List of New Orleans Saints first-round draft picks

Mark Ingram, Jr., one of the Saints' two first-round draft picks in 2011

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 Louisville defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins.

Player selections

*	Selected number one overall
†	= Pro Bowler

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

Deuce McAllister, a 2001 first-round pick

Year	Pick	Player name	Position	College	Notes
1967	26	Leslie Kelley	RB	Alabama
1968	7	Kevin Hardy	DE	Notre Dame
1969	17	John Shinners	G	Xavier
1970	10	Ken Burrough †	WR	Texas Southern
1971	2	Archie Manning †	QB	Mississippi
1972	8	Royce Smith	G	Georgia
1973	—	— No pick	—	—
1974	13	Rick Middleton	LB	Ohio State
1975	7	Larry Burton	WR	Purdue
1975	12	Kurt Schumacher	OT	Ohio State
1976	3	Chuck Muncie †	RB	California
1977	7	Joe Campbell	DE	Maryland
1978	3	Wes Chandler †	WR	Florida
1979	11	Russell Erxleben	PK	Texas
1980	12	Stan Brock	OT	Colorado
1981	1	George Rogers *†	RB	South Carolina
1982	13	Lindsay Scott	WR	Georgia
1983	—	— No pick	—	—
1984	—	— No pick	—	—
1985	24	Alvin Toles	LB	Tennessee
1986	6	Jim Dombrowski	OT	Virginia
1987	11	Shawn Knight	DT	Brigham Young
1988	24	Craig Heyward †	RB	Pittsburgh
1989	19	Wayne Martin †	DE	Arkansas
1990	14	Renaldo Turnbull †	DE	West Virginia
1991	—	— No pick	—	—
1992	21	Vaughn Dunbar	RB	Indiana
1993	8	Willie Roaf †	OT	Louisiana Tech
1993	20	Irv Smith	TE	Notre Dame
1994	13	Joe Johnson †	DE	Louisville
1995	13	Mark Fields	LB	Washington State
1996	11	Alex Molden	DB	Oregon
1997	10	Chris Naeole	G	Colorado
1998	7	Kyle Turley †	OT	San Diego State
1999	5	Ricky Williams †	RB	Texas
2000	—	— No pick	—	—
2001	23	Deuce McAllister †	RB	Mississippi
2002	13	Donté Stallworth	WR	Tennessee
2002	25	Charles Grant	DE	Georgia
2003	6	Johnathan Sullivan	DT	Georgia
2004	18	Will Smith †	DE	Ohio State
2005	13	Jammal Brown †	OT	Oklahoma
2006	2	Reggie Bush	RB	Southern California
2007	27	Robert Meachem	WR	Tennessee
2008	7	Sedrick Ellis	DT	Southern California
2009	14	Malcolm Jenkins	DB	Ohio State
2010	32	Patrick Robinson	CB	Florida State
2011	24	Cameron Jordan	DE	California
2011	28	Mark Ingram, Jr.	RB	Alabama
2013	15	Kenny Vaccaro	SS	Texas
2014	20	Brandin Cooks	WR	Oregon State
2015	13	Andrus Peat	OT	Stanford
2015	31	Stephone Anthony	LB	Clemson
2016	12	Sheldon Rankins	DT	Louisville

Footnotes

• ^A Each year is linked to an article about that particular NFL Draft.
• ^a The Saints traded their #1 overall pick to the Baltimore Colts for Gary Cuozzo. The #26 pick still remained in their possession.
• ^b The Saints traded their #5 overall pick to the Green Bay Packers and acquired this pick from the Minnesota Vikings.
• ^c The Saints traded their #7 overall pick to the San Francisco 49ers and acquired this pick from the Minnesota Vikings.
• ^d The Saints traded their #2 overall pick to the Baltimore Colts.
• ^e The Saints acquired this pick from the Detroit Lions.
• ^f The Saints acquired this pick from the New York Jets.
• ^g The Saints relinquished their 1st round pick after taking a supplemental pick in 1981. They acquired this pick from the Green Bay Packers.
• ^h The Saints traded their #11 overall pick to the Green Bay Packers.
• ⁱ The Saints traded their #15 overall pick to the New York Jets.
• ^j The Saints traded their #11 overall pick to the Houston Oilers and acquired the #24 overall pick from the Washington Redskins.
• ^k The Saints traded their #4 overall pick to the Baltimore Colts for this pick.

• ^l The Saints traded their #14 overall pick to the Dallas Cowboys.
• ^m The Saints acquired this pick from the Detroit Lions.
• ⁿ The Saints acquired this pick from the San Francisco 49ers.
• ^o The Saints acquired this pick from the New York Jets.
• ^p The Saints acquired this pick from the Oakland Raiders.
• ^q The Saints traded their #12 overall pick to the Washington Redskins as well as their 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th round picks, and their 1st and 3rd round picks in 2000 for this pick.
• ^r The Saints traded their #2 overall pick to the Washington Redskins as part of a trade during the 1999 Draft.
• ^s The Saints acquired this pick from the Miami Dolphins as well as a 4th round pick and a 1st round pick in 2003, for Ricky Williams and a 3rd round pick.
• ^t The Saints acquired this pick from the Arizona Cardinals along with a 2nd and 4th round picks, for their #17 and #18 overall picks and a 2nd round pick.
• ^u The Saints traded their #16 overall pick to the Houston Texans as well as a 3rd round pick in 2006 for this pick.
• ^v The Saints traded their #10 overall pick to the New England Patriots as well as a 3rd round pick for this pick.
• ^w The Saints acquired this pick from the New England Patriots for a 2nd round pick and a 1st round pick in 2012.

References

General

Specific