28 days until Saints season opener: Every player to wear No. 28

USA Today

2 days ago

From Gene Atkins and Usama Young to Mark Ingram and Keenan Lewis
In just 28 days, the New Orleans Saints will host the Arizona Cardinals to kick off their 2025 regular season. Wearing No. 28 for the Saints is safety Julian Blackmon, one of the team's many new faces. Blackmon will team with Justin Reid to give New Orleans an entirely new tandem of safeties. Barring an unforeseen development, he'll also add to a list of 28 previous players that wore No. 28. It's a list with some very recognizable names, but only a few contributors.
Saints' History of No. 28
McKeesport (Pa) High School native Ross Fichtner was the first to suit up in No. 28 for the Saints, but played only four games in 1968 after a standout eight-year career with the Cleveland Browns. Don Shy was the first New Orleans offensive player to don No. 28, appearing in 14 games as a backup running back in 1969. James Ford was the first to wear the number for more than a year, rushing for 407 yards in two seasons (10 games) of action. The first player drafted by the Saints to wear No. 28 was Alex Maxon. A Round 8 choice in 1974, Maxon accounted for 1,754 yards from scrimmage and 7 scores in 41 contests over three seasons with the Saints.
Arguably the most productive player to wear No. 28 in New Orleans was Gene Atkins. A seventh round choice in the 1987 NFL draft from Florida A&M, Atkins would be with the team for seven years and 107 games. It is the most by any Saints player to wear No. 28. A hard-hitting safety, Atkins was a physical tone-setter in the secondary for the Dome Patrol defense. He had 21 interceptions as a Saint, fourth most in team history, including 5 in 1991 and four more with at least 3 picks. Atkins also forced 11 fumbles and recorded 7 sacks in an underrated career with New Orleans.
Troy Davis left the Iowa State Cyclones as one of the most prolific runners in college football history and a future inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame. He was a third round choice of the Saints in 1997, the second highest drafted player by the team to wear No. 28. Davis played three years for New Orleans, but was never able to match his collegiate production with only 446 rushing yards in the NFL.
Chris Oldham quietly closed out a 12-year NFL career with two solid seasons for the Saints, intercepting 3 throws and breaking up 9 others over 29 contests. Oldham was one of several good defensive backs that wore No. 28 for the Saints, but only for a short time. DeJuan Groce, Usama Young, Keenan Lewis, B.W. Webb all had good performances as Saints, but none lasted as many as three full seasons. Young was with the team for four years, intercepting 3 passes over a two-year stretch, but also wore No. 38 with New Orleans. Keenan Lewis was the best out of that short-tenured group.
A native of New Orleans, Lewis came home from the Pittsburgh Steelers as a free agent in 2013. He'd be one of the best corners in the league that season, intercepting 4 passes and breaking up 9 others while providing lockdown coverage. Lewis had another strong season in 2014 for an otherwise poor defense. Unfortunately, a bad hip injury limited him to only six outings in 2015. The injury would ultimately end his career.
Mark Ingram II is one of the best running backs in Saints history. He wore No. 22 through the majority of his prolific career with the team. However, Ingram wore No. 28 for his first two seasons after being a first round choice in 2011 from the Alabama Crimson Tide, technically making him the highest drafted player by the Saints to wear the number. Interestingly, Ingram sported No. 32 during his rookie card photos that year before switching to No. 28. He rushed for 1,076 yards and 10 scores those first two years before switching to 22, his number at Alabama as he won the Heisman Trophy.
Once Keenan Lewis' career ended with injury, the No. 28 was filled by C.J. Spiller, who was signed to provide an explosive complement to Ingram in the backfield. Spiller turned out to be one of the poorest personnel decisions by the Saints in that decade. An explosive threat with the Clemson Tigers and Buffalo Bills, Spiller lasted just one excruciating year in New Orleans. With the exception of just two isolated plays, Spiller was useless, picking up only 351 offensive yards in 13 games. Adrian Peterson is another highly recognizable name that wore No. 28 for the Saints, but did nothing. Peterson lasted only four games before being traded away, in large part because of Ingram's presence and the emergence of a rookie back named Alvin Kamara.
Since 2015, 10 players have worn No. 28 for the Saints. Only one of them has worn it for more than one year in that decade. That was Latavius Murray, who replaced Ingram in 2019. While not quite as productive as Ingram, Murray did have a solid two-year stretch in 2019 and 2020, combining for 1,293 rushing yards 11 total touchdowns.
Julian Blackmon looks to be the latest to wear No. 28 for New Orleans. Blackmon comes in with high expectations, as he looks to replace Tyrann Mathieu and form a tandem with Justin Reid on the back end. It's a younger and more athletic duo of safeties, and one that the Saints hope creates turnovers and limits big plays for a rebuilding defense.