It’s a good thing he already had his luggage. Marquez Callaway was released by the Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday, July 30, and caught a flight home to Las Vegas the next day. Four hours in the air later, he told FOX 8’s Garland Gillen, he disembarked and took a call from his agent — who told him the New Orleans Saints were interested in bringing him in for the rest of training camp.
So Callaway turned right around and boarded another flight bound for Los Angeles, joining the Saints at UC Irvine in time for their Aug. 2 practice session. He picked the No. 82 jersey after previously wearing Nos. 12, 1, and 10.
“I’ve got kind of a tie to this city, so the conversation wasn’t bad,” Callaway told reporters after practice on Friday. “They called me and told me they needed me, and come here.”
Callaway spent the 2023 season on the Saints practice squad, and he only joined the Steelers back in January, but he returned to a very different team from the one he knew. This is his third stint with the Saints and he’s met his fourth position coach. Keith Williams was hired this spring, replacing Kodi Burns, who was hired after Curtis Johnson took over when Ronald Curry moved to work with the quarterbacks. Longtime teammates like Michael Thomas and Keith Kirkwood aren’t in the room anymore. Neither are youngsters he took under his wing like Shaq Davis. It’s Klint Kubiak writing his playbook, not Pete Carmichael.
He’s facing a tough path to a roster spot, but at this stage in the summer all guys like Callaway can hope for is the opportunity to make his case: “Nothing is guaranteed, still got to work, still got to compete out here. That’s what everybody is doing out here. As long as we get a chance, go out there and show them, all we can do is pray and show what we can do.”
Four receivers are dealing with injuries right now, which prompted the Saints to re-sign Callaway and bring in Samson Nacua. Cedrick Wilson Jr., Equanimeous St. Brown, and rookie draft pick Bub Means were each banged up this week and missed practice. Another rookie, Jermaine Jackson, left Friday’s practice early with an undisclosed injury. It’s a good bet that Callaway could get on the field in next week’s preseason game with the Arizona Cardinals. And if he can make a couple plays? At that point it’s anyone’s guess.
