New Orleans Saints

Inaugural season: 1967

Home field: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans

Owner: Gayle Benson

Team colors: Gold, black, and white

Overview

The New Orleans Saints is an American football team that plays in the South division of the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL). The Saints were awarded to the city of New Orleans on November 1, 1966, becoming the sixteenth franchise in the NFL. The Saints name was chosen as a nod to the city’s jazz history, embodied by the old jazz standard, “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

For decades, the Saints history was largely one of futility and frustration. After their inaugural season in 1967, the team would not reach the playoffs until 1987, a period of more than twenty years. Even after overcoming that immense hurdle, the Saints’ first playoff victory did not come until 2000, when the franchise celebrated its thirty-fourth year. The Saint’s reputation as a hard-luck team was further enhanced after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, when the Superdome—the team’s home since their debut—was used as a temporary shelter for evacuees from the storm. In emotional scenes broadcast to the nation, more than 15,000 people were packed into the stadium after losing their homes when the city’s levees broke. The impact of the storm on the stadium and the city necessitated that the team play their home games in arenas in New Jersey, Texas, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the 2005 season. For a time, there were even concerns that the storm might drive the Saints away from their long-time home. However, the fan base rallied around the team like never before, selling out all of its home games for the first time before the season started. The storm helped mark a new phase in the Saints’ history, and in January 2010 the team won its first Super Bowl.

Despite its age, the Superdome remains one the largest NFL stadiums, seating a capacity of 73,208 people. Although New Orleans ranks as one of the smallest NFL markets—standing as the fourth smallest overall and ahead of only Memphis, Buffalo, and Green Bay—Saints fans regularly fill the Superdome. In 2023, the team drew an average of 70,020 fans per home game, which was good for the twelfth best attendance in the league. In 2024 Forbes magazine rated the New Orleans Saints as the twenty-seventh most valuable NFL sports franchise with an estimated worth of $4.08 billion.

History

Perhaps the New Orleans Saints resulted from political backroom deals more than any other NFL team. Notwithstanding being one of the largest cities in the South and one of its most unique and iconic tourist destinations, by 1965 it still lacked a professional sports franchise despite several years of civic campaigns. Although the city had been well-represented in several exhibition and preseason games held in the city, New Orleans’ real power lay behind the scenes with influential Louisiana politicians Congressman Hale Boggs and Senator Russell Long. When the rival NFL and American Football Leagues (AFL) announced that they would seek to merge into a single league, Boggs and Long sensed an opportunity.

The new NFL would need congressional approval to legally join a single entity. Boggs and Long met privately with NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle and informed him that their votes and assistance were contingent upon the NFL granting New Orleans its long-desired pro team. As the NFL considered adding new expansion teams to the even the ranks between the leagues, their deal seemed mutually advantageous, and the NFL announced the presentation of the team’s sixteenth franchise to New Orleans. The deal was made public on November 1 (All Saints’ Day) to capitalize on the team’s planned nickname of the Saints—a fact that was not lost on either the public or the media. Ownership was awarded to twenty-eight-year-old John Mecom, Jr., the son of a wealthy oil magnate, for $8.5 million. Mecom would later resell the team for $64 million in 1985 to New Orleans businessman Tom Benson.

For its inaugural season in 1967, the Saints chose former Atlanta Falcons assistant coach, Tom Fears as its first coach. Fears became the first Latin-American head coach in NFL history with the selection. As expected, the first years of the New Orleans franchise were filled with growing pains. Although two members of its initial 1967 line-up—fullback Jim Taylor and defensive end Doug Atkins—would later be inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the first team went 3–11. As the team's struggles extended into lengths of time measured by decades, the fans and the team ownership would grow increasingly impatient at the team’s inability to reach the playoffs.

Under Fears, the Saints went 13–34–2 over three-and-a-half seasons. Rather than show improvement from season-to-season, the Saints seemed to regress in his fourth year at the helm, and after a 1–5–1 start to the 1970 campaign, the Saints fired Fears and replaced him with J.D. Roberts, the head coach of the Continental Football League’s Richmond Roadrunners. Roberts was given only two seasons and twenty-eight games to turn the team’s fortunes around. After going 6–19–3 and finishing last in the NFC West division both years, Mecom lost patience and fired him during the preseason.

Mecom’s frustrations with the team became increasingly apparent as the team continued to fail to find their way to the postseason. Roberts was replaced with John North, who lasted only thirty-six games and two-and-a-half seasons. Like both Fears and Roberts, he was fired during the season. Hank Stram, the mastermind of the Kansas City Chiefs turnaround in the 1960s and early 1970s, arrived in 1975, but was given only twenty-eight games to fix the Saints. He was in turn replaced with Dick Nolan. Nolan managed fifteen wins in three seasons between 1978 and 1980, but like several of his predecessors, was dumped midseason after starting the 1980 season with twelve straight losses. Bum Phillips, the former head coach of the Houston Oilers arrived in New Orleans with some playoff success. He managed to hang on for four and a half seasons before joining the unemployed list amid a 4–8 campaign in 1985.

The Saints finally achieved a glimmer of success under Jim Mora, who was pulled from the coaching ranks of the United States Football League (USFL). In his second year, Mora guided the Saints to 12–3 record and their first playoff berth. Although the city was ecstatic, the joy was short-lived as the Minnesota Vikings crushed the Saints 44–10 in the Wild Card game. Mora would muster three more Wild Card playoff berths, but only one divisional title. After a 7–9 season, he was fired. Despite his limited success, his tenure marked a golden age, as subsequent coaches Mike Ditka (1997–1999) and Jim Haslett (2000–2005) only managed one playoff berth.

In 2006, the Saints tapped Sean Payton, an assistant coach for the Dallas Cowboys, as its fourteenth head coach. Coming off the emotionally charged 2005 Hurricane Katrina season, the Saints mounted an enormous turnaround, going 10–6 and earning only their second playoff win with a 27–24 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles before losing to the Chicago Bears 39–14 in the NFC Championship game. Although the Saints stumbled to 7–9 and 8–8 records in 2007 and 2008, the 2009 season would be magical. After going 13–3 in the regular season, Payton guided the Saints to their first Super Bowl win with a 31–17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. Over the next nine seasons, the Saints would see the playoffs five more times, recording a win in the playoffs in 2011, 2013, 2017, and 2018. Their 2018 season ended with an NFC Championship game loss in overtime to the Los Angeles Rams. The Saints would have great seasons in 2019 and 2020, posting 13-3 and 12-4 records. The Saints, however, would lose early in the playoffs both years. The death of owner Tom Benson also marked 2019.

2020 marked the retirement of quarterback Drew Brees, the most celebrated Saints player in their history. After ten years, one Super Bowl victory, and a Super Bowl MVP, the future Hall of Famer departed New Orleans.

The Saints experienced mediocracy beginning in 2021 when they finished 9-8. This prompted head coach Sean Peyton to resign after fifteen years.

In 2022, Dennis Allen was named head coach of the Saints. The team continued to struggle, going 7-10 in 2022. In 2023, the Saints acquired quarterback Derek Carr from the Raiders. In Carr's first year, the team finished with a winning 9-8 record but missed the playoffs for the third straight year.

Notable Players

As of 2024, the New Orleans Saints have ten players selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Of those, only three played more than three seasons with the Saints:

• Linebacker Rickey Jackson (played with the Saints from 1981–1993)who made 128 career sacks
• Offensive tackle Willie Roaf (1993–2001)
• Kicker Morten Andersen (1982–1994)who made 302 of 389 extra point attempts during his career

Several key players helped rise the Saints to prominence between 2006 and 2018. Among the most important were quarterback Drew Brees (2006–2020), who holds the Saints’ career records for passing. Brees regularly handed the ball off to running back Deuce McAllister (2001–2008), the team’s career record-holder for rushing yards with 6,096. The team’s all-time receptions leader was Marques Colston (2006–2015), who caught 711 passes for 9,759 yards. Other stars for the Saints include quarterback Archie Manning (1971–1982), wide receiver Joe Horn (2000–2006), tight end Jimmy Graham (2010–2014), center LeCharles Bentley (2002–2005), defensive end Wayne Martin (1989–2000), cornerback Jabari Greer (2009–2013), and running back Mark Ingram (2011–2018).

Bibliography

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“New Orleans Saints Sports Team History.” Sports Team History, sportsteamhistory.com/new-orleans-saints. Accessed 1 Aug 2019.

“New Orleans Saints Team History.” Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2024, www.profootballhof.com/teams/new-orleans-saints/team-history. Accessed 23 July 2024.

“NFL Attendance – 2023.” ESPN, 2024, www.espn.com/nfl/attendance. Accessed 21 July 2024.

Scott, Nate. “Refuge of Last Resort: Five Days Inside the Superdome for Hurricane Katrina.” USA Today, 24 Aug. 2015, www.sportsmediawatch.com/nba-market-size-nfl-mlb-nhl-nielsen-ratings. Accessed 1 Aug. 2019.

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Whiting, Jim. NFL Today: New Orleans Saints. Creative Paperbacks, 2019.