After 10 seasons of faithful service, Saints release Marques Colston

New Orleans officially released wide receiver Marques Colston with a failed physical designation, bringing an air of finality to a release that had been expected since multiple media outlets reported the decision to inform Colston of the move last week.

Colston, who helped New Orleans to victory in Super Bowl XLIII, holds just about every Saints receiving record with 711 career receptions for 9,759 yards and 72 touchdowns.

Colston, a seventh-round draft pick in 2006, is the Saints’ all-time leading receiver and touchdown scorer.

We saw a few more dropped passes from Colston, and drops on catches that we were accustomed to seeing him make. In 2015, he caught 45 passes for 520 yards and four touchdowns. Cutting Colston saves the team $3.2 million in salary-cap space, but leaves it with $2.7 million in dead money, according to Patra. Don’t feel bad for Colston, he earned two big contracts with the Saints and was truly one of the top professionals in the locker room, loved by the media and his team mates. Colston is beloved by everyone in Who Dat Nation, as he was the always reliable receiving target for quarterback Drew Brees during their time together with the Saints.

Colston called the Saints a “first class organization” and expressed his thanks to the franchise in a statement posted to his website.

It’s tough to see a pro’s pro like Colston not be able to close out his career one his own terms, but he will go down as one of the game’s greatest seventh round draft picks, proving that general managers can extract value in all rounds of an NFL Draft.