Saints' 2010 Breakout Player of the Year . . . Not Who You Would Expect

Pierre Thomas? Reggie Bush? Devery Henderson? No, no and no. The man that will turn heads and hog stats will be Robert Meachem. I can already hear the chuckles of the non-believers and members of the Pierre Thomas fan club. It will be Meachem, though, who will be playing in his second season with the Saints.  I won’t be quoting stats, comparing him to former greats or even speaking of other slow starters at the position, because by and large, none of that really matters. What I will speak of is why he is capable of progressing, and why Sean Payton thought enough to keep him. To make the scoffers happy, we’ll start by mentioning what Robert doesn’t do well. First off, he’s slow to learn the playbook. While the Saints offense is complex, it is safe to say that Meach has not caught on as fast as he likely should of. Second, he has a tendency to blow assignments and run the wrong route. Obviously with an offense as reliant on timing as the Saints, this is a considerable ... (link)