Saturday brings us down to eight days before the New Orleans Saints regular-season opener at the Detroit Lions. Incredibly, only one player has ever worn the No. 8 in Saints history. That player, of course, is quarterback Archie Manning, the only choice in our Saints Player of the Day feature.
▪︎ Name (age): Elisha Archibald Manning III (77)▪︎ Hometown: Drew, Miss.▪︎ Position: Quarterback▪︎ Height, weight: 6-foot-3, 212 pounds▪︎ College: Mississippi Rebels▪︎ Drafted: Round 1, 2nd overall in 1971 (Saints)▪︎ NFL career: 14 years (12 with Saints)
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Manning played collegiately for the Ole Miss Rebels, but was also drafted by a major league baseball team four separate times. Electing to stay with football, he was twice first-team All-SEC and a 1969 first-team All-American. Manning was also the 1969 SEC Player of the Year and would eventually be voted onto the SEC All-Time team had his No. 18 jersey retired by Mississippi.
In the 1971 NFL Draft, Manning was selected second overall by the Saints behind quarterback Jim Plunkett of Stanford, who went first. Manning remains the only quarterback that the Saints have ever drafted in the first round. In fact, New Orleans had never even selected a quarterback in the second round until Tyler Shough with the 40th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Whether fair or not, Manning was anointed as the savior of New Orleans football in 1971. The Saints did a horrendous job of surrounding him with talent, although he did have an offense loaded with skill position talent in the latter stages of his Saints career. Manning started 129 of his 134 games with New Orleans. He had a 35-91-3 record, a winning percentage of .272. He’d take a heinous beating throughout his career, but outside of missing all of 1976 with a shoulder injury missed more than three games only three times.
Manning was traded to the Houston Oilers during the 1982 campaign. He played his last five seasons with the Oilers and Minnesota Vikings, going a combined 0-10 as a starter. His career in New Orleans would result in him and Danny Abramowicz being the first two inductees into the Saints Hall of Fame in 1988. Manning was also one of the first to be inducted into the Saints Ring of Honor when established in 2013, a group that also included Pro Football Hall of Famers Rickey Jackson and Willie Roaf.
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As a Saint, Manning had a 55.4% completion percentage, throwing for 21,734 yards with 115 passing touchdowns, 18 rushing scores, and 156 interceptions. He is second only to Drew Brees in franchise history for passing yards, completions, and attempts, while being third in touchdown passes. He earned two Pro Bowls in 1978 and 1979, also winning the 1978 UPI and Sporting News NFC Player of the Year.
Manning is also famously the father of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning and possible Hall of Famer Eli Manning. Arch Manning, the current quarterback of the Texas Longhorns and a 2026 Heisman Trophy favorite, is the grandson of Archie, as he looks to carry on the family football tradition.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Countdown to Kickoff: Archie Manning is the Saints Player of Day 8