According to Jay Glazer, the New Orleans Saints have re-signed wide receiver Marques Colston to a five-year deal, hours before free agency proper begins. This means the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will get to face the oft-injured but very productive wideout twice per year for the coming seasons, a prospect they must be looking forward to. Ahem.
I'm not too sad that Colston is off the market now, as he was never a great target for the Bucs. Colston is mostly a player who made his living catching passes down the middle of the field, and he is not a true number one receiver who can stretch the field or win on the perimeter consistently. Still, this does directly affect the Bucs in that it narrows the market for receivers, a market the Bucs are sure to be interested in.
Persistent rumors have linked star receiver Vincent Jackson to the Buccaneers, but rumblings of Mario Manningham and Pierre Garcon have seen the light of day as well. Over the next days and weeks we will see how serious the Bucs are about improving the team through free agency.