Saints history of No. 7 is dominated by the achievements of Morten Andersen and Taysom Hill

In a mere 7 days, the New Orleans Saints will open their regular season against the Arizona Cardinals in the Superdome. Taysom Hill wears No. 7 for the Saints, but will start his ninth year with the team on the Physically Unable to Perform list because of a knee injury. At worst, Hill is the second most productive player to wear No. 7 in Saints history, a list that contains only eight names. Here is every one of them.

Saints’ History of No. 7

▪︎ K Toni Linhart (1972)▪︎ QB Guy Benjamin (1980)▪︎ K Morten Andersen (1982-94)▪︎ QB Danny Wuerffel (1997-99)▪︎ P Steve Weatherford (2006-08)▪︎ P Ben Graham (2008)▪︎ QB Luke McKown (2013-15)▪︎ TE/RB/QB Taysom Hill (2017-current)

Toni Linhart was the first to wear No. 7 with New Orleans. He suited up for only two games, making 2 of 5 field goals and 5 extra points. Guy Benjamin spent three years as the backup to Joe Montana with San Francisco in the early 1980s. Before that, he appeared in two games as a reserve with the Saints in 1980, completing 7 of 17 passes for 28 yards and an interception.

Morten Andersen was the first and highest drafted Saints player to wear No. 7. A Round 4 and 86th overall selection, Andersen’s 196 games with the team are the most of any player to wear a 7 jersey. His 13-year New Orleans career was a large chunk of a 25-year NFL career that culminated with an induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is only one of two pure kickers to receive that honor so far.

Andersen converted 77.6% of his field goals and nearly 99% of his extra points as a Saint. He holds every conceivable career kicking record in New Orleans. A six-time 1st or 2nd Team All-Pro, Andersen was voted onto the NFL All-Decade team of the 1980s and 1990s. In addition to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Andersen was also inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame, Louisiana Hall of Fame, and the Saints Ring of Honor.

Danny Wuerffel followed Andersen in the No. 7 and also as a fourth round draft choice. The 99th selection in the 1997 NFL draft, Wuerffel was with the Florida Gators where he won the Heisman Trophy and a national championship among a slew of awards. He was also part of a ridiculous quarterback carousel during the horrific tenure of head coach Mike Ditka in the late 1990s. Wuerffel was with the Saints for three years and 16 games, including six starts with 2-4 record. He threw for 1,404 yards with 9 touchdowns, 16 interceptions, and a 48.8% completion percentage.

Punter was often not a heavily used position during the historically prolific era of Drew Brees and Sean Payton. Steve Weatherford was the team’s punter for the first three years of the Payton-Brees pairing. Weatherford quietly had an impressive gross average of 43.5 yards, but a net of just 36.9 with only 10.2% of his kicks getting downed inside the opponent’s 20. He was eventually replaced in 2009 by a rookie named Thomas Morstead.

Luke McKown had more success than any other regular quarterback that wore No. 7 for New Orleans. As a backup to Brees from 2013 to 2015, he didn’t get many opportunities, throwing passes in just three contests. He did have a memorable start in place of an injured Brees in 2015 against the Carolina Panthers. Albeit in a loss, McKown completed 31 of his 38 attempts for 310 yards.

In 2017, the Green Bay Packers made an egregious error when they cut an undrafted rookie quarterback from BYU named Taysom Hill. Sean Payton and the Saints immediately signed Hill, who then worked his way into a special teams role by that year’s end. By the middle of 2018, Hill was a jack-of-all-trades weapon for the Saints. Since then, he has threatened NFL defenses in more ways than perhaps any other player.

Hill has played 105 regular season games, more than any other Saints player to wear No. 7 other than Morten Andersen. Over that span, he has 44 touchdowns, a few blocked kicks, and has made big plays as a runner, thrower, and receiver. Hill has 2,437 career rushing yards with an average of 5.6 per carry, 99 receptions for 943 yards, and a 63.9% completion percentage as a passer for 2,369 yards and 11 more scores. While limited at quarterback, he’s even gotten nine starts at that position with a 7-2 record. Sidelined currently with a knee injury, once healthy Taysom Hill will again be a critical part of the New Orleans attack and a nightmare for opposing defenses.