The New Orleans Saints have named the successor to Drew Brees, as Jameis Winston has been selected as the Saints starting quarterback. Brees was the face of the franchise for 15 seasons, transforming the Saints from a laughing stock into Super Bowl champions. New Orleans racked up the fourth-most wins (150) and scored the second-most points in the NFL (6,741) since Brees and head coach Sean Payton arrived in 2006.

Will Winston be able to carry the tradition Brees started? Let’s take a look at the starting quarterbacks the Saints employed over their 55-year history.

Billy Kilmer (1967-1970)

Kilmer has a special place in Saints history as the team’s starting quarterback for their inaugural game against the Los Angeles Rams (Gary Cuozzo started 10 games that first season; Kilmer lost his starting job after three games, but got it back in 1968). Kilmer played for the Saints for four seasons, but the results weren’t great as he won just 11 of his 39 starts.

Hard to blame Kilmer when New Orleans had one of the worst rosters in the NFL during his tenure. The Saints ranked 20th out of 26 teams in scoring offense (17.2 points per game) and allowed the third-most points per game (25.8) during Kilmer’s four-year run as the starting quarterback.

Kilmer threw for 47 touchdowns to 62 interceptions, doing the best job he could with the roster around him. He moved on to Washington, leading them to Super Bowl VII in 1972, and had a successful eight-year run with the franchise in his 30s. Kilmer made one Pro Bowl appearance and went 50-23-1 in 74 starts with Washington.

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Archie Manning (1971-1981)

Manning was the face of the franchise for the Saints throughout the 1970s. Unfortunately, the offensive line made Manning run for his life throughout his tenure in New Orleans – leading to multiple injuries in a career full of exciting plays with a poor football team surrounding him.

Manning has the worst record for a starting quarterback in NFL history amongst quarterbacks with at least 100 starts (35-101-3). He never played on a team that boasted a winning record nor made the playoffs.

Manning led the league in completions in 1972 (230) and made the Pro Bowl in 1978 and 1979, part of a three-year stretch where he completed over 60% of his passes and threw for over 3,000 yards each season. Manning finished in the top 10 in passing touchdowns three times and in completion percentage and passer rating five times. The Saints have not issued Manning’s No. 8 since they traded him in 1982. He played for seven different head coaches in New Orleans.

In his 14-year career, Manning completed 55.2% of his passes for 23,911 yards with 125 touchdowns to 173 interceptions. Manning was the Saints’ only Pro Bowler from when he was drafted in 1971 until 1979. Manning is still second in franchise history in passing yards and third in touchdown passes.

If the Saints had a better roster around Peyton and Eli’s dad, the No. 2 overall pick in the 1971 draft would have had a lot more success.

Ken Stabler (1982-1983)

Stabler ended his Hall of Fame career with the Saints, but couldn’t deliver the franchise the playoff berth that eluded New Orleans since its inception. Stabler was .500 in his career with the Saints (11-11), but threw 15 touchdowns to 28 interceptions in 22 starts. Playing in his late 30s didn’t help matters.

Stabler’s four pick-sixes in 1983 were the second most in the league – but he was able to lead the team to their second .500 season in franchise history at 8-8.

Dave Wilson (1984-1986)

Wilson was a backup in New Orleans for a number of years before taking over the starting job from Richard Todd at the end of the 1984 season. The No. 1 overall pick in the 1981 supplemental draft would go on to start two years in New Orleans, throwing 21 touchdowns to 32 interceptions in his 24 games between 1985 and 1986. The Saints went 9-14 with Wilson as the starting quarterback, despite Wilson’s 63.5 passer rating ranking 31st out of 36 qualifying quarterbacks (minimum 300 attempts).

The Saints needed a franchise quarterback after Jim Mora Sr.’s first year. An unexpected one was coming.

Bobby Hebert (1987-1992)

The “Cajun Cannon” emerged as the winningest quarterback in Saints history at the time, once he took over as the starting quarterback in 1987, as the Saints became one of the better teams in the NFL. Hebert led the Saints to their first winning season and playoff appearance in franchise history in 1987 and helped lead the franchise to regular playoff appearances – unchartered territory in New Orleans.

The Saints never won a playoff game with Hebert under center, but he led them to the postseason three times (and the franchise’s first division title in 1991). New Orleans won 10-plus games in four of the five seasons Hebert was the quarterback (he sat out the 1990 season due to a contract dispute). Hebert went 49-26 with the Saints, throwing for 85 touchdowns to 75 interceptions (79.1 rating) – later making the Pro Bowl with the Atlanta Falcons in 1993.

Those Saints teams were led by their defense, as New Orleans allowed the second-fewest points in the league between 1987 to 1992. Their 4.82 yards per play allowed was the fifth lowest in the league. Hebert was good enough to get the Saints to the playoffs (New Orleans’ offense ranked seventh in points per game with 21.7), but couldn’t get past the wild card round.

Jim Everett (1994-1996)

Before the Saints entered a dark era in Mike Ditka’s return to coaching, Everett kept the team afloat. Everett started 47 games for the franchise after being acquired from the Rams for a seventh-round pick prior to the 1994 season, throwing for 10,622 yards with 60 touchdowns to 48 interceptions in his three seasons.

Everett revitalized his career in New Orleans, taking over for Wade Wilson (who started 14 games in 1993). He threw for 26 touchdowns in the 1995 season, but the Saints couldn’t eclipse the .500 mark even when Everett played his best football. Everett bottomed out in 1996 as the Saints went 3-12 in his 15 starts, which led to Mora’s firing as head coach. New Orleans went 17-30 in Everett’s starts.

Kerry Collins, Heath Shuler and others (1997-1999)

Mike Ditka never settled on a starting quarterback for the Saints – mainly because he didn’t have one. New Orleans started seven different quarterbacks in three years, the most notable being Collins in 1998.

Collins was claimed off waivers by the Saints after the Carolina Panthers released him (he was battling alcoholism), starting seven games to finish out the year. He completed 49.2% of his passes with four touchdowns and 10 interceptions before New Orleans moved on.

Shuler had a chance to salvage his career with the Saints in 1997, but he threw two touchdowns to 14 interceptions in his nine starts before being out of the league by the end of the year. The Saints traded a 1997 fifth-round pick and a 1998 third-round pick for Shuler – and got minimal results.

Jake Delhomme even started two games for New Orleans toward the end of the 1999 season, throwing four interceptions in Week 17 of that year. Other starting quarterbacks in that era were Billy Joe Tolliver, Billy Joe Hobert, Danny Wuerffel, and Doug Nussmeier. The Saints went 15-33 from 1997 to 1999.

Aaron Brooks (2000-2005)

An injury to Jeff Blake gave Brooks the opportunity to lead the Saints for several seasons – including becoming the quarterback that delivered the franchise’s first playoff win (2000 wild card victory over the St. Louis Rams). A surprise winner of the NFC West at 10-6, Brooks went 3-2 the rest of the way and threw for 266 yards and four touchdowns in the wild card win.

Everett stuck with Brooks for five more years, even though the Saints failed to make the playoffs in each of those seasons. Brooks started 82 consecutive games in New Orleans, completing 56.4% of his passes for 19,156 yards and 120 touchdowns to 84 interceptions (79.7 rating). The Saints had two .500 seasons under Brooks (2003 and 2004) and one above-.500 season (9-7, 2002).

A fourth-round pick of the Green Bay Packers in 1999, Brooks was traded to New Orleans prior to the 2000 season and didn’t carve out a bad career for himself. Brooks went 38-44 in his five-plus seasons leading the Saints, and is second in franchise history in touchdown passes and third in passing yards.

Drew Brees (2006-2020)

One of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, the Saints franchise turned into a winner when Brees signed there in 2006. Brees led the franchise to its first – and only – Super Bowl title in 2009, along with seven NFC South titles, and nine playoff victories. Prior to Brees, the Saints had two division titles and one playoff win.

Brees left the NFL as the first 80,000-yard passer in league history, once holding the all-time passing touchdown record (passing Peyton Manning in 2019 with 540 before Tom Brady eventually surpassed him), and is just percentage points behind Deshaun Watson for the highest completion percentage in NFL history.

Brees had 12-consecutive seasons of 4,000-plus passing yards – the longest streak in NFL history. His 12 seasons of 4,000 passing yards are tied with Brady and Rivers for the second most in NFL history (trailing only Manning, 14). Of the top 10 passing-yardage seasons in league history, Brees has five of them and holds four of the top six spots.

There have been 12 5,000-yard passing seasons in NFL history – and Brees has five of them. Brees is the only player with multiple 5,000-yard passing seasons, making the accomplishment all the more impressive.

Brees was the first player in NFL history with 7,000 completions, ahead of Brady (6,778) and Brett Favre (6,300). He owns the top three single-season completions marks – setting the NFL record in 2016 with 471. Brees had 468 in 2011 and 456 in 2014, which are the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively.

Brees holds the NFL record for consecutive games with 20-plus completions with 61 and has 63 games with at least 30 completions – also an NFL record. Brees needed just 240 games to reach 6,000-career completions, 19 fewer than Manning. Brees had 6,017 completions in his career with the Saints – the most for a player in a 15-year period.

Brees also threw a touchdown pass in 54 consecutive games – also an NFL record. His seven touchdown passes in a game are tied for the most in NFL history and he also has seven games with five touchdown passes and zero interceptions – also the most in league history.

You can’t think of the Saints without Brees. Winston will have some major shoes to fill in 2021.