Saints Nation: Saints Awarded with A Compensatory Draft Choice

Before you dismiss a 7th round draft pick a useless, take a moment to consider what the Saints have been able to do with that round during the Sean Payton era. See that guy pictured on the left? Yep, that’s Marques Colston and he was drafted by the Saints in the 7th round. You may think he’s the exception to the rule, and to an extent he is, but the Saints have had solid picks in that round recently beyond Colston. As much as Sean Payton and the team he’s assembled have proven to be very strong in the talent evaluation department, I believe an extra draft pick no matter how low is grounds for at least mild optimism. The NFL awarded compensatory picks to a number of teams yesterday, a program designed to help teams that lost valuable free agents the previous offseason, and the Saints were awarded the 42nd pick in the 7th round as compensation for losing Scott Fujita. The Saints also lost Mike Bell and Mark Brunell and gained Alex Brown and Jimmy Wilkerson, but I’m not exactly sure how each player factored into the equation. 

Let’s take a look at the players the Saints have taken in the 7th round since Sean Payton joined the team:

Of these players, every single one of them is still on the Saints’ roster. While Colston is the only one that’s turned into a full time starter and elite NFL player, Strief and Mitchell have both been valuable backups and role players for the Saints the past few seasons and have seen significant playing time in games. While Arrington has spent the majority of his time on the team’s practice squad, he most recently got a chance to play in the Saints’ final regular season game this past season against the Buccaneers, and he turned in a 7 reception 79 yard performance. That game has left optimism that Arrington will get more of an opportunity in 2011 to contribute to the offense, and it certainly showed the potential he has to be a solid NFL receiver if given the opportunity. Finally, Canfield bounced between the active roster and the practice squad last season as the third quarterback on the roster, and he’s more of a project at this point. Still, the fact that 5 years worth of 7th round picks are still on the team is impressive, and it proves that Payton and his staff can find gems that deep into the draft. I for one am looking forward to seeing what the Saints can turn this extra pick into.