Tuesday, December 15, 2015

The Great and Underrated Marques Colston

            During Sunday’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints wide receiver Marques Colston snagged two touchdown passes from quarterback Drew Brees, his second and third TDs of this year. Chase Stuart, owner and proprietor of the great footballperspective.com, pointed out on Twitter that in his career Colston has caught 75 TD passes and Brees has thrown every one of them. That is a feat unmatched elsewhere in NFL history. According to Stuart’s research, the closest player percentage wise, before the start of the 2015 season and with a minimum of 50 TD catches, was Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, catching 59 of his 60 touchdowns from Tom Brady. In terms of the highest number of touchdowns between a quarterback and wide receiver, the Brees-Colston combo ranks fifth all time, only one touchdown behind Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne. Unless the aging Colston somehow remains with the Saints for the next few seasons, it’s hard to imagine him finishing any higher than fourth. Manning-Marvin Harrison lead the way with 114; Steve Young and Jerry Rice are second with 92 TDs, and in third is Dan Marino and Mark Clayton at 82.

75 and counting... 

            Regardless of what the future holds for Colston (and Brees for that matter), it is still a remarkable achievement for a 7th round draft pick out Hofstra. During the 2006 NFL draft, the Saints held the 252nd pick (the draft had 255 picks that year) and selected the 6’4 wide receiver one pick after the Houston Texans selected David Anderson, a wide receiver from Colorado State, who played for the Texans until 2011 before being released (just to give you a sense of how much the draft is a total crapshoot when you get to the 7th round). In total, NFL teams selected 26 wide receivers ahead of Colston. Of that 2006 WR draft class, Colston is 2nd in receiving TDs and yards only behind Jets WR Brandon Marshall. Colston’s career AV (approximate value, a metric developed by pro-football reference to measure a player’s on-field contribution) of 70 is tied with defensive end Mario Williams for 7th best in the draft class. Williams, for those who are unaware, was the 1st overall pick in the draft that year.

Whether through luck, skill, coaching, or some combination of all three, Colston has developed into the best receiver in Saints history. The chart below details just how great he has been:


From
To
G
Pos
AV
Targets
Receptions
Yards
Y/R
TD
Marques Colston
2006
2015
145
WR
86
1095
709
9720
13.7
71
Eric Martin
1985
1993
143
WR
79
220
532
7854
14.8
48
Joe Horn
2000
2006
102
WR
71
903
523
7622
14.6
50
Deuce McAllister
2001
2008
97
RB
61
311
234
1720
7.4
5
Dalton Hilliard
1986
1993
108
RB
54
127
249
2233
9
14
Pierre Thomas
2007
2014
105
RB
51
389
327
2608
8
12
Danny Abramowicz
1967
1973
85
TE
50

309
4875
15.8
37
Tony Galbreath
1976
1980
75
RB
46

284
2221
7.8
6
Jimmy Graham
2010
2014
78
TE
43
595
386
4752
12.3
51
Devery Henderson
2005
2012
123
WR
41
442
245
4377
17.9
20


While Saints fans tend to think of the combination of Sean Payton and Drew Brees reviving the moribund franchise in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, let’s not leave Brees’s favorite target, the 6’4 draft afterthought from Hofstra, Marques Colston, out of the conversation. 

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