METAIRIE, La. -- Delvin Breaux's improbable comeback from a broken neck in high school will reach yet another milestone Sunday.
The New Orleans native will play his first game inside his hometown Superdome as a member of the New Orleans Saints in a preseason game against the Houston Texans.
"I can't wait. I want to show the Who Dat Nation what I can do," said the 25-year-old cornerback, who sat out last week's home opener with a minor injury.
This actually won't be the first time Breaux has played in the Dome. He got to play there as a kid in little league. He said the only detail he remembers is busting a touchdown run of about 80 yards on his team's first play from scrimmage.
The rest of Breaux's football career hasn't come so easy. He wasn't able to play college football after breaking three vertebrae in his neck and damaging a blood vessel while covering a kick for New Orleans' McDonough 35 High School in 2006. But he worked his way up through semipro football, the Arena Football League and the Canadian Football League before more than a dozen NFL teams offered tryouts this year.
"You hear his story, and obviously it's pretty amazing. ... It's one of those Michael Lewis stories that you want to write a book about," Saints coach Sean Payton said, referencing the former Saints kick returner who went from driving a beer truck down the road from the Saints' practice facility to making a Pro Bowl with them.
What has made Breaux's story even more remarkable this summer is that he has been thriving.
Payton said Breaux's workout with the team in the spring was "as good of a corner workout as I have seen in a long time" and said the Saints did everything they could to make sure he signed a contract before he left the building.
The 6-foot-1, 196-pounder has continued to impress all summer and appears to have emerged as the Saints' nickel cornerback. He will likely get the starting nod Sunday since veteran Brandon Browner is still out with an injury.
Receivers Joe Morgan and Josh Morgan raved about Breaux's strength -- both saying in separate interviews that you can't let Breaux get your hands on you or you're done.
Josh Morgan laughed when he was asked about him.
"I call him vise grip," Josh Morgan said. "Once he gets his hands on you, he's locked on like a pit bull. I'm not saying he's holding or anything, just that his strength is rare in the secondary."
Assistant head coach Joe Vitt called Breaux a "real pleasant surprise." Vitt said Breaux still has to go through a learning curve with the various formations and man and zone concepts, but he said he has "great coverage skills."
"I think he's gonna be a superstar," safety Kenny Vaccaro said.
