SmashMouth

Saints coach Sean Payton speaks frankly about how it’s not really possible to substitute what his team lost when it traded running back Darren Sproles to the Philadelphia Eagles.

“I don’t think you ever replace a skill set like Darren’s,” Payton said to media at the annual NFL owners meeting in Orlando on Wednesday. “It’s unique, and it’s different really than our league has seen in a while with a player of his stature.”

But, in reserve running back Travaris Cadet, the Saints have a player on their roster who — while not nearly as proven as Sproles — shares some qualities with the man who led New Orleans in all-purpose yards each of the three seasons he was there, Payton added.

And he’ll have plenty of help from the remaining members of his position group: Mark Ingram, Khiry Robinson and Pierre Thomas.

“He’s a guy that can run the routes (Sproles) did,” Payton said of Cadet. “He is a utility player that has gotten better at the core skill set of just being a runner but is very comfortable when it comes to being a receiver out the backfield.”

Few will argue with Payton that he shipped off a valuable commodity in Sproles, who the Eagles acquired for a fifth-round pick earlier in March. Among his many feats, Sproles set an NFL record for all-purpose yards (2,696) in 2011 and scored 24 touchdowns in 48 games for the Saints.

But Payton knows there are three reasons not to fret about not having Sproles on the roster. First, the Saints still have Robinson and Ingram, who especially showed how dangerous they can be on the ground in a wildcard win last season at Philadelphia in which the Saints racked up 185 yards, the second-most in franchise history for a postseason contest.

Then, there is the eight-year veteran Thomas, who as the Saints' leading rusher and led the NFL in catches with 77.

“We’ve carried and had quite a bit of depth at that position,” Payton said. “We’ve always felt it’s important.”

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