52 days until Saints season opener: Every player to wear No. 52

There are 52 days that separate us from the 2025 season opener for the New Orleans Saints. The Saints will open the year at home against the Arizona Cardinals to kick off their 59th NFL campaign and first under Kellen Moore as head coach. Linebacker D'Marco Jackson wears No. 52 at the moment for the Saints, as he looks to enter his fourth year in the NFL. Jackson is the 20th player to wear No. 52 for New Orleans in the regular season. Here is a look through all of them.

Saints' History of No. 52

• LB Harry Jacobs (1970)

• LB Frank Emanuel (1970)

• LB John Huard (1971)

• LB Dick Palmer (1972-73)

• LB Mike Lemon (1975)

• LB Skip Vanderbundt (1978)

   

• LB Jim Kovach (1979-85)

• LB Brian Forde (1988-91)

• LB Mike Stonebreaker (1994)

• LB Richard Harvey (1995-97)

• LB Vinson Smith (1998-99)

• LB Sedrick Hodge (2001-05)

• C Jeff Faine (2006-07)

• LB Jonathan Casillas (2009-12)

• LB Kevin Reddick (2013)

• LB Moise Fokou (2014)

• LB Todd Davis (2014)

• LB Craig Robertson (2016-20)

• DT Montravius Adams (2021)

• LB D'Marco Jackson (2023-current)

Harry Jacobs was the first to wear No. 52 for New Orleans, doing so for six games in 1970. He was followed by Frank Emanuel for three games in the number that same season. The first six players to wear 52 with the Saints through 1978 only did so for a combined 43 games. Dick Palmer and Skip Vanderbundt had 31 of those outings.The first player drafted by the Saints to wear 52 was Jim Kovach, a Round 4 choice in the 1979 NFL draft. Kovach played 83 games over seven years in New Orleans, the longest stretch of any to wear 52 for the franchise. He recorded 4 interceptions and 9.5 sacks with the team, all while simultaneously earning a medical degree at the University of Kentucky. Upon his retirement from the NFL, Dr. Kovach would also become an attorney and business owner.

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Mike Stonebreaker was the son of Steve Stonebreaker, star linebacker on the original Saints teams of 1967 and 1968. Mike didn't have nearly the same success as his father, playing only two games for the Saints in 1994. He was one of 10 of the 20 players who wore No. 52 with the franchise that did so for one season or less.

Richard Harvey quietly had a solid career with bad New Orleans squads through the late 1990s. Harvey played 44 games with 34 starts in three years for the Saints, the longest stretch of any of six teams through a 11-year NFL career. Over his time with New Orleans, Harvey had 7 sacks with 4 forced fumbles and an interception.Sedrick Hodge had a similar career with the Saints in the early 2000s. A third round pick in the 2001 NFL draft, Hodge is the highest drafted player by the Saints to wear 52. He also did it for the third longest stretch, appearing in 63 games over five years in the only stop of his NFL career. Hodge didn't record an interception or sack, but broke up 11 passes and accumulated 211 total tackles as a Saint.

Jeff Faine is the only offensive player to don 52 with New Orleans. He was the starting center for 30 of the first 32 games upon the arrival of Drew Brees and Sean Payton in 2006. Jonathan Casillas made Payton's squad as an undrafted rookie in 2009. Casillas earned a Super Bowl XLIV ring as a rookie, but his best of four years in New Orleans was with 3 sacks during the 2011 campaign.