METAIRIE — Poll any New Orleans Saints player about the difference between OTAs and minicamp and you’ll likely get the same answer.

That would be there is no difference.

Well, that’s not true. Not according to second-year wide receiver Robert Meachem.

Photo by Alex Brandon / The Associated Press

Saints coach Sean Payton, right, gives instructions as wide receiver Robert Meachem listens during football practice at their indoor facility during minicamp a year ago.

“It isn’t no different for us,” Meachem said. “The only thing that’s different is we get an hour more of sleep.”

Maybe that’s why he appeared so rested Tuesday after the team’s OTA, a.k.a. organized team activities, two days after the team closed minicamp for 2008.

The basic principle is the same. While fans certainly might feel like minicamp is different — they do, after all, get a chance to see the team for the first time before training camp — there are few differences for anyone involved with the Saints organization.

“The schedule is a little more abbreviated. There’s only one practice,” head coach Sean Payton said. “It’s optional. We’re limited to how long they can be in the building from start to finish.”

He added, “That said, we’re installing very much like we did in minicamp.”

True, the team did go through two-a-days on Friday and Saturday — one practice at 9 a.m., the other at 3 p.m. — but that’s about it for a difference.

Each practice began with the first-team offense running basic plays against the first-team defense. Ditto for the second-team offense and defense.

Then they stretched, went into position drills and finished with a team drill.

Payton put the team through four days of OTAs prior to the Memorial Day weekend before giving them the week off until reporting Thursday night for minicamp.

After the three days of minicamp, the team has four days of OTAs this week and four more next week before breaking until training camp begins in late July.

The question is, with all of the OTAs, is a three-day minicamp necessary?

“To me, minicamps are outdated, to be honest,” Saints offensive tackle Jon Stinchcomb said. “OTAs, we do the exact same thing. The routine is pretty much the same. We practice the same. The tempo and intensity is the same.

“In the next CBA (collective bargaining agreement), it probably should be addressed in my mind. There’s something where the difference is so minimal in my mind.”

Stinchcomb, a smart guy by all accounts after graduating from the University of Georgia with a 3.75 GPA in microbiology, can’t even figure out much of a benefit from the minicamps.

“I think you’d have to explain to me what the advantage of the minicamp brings that OTAs don’t,” Stinchcomb said. “I don’t want to speak out of turn, and I’m not cracking down on it. It’s really not a big deal. But the way these things are run, there’s no difference between an OTA and a minicamp.”