By ANDY BENOIT
Perhaps no higher compliment was paid to this organization than the collective silence that ensued after the Saints traded a 2012 first-round pick and a 2011 second-rounder to move up and draft Alabama running back Mark Ingram 28th over all. This was a move that seemed to make little sense. The Saints already had two good runners in Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory. The former had just signed a four-year, $12 million contract and the latter was an undrafted second-year pro with a sub-$500,000 salary each of the next two years.
Some thought the Ingram pick was a sign that New Orleans would be cutting ties with Reggie Bush (Bush himself posted a goodbye on Twitter right after the pick). But equating Ingram to Bush is like equating South Dakota to Hawaii: they’re both states, but the similarities end there. Ingram is a bowling-ball-like inside runner; Bush is essentially a gadget player who sometimes takes handoffs.