Take a look behind the scenes as Saints football operations prepares for the team's first round selection.
• With the 14th pick overall, New Orleans selected Texas-San Antonio defensive end Marcus Davenport.
• Davenport is the second player selected in the NFL Draft out of Texas-San Antonio, joining Vikings tight end David Morgan, who was a sixth-round pick in 2016.
• This was the fourth time in franchise history that New Orleans has selected a player with the 14th pick in the NFL Draft, joining defensive end Renaldo Turnbull (1990), cornerback Malcolm Jenkins (2009) and safety Kenny Vaccaro (2013).
• Davenport is the 10th defensive end selected by New Orleans in the first round, joining Kevin Hardy (1968), Joe Campbell (1977), Shawn Knight (1987), Wayne Martin (1989), Turnbull (1990), Joe Johnson (1994), Charles Grant (2002), Will Smith (2004) and Cameron Jordan (2011). The 10 defensive ends are the most selected positionwise in the first round in club history by the Saints.
• The 6-foot-6, 265-pound Davenport played in 46 career games with 34 starts at UTSA and posted career totals of 186 tackles (97 solo), 38 tackles for loss, 22 sacks, four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and eight passes defensed.
• As a senior in 2017, Davenport started all 11 games he played and posted 55 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and four passes defensed as he was tabbed the Conference USA Defensive Player of the year and first-team All-Conference.
• It marks the second consecutive year the Saints have selected the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year, after DE Trey Hendrickson was selected in the third round out of Florida Atlantic after capturing the award in 2016.
• A native of San Antonio, Davenport has multiple family members from New Orleans including his father, Ron and his grandfather Artis Davenport II, who is a member of the Allstate Sugar Bowl's Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame for a legendary career as head coach of Southern University of New Orleans' track and field program. He is also a member of the inaugural Athletic Hall of Fame class at SUNO, where as head coach his men's outdoor teams won NCAA Division III national championships three times, as well as NAIA Division I women's indoor and outdoor championships in 1995 and 1997. Dr. Davenport also coached at Dillard and Alcorn State and served in the U.S. Army as an infantry officer.
• Davenport graduated from UTSA with a degree in multidisciplinary studies in December 2017.
See photos of the New Orleans Saints No. 14 draft pick, Marcus Davenport from UTSA. Draft coverage is presented by Dixie Light.
