9 days until Saints opener: Every player to wear the No. 9 jersey

Nairavoice | Sep 4, 2026 36m ago 185 0 3 min read

9 days until Saints opener: Every player to wear the No. 9 jersey

Friday brings us down to just nine days before the New Orleans Saints play their 2026 regular-season opener at the Detroit Lions. Nobody currently wears No. 9 for the Saints. Nor should anyone ever again. Others wore the No. 9 jersey in New Orleans before legendary quarterback Drew Brees, but none who should wear it after him. Our countdown to kickoff series looks at Brees and the Saints before him who wore that uniform number

K Happy Feller (1972-73)
P George Winslow (1989)
QB Tommy Kramer (1990)
QB Jake Delhomme (1999)
QB Drew Brees (2006-20)

One of the better names in Saints history, Happy Feller didn’t exactly produce happy results with New Orleans. In two years as the team’s kicker, he hit only 10 of 23 (43.5%) of his field goal attempts. There wouldn’t be another player to wear No. 9 until 16 years later, when George Winslow punted for all of five games. Tommy Kramer had a good 13-year career with the Minnesota Vikings before joining New Orleans in his final season. He’d appear in only one game, completing 1 of 3 passes for 2 yards and an interception.

Lafayette native and Louisiana Ragin Cajuns star Jake Delhomme joined his hometown Saints after a stint in NFL Europe. He’d wear 9 and 12 with New Orleans, suiting up in No. 9 during the 1999 campaign. He made two starts wearing the number, going 1-1 while completing 42 of 76 throws (55.3%) for 521 yards with three touchdowns and five interceptions. Delhomme is also the answer to the trivia question of who was the last person to wear No. 9 prior to Drew Brees.

In 2006, new head coach Sean Payton tabbed former San Diego Chargers and Purdue Boilermakers star Brees to be his quarterback. Coming off reconstructive shoulder surgery, Brees rewarded his new coach’s confidence by leading the NFL with 4,418 passing yards and leading New Orleans to the NFC Championship Game. Over his 15 years as a Saint, New Orleans had a 142-86 regular-season record (.623), nine playoff appearances, seven division titles, three NFC title games, and a Super Bowl XLIV championship.

There have been 15 seasons of over 5,000 passing yards in NFL history. Brees is responsible for five of them, including 5,476 yards in 2011, which shattered a 27-year NFL single-season record. He retired after the 2020 season as the NFL’s all-time career leader in passing yards, touchdowns, completions, attempts, and completion percentage. Arguably the most accurate quarterback to ever play, Brees was a first-ballot inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2026.