New Orleans Saints · History

The New Orleans Saints are a professional football franchise based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The NFL awarded the franchise on November 1, 1966, and the team began play in 1967. It competes in the NFC South and plays at the Caesars Superdome.

Founding and the Early Seasons

The franchise was awarded on All Saints' Day, which gave the team its name and the fleur-de-lis on its helmet. John Mecom Jr., a Houston oilman, was the first owner. The debut came on September 17, 1967 at Tulane Stadium: John Gilliam returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown and the team still lost 27-13 to the Los Angeles Rams. Tom Fears was the first head coach. On November 8, 1970, Tom Dempsey kicked a 63-yard field goal to beat the Detroit Lions, an NFL record that stood for 43 years, struck by a kicker born without toes on his kicking foot.

From Tulane Stadium to the Caesars Superdome

The club moved in 1975 into the Louisiana Superdome, opened that August at a cost of about $134 million and seating roughly 73,000 for football. The building was renamed in 2011 and again in 2021. The only season played away from the city was 2005, split between three stadiums after Hurricane Katrina.

The Aints and the First Winning Season

It took New Orleans twenty years to finish a season above .500. The 1980 team went 1-15 and fans started showing up at the Superdome with paper bags over their heads, an idea from journalist Buddy Diliberto, calling the team the Aints. Bum Phillips coached from 1981 to 1985. Tom Benson, a local car dealer, bought the franchise in 1985 and hired Jim Mora, who coached from 1986 to 1996. In 1987 the team went 12-3, made the playoffs for the first time and Mora was named coach of the year; Minnesota won the wild-card game 44-10.

The Dome Patrol

The defense of those years had the best set of linebackers in the league: Rickey Jackson, Sam Mills, Vaughan Johnson and Pat Swilling, all four starters named to the Pro Bowl after the 1992 season, something no other group had managed. They are known as the Dome Patrol. Swilling was Defensive Player of the Year in 1991. Jackson, with the club from 1981 to 1993, became in 2010 the first player who spent most of his career in New Orleans to reach the Hall of Fame.

Ditka, Ricky Williams and the First Playoff Win

Mike Ditka coached from 1997 to 1999. In the 1999 draft he traded every pick the club held, plus a first- and a third-rounder the following year, to move up to fifth and take running back Ricky Williams. The team finished 3-13 and Ditka was fired. The club did not win a postseason game until December 30, 2000, when it knocked out the defending champion St. Louis Rams 31-28. Jim Haslett was the head coach and Aaron Brooks the quarterback. Haslett stayed through 2005.

Katrina and the Superdome Reopening

Hurricane Katrina flooded the city in August 2005 and damaged the Superdome, which sheltered tens of thousands of people. The team split that season between San Antonio, Baton Rouge and East Rutherford, finished 3-13 and had a permanent move to San Antonio on the table. In 2006 it hired Sean Payton and signed Drew Brees, who had been passed over elsewhere after a shoulder injury. The Superdome reopened on September 25, 2006 against the Atlanta Falcons: Steve Gleason blocked a punt in the first quarter and New Orleans won 23-3. That play has had a statue outside the stadium since 2012. The team reached its first NFC Championship Game that season and lost in Chicago.

Super Bowl XLIV

The 2009 team won its first thirteen games. In the NFC Championship Game it beat the Minnesota Vikings 31-28 in overtime on a Garrett Hartley field goal. On February 7, 2010, New Orleans beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV in Miami. Payton called an onside kick to open the second half, and Tracy Porter intercepted Peyton Manning and scored with three minutes left. Brees was named the game's MVP. It remains the only championship in franchise history.

The Bounty Program

In March 2012 the NFL punished the club for paying players bonuses to injure opponents. Payton was suspended for the full season, general manager Mickey Loomis for eight games and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams indefinitely. The team also lost two second-round picks and paid a $500,000 fine. It was the first time the league had sidelined a head coach for an entire year.

Brees, the Lost Title Games and the Handover

Brees threw for 5,476 yards in 2011, past the record Dan Marino had held since 1984, and broke the career passing yardage record on October 8, 2018. He retired after the 2020 season with 80,358 yards and 571 touchdown passes. The team lost two straight conference title games: in January 2018 to Minnesota's 61-yard touchdown pass on the final play, and on January 20, 2019 to the Los Angeles Rams 26-23 in overtime, in a game defined by a pass interference the officials did not call, which pushed the league to make that foul reviewable the following season. Michael Thomas caught 149 passes in 2019, a single-season league record. Payton left in January 2022, Dennis Allen coached until November 2024 and Kellen Moore was hired in February 2025.

Retired Numbers and Franchise Records

The club has retired three numbers: Jim Taylor's 31, Rickey Jackson's 57 and Doug Atkins's 81. Brees is the franchise's career passing leader, Deuce McAllister its leading rusher and Marques Colston its leading receiver by yards, a seventh-round pick taken 252nd overall in 2006. Kicker Morten Andersen, with the club from 1982 to 1994, is the franchise's leading scorer and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2017. Tackle Willie Roaf and Sam Mills are also in Canton. Alvin Kamara, a third-round pick in 2017, was Offensive Rookie of the Year, and defensive end Cameron Jordan, a 2011 first-rounder, is the club's career sack leader.

Atlanta, Who Dat and the Ownership

The rivalry with Atlanta dates from the team's first season, 1967, and is the oldest the club has; since 2002 they have shared the NFC South with the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay. The crowd has answered the "Who Dat" chant since the early 1980s and celebrates wins with the brass bands of the second line. Tom Benson died in March 2018 and his widow, Gayle Benson, inherited the club.