Consider the strange career of Mike Buck:

The former University of Maine quarterback spent the past four years riding the bench of the New Orleans Saints. Tuesday, the Saints released him.

Four seasons. Any reasonably with-it fan of the National Football League would expect to be able to judge from that amount of time whether a quarterback can or cannot play with the big boys.

The kneejerk response: “Buck got cut with two years remaining on his contract. It’s obvious the Saints think he can’t play. He can’t play.”

Buck advises you to make that judgment at your own risk.

“I’m very confident I can play at this level,” Buck warned, speaking from his house in New Orleans Thursday morning.

“I just want a chance to get some workouts with other teams and show them what I can do,” said the Oakdale, N.Y. native, who set 27 records at Maine from 1986-89. “I’ve seen other quarterbacks, even first-rounders, and I know how I compare.”

Bravado in the face of adversity? Confidence bordering on arrogance? Yeah, but that was always Buck. It’s part of what got him from Orono to New Orleans.

There is the suspicion Buck’s personality may be part of his losing the Saints’ QB numbers game. Saints head coach Jim Mora told the media the decision was strictly financial. Buck was too expensive. But NFL analyst Joe Theismann wrote last year in a preseason magazine that Buck’s attitude, so cool some might mistake it for indifference, rubbed Mora the wrong way.

“I never was rah-rah,” Buck admitted. “Could that have had something to do with it? I don’t know.”

There had to be something other than numbers at work here, didn’t there? Because the numbers don’t add up.

It’s easy to buy the Saints making a mistake by drafting Buck in the sixth round of the 1990 draft. But would they then re-sign such a mistake last year to a fairly gaudy $2.7 million three-year contract?

And if the Saints braintrust had doubts about Buck’s ability, would they, with their franchise’s well-known reputation for frugality, have given him $1.225 million of the money up front?

“They signed me to a decent contract, then they didn’t give me a chance to play. I can’t figure it out,” said Buck, who won’t get the remaining $1.475 million of the contract, which was conditional on his making the squad.

How the Saints used Buck is nothing if not puzzling.

In four seasons, Buck appeared in nine of 18 preseason games and eight regular-season games, never playing more than two quarters in any of them.

In the regular season he completed 35 of 60 passes – 58 percent – for 519 yards. He threw four touchdown passes. He was intercepted four times.

Those are pretty fair stats. But they were diluted, spread out over four years, coming in games where the Saints were either way behind or way ahead.

Buck started one regular season game – in zero-degree weather at Philadelphia last year. He was sacked and fumbled on an early possession. He stunk. He was done at halftime.

Was all of this a fair test of his ability?

“In the situation I was in, they knew I was trying to do too much,” Buck answered. “I wanted to be the starter without question. But in two quarters, it’s so damn hard. Every time I was playing with a different group of receivers. It’s so hard to get on the same page.”

So he sat behind Bobby Hebert. He sat behind Wade Wilson. When the Saints traded for Rams QB Jim Everett this past winter, Buck knew he would never be considered a contender for the starting job. He said getting released came as a relief.

“I was happy. It meant I could try and get another job somewhere where I can play,” said Buck, noting he would play for any team that wants him.

Can Buck play? Really? Only if another team takes a chance on him will we know.

“Obviously no one is going to take me as a starter,” said Buck, now 27 years old. “I’m not anybody’s prom queen. I wasn’t a first-round pick. I haven’t been a starter in the league, so I don’t have too much but my ability going for me.”

Ability that was seldom used in four years in New Orleans.

Consider the strange career of Mike Buck:

The former University of Maine quarterback spent the past four years riding the bench of the New Orleans Saints. Tuesday, the Saints released him.

Four seasons. Any reasonably with-it fan of the National Football League would expect to be able to judge from that amount of time whether a quarterback can or cannot play with the big boys.

The kneejerk response: “Buck got cut with two years remaining on his contract. It’s obvious the Saints think he can’t play. He can’t play.”

Buck advises you to make that judgment at your own risk.

“I’m very confident I can play at this level,” Buck warned, speaking from his house in New Orleans Thursday morning.

“I just want a chance to get some workouts with other teams and show them what I can do,” said the Oakdale, N.Y. native, who set 27 records at Maine from 1986-89. “I’ve seen other quarterbacks, even first-rounders, and I know how I compare.”

Bravado in the face of adversity? Confidence bordering on arrogance? Yeah, but that was always Buck. It’s part of what got him from Orono to New Orleans.

There is the suspicion Buck’s personality may be part of his losing the Saints’ QB numbers game. Saints head coach Jim Mora told the media the decision was strictly financial. Buck was too expensive. But NFL analyst Joe Theismann wrote last year in a preseason magazine that Buck’s attitude, so cool some might mistake it for indifference, rubbed Mora the wrong way.

“I never was rah-rah,” Buck admitted. “Could that have had something to do with it? I don’t know.”

There had to be something other than numbers at work here, didn’t there? Because the numbers don’t add up.

It’s easy to buy the Saints making a mistake by drafting Buck in the sixth round of the 1990 draft. But would they then re-sign such a mistake last year to a fairly gaudy $2.7 million three-year contract?

And if the Saints braintrust had doubts about Buck’s ability, would they, with their franchise’s well-known reputation for frugality, have given him $1.225 million of the money up front?

“They signed me to a decent contract, then they didn’t give me a chance to play. I can’t figure it out,” said Buck, who won’t get the remaining $1.475 million of the contract, which was conditional on his making the squad.

How the Saints used Buck is nothing if not puzzling.

In four seasons, Buck appeared in nine of 18 preseason games and eight regular-season games, never playing more than two quarters in any of them.

In the regular season he completed 35 of 60 passes – 58 percent – for 519 yards. He threw four touchdown passes. He was intercepted four times.

Those are pretty fair stats. But they were diluted, spread out over four years, coming in games where the Saints were either way behind or way ahead.

Buck started one regular season game – in zero-degree weather at Philadelphia last year. He was sacked and fumbled on an early possession. He stunk. He was done at halftime.

Was all of this a fair test of his ability?

“In the situation I was in, they knew I was trying to do too much,” Buck answered. “I wanted to be the starter without question. But in two quarters, it’s so damn hard. Every time I was playing with a different group of receivers. It’s so hard to get on the same page.”

So he sat behind Bobby Hebert. He sat behind Wade Wilson. When the Saints traded for Rams QB Jim Everett this past winter, Buck knew he would never be considered a contender for the starting job. He said getting released came as a relief.

“I was happy. It meant I could try and get another job somewhere where I can play,” said Buck, noting he would play for any team that wants him.

Can Buck play? Really? Only if another team takes a chance on him will we know.

“Obviously no one is going to take me as a starter,” said Buck, now 27 years old. “I’m not anybody’s prom queen. I wasn’t a first-round pick. I haven’t been a starter in the league, so I don’t have too much but my ability going for me.”

Ability that was seldom used in four years in New Orleans.