We may be fielding a lot of inexperience at the wide receiver position this season. We may draft more than one receiver this year and we still have a couple of spots coming off IR. It will be good to have his veteran leadership plus he still stretches the field.
Like Danno says he still has to make the team.

Can someone explain exactly what I'm missing in terms of the Saints and the wide receiver position? Throughout the offseason the vibe I've been getting is that we suddenly became the KittyKats and that we have no one to catch the ball.

Colston and Stills were the starters last year. They were productive. They are both back. Meachem is resigned. So is Morgan, who is back from injury. Toon is going into his third year and may finally have production that matches his talent.

Saints backs caught a ton of balls. Adding another receiver isn't going to change that. Let's not forget that Reggie Bush caught a record number of balls out of the backfield his first couple of seasons here. Last year both Thomas and Sproles caught over 70 balls each. Just because Sproles is gone doesn't mean that the law firm (Thomas, Ingram, Robinson, and Cadet) are still not going to have a ton of balls thrown to them.

Jimmy Graham. Enough said.

So given that climate, why is there such a fixation on wide receivers? If Morgan and/or Mechem are anywhere close to their latest production, then it's going to be tough for any rookie to get anything other than the occasional snap in the #3 WR spot.

Any light shed on this would be greatly appreciated.

SFIAH

We may be fielding a lot of inexperience at the wide receiver position this season. We may draft more than one receiver this year and we still have a couple of spots coming off IR. It will be good to have his veteran leadership plus he still stretches the field.
Like Danno says he still has to make the team.

Can someone explain exactly what I'm missing in terms of the Saints and the wide receiver position? Throughout the offseason the vibe I've been getting is that we suddenly became the KittyKats and that we have no one to catch the ball.

Colston and Stills were the starters last year. They were productive. They are both back. Meachem is resigned. So is Morgan, who is back from injury. Toon is going into his third year and may finally have production that matches his talent.

Saints backs caught a ton of balls. Adding another receiver isn't going to change that. Let's not forget that Reggie Bush caught a record number of balls out of the backfield his first couple of seasons here. Last year both Thomas and Sproles caught over 70 balls each. Just because Sproles is gone doesn't mean that the law firm (Thomas, Ingram, Robinson, and Cadet) are still not going to have a ton of balls thrown to them.

Jimmy Graham. Enough said.

So given that climate, why is there such a fixation on wide receivers? If Morgan and/or Mechem are anywhere close to their latest production, then it's going to be tough for any rookie to get anything other than the occasional snap in the #3 WR spot.

Any light shed on this would be greatly appreciated.

SFIAH

My guesses
1. Colston is aging, its unknown how much stud he has left in him.
2. We lost Lance Moore
3. Joe Morgan is fragile and can't be counted on to last a whole season
4. We lost Darren Sproles, another versatile WR like OBJ could take some of those gadet plays.
5. Toon looked like the game was too big for him, with some ugly plays.
6. Meachem looks to have maybe lost a step and at this point is a part time player, with emphasis on part-time.
7. Ingram and Robinson look to get more carries, neither has proven to be the pass catching RB's that Pierre and Sproles were.
8. Cadet is an unknown.

Basically we have 2 WR's that look to be solid. Everyone else raises cause for concern.

I'm all for restocking if it's a best player available situation. But considering that pretty much every receiver outside of Colston and Stills were part time last year (including Moore) defining WR as a need seems to be an overreach.



My concern would be at the RB position. The Saints offense is driven by misdirection. It stagnates when a back in the backfield isn't a multiple threat. It looked to me that Ingram caught a couple of nice balls last year. I hope Robinson can be trained up to do so.



SFIAH

Can someone explain exactly what I'm missing in terms of the Saints and the wide receiver position? Throughout the offseason the vibe I've been getting is that we suddenly became the KittyKats and that we have no one to catch the ball.

Colston and Stills were the starters last year. They were productive. They are both back. Meachem is resigned. So is Morgan, who is back from injury. Toon is going into his third year and may finally have production that matches his talent.

Saints backs caught a ton of balls. Adding another receiver isn't going to change that. Let's not forget that Reggie Bush caught a record number of balls out of the backfield his first couple of seasons here. Last year both Thomas and Sproles caught over 70 balls each. Just because Sproles is gone doesn't mean that the law firm (Thomas, Ingram, Robinson, and Cadet) are still not going to have a ton of balls thrown to them.

Jimmy Graham. Enough said.

So given that climate, why is there such a fixation on wide receivers? If Morgan and/or Mechem are anywhere close to their latest production, then it's going to be tough for any rookie to get anything other than the occasional snap in the #3 WR spot.

Any light shed on this would be greatly appreciated.

SFIAH

Exactly what Danno said.
We basically have 2 legit starting Wrs in Colston and Graham. Colston is getting old and both have history with injuries. If they go down it will be up to Toon, Stills, and Morgan.
I don't think Toon is going to pan out. I just don't think he is NFL material much less stratum material.
Stills had a good season and looks to be legit but he's raw and could benefit from more experience.
Morgan has shown flashes but he has also made some big mistakes and is still a ?? Coming off injury.
Meachem can help but WR is a position of serious need. More so than people think.
If Colston and Graham get hurt we are screwed.

I see what you are saying to a point. But only to a point. Let's be honest. Drew Brees in a Sean Payton offensive system can make receivers that are average talent very productive. Samples:

Joe Horn with his 94 balls had triple the production in his first year in NO than in his first 4 years at KC combined.

Devery Henderson was a weapon in the Saints offense. He could not even get onto a squad last year.

Meachem was useless in San Diego. Comes back and has a productive year last year.

Morgan looked like a budding superstar in 2012.

Even Moore and Colston were undrafted and 7th rd pick respectively.

The Payton offense gets you the matchup. The QB then throws players open. How else can you have an offense that has posted 4 5000 yard passing seasons with a receiver corps where virtually no one breaks the 1000 yard mark?

From what I understand the WR crop is deep this year in the draft. Just like Stills last year there's no reason that a 3rd, 4th, or 5th round receiver could not easily transition to a productive player in the Saints offense.

SFIAH

Devery Henderson was a weapon in the Saints offense. He could not even get onto a squad last year.

SFIAH