# 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. 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 offensive tackle Taliese Fuaga in 2024 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 round |
| Position | Indicates the position of the player in the NFL |
| College | The player's college football team |

## Player selections

New Orleans Saints first-round draft picks :
| Year | Pick | Player name | Position | College |
| 1967 | 26 | Leslie Kelley | Running back | Alabama |
| 1968 | 7 | Kevin Hardy | Defensive end | Notre Dame |
| 1969 | 17 | John Shinners | Guard | Xavier |
| 1970 | 10 | Ken Burrough † | Wide receiver | Texas Southern |
| 1971 | 2 | Archie Manning † | Quarterback | Mississippi |
| 1972 | 8 | Royce Smith | Guard | Georgia |
| 1973 | — | — No pick | — | — |
| 1974 | 13 | Rick Middleton | Linebacker | Ohio State |
| 1975 | 7 | Larry Burton | Wide receiver | Purdue |
| 1975 | 12 | Kurt Schumacher | Offensive tackle | Ohio State |
| 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 |
| 1983 | — | — No pick | — | — |
| 1984 | — | — No pick | — | — |
| 1985 | 24 | Alvin Toles | Linebacker | Tennessee |
| 1986 | 6 | Jim Dombrowski | Offensive tackle | Virginia |
| 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 | — | — |
| 1992 | 21 | Vaughn Dunbar | Running back | Indiana |
| 1993 | 8 | Willie Roaf ^ | Offensive tackle | Louisiana Tech |
| 1993 | 20 | Irv Smith | Tight end | Notre Dame |
| 1994 | 13 | Joe Johnson † | Defensive end | Louisville |
| 1995 | 13 | Mark Fields | Linebacker | Washington State |
| 1996 | 11 | Alex Molden | Defensive back | Oregon |
| 1997 | 10 | Chris Naeole | Guard | Colorado |
| 1998 | 7 | Kyle Turley † | Offensive tackle | San Diego State |
| 1999 | 5 | Ricky Williams † | Running back | Texas |
| 2000 | — | — No pick | — | — |
| 2001 | 23 | Deuce McAllister † | Running back | Mississippi |
| 2002 | 13 | Donté Stallworth | Wide receiver | Tennessee |
| 2002 | 25 | Charles Grant | Defensive end | Georgia |
| 2003 | 6 | Johnathan Sullivan | Defensive tackle | Georgia |
| 2004 | 18 | Will Smith † | Defensive end | Ohio State |
| 2005 | 13 | Jammal Brown † | Offensive tackle | Oklahoma |
| 2006 | 2 | Reggie Bush | Running back | Southern California |
| 2007 | 27 | Robert Meachem | Wide receiver | Tennessee |
| 2008 | 7 | Sedrick Ellis | Defensive tackle | Southern California |
| 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 |
| 2012 | — | — No pick | — | — |
| 2013 | 15 | Kenny Vaccaro | Strong safety | Texas |
| 2014 | 20 | Brandin Cooks | Wide receiver | Oregon State |
| 2015 | 13 | Andrus Peat † | Offensive tackle | Stanford |
| 2015 | 31 | Stephone Anthony | Linebacker | Clemson |
| 2016 | 12 | Sheldon Rankins | Defensive tackle | Louisville |
| 2017 | 11 | Marshon Lattimore † | Cornerback | Ohio State |
| 2017 | 32 | Ryan Ramczyk | Offensive tackle | Wisconsin |
| 2018 | 14 | Marcus Davenport | Defensive end | UTSA |
| 2019 | — | — No pick | — | — |
| 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

* ↑ The Saints traded their #1 overall pick to the Baltimore Colts for Gary Cuozzo. The #26 pick still remained in their possession.
* ↑ The Saints traded their #5 overall pick to the Green Bay Packers and acquired this pick from the Minnesota Vikings.
* ↑ The Saints traded their #7 overall pick to the San Francisco 49ers and acquired this pick from the Minnesota Vikings.
* ↑ The Saints traded their #2 overall pick to the Baltimore Colts.
* ↑ The Saints acquired this pick from the Detroit Lions.
* ↑ The Saints acquired this pick from the New York Jets.
* ↑ The Saints relinquished their 1st round pick after taking a supplemental pick in 1981. They acquired this pick from the Green Bay Packers.
* ↑ The Saints traded their #11 overall pick to the Green Bay Packers.
* ↑ The Saints traded their #15 overall pick to the New York Jets.
* ↑ The Saints traded their #11 overall pick to the Houston Oilers and acquired the #24 overall pick from the Washington Redskins.
* ↑ The Saints traded their #4 overall pick to the Baltimore Colts for this pick.
* ↑ The Saints traded their #14 overall pick to the Dallas Cowboys.
* ↑ The Saints acquired this pick from the Detroit Lions.
* ↑ The Saints acquired this pick from the San Francisco 49ers.
* ↑ The Saints acquired this pick from the New York Jets.
* ↑ The Saints acquired this pick from the Oakland Raiders.
* 1 2 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 a 1st round pick in 1999.
* ↑ The Saints acquired this pick from the Miami Dolphins as well as a 4th round pick and a 1st round pick (#18) in 2003, for Ricky Williams and a 3rd round pick.
* ↑ 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.
* ↑ The Saints traded their #16 overall pick to the Houston Texans as well as a 3rd round pick in 2006 for this pick.
* ↑ The Saints traded their #10 overall pick to the New England Patriots as well as a 3rd round pick for this pick and a 5th round pick.
* 1 2 The Saints acquired a 1st round pick in 2011 from the New England Patriots for a 2nd round pick and a 1st round pick in 2012.
* ↑ The Saints acquired this pick from the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for their first and third round picks (27th & 91st).
* ↑ The Saints acquired this pick and center Max Unger from the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for their fourth round selection (112th) and tight end Jimmy Graham.
* ↑ The Saints acquired this (32nd) and third-round (103rd) picks from the New England Patriots in exchange for their fourth-round selection (118th) and wide receiver Brandin Cooks.
* 1 2 The Saints acquired this pick from the Green Bay Packers in exchange for their first- and fifth-round selections (27th and 147th) and a first-round selection in 2019.