Drew Brees is finally getting his place in the Caesars Superdome rafters on Sunday, and that part of the Saints’ Ring of Honor conversation has long since been settled.
The bigger question now is who comes after him.
The Ring of Honor is a tighter club than the Saints Hall of Fame, reserved for former players, administrators and others who made major contributions to the franchise. The Hall of Fame will be up to 63 members after Terron Armstead and Mark Ingram are inducted next month.
The Ring of Honor, by contrast, will sit at nine after Brees goes in during Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings. He’ll join Rickey Jackson, Archie Manning, Willie Roaf, Morten Andersen, Tom Benson, Will Smith, Sam Mills and Jahri Evans.
If the Saints are looking for the next wave of names, there are five that stand out.
Jim Mora is first on the list, and maybe he should already be there. The Saints didn’t finish above .500 in their first 19 seasons.
Then Mora arrived in Year 20 and changed the whole tone of the franchise. In his second season, New Orleans went 12-3, the first double-digit win total in team history, and reached the playoffs for the first time.
The Saints would make the postseason in four of Mora’s first seven years, and the paper bags were gone.
Jim Finks belongs in the conversation too. He only spent seven seasons in New Orleans, but his impact was enormous.
Finks hired Mora and was named NFL executive of the year in 1986 after that 12-win season. His work with the Saints, along with his time running the Vikings and Bears, landed him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995.
Sean Payton’s case is just as strong, and it starts with the fact that he is the winningest coach in franchise history. In Saints history, Payton is to coaches what Brees is to players.
He set the standard, and every coach who follows will be judged against it. The wins and the Super Bowl are enough on their own.
But Payton also arrived in New Orleans and helped breathe life into a city that was going through a very difficult time.
Then there’s a two-for-one entry: Pat Swilling and Vaughan Johnson. That’s a little bit of cheating, but it fits the moment.
All four members of the Dome Patrol deserve recognition, and Jackson and Mills are already in the Ring of Honor. Still, the Dome Patrol was so iconic and so respected around the NFL that Swilling and Johnson should be next.
Before Brees, that defense was what the Saints were known for.
Cam Jordan rounds out the list. He’s in Year 16 and has played more games in a Saints uniform than anyone else in team history.
He has the longevity, the production, the durability and the community work to match. He’s also one sack away from passing Lawrence Taylor and moving to No. 15 on the all-time sacks list.
Like Brees, his Ring of Honor case feels obvious.
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Saints Mourn Mike Ditka As Team Reflects On Memorable Run
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For New Orleans, Ditkas time on the sideline was brief, but it remains part of the teams long memory because of the outsized reputation he brought with him. The Saints statement reflected the respect that still followed him through the game, a reminder that even a short run in New Orleans can linger when the coach attached to it carried so much history. [Read more 🡒]