Marquez Callaway proving a lot of teams missed by not drafting him
When the 2020 NFL Draft concluded, Tennessee wide receiver Marquez Callaway was left without an NFL team. The New Orleans Saints signed him as an undrafted free agent and the rest is history.
Callaway impressed as a rookie in 2020, grabbing 21 receptions for 213 yards through 11 games and three starts. Because of those numbers, Saints fans were expecting the guy to be a huge part of the offense in 2021, especially with the lack of talent at the wide receiver position.
Unfortunately, Callaway hasn’t put up gaudy numbers but for a former UDFA, he’s done pretty damn well. The former Volunteer has 36 receptions for 555 yards and six touchdowns through 14 games and 10 starts. These are solid numbers for a guy who wasn’t taken in the draft and as Jeff Nowak notes in the tweet below, not many UDFA receivers can say they’ve had as much success as Callaway.
I've said this before, but the (I'd say unreasonable) expectations put on Marquez Callaway this year make it easy to lose perspective on what he's done so far.
— Jeff Nowak (@Jeff_Nowak) December 22, 2021
- 36 rec., 555 yards, 6 TDs
I assure you there's not a long list of UDFAs who put up better numbers in Year 2. #Saints
Marquez Callaway proving he can be a weapon to be reckoned with
It’s fair to say we all placed unreal expectations on Callaway for the 2021 season. With Michael Thomas missing the start of the season and then Tre’Quan Smith getting injured during preseason, Callaway was the next man up and fans might have forgotten that this guy didn’t hear his name called in the draft and the expectations shouldn’t be so high.
It probably didn’t help his case that he put up insane numbers throughout the preseason and fans started to think, “Hey, this guy can have 100+ yard games and make it look easy”. The problem with doing so in the preseason is that sometimes it’s against backups and even third-stringers. That isn’t the case in the regular season.
While Callaway hasn’t put up WR1-like numbers, 555 yards and six touchdowns, especially in such a lackluster offense, is pretty impressive. Maybe the guy isn’t a superstar but with a better quarterback situation and a better overall offense, he could be a much bigger name.
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Callaway’s 2021 campaign should give Saints fans hope that he can continue to improve and be a solid WR2/3 moving forward.