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. 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.
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, while with the 26th pick, they selected Leslie Kelley, a running back from Alabama. The Saints have selected first overall once, drafting George Rogers in 1981, second overall twice, drafting Archie Manning in 1971 and Reggie Bush in 2006, and third overall once, drafting Wes Chandler in 1978. The team's most recent first-round selection was wide receiver Jordyn Tyson in 2026 NFL draft.
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 roundPosition Indicates the position of the player in the NFLCollege The player's college football team
Player selections
+New Orleans Saints first-round draft picksYearPickPlayer namePositionCollegeNotes 1967 Running back Alabama 1968 Defensive end Notre Dame 1969 Guard Xavier 1970 † Wide receiver Texas Southern 1971 † Quarterback Mississippi 1972 Guard Georgia 1973— — No pick — — 1974 Linebacker Ohio State 1975 Larry Burton Wide receiver Purdue 1975 Offensive tackle Ohio State 1976 † Running back California 1977 Defensive end Maryland 1978 † Wide receiver Florida 1979 Placekicker Texas 1980 Offensive tackle Colorado 1981 *† Running back South Carolina 1982 Wide receiver Georgia 1983— — No pick — — 1984— — No pick — — 1985 Linebacker Tennessee 1986 Offensive tackle Virginia 1987 Defensive tackle Brigham Young 1988 † Running back Pittsburgh 1989 † Defensive end Arkansas 1990 † Defensive end West Virginia 1991— — No pick — — 1992 Running back Indiana 1993 ^ Offensive tackle Louisiana Tech 1993 Tight end Notre Dame 1994 † Defensive end Louisville 1995 Linebacker Washington State 1996 Defensive back Oregon 1997 Guard Colorado 1998 † Offensive tackle San Diego State 1999 † Running back Texas 2000— — No pick — — 2001 † Running back Mississippi 2002 Wide receiver Tennessee 2002 Defensive end Georgia 2003 Defensive tackle Georgia 2004 † Defensive end Ohio State 2005 † Offensive tackle Oklahoma 2006 Running back Southern California 2007 Wide receiver Tennessee 2008 Defensive tackle Southern California 2009 † Defensive back Ohio State 2010 Cornerback Florida State 2011 † Defensive end California 2011 † Running back Alabama 2012— — No pick — — 2013 Strong safety Texas 2014 Wide receiver Oregon State 2015 † Offensive tackle Stanford 2015 Linebacker Clemson 2016 Defensive tackle Louisville 2017 † Cornerback Ohio State 2017 Offensive tackle Wisconsin 2018 Defensive end UTSA 2019— — No pick — — 2020 Center Michigan 2021 Defensive end Houston 2022 Wide receiver Ohio State 2022 Offensive tackle Northern Iowa 2023 Defensive tackle Clemson 2024 Offensive tackle Oregon State 2025 Offensive tackle Texas20268Jordyn TysonWide receiverArizona State
Footnotes
References General
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