Meachem just wants to suit up

It's difficult not to sympathize with New Orleans Saints rookie Robert Meachem's plight.

Midway through the 2007 season, the former University of Tennessee star receiver is the forgotten man on the roster. He toils through weekly practices, dutifully carrying out his assignments, struggling to improve physically and mentally.

He willingly accepts the responsibility that goes with being a rookie, whether it's carrying a veteran's equipment or being the lunch go-fer.

Yet on game days, Meachem stands on the sideline wearing a gold T-shirt and black warmup pants. He has never dressed for a regular-season game, each week being among the inactive players on the 53-man roster.

Of the draft picks who went toward the bottom half of the first round last April, Nos. 20-32, Meachem, taken with the 27th pick, is one of two who has not seen game action, the other being Browns quarterback Brady Quinn. Seven of the 13 are, or have been, starters.

"For any competitor," Meachem said, "it's hard to watch. But if you're doing everything you can to help your team win, from Monday through Sunday, when we're winning, it's like you're winning, too, because you're a part of it.

"We're all one. So by us winning and me being a competitor, yes, I'd love to be out there. But the coaches know what's best, and they know what I can do. When they feel like I'm capable of doing what I once did, they'll put me out there."

Meachem's road from Knoxville to New Orleans has been filled with Crescent City-sized potholes.

He arrived for his first rookie minicamp admittedly out of shape, almost immediately sprained an ankle, struggled to get back on the field from that, then irritated the meniscus cartilage in his right knee during minicamp a month later, necessitating an arthroscopic clean-out on June 6.

Meachem reported for training camp six weeks later at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., and limped through the month while the Saints' veteran receiving corps, and even some camp-body free agents, made him look feeble.

"This was minor surgery," Meachem said, "but I wanted to hurry up and get to training camp. So I may have rushed myself a little too fast. That probably held me back a little more than I expected."

With Marques Colston, David Patten and company now performing at optimal efficiency, barring injury, it's going to be difficult for Meachem to get in any time soon, although decision-makers are beginning to take notice.

"I mean, for the majority of the offseason and even early on in the season, you could just tell he wasn't healthy," quarterback Drew Brees said. "He wasn't 100 percent, still limping and that sort of thing. But he's coming around. I think you see those bursts, that acceleration, that ability to go up and get the ball. He's made big improvements just on scout team and that sort of thing. Obviously, if there ever came a time when we would work him in, he would, I think, just exponentially get better and better."

Wide receivers coach Curtis Johnson said that early on, Meachem's struggles, including times when he'd catch more passes with his chest than with his hands, were probably connected to his gimpy and slow-healing right knee. And it's still slowing his growth, Johnson said.

"He's just not strong enough right now with his injury, but he's doing fine," Johnson said. "I think he's doing a lot better. You see he's working every day. He's starting to do some of the things that Lance (Moore) did for our scout team. But I think those other guys are starting to get into a groove, and they're starting to play well.

"So it's hard to put a guy in there now. He has a little bit to go as far as getting the little things in the offense. I think if we need him, I think we could play him. But right now, I don't see him being really, fully, 100 percent."

Coach Sean Payton has taken notice of Meachem's improvement, especially, Payton said, in recent weeks.

"The first thing I see is someone who is running better, who's healthier, and it starts with that," Payton said. "You don't really see the gait in his step, and that has helped him. Secondly, his overall knowledge of what we're doing formationally and as an offense has helped him because he's getting more reps. He's doing a good job running the scout team. I'm pleased with the last three weeks."

For now, Meachem said, he relies on tolerance and faith to help him persevere, counting the days until he can pull on a game jersey instead of a T-shirt.

"I feel better and better each and every day," he said. "With me, it's all my coaches and what they see. They've coached in the NFL a long time, and they know what's best right now. I'm just waiting patiently, letting God handle it and letting the coaches handle it."