Saints sign free agent punter

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The New Orleans Saints signed former Pro Bowl punter Chris Hanson to a one-year contract on Friday.

Hanson, a 6-foot-2, 202-pound left-footed punter out of Marshall, has played six years in the NFL. The 30-year old has played in all but one of his 86 career games with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Hanson has never had any of his 428 punts blocked and averaged 42.9 yards per punt.

The Senoia, Ga. native also was the holder for place-kicks for Jacksonville.

Hanson originally signed out of college with the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent and also spent time on the rosters of the Green Bay Packers and Miami Dolphins, making one appearance for Green Bay as a rookie in 1999.

He was the Jaguars’ punter for the past six seasons, making the Pro Bowl in 2002.

Steve Weatherford, a second-year player out of Illinois, is the only other punter on the Saints’ roster. Weatherford made the team last season after Mitch Berger struggled with a groin injury during training camp.

The Saints also rounded out their rookie class with a dozen undrafted free agents, including one unusual prospect coach Payton couldn’t resist getting a better look at despite the player’s troubled past.

Defensive tackle Walter Thomas is 6-foot-4, 374 pounds, faster than most linebackers and as agile as many receivers. He is known to have run 40 yards in under 5 seconds and can routinely do flips and cartwheels, which is unusual for a man of his size. He can reportely bench press 475 pounds and squat 800-pounds.

His playing experience in college, however, was negligible because of problems off of the field.

Thomas enrolled at Oklahoma State, but rarely played as a freshman and did too poorly in class to come back for his sophomore year. He later enrolled at Northwest Mississippi Community College, where he played in only two games before he was arrested on a charge of conspiracy to commit robbery.

In those two games, he was in on 16 tackles, credited with five tackles losses and four sacks.

Thomas’ signing was an odd one for the Saints under second-year coach Sean Payton, who often talks of his preference to avoid bringing in players with a history of off-the-field problems.

Payton said Thomas, 21, is a long-shot to make the team, but still worth looking at when the Saints hold their rookie camp from May 12-14.

Since selecting seven new players in last weekend’s NFL draft, New Orleans also has signed:

• Tyler Palko, who was a three-year starter at quarterback for Pittsburgh. The lefty completed 60 percent of his passes for 8,343 yards and 66 touchdowns during his career.

• Peter Dyakowski, a 6-5, 310-pound offensive tackle who started for LSU last season.

• Rhema McKnight, a 6-2, 211-pound receiver from Notre Dame. He had 170 receptions for 2,277 yards and 22 touchdowns in his career for the Fighting Irish. He was the seventh player in Notre Dame history to surpass 2,000 yards receiving.

•ÜPierre Thomas, an Illinois running back whose 2,392 career yards were seventh most in school history. He also was a top kick returner for the Illini and named the team’s most valuable player the past two seasons.

• Joe Porter, a Rutgers University cornerback credited with 93 tackles, 11 passes defended, seven forced fumbles, five interceptions and 4 1/2 tackles for losses during his four-year career.

• Jake Kuresa, a 6-4, 330-pound guard from Brigham Young who started 47 of 48 games. During his senior season, he blocked for a unit that averaged 465.5 yards per game.

• Wade Koehl, a 6-2, 230-pound linebacker who was a four-year starter at Houston. He was credited with 331 career tackles, 34 tackles for losses and eight sacks during his career with the Cougars.

• Keith Greer, a 6-1, 248-pound fullback out of Idaho who was mostly used as a blocker but sometimes also caught passes coming out of the backfield.

• Jon Hamm, a 6-7, 272-pound defensive end from Clark Atlanta, a Division II program. He was credited with 36 tackles, three sacks and a pair of blocked kicks last season.

• Pat MacDonald, a 6-3, 270-pound long snapper from the University of Alberta in Canada.

• Brett Bergstrom, a kicker from Eastern Washington for the past two years. Last season, Bergstrom converted 15 of 18 field goals, including three from beyond 50 yards, and hit 21 of 22 extra-point attempts. He also recorded 23 touchbacks on kickoffs.