I'm not sure whether I missed this completely or whether I knew about it at the time and got so distracted by the lockout that I just plain forgot, but apparently Tracy Porter had microfracture surgery and a clean -up procedure on this left knee shortly after the season. Was I the only one who didn't know about this? It was mentioned amid other Saints news bits in this Times-Pic article yesterday morning. 

Unlike wide receiver Robert Meachem, who is apparently in the best shape of his NFL career, Porter's still got a little way to go. The article details what trainer Wyatt Harris had to say about the cornerback:

Porter has been running and doing "all of his functional movement," such as backpedaling and change of direction work. Harris labeled Porter as "ahead of schedule" but said he has been running "with caution" and has not been doing a lot of full acceleration yet.    

Tracy is currently expected to be healed in time for the regular season. Which, in my opinion, is cutting it close. And does that really mean he's going to be 100%, particularly after rehabbing during training camp. If I were to take a cautiously optimistic viewpoint, I could say that Tracy might not be truly ready to go when the Saints kick it off against the Packers. 

Which means someone else will be getting a lot more reps during training camp and have a chance to impress coaches. Someone else may even need to start Week 1 if Porter isn't ready. No doubt that someone will be Patrick Robinson. Robinson is entering his sophomore season, which looks promising after showing flashes of talent last year. Does he have what it will take? Hopefully the lockout thus far hasn't screwed up any of of his development.

So our topic of discussion and debate today is Mr. Robinson and the cornerback position. Will Tracy Porter really be ready to go by the start of the season? Will Patrick Robinson impress this training camp?