Saints, WR Colston agree to 5-year deal

Wide receiver Marques Colston has decided against testing free agency and will remain with the club that gave him his first chance in the NFL as a little-known seventh-round draft choice out of Hofstra. Colston and the Saints agreed to a new contract today that runs up to five years, giving the 28-year-old receiver a chance to break several of the club receiving records he has approached in his first six seasons as a pro. “This was important to me, to be back with this team in this situation,” Colston says in a statement released by the club. “I was not looking to chase free agency. It was more important for me to be back in our program, a program we have been building and a program I believe in.” Colston was a key part of the Saints’ only Super Bowl-winning club in 2009-10. “Now it is time to get back to work and win some more rings,” he says. After completing the deal with Colston’s agent, Joel Segal, Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said Colston deserved credit for working to get a deal done before the opening of free agency on Tuesday afternoon. Financial terms of the new deal were not disclosed. The Colston deal removes what would have been among the Saints’ top priorities in free agency. The Saints also hope to reach a long-term extension with quarterback Drew Brees but in the meantime have placed their franchise tag on the star quarterback to prevent him from going elsewhere in 2012.