The New Orleans Saints hosted former Detroit Lions running back Theo Riddick on a free agent visit on Sunday, but he’s leaving town with a contract in hand. Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that the next stop on Riddick’s tour is with the Denver Broncos.
It hasn’t been reported why Riddick didn’t reach an agreement with the Saints. The team is somewhere around $11.7 million beneath the salary cap, so money shouldn’t be much of an issue. It could be that Riddick liked what the Saints had to offer him — including the opportunity to work with his former offensive coordinator, Joe Lombardi — but he wants to see what other offers are on the table before making a decision.
The Saints aren’t hurting for help at running back, but they could use someone with Riddick’s skills as a pass-catcher to back up superstar back Alvin Kamara. The list of names in the backfield who share Riddick and Kamara’s ability to run routes and cleanly catch passes is short; one of them is Javorius Allen, who the Saints signed in May, but has missed the first three days of training camp. Another is Matt Dayes, whose previous NFL teams have limited his responsibilities to fielding punts. If Kamara ever isn’t able to play, a big part of the Saints playbook becomes useless.
