Dome Patrol & The First Winners- Pro Football Hall of Famer
- Saints Hall of Fame
- Franchise Legend
Rickey Jackson
- Position
- LBLinebacker
- Number
- #57
- Saints years
- 1981–1993
- NFL career
- 1981–1995
- Era
- Dome Patrol & The First Winners
- Franchise
- New Orleans Saints
Honors
- Super Bowl XXIX Champion· San Francisco 49ers
- Pro Football Hall of Fame
- New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame
- 6x Pro Bowl
- NFL 1980s All-Decade Team
Also played for San Francisco 49ers (1994–1995).
Why he’s a legend
The legacy
Rickey Jackson played thirteen seasons in New Orleans on teams that had never had anything to be proud of, and made himself the reason they eventually did. He was the senior member of the Dome Patrol, the only linebacking corps in NFL history to send all four starters to the same Pro Bowl, and he left as the franchise’s all-time sack leader — a record that stood for twenty-nine years. In 2010 he became the first player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame primarily for what he did with the Saints.
Why he matters
- He is the first Pro Football Hall of Famer enshrined for a career spent principally in New Orleans, inducted in the Class of 2010.
- His 115 sacks as a Saint were the franchise record from 1993 until Cameron Jordan passed the mark in 2022.
- He anchored the Dome Patrol, the defense that produced the franchise’s first winning season (1987) and first division title (1991).
- He made six Pro Bowls and was named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1980s.
- He won Super Bowl XXIX with San Francisco in his fourteenth season, at 37 years old.
Defining moment
The 1992 Pro Bowl selections
1992 season
After the 1992 season, Jackson, Sam Mills, Pat Swilling and Vaughan Johnson were all named to the Pro Bowl — the only time in NFL history that all four linebackers from one team were selected together. Jackson was the oldest of the four and the one who had been there for the losing years that came before.
Career statistics
Current through the 1995 season
With the Saints
- Sacks
- 115.0Official sacks; the statistic was first kept in 1982, his second season.
- Seasons
- 13
Full NFL career(1981–1995, all teams)
- Sacks
- 128.0
- Games
- 227
- Seasons
- 15
Where he ranks
- #2All-Time Saints Sacks115.0Saints all-time · behind Cameron Jordan
Honors & accolades
Championships & enshrinement
- Pro Football Hall of FameClass of 2010
- New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame
- Super Bowl XXIX Champion· San Francisco 49ers1994 season
League awards & All-Pro
- NFL 1980s All-Decade Team
Selections & records
- 6x Pro Bowl1983–1986, 1992, 1993
- Saints career sack record holder, 1993–2022
Career timeline
15 seasons in the NFL, 13 of them in New Orleans.
- 1981New Orleans SaintsDrafted in the second round out of Pittsburgh
- 1982New Orleans Saints
- 1983New Orleans SaintsFirst Pro Bowl selection
- 1984New Orleans Saints
- 1985New Orleans Saints
- 1986New Orleans Saints
- 1987New Orleans SaintsFirst winning season and first playoff berth in franchise history
- 1988New Orleans Saints
- 1989New Orleans Saints
- 1990New Orleans Saints
- 1991New Orleans SaintsFirst division title in franchise history
- 1992New Orleans SaintsAll four Dome Patrol linebackers named to the Pro Bowl
- 1993New Orleans Saints
- 1994San Francisco 49ersSigns with San FranciscoSuper Bowl XXIX Champion
- 1995San Francisco 49ers
Era context
What the league looked like while Rickey Jackson 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 1995 season.
- Sacks were not an official NFL statistic until 1982, so his 1981 rookie season contributes nothing to the totals above. His true career pass-rush production is therefore understated.
- Tackle totals from this era were kept by individual clubs rather than the league and are not comparable across teams; none are shown here.
