Marques Colston: Does the Fast-Healing WR Make New Orleans an Elite Team?

Before we delve into the value of Marques Colston to the New Orleans Saints, there's a little matter of figuring out the mixed smoke signals sent up by Coach Sean Payton this week.

Every Wednesday around this marvelous country we live in, the various NFL teams that will be on the road make their head coaches available to the other city's media mongrels to create some stories about what may or may not transpire on Any Given Sunday.

Naturally, Sean Payton was on one of those wonderful conference calls to the type-and-gripers in Jacksonville, who will bear witness to the Jaguars going head-to-head with New Orleans there in the stadium nestled nicely on the St. John's River. Under the "let's give 'em something to talk about" file, Payton told the Jacksonville gang that wide receiver Marques Colston has been cleared to play and will take the field on Sunday.

If you don't follow the Saints on a regular basis, Colston was injured in the season opener against Green Bay and suffered what was described as a broken collar bone—or clavicle, for those of you studying anatomy. At that time, Payton advised it would probably be four weeks until quarterback Drew Brees would be reunited with one of his preferred targets.

Here we are, less than three weeks later, and Payton's got him going in four days.

Now, here's where it gets interesting.

At his presser for the New Orleans scribes and other forms of media, Payton wasn't quite as emphatic with his assessment of Colston's situation. Payton advised that Colston was "limited" during practice. Typically, guys playing on Sunday aren't that limited on Wednesday.

Like most NFL coaches, Payton typically doesn't provide concrete information about guys on the injury list. And that added a bit of a blur to the picture on Colston's status. Was Payton purposely giving Jacksonville some information that might get the Jags to spend time game-planning for Colston?

That's something the guys down there in the Crescent City are wondering, because they understand how valuable Colston is in the Saints offense. With him in there, it's another weapon for Brees, and added weapons in the arsenal can make a good team move the power meter to the "elite" side of the equation.

Elite or just really good, the Saints offense is more potent with Colston in the lineup. Payton certainly wouldn't want to rush the return. Which simply adds a little more drama on Sunday.