get in the way of accomplishing what you want to, because how many games are you really going to play in July heat in New Orleans July heat, right? I think there is a point of diminishing returns, and that's why you'll see later in camp they'll do some more indoor practices. Early in camp, they do want to get out there in front of the fans, so that's part of it as well. But I do think you're probably right. There is some level of precision that might not be where you'd want it all the time because guys are just battling through. I think that's definitely true, especially on the first couple days. But I think there is something to be gained from it. I think there's, you know, kind of callous that's built up. You do want guys to have to work hard. So I think there's a good give and take, but that's why, you know, you kind of trade off that with, you spend a week out in California. And by that point is where you'd really want to see them be kind of a well-oiled machine. But no, I do think that. To some extent, we haven't seen the most technically sound practices to this stage, both because guys are picking up the offense, people picking up the defense, new pieces. You'd like to see that kind of get dialed in over the next week or so. What do you notice in that might be a little sloppy maybe? The wide receiver quarterback connection has not been particularly sound at this point. And it's a little bit of a surprise to me. I do think that the defense has a – the practices tend to lean toward the defense's side when there's no pads on. I think the offense benefits from having pads more than the defense necessarily does because – You know, like, think about you're an offensive line and you're going up against Chase Young. You're basically being asked to wrestle with a grizzly bear. Do you think you'd have a better chance wearing a suit of armor? Or, you know. And so I think there's some, like if you're a receiver trying to box a guy out on a route, well, you got pads on. You're basically like three inches wider than you'd be otherwise. And without pads, he's able to kind of, you know, split the gap, reach over in a way that maybe you wouldn't be otherwise. So.

But I think I did the math yesterday. Tyler Shuck is like something like eight of 20 to this stage targeting wide receivers. You're talking about like a 40% completion percentage. That's, granted, you've only had Chris Ilave the last two practices. Jim Jordan Tyson, you know, he didn't get any action in the OTAs or mini-camp, so there's some level of rust that's being knocked off or building chemistry. But that's probably been the most disappointing thing to me so far is we haven't really seen any of those wide receivers, be it Chris Alabe, Jim Jordan Tyson, Devon Veilay, break out in the first team offense. We've seen some nice moments from like a Bryce Lance with the second team. But that kind of core group that you need to lead you on offense just hasn't really popped off yet. I think that'll change soon. Hopefully it starts today. I know we're not building furniture or working in logistics or anything, but the idea of retiring at 24 just sounds crazy. But tell me what's going on. What's the name, Jeline Polk? Jalen Polk, yeah. I mean, he's not retiring from the workforce entirely. Like, you're not collecting Social Security. But, yeah, I think when you're talking about the NFL, you know, there's a lot of benefit from that pension that you accrue after, I think it's eight years of vested service, right? So, you know, retiring early in that mold, you know, you do lose some of those long-term benefits. He's only been in the league for two years. He was a second round pick of the Patriots in 2024. If you remember, you know, that Washington team that made the college football playoff a couple years ago, Michael Pennix was the quarterback, Jalen Polk, Roma Dunzee, you know, like really good, really talented offense. You know, he's one of those players that just never really found his footing in the NFL. The Saints, you know, that I think it was a smart move still, even knowing what we know to try to, you know, buy low, see, take a long shot on a guy. Maybe it plays out for you. It just clearly has not. I'm interested to hear what Kellan Moore has to say about it today. It doesn't sound like there was anything like overtly injury-related. Sounds like his heart just wasn't in it. And I do think that does happen in the NFL more often than people realize. Like, you see, oh, this guy was a bus. This guy flamed out. You know, it's often not because these weren't talented players. You don't get to the NFL if you're not a talented player. But I think at the college ranks, you're able to survive on... pure talent on raw talent and get through and you know say the right things on the draft process they're putting you through workouts you look great but then you get to the pros and it's it's a job it's a grind you know and i don't think everyone is as committed to that process as everyone else and You know, and I think if you're Geel and Polk and you don't necessarily feel like you're in a good position to make the roster, then maybe that's what happens. But I'm sure we'll get more information about it. It was stunning to see yesterday. You know, he hasn't been at practice each of the last two days. They described it as personal reasons. You know, we've seen other guys miss practice. Caesar Ruiz has missed the last two practice for the birth of his first child. I believe he's his first child.

So there's a lot of reasons you'd mispractice. So no one was really on like, well, this is a huge concern because he's not out here. But it's a surprise because I, you know, my roster projections, I had him on it. I thought he was playing pretty well. I thought he was in a solid position to make the roster. It is a crowded wide receiver room. And I think. If you're looking at it from the Saints perspective and you're saying, hey, now this just kind of creates opportunity for, you know, maybe like above means, the player you drafted a couple years ago and was going to have a really hard time crack on the roster, maybe that kind of opens the door for some of these other guys down the line. But definitely not something, not a headline I expected to see for, you know, a guy who was. A second round pick two years ago. Well, when you talk about a grind and on the other side of it, you look at a guy like Cam Jim Jordan and the dedication and what it takes to show up day after day after day after day at a high level. It really is, it's an achievement, man. I'll tell you. All right, we'll take a break, come back, pick it up with Jeff Noak, and we come back. Saints putting on the pads for the first time today. He's our Saints sideline reporter, 721. Traffic now, WWL. 727, call it 728, back with Jeff Noak, WWL, Saints sideline reporter, talking about the Saints' first day and pads today. Jeff, talk about the vibe, if you will, of at quarterback this year, the difference between having a quarterback battle, if you will, and that it's Tyler Shucks team. And tell me about Spencer Radler, how's he handling all of this? Yeah, you know, I think there's a lot of confidence in Tyler, you know, across the roster, you know, up and down the roster. And I think a lot of that stems from his ability to kind of be a leader in that room. And I think that's tough for any young quarterback to do. So, you know, even as the offense maybe not be having the results early on that you'd probably hope for, you know, I think there's a lot of hope that they just kind of hit the ground running and look dominant. early on. Like, I think there's still a lot of confidence that they're all doing everything the right way and it's going to, they're going to pick it up. Spencer, you know, it's really interesting. how the Saints have handled this backup quarterback situation, too, because, you know, I kind of expected maybe there'd be a competition, kind of like a couple years ago when you had Jake Hainer and Spencer Rattler as a rookie, and they were competing for that backup job, and you saw, you know, Derek Carr in that stage, at that stage was getting all the first team reps, but you were splitting the second team reps. In this case, it's been very much first team, second team, third team. You have Tyler Shuck in the first team. You have Spencer Rattler getting the second team, and you have Zach Wilson. getting the third team rep. So, you know, he's kind of entrenched in that role at this stage. And he looks confident. Like, I think there's a level to which people underestimate.

having a quality backup quarterback who you feel like if you put him in there, he's going to be able to get the job done. I always go back to the game against the Packers a few years ago, where Derek Carr goes out early in the third quarter, you have a 17-0 lead. You put your backup in, you got to go win that game. You have to win that game, right? And if I don't have a backup quarterback that I feel like I can throw in there and can go win that game, then I don't have a good enough backup quarterback. And I do think, like, you know, he's had a year in the offense. You know, he started a bunch of games. He knows the receivers. Like, I think he would be able to do well in that circumstance. So I feel really good about this quarterback room. It's very cost efficient. You know, no one's making a ton of money. there's a lot to like. They're both kind of young players. They're growing together, and I think there is a good camaraderie there. So, you know, I do think there's a really good situation kind of brewing in that quarterback room, and we'll just kind of have to let it develop. What are you looking for today? You know, just pads, you know, I want to see some guys, not necessarily hitting, but, you know, being a little bit more physical. I'm interested. This is the first day of pads, you're always going to be looking at the offensive line, defensive line, because that's kind of what we say repeatedly. You can't really get a good read on that until the pads come on. So, you know, offensive line, defensive line, a run game, who's kind of leaning on the other guys, you know, is the, I think. Kelvin Banks versus Chase Young or left tackle versus whoever's out there. That's going to be a fun matchup to watch. So that's where I'll be. My eyes will be the most. And I'm already praying for no injuries. Thank you, Jeff. Yeah, that's good. Thank you for me, Tom. Jeff Noak, WWSaint, Sighteline Reporter. We're going to come back, rather. Talk to Jason Shield, Chief Operating Officer for Golf Coast Bank and Trust Bank on it, financial insights you can count on. It's going to be an interesting segment. We're going to talk about the Fed interest rates and mortgage rates. and the relationship between the two, or is there one? We'll find out we come back right now. Time for WW First News. For that, we go to Enosan. All right, 745, Tommy Tucker Carlson, WWL Monday morning. That's time for bank on it. Financial Insights you can count on with Jason Shield, chief operating officer for Gulf Coast Bank and Trust Company. How you doing, Jason? Doing good, Tommy. How you doing, man? I am doing okay. It felt a little bit cooler yesterday and today, and not cooler, but less hot. Let's put it that way. So maybe it gives us a little bit of rope to hang on, right? Yeah, yeah. It was nice this morning. I hope it stays that way for a couple more days, man. Yeah, let's talk about interest rates, bond rates, mortgage rates. How do all of these things intertwine or do they? Yeah, so the Fed met last week, you know, and we talk about this a lot, but I thought I'd peel it back a little bit because, you know, often we focus on that headline number where we say, oh, the Fed held rates steady or the Fed raised rates 25 basis points, but there's a little more nuance for that story. And this particular meeting actually touched on some of those. So what we know is last week, the Fed kept its benchmark range exactly the same. So they didn't move.

the overnight rate. Now, the vote on that was nine to three. And so what that meant was three members of the voting team actually wanted an immediate quarter point increase. Now, this is a group of people who generally agree on a lot of stuff. So three dissenting votes is indicative that there's a little bit of separation amongst the team and who thinks what. So what you can read from that is even though they held rate steady, a meaningful part of that committee thinks inflation is still serious enough to justify. raising that rate potentially at the next meeting or the one after that. But the bigger story is the treasury market. I mean, we don't really talk about this one a lot. So at the June Fed meeting, I'll give you a couple numbers. The 10-year treasury yield, when we've talked about this before, this is kind of what we pegged that mortgage, 30-year mortgage rate to, right? Was it a 4.49%? Now, by the time the Fed met, that had gone up to 4.67. And then Friday after the meeting, it went to about 4.75. And what rate is that, Jason? 4.75. That's a 10-year trade yield. Okay, got you. So look, people, you throw this number out all the time. But this basically means, think of it like a CD from the government, Tommy. I go give you $10,000 and you say, hey, it's in here for 10 years, and I'm going to pay you this rate. Okay. We always talk about, oh, the market set the rate, but I don't think we've ever actually peeled back what the heck that actually means. And so it's the Treasury when they auction off these bonds. They're not putting a sign out that says, hey, today we're going to have a sale and we're going to charge this much for it. What is actually set by is these bonds are simply the sale of government debt, right? So in other words, the government needs money. We run in a deficit. to operate, we auction off these things, and then people, we get the money that's used to purchase them to run our government, and we guarantee the purchaser a set yield. Now, so there's a couple things that happens there, right? You would think that a higher yield would actually be good, and it is for you if you're the purchaser of that bond, but what a higher yield means is the buyers of that treasury are saying, I want to make more money off of this because of... Whatever that reason could be. It could be inflation. It could be, you know, uncertainty and whatever it is. And they could think that there's risk involved, right? Just like everything, right? When you put money out for something, you want to price it for that risk. So the fact that it's going up means usually there's less demand, less people are buying it at the lower rate. And the government has to offer a higher rate to purchases of that bond to actually have them purchase the thing. So when there's demand, that number actually goes down. Well, a little complicated, but, you know, the example I like to use is buy the 10-year bond for $10,000, Tommy. What's $10,000 actually going to be worth in 10 years, right? Well, yeah, and I was trying to figure that out, Jason. If it's 4.75, that means after 10 years I'm getting $475. You're getting, yeah, on that. Now, here's the bigger question you have to ask yourself, Tommy, is $10,000 in 10 years isn't going to be worth the same as it is now. No. Right? So not only do you have to price the value of what that fund is going to go up over time, you actually have to say, okay, if inflation keeps up at the rate it is today, I'm going to need a higher return because when I get my 10,000 back in 10 years, I want to make sure it's actually still.

worth you know i can still buy the same amount of things that i bought when i put that money in us So what does all this mean, right? And we're seeing those go up. And what that means is the market itself still has a bit of concern about the long-term impacts of the value of the dollar and inflation and all of those other things. The new chair of the Fed used a really good line that I like to use now, which was he basically said the markets are learning to play the ball and not the referee. And in plain English, what that means is the market is responding directly to the economy when they purchase these treasuries instead of waiting for the Fed to say, hey, this is what I'm going to do with short-term rates. Now, look, all of that doesn't mean it's doom and bloom. This is just the general operations of the market. But I thought that was a little bit of inside baseball that people might appreciate when we say, hey, the market prices of these rates. So I'm going to give you an interesting number. America spends $1.33 for every dollar at collection right now. That's based on this year's fiscal year from the government. So Washington collected $4.15 trillion. We spent $5.52 trillion of the deaths at about $1.37. So I'm going to put that in some terms that you and I can better understand. If you and I ran our household like this time, right, if I spent $1.33 for every dollar I made, you know. What's going to happen is, you know, I'm going to run out of money. And the only way you and I can continue that lifestyle is we either need to cut expenses, right? We need to earn more or we need to borrow. And that's basically what the government's doing right now when they run a deficit. They issue these treasuries. Those are used to fund the government deficit that we have. Now, it's not a bad thing. That's perfectly fine. You can see where, you know, if you and I, again, I'll put this into our terms of you and me. If I kept borrowing money at that rate, or if you kept borrowing money at that rate to run your house. banks or whoever wants to lend you that money is going to usually look for a much higher return, right? You're way riskier if you got two times debt to income and if you just, you know, you borrow $2,000 and you make $100,000 a year. And that's kind of what you're seeing right now. And that's a crazy number, Tommy. When I had to check my research on it four times last week just to make sure I wasn't telling you something incorrect. Now, in essence, that's, that's kind of what we're seeing with that stuff. So here's the crazy thing, right? The credit card bill always comes to it. And what we're seeing now is the interest bill creates its own loop. All that money that we borrowed to run that deficit, it comes in, right? And so we're kind of getting to that point now where we're paying so much on the debt that we've issued. It's impacting our ability to continue to function. It makes us live in a bigger deficit. And then we have to borrow more money, in essence, to pay the money that we did before. You're just refinancing that existing debt.

the market is saying, look, at some point, government, we're going to have to figure out how you're going to get out of this because you're fighting an endless battle and you're just digging a deeper and deeper hole. And until we solve that, it's going to keep their yield going up higher and higher. But wait, if the yield goes up higher and higher, the debt gets more and more. Right? That's it, Tommy. That's it. It's an absolute, right? And look, this isn't, I'm not, I'm not turning this into a political issue. This is more of just a simple spending issue, right? But a lot of people say, when are rates going to go down? If we can't solve these things, then rates are never going to go down, right? Because it's going to get riskier and riskier to lend, and the bond, the treasury yields are going to keep going up. Now, it's not out of control. This is more of a long-term statement. I really just wanted to give folks an idea of what we mean when we say the market prices, the long-term interest rates. This trickles down to everything we do. It trickles into the mortgage rates, trickles into the price of money. And so I thought it was an interesting topic to kind of cover with everyone. I think it's very interesting. Thank you, Jason. A pleasure, as always. Financial Insights. You can count on bank on it. Jason Shields, Chief Operating Officer, Gulf Coast Bank and Trust Company. You can wait until the audio is posted, or you can download the Odyssey app right now. Go back and re-listen if you like, if you missed any of it. A little bit complicated, but Jason made it easy to understand. 754.5. Traffic now, WWL.