Don’t dismiss Boston Scott’s chances of making the Saints

METAIRIE — Being 5-foot-7 isn’t ideal for a prospective NFL player.

Being a sixth-round draft choice isn’t the ideal starting point for an NFL career.

And running back isn’t the ideal position for a newcomer to try and make the New Orleans Saints roster.

But don’t count out Boston Scott when it comes to sticking with the Saints even though the sixth-round draft choice is 5-7 and trying to make the roster at a position where Mark Ingram II and Alvin Kamara both gained more than 1,500 yards from scrimmage last season.

He’s a long shot, but he has a shot.

“I don’t focus on who has underestimated me,” Scott said. “It’s good for motivation, but I do it for people who believe in me.”

The Saints believed enough in the Baton Rouge native, whom they worked out a week before the draft, to select him even though they had not only Ingram and Kamara but also veterans Trey Edmunds, Daniel Lasco and Jonathan Williams in reserve.

Scott, who starred at Zachary High School, rushed for more than 1,000 yards as a senior at Louisiana Tech last season, using his strength at 203 pounds to break tackles at a greater rate than his height might suggest he could. A state champion power-lifter in high school, he gained 633 yards on 29 returns in college.

New Orleans coach Sean Payton, who has seen Scott through a rookie mini-camp and a week of Organized Team Activities, said Scott is capable of being more than just “a joker back,” a position that is generally limited to third downs for a player to catch passes and run wide.

“He’s shorter, but he’s built pretty well,” Payton said. “I think he is someone that has good instincts. It’s early but he’s done some really good things. He picks things up pretty quickly. I think there’s a running ability he has as well. He does a pretty good job with some of the in-line runs.”

Scott said he doesn’t see his height as a disadvantage.

“I believe being a running back is an art, and I can actually use my height to my advantage,” he said. “(I have) an unwillingness to go down. I want to churn. I want to get as many yards as I can. Whatever down they want to use me I can produce and contribute.

“You can’t really see me behind the line. If you’re pressing a certain point of attack or you’re pressing a certain gap, and you can get a linebacker or a defensive lineman to commit to that hole I can shoot out the back side. That’s kind of what I did at Louisiana Tech.”

Though Scott has the ability to produce between the tackles, it’s difficult to look at him and not think of former Saint Darren Sproles, who was extremely productive primarily as a joker back. Sproles (5-6, 190) accumulated more than 3,000 yards from scrimmage with New Orleans from 2011-13.

“I’ve watched lot of Darren’s tape and breakdowns,” Scott said. “I have an incredible amount of respect for him. I definitely look up to him and I’m looking to replicate from his game, but I’m also looking to be Boston Scott.”

The opportunities for running backs trying to join Ingram and Kamara on the regular-season roster expanded when Ingram was suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL’s policy on performance enhancing drugs.

Though making the roster to provide depth in Ingram’s absence is a short-term opportunity, the Saints will need at least one more halfback behind those two for the entire season and an ability to contribute on special teams will be a necessity, something Edmunds, Lasco and Williams all possess.

All three of them also overcame odds similar to Scott’s the make the team. Edmunds was one of the bigger surprises last season, making the Saints roster as an undrafted free agent. Lasco was a seventh-round draft choice by New Orleans in 2016, the same year that Williams was a fifth-round pick of Buffalo. The Saints signed Williams off of Denver’s practice roster last November.

Payton said Scott will have an opportunity to prove himself as a return specialist, but that’s not his primary skill.

“He was drafted as a running back,” Payton said. “We worked him out, we saw his tape, we feel like he’s someone that can handle the running game and he’ll be one we’ll have a chance to look at. He’ll also be one we look at as a punt returner and a specialist, but I would have to say he’s a runner first.”

Though Scott is confident he can be more than just a third-down back and a return specialist, he did admit, “I have to work on my pass protection and understanding defenses more, knowing what’s going to happen before it happens.”

No one knows what’s going to happen with Scott’s quest to overcome the odds and make the Saints roster. If he does make it, perhaps it’ll be temporarily while Ingram is sidelined or perhaps he’ll start off on the practice roster. But it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s still around when the season starts Sept. 9 against Tampa Bay in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Even though the job opportunities with the Saints are more limited for running backs than they would be with some other teams, Scott couldn’t have picked a better place to land than New Orleans.

“We grew up as (Saints) fans,” he said. “Whenever we watched football on Sunday we watched the Saints. It’s great to be close to my high-school community, close to home, close to family. My mom’s probably going to be knocking on my door every other day.”