FanHouse AdrianArrington

About a month ago, I used this space to pimp seventh-round receiver Adrian Arrington as The Next Big (or at least Very Surprising) Thing. And then Arrington's first preseason contest he suffered turf toe. Now, the Saints have ended his season by placing him on the IR.

In a perfect world, of course, Arrington plays, catches 100 balls for 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns opposite of Marques Colston, and has a 13-catch performance as the Saints win the Super Bowl. In the real world, the one where bad stuff unfortunately happens, this is the best move to make with Arrington.

Don't get it twisted, this turf toe will not sideline Arrington for the whole year. But it will sideline him long enough to force the Saints into deciding whether to let him eat a roster spot or put him on the practice squad. With little experience, more established names ahead of him, risk of lingering injury, and little special teams ability, Arrington wouldn't have been worth a spot on the 53-man team.

But putting him on the practice squad would have exposed him to waivers, and his performance so far and potential would lead him to getting snapped up right quick. So putting Arrington on the IR will allow him to heal slowly while learning the game better, it will save a roster spot, and give him the ability to compete for a more prominent spot next year.

The fact that the Saints put him on IR means they intend to have Arrington for a next year. I think it's going to be a pretty good one.

If you take a trip to the days of FanHouse's infancy, you'll find me touting seventh-rounder Marques Colston before his first NFL catch. I never would have expected Colston to have the two seasons he's had since, but I knew he was going to play, and I knew he was going to be good. (My long arms are getting a good pat on my back).

When the Saints traded back into the seventh round this year to select Michigan receiver Adrian Arrington, his position, size (6'3'', 191 lbs.), and style (solid route running, good positioning, exceptional hands [check the play at 2:30]) led to immediate Colston comparisons, but no one knew how Arrington would translate to the pros. So far, so good. Arrington was one of the most impressive players throughout OTAs, and stole the show at the first day of training camp.

Colston benefitted from a much shallower depth chart as a rookie; Arrington's got a steeper climb. Unless he flat-out dazzles, he'll enter the season no better than fourth behind Colston, David Patten, and Robert Meachem. And unless he proves adept at special teams he's going to have trouble winning a spot from Lance Moore or Terrance Copper, meaning the final spot on the team should be between Arrington and the perennially overrated Devery Henderson.

But I don't see the practice squad in his future. While he might not make the immediate impact Colston did, Arrington's going to catch more than a few balls this year.

I know that jockeying for position, strategery, deception, and manipulation are all par for the course in the NFL draft. So it's not exactly a head-turner when one team jumps ahead of another for a player they're both interested in. Three players, however, is a tad more interesting.

The Saints and Bengals both came into the draft with comparable needs, and the two coaching staffs have some sort of friendly bond, pairing together last summer for a couple of training camp scrimmages. But yesterday played out like a consistent bit of dueling, and the Saints won all three times.

The obvious battle was the one for Sedrick Ellis. It was no secret that both teams were gunning for Ellis, and the Saints beat the Bengals to him. The Saints then traded to move up two spots in the fifth and drafted defensive tackle DeMario Pressley right in front of the Bengals, forcing them to draft fellow tackle Jason Shirley, he of alcoholic infamy. Obviously the Bengals got flustered by the Saints thievery and took Shirley because he was the right position, if not the right personality. Finally, the Saints identified a player in the seventh who wouldn't reach them in free agency and traded a '09 pick to grab receiver Adrian Arrington. The next receiver taken? Mario Urrutia from Louisville, just seven picks later by -- you guessed it -- the Bengals.

It just seems a little too coincidental, doesn't it?

New Orleans Saints 2008 Draft Picks:

Round 1 (7): Sedrick Ellis, DT, USC
Round 2 (40): Tracy Porter, CB, Indiana
Round 5 (144): DeMario Pressley, DT, North Carolina St.
Round 5 (164): Carl Nicks, OT, Nebraska
Round 6 (178): Taylor Mehlhaff, K, Wisconsin
Round 7 (237): Adrian Arrington, WR, Michigan

The Good: The Saints needed to come out of the draft with either Glenn Dorsey or Ellis, and got Ellis at a great price. He's going to make an immediate impact for a defense which has long lacked a playmaker. Porter is an underrated corner who didn't get much exposure, but he's great at man coverage which plays right into the Saints' defensive scheme. Defensive tackle and cornerback were the team's biggest needs, and they addressed them well right away.

Arrington is already being saddled with Marques Colston comparisons -- he's got the size Colston has and a reputation for making tough catches and being reliable in the redzone, though overshadowed by Mario Manningham. The Saints targeted him as a free agent, but sensing he'd be selected before that traded a '09 sixth-rounder to get back into the seventh for him.

The Bad: While the Saints seemed to get great value in the fifth with Pressley (a projected second-rounder) and Nicks (third), they uncharacteristically went against their personnel philosophy. Both Nicks and Arrington had trouble with the law in college, and Pressley is known as talented but inconsistent with a questionable work ethic. The team has never drafted talent at the expense of character, but they took that risk here. They also could have afforded to add a linebacker with one of those late picks, but many teams shied away from that position, possibly indicating a simple lack of talent.

Now that Rich Rodriguez is taking over in Ann Arbor, he's bringing with him a lot of his old coaches, and his offensive system. The changes have already taken their toll on MIchigan's offense, because aside from losing quarterback Chad Henne and running back Mike Hart to graduation, the school is also losing receivers Adrian Arrington and Mario Manningham who have decided to leave for the NFL.

Then there's Henne's backup, freshman Ryan Mallett. Ryan can't leave for the NFL yet, so he's doing the next best thing, he's transferring. Though it's not because he has anything against Rich Rodriguez, he just knows that he's the exact opposite of what Rodriguez looks for in a quarterback.

"I felt like I was forced out because of the offense that's coming in," Mallett said by phone as he left Ann Arbor and the Michigan program Wednesday. He was on his way home to Arkansas.

"I was recruited to be a drop-back passer. I have nothing against Coach Rod, but the system is forcing me out."

As for where Mallett is going to end up, I don't know yet, but the frontrunners for his services are UCLA, Texas A&M, and Tennessee. Not coincidentally, those are also three schools that are looking at Mallett's old quarterbacks coach at Michigan, Scot Loeffler. I'd be willing to bet that wherever Loeffler lands, Ryan's soon to follow.

Once he does announce where he's going though, he's going to have to sit out a year before he can play again.

Should he have to, though?

Right: Adrian Arrington.

In comes Rich Rodriguez, and out go Chad Henne and Mike Hart. Change is a-comin' for Michigan's offense, right? Well, that isn't the half of it. The extraordinarily blunt and open Rodriguez -- at least compared to Lloyd Carr, who never saw a question he couldn't dodge -- made an appearance on Jim Rome yesterday. Therein he expressed his opinion that Mario Manningham, Adrian Arrington, and Ryan Mallett would all ply their trade elsewhere next year, the former two in the NFL and the latter on someone's bench taking an enforced redshirt after transferring.

This was opinion, but when Rodriguez attended the Michigan-Indiana basketball game (Michigan won ten billion to zero*) he spoke to reporters at half time. This is as blunt as you can get about Mallett:

"He's not playing for Michigan," Rodriguez said . "I'm concerned with whose [sic] playing for Michigan. That's my concern."

Seeya. Also seeya: Adrian Arrington, who texted Rodriguez about his decision to leave today. Mario Manningham was absent during the team meeting, but his grandfather keeps saying he'll stick around... we'll see. He's probably gone, too.

Next year is shaping up as an ugly one in Ann Arbor.

*(not actually true.)