Colston Not At OTA’s

Marques Colston, who is in search of a new contract, was absent from today’s voluntary Organized Team Activities (OTA’s).

"“Colston was a miss, again these are voluntary,” said Coach Sean Payton, who said he had not heard from Colston, though two other players were listed as “excused” from Monday’s work, first-round draft choice Sedrick Ellis and center/guard Matt Lehr. “A lot of times guys will be traveling, in his case, probably traveling West. I’ll find out today. I’ll give him a call and find out what the deal is. He’s done pretty well so far.”"

The Saints absolutely need to get the deals done for Colston and DE Will Smith. Both players are young cornerstones for the franchise and need to be kept around. There are a few contracts you can look at to see where Colston’s deal will be around. Terrell Owens signed a 4-year deal worth $34 million last week to remain a Cowboy. Bernard Berrian signed a 6-year, $42 million contract with the Minnesota Vikings in the off-season. Alright, so it’s safe to assume Colston is somewhere in between those to players. So about $7.75 seems reasonable for an average per season. Berrian received $16 million in guarantees, while Owens received $13 million. Now Owens age and the shorter length of his contract are the reasons why his guarantees were lower so I expect Colston to receive about the same in guarantees as Berrian, who was overpaid because of the lack of depth at the wide receiver position during free agency this past offseason. So how about a 6-year $46.5 million contract for Colston with about $17 million in guarantees. The contract would put Colston amongst the top paid at his position. While that seems like a lot, Colston has bursted onto the scene and is a young legitimate number one receiver, which are hard to come by.