We can say one thing for certain about the New Orleans Saints every year: they’re going to be scouting the top returns specialists in the NFL draft. And one of this year’s best punt returners was in town for an official 30 visit, per Colter Nuanez and Brooks Nuanez of Skyline Sports. Here’s what you need to know about Montana Grizzlies All-American Junior Bergen. The report says he also worked out privately for the San Francisco 49ers.
Bergen left school with eight punt return touchdowns on his resume, averaging a blistering clip of 16.6 yards per try. He also paced 24.0 yards per kick return with another touchdown, but he did the most damage fielding punts. In total, he returned 69 punts for 1,146 yards at Montana, with 60 fair catches and just three muffed punts. He also made some plays as a receiver; Bergen ended his four-year college career with 142 catches for 1,763 yards (12.4 yards per catch) and 13 touchdown receptions. He was mainly used as a rusher early on but still totaled 594 yards on the ground with 4 touchdown runs off of just 141 carries.
He’s undersized at 5-foot-9 and 184 pounds, with a 5.88 Relative Athletic Score and 4.53 time in the 40 yard dash, but Bergen has been so productive against his level of competition that you’d overlook that to take a chance on him. The Saints have their own in-house metrics for measuring athleticism and likely took this opportunity to better evaluate him.
The Saints didn’t make the trip to Missoula for his pro day, but they made up for it with plenty of time to get to know the young player on this formal visit at their headquarters in Metairie. They have a history of looking for help from great returns specialists from under-the-radar programs. Rashid Shaheed is the obvious example after earning Pro Bowl attention while coming out of Weber State, and the Saints gave Jermaine Jackson (Idaho) a shot last year. Bergen’s former teammate at Montana, Malik Flowers, also tried out for them a couple of summers ago. Go back further and you’ll see Deonte Harty took the same path from Assumption, a Division II school in Massachusetts.
All of those guys entered the NFL as undrafted free agents, and that may be the case for Bergen, too. But the Saints own two picks late in the seventh round, at Nos. 248 and 254, so they may choose to beat the frenzy for rookie free agents and spend one of those picks on someone like Bergen. Stay tuned.
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