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The New Orleans Saints have only five draft picks this year. But throw in their "redshirt rookies" and this year's freshman class will actually be pretty loaded.

Three of the Saints' 2012 picks - fourth-round receiver Nick Toon, sixth-round guard Andrew Tiller and seventh-round offensive tackle Marcel Jones - spent all of last season on injured reserve. But all three are back to 100 percent health as the team is set to begin its offseason conditioning program Monday.

General Manager Mickey Loomis is optimistic about the role all three of them can play this year. For one thing, they all showed some impressive glimpses last summer before getting hurt. For another, the second NFL season is when most young players take their biggest leap.

"I think everything we expected in terms of what we thought we were getting, all three of them either met or exceeded expectations," Loomis said - though he cautioned that they all still have a long learning curve ahead of them.

"No one is anointing anyone yet," Loomis said. "But like anyone else, you have an expectation that guys that were rookies are going to improve. They know what to expect coming into the offseason. They've had a chance to see the speed of the game. There's always an expectation that second-year players are gonna be way ahead of first-year guys.

"We've seen that. With (defensive end) Cameron Jordan. Last year we saw pretty remarkable improvement from (receiver) Joe Morgan. Even guys who were contributors right away like Marques Colston and Jahri Evans made big improvements in their second year. And we expect the same sort of thing with (2012 rookies that did play, including) Travaris Cadet, Corey White, Akiem Hicks ..."

The excitement is even more palpable with Toon, Tiller and Jones, who have been waiting an awful long time for this week to come.

Read more: New Orleans Saints have high hopes for 'redshirt rookies' Nick Toon, Andrew Tiller and Marcel Jones | NOLA.com

SmashMouth

I forgot about Marcel. We may be set at LT after all.

lee909

Hey,we may even get to see Romeus suit up

|Mitch|

FINALLY!

dizzle88

I've just heard breaking news that Romeus has read your comment and sprained his jaw from shock, surgery expected soon, out 6 - 8 weeks

hagan714

Marcel Jones at LOT? ahhhhhh gesh i can not wrap[ my brain around it.

lets see if if he can stay off ir first. he has a pretty long history in college

papz

I never thought Bushrod would be a starting LT either... we've seen crazier things.

FinSaint

Never forget!

But seriously speaking, Jones was raw coming out of college, and while he has all the physical traits to be a starting OT in the league - he'll have to be coached up quite a bit. That was the consensus of the scouting reports on him last year, and most scouts (along with Mayock) were pretty adamant about him eventually being, if all things fall into place, a starting RT in the league, not LT.

Rugby Saint II

This will be an interesting draft for sure. We have more depth than I thought.........I'm excited about Bryce Harris for some reason.

SmashMouth

You might be right ...
Marcel Jones - Huskers.com - Nebraska Athletics Official Web Site
The very same school as Carl Nicks.