Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.When the Saints took Robert Meachem in the first round of the NFL Draft, just about everybody penciled him in opposite of Marques Colston on the team's depth chart. It's a natural reaction -- the first-rounder has the name and the salary to demand significant playing time.
But Sean Payton has made it clear that names, contracts, and status are worth little in the grand scheme of things, and the Saints already had a pretty good group of receivers behind Colston before Meachem's arrival. Things didn't get any better for the former Vol when he needed surgery for a torn meniscus that prevented him from getting acclimated to the NFL.
With Meachem out of sight, Devery Henderson turned some heads. Henderson's speed enabled him to be the Saints' deep threat last year, but inconsistency catching the ball held him back. He's been more impressive this year, and appears to currently be in possession of the starting spot. But Meachem still has plenty of time to make up ground if he can stay healthy through camp and pick up the playbook quickly. Remember, it's still early. At this time last year, Joe Horn and Donte Stallworth were the Saints' starters and no one was sure if Colston would even make the team.
Training camp battles: See them all
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-26-2007 @ 11:51PM
Sim said...
I think Dev wins the job and keeps it all season. I don't think Meachem will make a significant impact this season. On one hand, that's contrary to guys like Ben Grubbs and Chris Houston who could have come in and made an immediate impact in a year where we will be competing for a SB berth. On the other hand, Dev, Copper, and Colston have a total of 5 years left combined under contract with the Saints (assuming the Saints tender Colston while he is an RFA, which they certainly will if he continues to play as he did last season). Meachem will provide Brees with some consistancy over the next 5 seasons.
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7-27-2007 @ 1:47AM
George B Vieto said...
Robert Meachem will add some offensive punch to the Saints wide reciver corps. Sean is running the team the right way get the best players on the field regardless of salary.
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7-27-2007 @ 2:50AM
free nfl predictions said...
I like Devery Henderson to win this job, but Meachem will see plenty of playing time. It will be interesting to see how good Colston and all the Saints receiving corps does without the vet Joe Horn on the field.
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7-28-2007 @ 7:41AM
howard said...
meachem wins job easy,if not D Patten.Devery is just a sloy guy!!!
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8-02-2007 @ 10:05AM
Mark said...
Howard.....what games were you watching last year. Devery is nothing but speed and avg 22yds a catch. if he had better hands it would have been more. You can say what you want about the drops and his inability to catch the over the shoulder long pass, but he may be the fastest receiver we have. He got behind everyone last year.
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