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](http://saints50.com/all50team "Saints All-50th Team")
NEW ORLEANS - The New Orleans Saints announced today a listing of the top 50 players in franchise history, as voted on by a special committee of selectors, including the members of the New Orleans Saints Ring of Honor, Saints personnel executives, a blue-ribbon panel of media members and through online balloting on NewOrleansSaints.com.
The selection of the players that compromise the team was on an individual merit-based platform, and thus not on a pre-determined specific number of players at each position. An example was the selection of six linebackers, including the entire starting unit of the fabled "Dome Patrol" (Rickey Jackson, Pat Swilling, Vaughan Johnson and the late Sam Mills), as well as Jonathan Vilma and Joe Federspiel. Other position groups, such as fullback, punter and kicker, each garnered one selection each. Special teams standouts also played an important part in the formation of the All-50th New Orleans Saints team.
"It is a thrill and an honor to see the names of these terrific football players who reached the highest levels of success and were looked upon so favorably by the fans of the team, the media, and those that follow the game so closely," said Saints Owner Tom Benson. "Some of these selections were rather obvious, but others merited great discussion and debate and it became fascinating to watch the process of identifying the team play itself out. These are all deserving men and it's not a slight on the countless others who certainly fit very well into the conversation. We look forward to welcoming them back to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in December."
The following players, listed in alphabetical order by last name, have been identified as the top 50 players in New Orleans Saints history:
| WR Danny Abramowicz K Morten Andersen C LeCharles Bentley QB Drew Brees* TE Hoby Brenner T Stan Brock PR Reggie Bush* TE Henry Childs WR Marques Colston G Jim Dombrowski G Senio Kelemete LB Joe Federspiel FB Hokie Gajan ST Steve Gleason DT La'Roi Glover TE Jimmy Graham* S Roman Harper QB Bobby Hebert C Joel Hilgenberg C John Hill RB Dalton Hilliard WR Joe Horn PR/KR Tyrone Hughes LB Rickey Jackson DE Joe Johnson | LB Vaughan Johnson S Sammy Knight G Jake Kupp RS Michael Lewis WR Eric Martin DL Wayne Martin QB Archie Manning RB/ST Fred McAfee RB Deuce McAllister LB Sam Mills DT Derland Moore P Thomas Morstead* S Tommy Myers G Carl Nicks CB Johnnie Poe T Willie Roaf DE Will Smith T Jon Stinchcomb LB Pat Swilling RB Pierre Thomas LB Jonathan Vilma DE Frank Warren CB Dave Waymer CB Dave Whitsell DT Jim Wilks |
*indicates currently on Saints roster *indicates currently active in NFL with another team
*
43 of the players on the 50th Season all-star roster currently are alive, while unfortunately seven of the members are deceased. Each season of Saints football has been accounted for in the selection of the team, beginning with the inaugural 1967 season (WR Danny Abramowicz, G Jake Kupp and CB Dave Whitsell), through the current 2016 team (QB Drew Brees, S Roman Harper, G Jahri Evans and P Thomas Morstead). Several members of the Saints' Super Bowl XLIV Championship team are represented on the team (Brees, Harper, Morstead, Vilma, T Jon Stinchcomb, Evans, G Carl Nicks, RB Pierre Thomas, WR Marques Colston, DE Will Smith, and Return Specialist Reggie Bush). Special teams categories merited special consideration, as well, as several players earned spots through their tremendous contributions in that aspect of the game, including K Morten Andersen, P Thomas Morstead, return specialists Tyrone Hughes, Michael Lewis and Reggie Bush, and coverage dynamos Steve Gleason and Fred McAfee.
The members of the New Orleans Saints All-50th Season Team will be honored during the Saints vs. Detroit Lions game on December 4, 2016.
