New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - The Keys To Colston's Success

The Saints-Cardinals tilt this Sunday afternoon might not seem like a marquee game, but it features two of the league’s marquee wide receivers: Marques Colston and Larry Fitzgerald. A seventh-round pick out of Hofstra in 2006, Colston entered the league as the ultimate underdog. Fitzgerald, the No. 3 overall pick in 2004, entered as a top dog, billed by some as the best rookie receiving prospect ever.

Over the past seven seasons, the two wideouts have posted remarkably similar numbers. Fitzgerald has averaged 77 receptions, 1,042 yards and eight touchdowns a year for Arizona. Colston has averaged 68 receptions, 941 yards and seven touchdowns for New Orleans. It’s not an apples to apples comparison, as Colston has caught passes from a future Hall of Famer, Drew Brees, while Fitzgerald has spent the past three years chasing down balls from future insurance salesmen.

But Colston’s quarterback alone doesn’t explain how a 252nd overall pick winds up nearly matching the production of a No. 3 overall pick who has appeared in seven Pro Bowls. The popular assumption, that scouts simply whiffed on Colston, is true but incomplete. Isolate Colston on film and you can see how he slipped to the last round. He doesn’t have great speed or quickness, particularly when getting in and out of breaks. He’s big but not quite a Plaxico Burress-type weapon outside the numbers.

The magic is that Colston plays in one of the NFL’s most creative passing systems. Coach Sean Payton uses a wider variety of formations than any offensive wizard in football, creating a litany of mismatches out of those myriad formations.

The main beneficiary is Colston. A lot of New Orleans’ formations put him in the slot, which does two things: 1) It naturally accentuates his size (6-4, 225 pounds) and ability to pull down balls that are thrown away from his body, and 2) It matches him against a safety or linebacker—especially when the Saints are in standard 2-WR personnel, which, with multidimensional players like Darren Sproles and Jimmy Graham, is more often than most high-flying passing attacks. In short, when Colston is on the outside against faster cornerbacks, he is a middle-tier starting wide receiver. When he is inside against slower safeties and linebackers, he ascends to Fitzgerald’s level.

Brees and his bigger receivers, especially Colston, spend extensive practice time working on different seam route throws and adjustments. So far this season, Colston has run 62.1 percent of his routes from the slot, which is on par with his career average. The Saints have gouged defenses with him here.

Marques Colston, Larry Fitzgerald and the art of scheming for receivers | The MMQB with Peter King