With 34 days left before the Saints open their 2026 season, a familiar number is sitting on a rookie cornerback. TJ Hall currently wears No. 34 for New Orleans, and the seventh-round pick is trying to fight his way into a crowded, young secondary. If he sticks, Hall would become the 20th player in franchise history to wear the jersey - though not all of them actually logged regular-season action in it.
New Orleans opens on the road against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Sept. 13, and Hall’s spot on the roster is still very much up for grabs. But the No. 34 lineage gives him a long list of predecessors, stretching from the late 1960s to the present day.
Tony Lorick was first. He wore No. 34 from 1968-69 and ran for 355 yards in 27 games.
Carlos Bell followed as the first Saints draft pick to wear the number, though the tight end’s New Orleans stay was short: one game, and one NFL game overall. Jess Phillips brought some steady production in the mid-1970s, playing 27 games as mostly a fullback and finishing with 1,219 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
The number really took off once Tony Galbreath arrived. After the Saints picked Chuck Muncie third overall in 1976, they grabbed Galbreath in the second round with the 32nd pick.
Together, Muncie and Galbreath formed the “Thunder and Lightning” backfield, and Galbreath became one of the most versatile players the team ever had. He played five seasons in New Orleans, the longest run by any player in No. 34, appearing in 75 games.
He piled up 2,865 rushing yards, added 284 catches for 2,221 yards, and scored 33 total touchdowns. Galbreath was traded to the Minnesota Vikings in the 1981 offseason, then was inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame in 1991 as the first running back honored there.
Not every No. 34 story was as smooth. Barry Word, a third-round pick in 1986, couldn’t play as a rookie because of a five-month prison sentence for cocaine distribution.
After that, he appeared in just 14 games for New Orleans as a backup before moving on. He later resurfaced with the Kansas City Chiefs and eventually put together a productive three-year stretch that included a 1,000-yard season.
Craig Heyward, selected 24th overall in 1988, gave the Saints another bruising runner. He wore No. 34 for five seasons and 66 games, rushing for 1,813 yards and 13 touchdowns.
That was the second-longest stint for the number, but weight and work ethic problems kept him from fully taking over the backfield. He was pushed out in 1993 and later had a 1,000-yard Pro Bowl season with Atlanta in 1995.
Ray Zellars came next in 1995, a second-round pick out of Notre Dame who played his entire four-year NFL career with the Saints. He suited up in 48 games and ran for 1,351 yards, but he never became the answer New Orleans wanted in the backfield. That disappointment helped set up one of the most infamous moves in franchise history.
In the 1999 draft, Mike Ditka traded away the Saints’ entire draft class that year - six picks - plus first- and third-rounders in 2000 to move up to fifth overall. New Orleans used that pick on Ricky Williams, the highest-drafted player to wear No. 34 for the Saints.
Williams delivered the numbers: consecutive 1,000-yard seasons in 2000 and 2001, 3,129 rushing yards, 18 touchdowns, and 38 games over three years. Still, the expectations were so enormous that the Saints sent him to the Miami Dolphins in 2002 for two first-round picks and a third-rounder.
The jersey eventually shifted toward defense. Tebucky Jones was the first defensive player to wear No. 34 after Williams was dealt, and he spent two seasons with the Saints, recording two interceptions and forcing two fumbles while struggling in coverage.
Mike McKenzie was the best defensive player to wear it. Acquired in late 2004, he switched to No. 34 in 2005 and kept it for five seasons and 58 games.
McKenzie picked off 13 passes, returned two for touchdowns, and broke up 51 more.
Patrick Robinson also wore the number after being drafted 32nd overall in 2010, but he moved to No. 21 after his rookie season and never quite lived up to the billing. Tim Hightower and Justin Hardee followed with useful runs in the jersey, with Hightower serving as a complementary back and Hardee standing out as a backup defensive back and one of the league’s better special teams players.
More recently, Tony Jones had a brief turn at running back, and Evan Hull did too last season. Kool-Aid McKinstry and Xazavian Valladay technically wore No. 34, but neither played a down in it. McKinstry had it through preseason as a rookie before changing to No. 14, and Valladay spent a few weeks on the practice squad in 2024 without game action.
Now it belongs to Hall, and if he makes the team, he’ll be the first defensive player since Hardee in 2020 to take the field in No. 34.
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