Saints quarterbacks praise Marquez Callaway as 'phenomenal'
During postgame interviews, Saints quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill had high praise for their second-year wide receiver Marquez Callaway. The undrafted free agent from Tennessee caught two deep touchdown passes in their preseason matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Saints quarterbacks praise Marquez Callaway
Less than three minutes into Monday night’s preseason game against the Jaguars, Winston delivered a deep strike to Marquez Callaway, good for a 43-yard touchdown. But Winston and Callaway weren’t finished there.
Just two drives later, the pair connected on a 30-yard touchdown pass. On both touchdown catches, Callaway displayed amazing ball location skills, fighting off a pass interference on the first one and making a spectacular one-handed catch on the second.
In postgame interviews, both Winston and Hill had high praise for their young wideout.
“Absolutely. That’s what makes Quez [Marquez Callaway] so phenomenal. Every time the lights come on he does an amazing job,” Winston said of Callaway’s play. “I liked the matchup there and he went and made a heck of a play. That’s always fun. He got pass interference and made a great play. I just try my best to give him opportunities, and God blessed him with some unique abilities as well.”
Hill shared the same sentiments that Winston expressed, mentioning how incredible his play was and that he just needs opportunities to showcase his talent.
“This is the same story that we’ve seen all camp. I think that Callaway is a guy that continues to get better and better every day,” stated Hill
“You talk about a guy that you look out and you see a one-on-one matchup, and you love creating opportunities for him. He continues to showcase what he can do. That was a heck of a catch that he had tonight. This is stuff that we’ve seen in training camp; so it’s nice to see that stuff translate in a game setting.”
“The more opportunity you give him, the more he thrives. It just feels like there’s not an opportunity that’s too big for him. There’s not a situation that’s too big for him. He steps up.”
Callaway making an impact
The Saints are currently searching for someone who is going to pick up the slack at receiver while All-Pro wideout Michael Thomas recovers from ankle surgery. So far, Marquez Callaway looks up to the challenge. Against the Ravens, he caught three passes for 61 yards on four targets, all from Taysom Hill.
Against the Jaguars on Monday, Callaway had five completions for 104 yards and two touchdowns from Winston. By providing a huge impact no matter who the quarterback is, Callaway might be earning the starting receiver spot in week one of the regular season.
On3’s Justin Rudolph contributed to this article.