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 7^th round draft pick out Hofstra. During the 2006 NFL draft, the Saints held the 252^nd 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 7^th round). In total, NFL teams selected 26 wide receivers ahead of Colston. Of that 2006 WR draft class, Colston is 2^nd 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 7^th best in the draft class. Williams, for those who are unaware, was the 1^st 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.