Louisanna Case Lookup

Fullback Jed Collins is making strong case to make the New Orleans ...

But he might finally find a home in New Orleans.

Collins stood out in Saturday night's preseason game at Houston after being given his first chance to line up with the first-team offense, paving the way for a 13-yard run by Pierre Thomas, among other big gains.

Collins, 6 feet 1, 255 pounds, joined the Saints as part of their practice squad last season, and Coach Sean Payton said he stood out enough in practice that they wanted to give him a shot at the permanent job this season.

"I've been grinding, trying to find a system that needs me, a program that likes me, an opportunity," said Collins, who joined the Philadelphia Eagles in 2008 as an undrafted free agent from Washington State.

Since then, he's spent time with the Eagles, Browns, Cardinals, Chiefs, Titans, Bears and Saints. He was only on the active roster for two games with Cleveland in 2008 but did not play.

"It's been tough," Collins said. "But I've just been keeping it in my mind that I can play this game. And once your opportunity comes, you've got to stand into it. And I feel like I'm trying to take advantage of what they're giving me."

Collins is battling veteran newcomer Korey Hall for the starting fullback job, which was vacated when the Saints decided to part ways with veteran Heath Evans.

The Saints made a strong push to sign Hall as a free agent from the Green Bay Packers as soon as the lockout was lifted, so they obviously think highly of him. And by all accounts, he has also been impressive both as a blocker and a special teams standout.

But the Saints could wind up keeping both players. Typically, they will keep five tight ends and fullbacks, whether it's a combination of four and one or three and two.

"That's a good competition going there with those two players, and both of them are having good camps," said Payton, who said the team had been planning since last year to make Collins part of that competition.

"We felt like it was going to be Jed and another player competing," Payton said. "I think as the season went on last year and as he was on the practice squad, he did some real good things against our defense, and we began to see someone we thought was physical, and that was encouraging. So that has continued. His growth has been right in front of us, and he's done well.

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