Finding Colston made Saints’ ‘06 draft special

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, March 29, 2007  |  Comments( 4 )

New Orleans Saints
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(Third in a series)

Last year, the New Orleans Saints' draft was like a cracker jack box -- there was a surprise at the bottom.

His name was Marques Colston, and he came out of nowhere, otherwise known as Hofstra. But he was big (230 pounds), tall (6-foot-5) and fast, so it's hard to understand why so many other teams passed on him before the seventh round. Nevertheless, there he was, and as a Saint, he developed into perhaps the best rookie receiver in the NFL.

Numbers? Colston had 70 catches for 1,038 yards (a 14.8 average) and eight touchdowns. Reggie Bush, the Saints' first-round pick (a running back), caught 88 balls, but he averaged only 7.7 yards a catch. His rushing average was also unimpressive, 3.6.

Of course, Bush was like a very expensive sports car with a couple of small glitches in it. Once a few adjustments are made, it's almost a given that the University of Southern California grad will be a star.

Yet Colston, it can be argued, is already there.

The No. 1 Saints' pick was a no-brainer. After the Houston Texans startled everyone by choosing North Carolina State DE Mario Williams No. 1 overall, New Orleans pretty much had to take the highly talented and enormously hyped Mr. Bush. The Saints' fans would have stormed the team offices otherwise, or resurrected those paper bag disguises from the "Aints" days.

And it was, and is, a good pick. The rest of the '06 draft, with the exception of Colston, rates a B.

True, the Saints did pull off another coup by taking guard Jahri Evans in the fourth round. Evans was big (6-4, 318) and mobile, but he played for Division II Bloomsburg State, where it's safe to say he wasn't trying to block any Mario Williamses. Evans made an impact from Day One, however, and wound up as a starter.

The second 2006 pick, 6-1, 200-pound safety Roman Harper, had been a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award as a senior at Alabama, ranking second all-time among Crimson Tide DBs with 302 career tackles. As a Saint, he performed as advertised, moving into a starting spot. Then he tore his ACL in Week 5 and was lost for the season.

Fifth-round pick Rob Ninkovich, a defensive end out of Purdue, made the team but played little, winding up with only four tackles. The Saints had two picks at No. 6, but neither -- Pitt DB Josh Lay or Oregon State WR Mike Hass -- survived the final cut. Then came Colston and OT Zack Streit, a 6-7, 345-pound Northwestern product who is now second on the depth chart behind Jammal Brown.

Not a great draft, but not bad, and a lot better than 2005, when only the top two choices (Oklahoma's Brown and DB Josh Bullocks from Nebraska) wound up contributing very much.

Moreover, the performance of Colston may be enough to keep fans of all NFL teams from stifling a yawn when their team trades for a sixth or seventh-round pick.

After all, you never know.

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