For as long as I can remember Payton has always had a pet project UDFA WR on each of his teams he's coached.
I can't remember any panning out really and think I fell for the hype each time.
Not touching this one. Done with that.
Colston was pre-Payton. I think Patten was his Gmen project. Copper might have been his Dallas one.
Morgan had like 16 catches with the Saints.
But there's a name or two I'm forgetting. They got lengthy threads here and rrreally piqued some interest. One guy a couple years back had been with them three years and after two good preseasons, he was finally about to make a name for himself. He couldn't stay healthy in preseason and got cut.
Arrington! Adrian Arrington, I remember.
Telling ya...Payton projects are a very big tease
Colston was drafted by Payton and the Saints in the 2006 draft. Lance Moore was an undrafred FA in 2005 under Jim Haslett, but stuck around with Payton and became a pretty decent player. Then there was the likes of Pierre Thomas, Graham, Jahari Evans, Carl Nicks, Armstead, etc. If there's one thing I trust Payton with; it's developing projects/mid-round talent along the offensive side of the ball
I thought Colston was pre-Payton, my mistake it was Moore.
Sticking to WRs though...do you remember Arrington?
There's been a couple like him
ETA
An african name....On...ugh can't remember, I think he went to Arizona for a summer and fizzled after.
Ontarius On...oh I can't remember
You brought up three good names:
Arrington. When he finally had an open roster spot... he just went away, it didn't happen, though he did have repetitive injury issues. - Actually when I think of Arrington I think of Toon. Toon was drafted while Payton was out of the building in 2012 and he never has broken through.
Morgan - yeah, this is how he ended up in Walsh College. He may have also dragged down Stills since they were running buddies apparently (that's a post trade rumor...).
You're thinking of Onome Ojo - he was tall, rangy and pre-Payton, Haslett and Mike McCarthy project guy who never emerged.
I would also include:
- David Patten was a longtime vet who played for the Redskins and Pats and he had one pretty darned good year with Payton. They just brought him in and he was effective, just at the end of his career. His rep was as a gadget player and he was supposedly done, but then in NO he had 54 catches, his high had been 61 like 5 years before with the Pats.
And besides Colston and Moore people forget that these guys could have qualified as projects at one time:
- Jimmy Graham - 3rd round pick - he had 17 catches in his college career which had lasted one year. How many basketball playing tight ends have we heard of since Tony Gonzalez?
- Kenny Stills - 5th round pick - it was funny looking at that thread here about 4th round breakout WRs, and Stills was rarely mentioned on this board. Well he developed, he and Brees had the highest (or nearly highest) catch/target percentage for any duo in the league at one point. Let's see what that % is with Tannehill.
This year I will throw one more out there for people to chew on:
- Orson Charles - 4th round pick, 2012, same round as Ledarius Green and Adrien Robinson. - I know, hybrid, FB/TE, did zip at Cincy, but there he is sitting at the no. 3 TE spot. This guy had 45 receptions his final year at GA, 94 catches in 3 seasons, his rookie season he was 21. He was ranked tyhe top TE in the 2012 draft by Mike
Mayock.
Btw I wouldn't count on Jones or Coleman or Toon, or Andy Tanner for that matter, let's just say it's not ridiculous. - Still, I'm hoping/expecting they take a WR and/or TE in the 1st or 2nd round.