Franchise Origins- Franchise Legend
- Saints Hall of Fame
Danny Abramowicz
- Position
- WRWide Receiver
- Number
- #46
- Saints years
- 1967–1973
- NFL career
- 1967–1974
- Era
- Franchise Origins
- Franchise
- New Orleans Saints
Honors
- New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame
- NFL receptions leader
Also played for San Francisco 49ers (1973–1974), Buffalo Bills (1974–1974).
Why he’s a legend
The legacy
Danny Abramowicz was the 420th player chosen in the 1967 draft — a seventeenth-rounder for a team that had existed for four months — and he led the entire NFL in receptions two years later. He was the first genuinely good player the franchise produced, on rosters assembled from other clubs’ discards, and he set the receiving standards the Saints then measured against for a decade.
Why he matters
- He led the NFL in receptions in 1969, the franchise’s third season.
- A seventeenth-round draft pick out of Xavier who became the expansion era’s only star.
- He set the franchise receiving records that stood until Eric Martin’s era.
- He was a member of the inaugural class of the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame.
Defining moment
Leading the league
1969 season
In 1969 Abramowicz caught more passes than any player in professional football, for a team that won five games. It was the first time a Saint led the NFL in a major statistical category, and it happened in the franchise’s third year of existence.
Career statistics
Current through the 1974 season
With the Saints
- Seasons
- 7
- Draft
- 1967, 17th round
Honors & accolades
Championships & enshrinement
- New Orleans Saints Hall of FameInaugural class
League awards & All-Pro
- NFL receptions leader1969
Career timeline
8 seasons in the NFL, 7 of them in New Orleans.
- 1967New Orleans SaintsDrafted in the seventeenth round of the franchise’s first draft
- 1968New Orleans Saints
- 1969New Orleans SaintsLeads the NFL in receptions
- 1970New Orleans Saints
- 1971New Orleans Saints
- 1972New Orleans Saints
- 1973New Orleans SaintsTraded to San Francisco
- 1974San Francisco 49ers
Era context
What the league looked like while Danny Abramowicz played it. Raw totals across eras are not like-for-like.
Franchise Origins
1967–1970
An expansion team, a brass band, and the longest field goal anyone had ever kicked.
- Seasons were 14 games long; a 16-game schedule did not arrive until 1978.
- The Saints played outdoors at Tulane Stadium; the Superdome did not open until 1975.
- Sacks were not an official NFL statistic, so pass-rush production from this era cannot be stated as a career total.
- The AFL-NFL merger was still in progress; New Orleans entered as an NFL expansion club.
The Archie Manning Era
1971–1980
A quarterback good enough to be beloved on teams never good enough to win.
- Seasons ran 14 games through 1977 and 16 games from 1978 onward.
- The 1978 rule changes — the five-yard contact rule and liberalised pass blocking — began the modern passing era. Raw passing totals before and after 1978 are not comparable.
- The Saints moved into the Louisiana Superdome in 1975.
- The franchise did not post a winning season during this period.
Data & sources
Statistics on this profile are current through the 1974 season.
- Seasons in this era were 14 games long, and the passing rules that produced modern receiving totals were a decade away. Raw comparisons with later receivers are not meaningful.
- Career reception and yardage totals are not stated here because this profile could not verify a Saints-only line to the standard the rest of the page uses.
