Versatile Moore gives Saints more

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, August 23, 2007  |  Comments( 2 )

New Orleans Saints
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One of the smallest New Orleans Saints may turn out to be one of the most valuable.

Lance Moore, a 5-foot-9, 177-pound bundle of speed out of Toledo, has emerged as the leading punter and kick returner -- at least during the preseason. He reeled off a 47-yard kickoff return against Cincinnati and hauled back a punt 12 yards in traffic in the opener against Pittsburgh.

A third-year man, Moore actually had no choice but to hone his return skills, because the Saints are deep at receiver. And his continued development on special teams was one of the reasons the Saints cut last year's kickoff returner, 35-year-old Michael Lewis, in June.

Lewis, Saints coach Sean Payton explained, was a kick returner who could play receiver. Moore is an accomplished receiver who can return kicks -- in other words, in this age of salary-cap considerations, he counts as two players.

Indeed, getting some prime playing time in the last preseason contest (partly because of an injury to starting wideout Marques Colston), Moore caught six passes for 70 yards against the Bengals.

At Toledo, he gained 2,776 yards on receptions and scored 25 touchdowns. But an injury in the Motor City Bowl kept him from being drafted after his senior season. He was signed by Cleveland and cut before the Saints took a chance on him.

Naturally, given his limited playing time, Moore has things to work on in both receiving and returning. On the downside, he fielded a punt on his own 6-yard line against the Bengals (and was swarmed under) instead of letting it take an extra bounce into the end zone.

But Payton praises his intelligence (a communications major, Moore may be a future broadcaster) and ability to learn.

Moreover, every punt that Moore returns is one fewer for Reggie Bush. For while Bush is a constant threat whenever he touches the ball, he's too valuable to the Saints as a runner and receiver to risk punts if it isn't necessary. Ditto Aaron Stecker on kickoffs.

Besides, Moore isn't the sort of guy you'd feel comfortable calling into your office and cutting.

He has a black belt in karate.
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