WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. — Few coaches know how to use the running back in the passing game better than Saints coach Sean Payton.
Under Payton, New Orleans running backs from Reggie Bush to Pierre Thomas to Darren Sproles have routinely caught more than 50 passes in a season, sometimes two of those backs performing the feat in the same season.
Now that Thomas is gone, all eyes have turned to free agent C.J. Spiller to assume the mantle of the Saints’ next great receiving running back. But with Spiller expected to be on the shelf for most of the rest of training camp because of arthroscopic surgery on his knee, the Saints are beginning to realize they might have underrated receiving weapons in the forms of Mark Ingram and Khiry Robinson.