Associated Press photos of new Saints LB Davis Tull.
New Orleans Saints Executive Vice President/General Manager Mickey Loomis announced Monday that the club has agreed to terms with LB Hau'oli Kikaha and QB Garrett Grayson on four-year contracts and has signed LB Davis Tull, DL Tyeler Davison, CB Damian Swann and RB/RS Marcus Murphy to four-year deals.
Kikaha, 22, was selected by the Saints in the second round of the 2015 NFL draft with the 44th selection overall out of Washington. The 6-foot-3, 246-pounder played in 44 games in his career and recorded 206 tackles, a school-record 36 sacks, six passes defensed, seven forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. Last season, Kikaha started all 14 games he played in and led the nation with 19 sacks as he became only the fifth unanimous All-American in Husky history.
Grayson (6-2, 220) was selected 75th overall by the Saints in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft out of Colorado State. The Vancouver, Wash. native established or tied 16 school records over his four-year career, including passing yards (9,190), 300-yard passing games (11), completions (688) and touchdown passes (64). Grayson started all 13 games as a senior in 2014 and completed 270-of-420 passes for 4,006 yards and 32 touchdowns, leading the Mountain West Conference in passing yards and touchdown passes. He was named Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year and was a first-team All-Conference selection.
Tull, 23, was selected by the Saints in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL draft with the 148th selection overall out of Chattanooga. The 6-foot-3, 240-pounder played in 48 games in his career and recorded 196 tackles and 37 sacks. Last season, Tull played in all 14 games on the defensive line and finished with 58 tackles and a Southern Conference-leading 10.5 sacks in earning conference player-of-the-year and Associated Press FCS first-team All-American honors.
Davison, 22, was selected by the Saints in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft with the 154th selection overall out of Fresno State. The 6-foot-2, 309-pounder played in 53 games and registered 161 total tackles and 18 sacks. Last season, Davison was a first-team All-Mountain West selection, as he racked up single-season career-highs in tackles (61), sacks (8.5) and forced fumbles (two).
Swann, 22, was selected by the Saints in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft with the 167th selection overall out of Georgia. The 5-foot-11, 180-pounder played in 50 games with 40 starts over his career and registered 180 tackles, four sacks, eight interceptions, 21 passes defensed, six forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. He was an AP second-team All-SEC selection as a senior when he started all 12 games he played in and finished with 65 tackles, four interceptions, a team-best and SEC-high four forced fumbles and one 99-yard fumble return brought back for a touchdown.
Murphy, 23, was selected by the Saints in the seventh round of the 2015 NFL Draft with the 230th selection out of Missouri. The 5-foot-9, 195-pounder played in 52 games over his career and carried 337 times for 1,957 yards (5.8 avg.) with 16 touchdowns, caught 50 passes for 318 yards with two touchdowns, brought back 75 punts for 801 yards (10.7 avg.) with four touchdowns and returned 87 kickoffs for 2,036 yards with three scores. As a senior, he was named the Southeastern Conference's Special Teams Player of the Year when he led the conference with 1,921 all-purpose yards, finishing with 924 rushing yards, 212 receiving yards, 281 punt return yard, 504 kickoff return yards and nine total touchdowns.