There’s a lot of things to be written about the New Orleans Saints’ history in the NFL, but it can’t be said that they have a strong tradition of high-level quarterback play. There’s a wide gulf stretching from Archie Manning’s heroic efforts in the franchise’s early days to the arrival of Aaron Brooks in the early 2000’s, followed up by the Hall of Fame resume that Drew Brees built for himself in the modern era.
For most of their history the Saints have struggled to find a solid starter. To put things in perspective, Derek Carr was widely panned for his performance with the Las Vegas Raiders last year, when he posted 3,522 passing yards in 15 games. But if he put up that exact total for the Saints in the fall he would immediately rank top-10 in the Saints record books, displacing Billy Joe Tolliver (3,343). The standard isn’t exactly sky-high. If Taysom Hill can match the 240 passing yards he logged a year ago he’ll be inside the top-15.
With that in mind, let’s look back on the 20 leading passers in Saints franchise history, ordered by career passing yards:
1
Drew Brees (2006-2020): 68,010
2
Archie Manning (1971-1982): 21,734
3
Aaron Brooks (2000-2005): 19,156
4
Bobby Hebert (1985-1992): 14,630
5
Jim Everett (1994-1996): 10,622
6
Billy Kilmer (1967-1970): 7,490
7
Dave Wilson (1981-1988): 6,987
8
Steve Walsh (1990-1993): 3,879
9
Ken Stabler (1982-1984): 3,670
10
Billy Joe Tolliver (1998-1999): 3,343
11
Andy Dalton (2022): 2,871
12
Bobby Scott (1973-1981): 2,781
13
Edd Hargett (1969-1972): 2,727
14
Wade Wilson (1993-1994): 2,629
15
Richard Todd (1984-1985): 2,369
16
John Fourcade (1987-1990): 2,312
17
Taysom Hill (2017-2022): 2,265
18
Jameis Winston (2020-2022): 2,103
19
Billy Joe Hobert (1997-1999): 2,031
20
Jeff Blake (2000-2001): 2,025
