Mark Ingram hasn't been involved much in the New Orleans Saints' passing attack the past three seasons.
In fact, the running back didn't pick up his first NFL receiving touchdown until Friday's preseason game against the Tennessee Titans, which sounds odd to say about a first-round draft pick entering his fourth season.
"I haven't caught a lot of passes in the NFL. But in high school I played receiver. If you look at my recruiting thing it says, 'Athlete,'" Ingram said, per ESPN.com's Mike Triplett. "And in college, I caught a lot of passes. I haven't done it a lot here. But I've always been confident in my ability to contribute out of the backfield, running routes. Line up out wide running routes. I'm comfortable doing all of that."
Ingram has looked spry, decisive and quick through the hole with an obvious burst in his first two preseason games, and it's safe to say he's playing his best football entering a contract year.
While we fully expect Pierre Thomas to play the third-down role and be the main target out of the backfield, with Darren Sproles gone to Philly there will be more catches to spread around. Ingram would like a shot at some of those balls.
"I want to do everything," he said. "I want to be involved in the pass game, run game, picking up pass pro. I want to be the most versatile player I can be," Ingram said. "...I know I'm an all-purpose back, a complete back, I can do everything."
If Ingram keeps running the way he has the past two games, he'll earn more opportunities to prove he can be that do-everything back the Saints thought he'd become out of Alabama.
The latest "Around the League Podcast" recaps all of the action from the second week of the preseason.