NFL pro days are great settings for hopeful draft picks to work out in front of scouts’ and coaches’ eyes. But it’s rare you see a player who was drafted nearly 10 years ago at one of these things, much less one who just got out of jail.
Former New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers wide receiver Robert Meachem was a first-round pick in 2007, spending seven seasons in the league (six in New Orleans) and last playing in 2014. But on Friday, he’ll try to revive his career at age 32 while working out at Tennessee’s pro day on Friday alongside players 10 or more years younger.
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Former New Orleans Saints wide receiver Robert Meachem is trying whatever he can to get NFL people to notice him. (AP)
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In 103 career games, most of them with the Saints, he caught 178 passes for 2,914 yards (16.4-yard average) with 27 TDs. He’s perhaps best-known for ripping the ball away from a Washington Redskins safety (who had just intercepted Drew Brees) and running it back for a touchdown in the Saints’ Super Bowl season of 2009.
How has Meachem been preparing? It’s hard to know exactly considering he was jailed for 30 days — the day before Valentine’s Day this year, no less — for failing to pay child support and alimony and was scheduled to be released on March 15 unless he paid off his sizeable debt to her and their two children.
As of February 13, he had owed his ex-wife nearly $400,000 and was fighting her trying to get any of his future pension, also claiming in court that one of his financial advisors was taking his money without Meachem knowing.
Meachem played at Tennessee, starting in the fall of 2004. Vols running back Alvin Kamara, also working out for NFL scouts, was 9 years old at the time. It’s an interesting spot for Meachem to remind NFL people that he’s still interested in playing, and though you do occasionally see former players come back to their schools to work out (Jonas Gray — remember him? — worked out with DeShone Kizer at Notre Dame, for instance) it’s rare that someone so far removed from their college days shows up at one of these things.
Desperate times require desperate measures, apparently. Meachem appears to need the cash.
#ProDay goes LIVE on the Tennessee Football Facebook page at 10am ???????? pic.twitter.com/r6mgc225R5— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) March 31, 2017
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