24 days until Saints season opener: Every player to wear No. 24

USA Today

a day ago

From Milton Mack and Mario Bates to Vonn Bell
There are 24 days left before the New Orleans Saints take on the Arizona Cardinals in the Superdome for their regular season opener. Veteran safety Terrell Burgess wears No. 24 for New Orleans at the moment. A newcomer to the team, Burgess is trying to become the 26th player to suit up in the No. 24 jersey for the Saints. Here's a look through the entire list.
Saints' History of No. 24
Elijah Nevett was the first to wear No. 24 with the Saints, doing so for 37 games over the team's first four years of existence. In his last two years as a Saint, Nevett had 6 interceptions and forced 4 fumbles. The first offensive player to wear the number was Joe Williams. In his only year with the franchise, Williams had 188 yards from scrimmage in 14 games of action. Very quietly, Clarence Chapman actually played the second most games of any Saints player to wear No. 24. A defensive back through the late 1970s, Chapman had 5 interceptions through 57 games with New Orleans.
Marvin Lewis was the first Saints draft pick to wear No. 24, but the sixth round choice in 1982 played only one game with the team. Terry Hoage was the first New Orleans defensive player drafted to wear No. 24. A star for a Georgia Bulldogs team that played for the national championship, Hoage played his first two of a 12-year NFL career in New Orleans. He had 4 interceptions for the 1984 Saints, returning one for a touchdown, while finishing second on the team with 92 tackles.
Milton Mack has appeared in the most games by any Saint to wear the No. 24 jersey. A fifth round choice in 1987 from Alcorn State, Mack appeared in 67 contests over six years with New Orleans. He had 7 interceptions over that span, including 4 picks as a rookie in 1987, along with 2 career sacks. Running back Derek Brown followed Mack in the No. 24 jersey in 1993. A Round 5 pick out of Nebraska, Brown played four seasons with the Saints but only wore No. 24 as a rookie. He rushed for a team-high 705 yards that year, the highest of his four-year career.
As a second round choice in the 1994 draft from the Arizona State Sun Devils, Mario Bates is the highest drafted player by New Orleans to wear No. 24. Bates was with the Saints for four seasons, appearing in 53 games and rushing for 2,554 yards and 21 touchdowns. His best season was 1995, when he led the team with 951 yards on the ground and scored 7 times. In the 28 years since Bates there have been 14 players to wear No. 24, with only four doing so for more than two seasons.
Fred Weary was one of those players. A Round 4 pick in 1998, Weary had an up and down career at cornerback but broke up 24 passes with 6 interceptions and a touchdown return. Leigh Torrence had an underrated career in the New Orleans secondary, recording 2 interceptions with 9 pass breakups as a valuable reserve. Corey White had a career similar to Weary, one that made big plays but also gave up several. In his three years with the Saints, White had 4 interceptions, forced 3 fumbles, and broke up 15 passes.
Both Sterling Moore and Vonn Bell played just two years in a No. 24 jersey, but each made a strong impact. Moore was one of the better defensive backs on otherwise bad defenses, recording 2 interceptions and forcing a fumble while breaking up 16 throws. Bell had an even better career as one of the NFL's most underrated safeties during a four-year career in New Orleans that saw him wear No. 48 for two years before switching to No. 24. During his time with the Saints, Bell had only 1 interception but broke up 15 passes, forced 7 fumbles, recovered 7 others with one score, recorded 8 sacks, and was annually among the team leaders in tackles.
Dwayne Washington followed Bell in the No. 24, switching from No. 27 previously, and was one of the top special teams contributors in the league. After Washington was a forgettable stint in No. 24 from Johnathan Abram before the team handed it over to Burgess this offseason.