Countdown to Kickoff: Scott Shanle is the Saints Player of Day 58

The New Orleans Saints are 58 days away from their 2025 regular season opener. New Orleans will kick off their year at home against the Arizona Cardinals. There is no New Orleans Saints player that wears No. 58 currently. Therefore, our choice for Saints Player of the Day is former linebacker Scott Shanle. Here's a look back at the underrated New Orleans defender.

• Name (age): Scott Shanle (45)

• Hometown: Saint Edward, Neb.

• Position: Linebacker

• Height, weight: 6-foot-2, 245 pounds

• College: Nebraska Cornhuskers

• Drafted: Round 7, 251 overall in 2003 (St. Louis Rams)

   

• NFL career: 10 years

• Saints career: 7 years (2006-2012)

At St. Edward High School in Nebraska, Shanle played eight-man football. He was also a standout sprinter on the track team, where he set school records in the 100m (10.67) and 200m (22.3) while also lettering in basketball. Shanle was forced to walk on at the University of Nebraska because he hadn't played traditional high school football, but earned a scholarship by his second year after a redshirt. By his redshirt sophomore year of 2000, Shanle was a regular starter for the Cornhuskers. Over his last three seasons at Nebraska, Shanle had 6 sacks, 16 QB pressures, 17 tackles for loss, an interception, and broke up 11 passes.

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The St. Louis Rams selected Shanle among the final 12 picks in the 2003 NFL Draft. He'd make the team as a rookie, appearing in five games on special teams, but was released late in the year. The Dallas Cowboys picked up Shanle off waivers, and he'd make the 2004 Dallas roster. He played mostly special teams early in the 2004 campaign, but worked his way into the starting lineup by the end of the year and would start over half of his 15 games with the Cowboys in 2005. Over two years with Dallas, Shanle broke up 3 passes and had 1.5 sacks to go along with his 92 tackles.

The Dallas offensive coordinator durung Shanle's two years there was Sean Payton. In 2006, Payton was hired as head coach of the New Orleans Saints. During 2006 training camp, Payton and the Saints traded a seventh round draft choice to the Cowboys to acquire Scott Shanle to deepen their linebacker unit. Shanle would start 15 of his 16 game appearances for New Orleans in 2006, finishing with 4 sacks and a career-best and team-high 99 total tackles.

Shanle was a fixture on the New Orleans defense upon his arrival. Between 2006 and 2011, he'd start 88 of a possible 96 regular season contests. In 2008, Shanle was voted the Saints Defensive MVP after 87 tackles, a career-best 7 for loss, along with 2 sacks and 5 passes broken up. Shanle had 2 interceptions, recovered 2 fumbles, and had 3 stops for loss among his 69 total tackles during the team's Super Bowl championship season of 2009. His 10 tackles in Super Bowl XLIV against the Indianapolis Colts was second among all defenders in the win.

Injuries limited Shanle to just seven games with the Saints in 2012, his final season in the NFL. Over seven years with the Saints, Shanle had 3 interceptions, 18 passes broken up, 6 forced fumbles, 7.5 sacks, and 25 stops for loss among 490 total tackles. According to Pro Football Reference, Scott Shanle had the second most tackles of any Saints player during the head coaching tenure of Sean Payton from 2006 to 2021.