Cameron Meredith is a player to watch at training camp. Is he healthy? And does he have any chance of becoming the No. 2 receiver for New Orleans?
There’s a blurb on Meredith at the team’s website. It says that Meredith isn’t 100 percent yet but expects to be healthy soon.
“On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s almost a 10 … I haven’t had a setback along the recovery process,” says Meredith. “My goal is to try and get back to training camp. As long as there aren’t any setbacks or anything like that, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Meredith was healthy enough to do some work at the workouts in June.
He tore knee ligaments last August (missing the entire season) and the injury was serious enough that the Bears were leery of making much of a commitment to him. They tendered him at only $1.9 million, giving other teams to the ability to make offers to him that required no compensation. Had they tagged Meredith at $2.9 million, the Saints would have had to give up a second-round pick to sign him.
With the second-round pick removed from the equation, the Saints signed Meredith to a two-year deal worth $9.6 million. Their doctors have looked at Meredith’s knee and think he’ll be fine. After consulting with its own doctors, Chicago had no interest in Meredith at that price.
This blurb points out that when Meredith had a big season in 2016, it was with Curtis Johnson as his position coach. Johnson is now with the Saints.
If Meredith is close to full health, there’s some chance he’ll put up top-40 receiving numbers.
More likely (I think), he’ll battle to be their third receiver. Michael Thomas looks entrenched as their No. 1, and I believe Ted Ginn will continue to be their No. 2, running primarily vertical routes. I think Meredith will battle with Brandon Coleman for playing time. Coleman caught only 23 passes last year, but I think they like the way he blocks because he played more than Ginn in a lot of games.
When Meredith was healthy in 2016, he was one of the most surprising wide receivers in the league. He wasn’t even drafted coming out of Illinois State that year but became Chicago’s best wide receiver as a rookie. He averaged 5 catches per game in the final 12 games that year. For PPR scoring (and it’s the same for standard) he put up the 30th-best per-game numbers of any wide receiver in the last two years (among players with at least 10 starts).
| PPR PER GAME (2016 and 2017) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Receiver | St | No | Rec Yd | TD | PPG |
| 2017 | Antonio Brown, Pitt. | 14 | 7.2 | 109.5 | .67 | 22.2 |
| 2017 | DeAndre Hopkins, Hou. | 15 | 6.4 | 91.9 | .87 | 20.8 |
| 2016 | Antonio Brown, Pitt. | 15 | 7.1 | 85.6 | .80 | 20.5 |
| 2016 | Jordy Nelson, G.B. | 16 | 6.1 | 78.6 | .88 | 19.2 |
| 2016 | Mike Evans, T.B. | 16 | 6.0 | 82.6 | .79 | 19.0 |
| 2016 | Odell Beckham, NYG | 16 | 6.3 | 85.4 | .63 | 18.7 |
| 2016 | A.J. Green, Cin. | 10 | 6.6 | 96.4 | .40 | 18.6 |
| 2016 | Julio Jones, Atl. | 14 | 5.9 | 100.6 | .43 | 18.6 |
| 2017 | Keenan Allen, LAC | 16 | 6.4 | 87.1 | .44 | 17.8 |
| 2016 | Michael Thomas, N.O. | 15 | 6.1 | 75.8 | .60 | 17.3 |
| 2016 | T.Y. Hilton, Ind. | 16 | 5.7 | 90.5 | .40 | 17.1 |
| 2017 | Jarvis Landry, Mia. | 16 | 7.0 | 61.7 | .56 | 16.5 |
| 2017 | Tyreek Hill, K.C. | 15 | 5.0 | 78.9 | .53 | 16.5 |
| 2017 | Larry Fitzgerald, Ariz. | 16 | 6.8 | 72.3 | .40 | 16.4 |
| 2017 | Michael Thomas, N.O. | 16 | 6.5 | 77.8 | .31 | 16.2 |
| 2017 | Davante Adams, G.B. | 14 | 5.3 | 63.2 | .71 | 15.9 |
| 2016 | Doug Baldwin, Sea. | 16 | 5.9 | 70.5 | .48 | 15.8 |
| 2017 | Julio Jones, Atl. | 16 | 5.5 | 90.3 | .19 | 15.7 |
| 2016 | Davante Adams, G.B. | 16 | 4.7 | 62.3 | .77 | 15.5 |
| 2016 | Brandin Cooks, N.O. | 16 | 4.9 | 73.3 | .50 | 15.4 |
| 2016 | Larry Fitzgerald, Ariz. | 16 | 6.7 | 63.9 | .38 | 15.4 |
| 2017 | Adam Thielen, Minn. | 16 | 5.7 | 79.8 | .25 | 15.2 |
| 2016 | Michael Crabtree, Oak. | 16 | 5.6 | 62.7 | .52 | 15.0 |
| 2016 | Stefon Diggs, Min. | 13 | 6.5 | 69.5 | .23 | 14.9 |
| 2016 | Jarvis Landry, Mia. | 16 | 5.9 | 71.0 | .27 | 14.7 |
| 2016 | Julian Edelman, N.E. | 16 | 6.1 | 69.1 | .21 | 14.6 |
| 2016 | Amari Cooper, Oak. | 16 | 5.2 | 72.1 | .35 | 14.5 |
| 2017 | A.J. Green, Cin. | 16 | 4.7 | 67.4 | .50 | 14.4 |
| 2016 | Demaryius Thomas, Den. | 16 | 5.6 | 67.7 | .33 | 14.4 |
| 2016 | Cameron Meredith, Chi. | 12 | 5.0 | 69.7 | .39 | 14.4 |
| 2017 | Stefon Diggs, Minn. | 14 | 4.6 | 60.6 | .57 | 14.2 |
| 2017 | Golden Tate, Det. | 16 | 5.8 | 62.7 | .33 | 14.2 |
| 2017 | JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pitt. | 14 | 4.1 | 65.5 | .57 | 14.1 |
| 2017 | Marvin Jones, Det. | 16 | 3.8 | 68.8 | .56 | 14.1 |
| 2016 | Golden Tate, Det. | 16 | 5.7 | 67.3 | .27 | 14.1 |
| 2016 | Dez Bryant, Dall. | 13 | 3.8 | 61.2 | .67 | 14.0 |
| 2017 | Doug Baldwin, Sea. | 16 | 4.7 | 61.9 | .52 | 14.0 |
| 2017 | Brandin Cooks, N.E. | 16 | 4.1 | 67.6 | .46 | 13.8 |
| 2017 | Robert Woods, LAR | 12 | 4.7 | 65.1 | .42 | 13.8 |
| 2016 | Tyrell Williams, S.D. | 16 | 4.3 | 66.2 | .44 | 13.6 |
| 2017 | Mike Evans, T.B. | 15 | 4.7 | 66.7 | .36 | 13.5 |
| 2016 | Rishard Matthews, Ten. | 16 | 4.1 | 59.1 | .56 | 13.3 |
| 2016 | Emmanuel Sanders, Den. | 16 | 4.9 | 64.5 | .31 | 13.3 |
| 2016 | Terrelle Pryor, Cle. | 16 | 4.8 | 62.9 | .33 | 13.2 |
| 2016 | Kenny Britt, L.A. | 15 | 4.5 | 66.8 | .33 | 13.2 |
| 2016 | Steve Smith Sr., Balt. | 14 | 5.0 | 57.1 | .41 | 13.1 |
| 2017 | Sterling Shepard, NYG | 11 | 5.4 | 66.5 | .18 | 13.1 |
| 2017 | Demaryius Thomas, Den. | 16 | 5.2 | 59.3 | .31 | 13.0 |
| 2016 | J.J. Nelson, Ariz. | 10 | 3.0 | 51.7 | .70 | 13.0 |
| 2017 | Alshon Jeffery, Phil. | 15 | 3.7 | 52.1 | .67 | 12.9 |
—Ian Allan