List of New Orleans Saints first-round draft picks

The New Orleans Saints joined the National Football League (NFL) as an expansion team in 1967 and first participated in the 1967 NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting, more commonly known as the NFL draft.^[1] In the NFL Draft, each NFL franchise annually seeks to add new players to its roster. Teams are ranked in inverse order based on the previous season's record, with the worst record picking first, and the second-worst picking second and so on. The team which wins the Super Bowl receives the last pick in the subsequent Draft, with the penultimate pick going to the losing team. Teams have the option of trading away their picks to other teams for different picks, players, cash, or a combination thereof. Thus, it is not uncommon for a team's actual draft pick to differ from their assigned draft pick, or for a team to have extra or no draft picks in any round due to these trades.^[2]

In the 1967 NFL Draft, the Saints had two first-round picks; first and last. They traded away the first overall pick to the Baltimore Colts,^[3] while with the 26th pick, they selected Leslie Kelley, a running back from Alabama.^[4] The Saints have selected first overall once, drafting George Rogers in 1981,^[5] second overall twice, drafting Archie Manning in 1971 and Reggie Bush in 2006,^[6] and third overall once, drafting Wes Chandler in 1978.^[4] The team's most recent first-round selection was defensive tackle Bryan Bresee in 2023.

Key

Table key
^	Indicates the player was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
*	Selected number one overall
†	Indicates the player was selected for the Pro Bowl at any time in their career.
—	The Saints did not draft a player in the first round that year.
Year	Each year links to an article about that particular NFL Draft.
Pick	Indicates the number of the pick within the first round
Position	Indicates the position of the player in the NFL
College	The player's college football team

Player selections

Reggie Bush, the Saints first-round draft pick in 2006

New Orleans Saints first-round draft picks
Year	Pick	Player name	Position	College	Notes
1967	26	Leslie Kelley	Running back	Alabama	^[a]
1968	7	Kevin Hardy	Defensive end	Notre Dame	^[b]
1969	17	John Shinners	Guard	Xavier	^[c]
1970	10	Ken Burrough †	Wide receiver	Texas Southern
1971	2	Archie Manning †	Quarterback	Mississippi
1972	8	Royce Smith	Guard	Georgia
1973	—	— No pick	—	—	^[d]
1974	13	Rick Middleton	Linebacker	Ohio State	^[e]
1975	7	Larry Burton	Wide receiver	Purdue
1975	12	Kurt Schumacher	Offensive tackle	Ohio State	^[f]
1976	3	Chuck Muncie †	Running back	California
1977	7	Joe Campbell	Defensive end	Maryland
1978	3	Wes Chandler †	Wide receiver	Florida
1979	11	Russell Erxleben	Placekicker	Texas
1980	12	Stan Brock	Offensive tackle	Colorado
1981	1	George Rogers *†	Running back	South Carolina
1982	13	Lindsay Scott	Wide receiver	Georgia	^[g]
1983	—	— No pick	—	—	^[h]
1984	—	— No pick	—	—	^[i]
1985	24	Alvin Toles	Linebacker	Tennessee	^[j]
1986	6	Jim Dombrowski	Offensive tackle	Virginia	^[k]
1987	11	Shawn Knight	Defensive tackle	Brigham Young
1988	24	Craig Heyward †	Running back	Pittsburgh
1989	19	Wayne Martin †	Defensive end	Arkansas
1990	14	Renaldo Turnbull †	Defensive end	West Virginia
1991	—	— No pick	—	—	^[l]
1992	21	Vaughn Dunbar	Running back	Indiana
1993	8	Willie Roaf ^	Offensive tackle	Louisiana Tech	^[m]
1993	20	Irv Smith	Tight end	Notre Dame	^[n]
1994	13	Joe Johnson †	Defensive end	Louisville	^[o]
1995	13	Mark Fields	Linebacker	Washington State
1996	11	Alex Molden	Defensive back	Oregon
1997	10	Chris Naeole	Guard	Colorado	^[p]
1998	7	Kyle Turley †	Offensive tackle	San Diego State
1999	5	Ricky Williams †	Running back	Texas	^[q]
2000	—	— No pick	—	—	^[q]
2001	23	Deuce McAllister †	Running back	Mississippi
2002	13	Donté Stallworth	Wide receiver	Tennessee
2002	25	Charles Grant	Defensive end	Georgia	^[r]
2003	6	Johnathan Sullivan	Defensive tackle	Georgia	^[s]
2004	18	Will Smith †	Defensive end	Ohio State
2005	13	Jammal Brown †	Offensive tackle	Oklahoma	^[t]
2006	2	Reggie Bush	Running back	Southern California
2007	27	Robert Meachem	Wide receiver	Tennessee
2008	7	Sedrick Ellis	Defensive tackle	Southern California	^[u]
2009	14	Malcolm Jenkins †	Defensive back	Ohio State
2010	32	Patrick Robinson	Cornerback	Florida State
2011	24	Cameron Jordan †	Defensive end	California
2011	28	Mark Ingram II †	Running back	Alabama	^[v]
2012	—	— No pick	—	—	^[v]
2013	15	Kenny Vaccaro	Strong safety	Texas
2014	20	Brandin Cooks	Wide receiver	Oregon State	^[w]
2015	13	Andrus Peat †	Offensive tackle	Stanford
2015	31	Stephone Anthony	Linebacker	Clemson	^[x]
2016	12	Sheldon Rankins	Defensive tackle	Louisville
2017	11	Marshon Lattimore †	Cornerback	Ohio State
2017	32	Ryan Ramczyk	Offensive tackle	Wisconsin	^[y]
2018	14	Marcus Davenport	Defensive end	UTSA	^[z]
2019	—	— No pick	—	—	^[z]
2020	24	Cesar Ruiz	Center	Michigan
2021	28	Payton Turner	Defensive end	Houston
2022	11	Chris Olave	Wide receiver	Ohio State
2022	19	Trevor Penning	Offensive tackle	Northern Iowa
2023	29	Bryan Bresee	Defensive tackle	Clemson
2024	14	Taliese Fuaga	Offensive tackle	Oregon State

Footnotes

References

General

"NFL Draft History: First Round by Team: New Orleans Saints". National Football League official Web site. Retrieved 2017-09-24.
"New Orleans Saints". drafthistory.com. Retrieved 2017-09-24.

Specific

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[6]

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[h]

[i]

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[k]

[l]

[m]

[n]

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[p]

[q]

[r]

[s]

[t]

[u]

[v]

[w]

[x]

[y]

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Search

List of New Orleans Saints first-round draft picks

Contents

Key

Player selections

Footnotes

References