Dome Patrol & The First Winners- Franchise Legend
- Fan Favorite & Franchise Great
- Saints Hall of Fame
Bobby Hebert
- Position
- QBQuarterback
- Number
- #3
- Saints years
- 1985–1992
- NFL career
- 1985–1996
- Era
- Dome Patrol & The First Winners
- Franchise
- New Orleans Saints
Honors
- New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame
- USFL Championship Game Most Valuable Player· Michigan Panthers
Also played for Atlanta Falcons (1993–1996).
Why he’s a legend
The legacy
Bobby Hebert grew up in Cut Off, Louisiana, won a USFL championship with the Michigan Panthers, and came home to quarterback the Saints for eight seasons. He was the starter for the 1987 team that gave the franchise its first winning record and first playoff berth after twenty years of neither, and the local accent made him the most identifiably Louisiana player the club has ever had.
Why he matters
- He quarterbacked the 1987 Saints to a 12–3 record — the first winning season and first playoff berth in franchise history.
- A Louisiana native from Cut Off who had been the Most Valuable Player of the first USFL championship game in 1983.
- He started for three of the four playoff teams of the Jim Mora era.
- His nickname, the Cajun Cannon, is the most durable piece of local branding any Saint has had.
Defining moment
The 1987 season
1987 season
The Saints finished 12–3 in 1987 and made the playoffs for the first time in the franchise’s twenty-one-year history. Hebert started nearly all of it, and the city spent the autumn discovering what a winning football team felt like.
Career statistics
Current through the 1996 season
With the Saints
- Seasons
- 8
- Starting QB, First Winning Season
- 1987 (12–3)
Where he ranks
- #4All-Time Saints Passing YardsSaints all-time
Honors & accolades
Championships & enshrinement
- New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame
League awards & All-Pro
- USFL Championship Game Most Valuable Player· Michigan Panthers1983
Career timeline
12 seasons in the NFL, 8 of them in New Orleans.
- 1985New Orleans SaintsSigns with New Orleans after three USFL seasons
- 1986New Orleans Saints
- 1987New Orleans SaintsQuarterbacks the first winning season and playoff berth in franchise history
- 1988New Orleans Saints
- 1989New Orleans Saints
- 1990New Orleans Saints
- 1991New Orleans SaintsSits out the season in a contract dispute
- 1992New Orleans Saints
- 1993Atlanta FalconsSigns with Atlanta
- 1994Atlanta Falcons
- 1995Atlanta Falcons
- 1996Atlanta Falcons
Era context
What the league looked like while Bobby Hebert played it. Raw totals across eras are not like-for-like.
Dome Patrol & The First Winners
1981–1996
The franchise finally wins — and builds the best linebacking corps the NFL had seen.
- Sacks became an official NFL statistic in 1982, so career sack totals begin there.
- The 1982 season was shortened to nine games by a players strike; 1987 was shortened to fifteen, three of them played by replacement players.
- The salary cap arrived in 1994 and changed how long a roster could stay together.
- The Saints reached the playoffs four times in this era and did not win a postseason game.
Data & sources
Statistics on this profile are current through the 1996 season.
- Career passing totals are not stated here because this profile could not verify a Saints-only line to the standard the rest of the page uses.
