Saints cancel offseason program amid coronavirus crisis

New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis has announced the team has canceled all offseason training activities and will not require players to report to club facilities until training camp begins.Speaking on Justin Tucker Jersey a teleconference call on the eve of the NFL Draft'sfirst day, Loomis revealed the Saints will not hold any virtual workouts and have advised players to abide by stay-at-home orders in their current locations tohelp combat the widespreadcoronaviruseffect.MORE: Loomis added that coach Sean Payton and his staff will still conduct occasional Nico Siragusa Jersey online meetings and check-ins with players up until training camp, which is currently slated to start in late July but faces the po sibility of being pushed back should theoutbreak force the NFL to postpone the start of the regular season."We'll have some stuff that guys will participate in," Loomis said. "We're not going to be doing virtual workouts and things like that Trace McSorley Jersey . We want to make sure guys are focused on their families and safety."Louisiana has been especially hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the state'sDepartment of Health reporting over 25,000 cases and 1,473 deaths as of Wednesday.With a veteran roster and little turnover from last season's team, which tied for the NFC's best record at 13-3, Loomis said he believes the Saints are well-positioned to withstand the absence of minicamp and OTAs.MORE: New Orleans currently owns the Mark Ingram II Jersey NFL's second-oldest roster with an average age of 26 years, 312 days old, while Paytontrails only New England's BillBelichickfor Patrick Onwuasor Jersey the longest tenure of any active head coach with the same team, having been in chargesince 2006.The Saints have added only two major free agents, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders and safety Malcolm Jenkins, this offseason."You have a core group of players that are the same and a system that we've had here for 14 years," Loomis said. "I would probably feel a little differently if we did have a lot of changes on our roster and our coaching staff, but we're fortunate that we don't."We have a lot of Jimmy Smith Jersey guys we have great faith and trust ininterms of being in shape when we do get going in training camp."