Dome Patrol & The First Winners- Franchise Legend
- Saints Hall of Fame
Wayne Martin
- Position
- DEDefensive Line
- Number
- #93
- Saints years
- 1989–1999
- Era
- Dome Patrol & The First Winners
- Franchise
- New Orleans Saints
Honors
- New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame
- Pro Bowl
Why he’s a legend
The legacy
Wayne Martin played his entire eleven-year career in New Orleans, holding down the defensive line first alongside the Dome Patrol and then, after all four linebackers had gone, as the last of that defense still standing. His 82.5 sacks trailed only Rickey Jackson in franchise history for more than twenty years.
Why he matters
- His 82.5 career sacks are among the highest totals in franchise history.
- A Pro Bowl selection in 1994, on a defense that had lost the entire Dome Patrol within two seasons.
- Eleven seasons with one club, all of them as a starter on the defensive line.
- He bridged the Mora era and the years that followed, and was the defense’s best player through most of the 1990s.
Defining moment
After the Dome Patrol
1994 season
By 1994 Rickey Jackson, Pat Swilling and Vaughan Johnson had all left, and Sam Mills was in Carolina. Martin made the Pro Bowl that season as the last member of the great New Orleans defense still on the roster.
Career statistics
Current through the 1999 season
With the Saints
- Sacks
- 82.5
- Seasons
- 11
- Draft
- 1989, 19th overall
Where he ranks
- #2All-Time Saints Sacks82.5Saints all-time · from 1999 until Cameron Jordan passed him
Honors & accolades
Championships & enshrinement
- New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame
Selections & records
- Pro Bowl1994
Career timeline
11 seasons in the NFL, 11 of them in New Orleans.
- 1989New Orleans SaintsDrafted 19th overall out of Arkansas
- 1990New Orleans Saints
- 1991New Orleans SaintsStarts on the defense that wins the first division title in franchise history
- 1992New Orleans Saints
- 1993New Orleans Saints
- 1994New Orleans SaintsPro Bowl selection
- 1995New Orleans Saints
- 1996New Orleans Saints
- 1997New Orleans Saints
- 1998New Orleans Saints
- 1999New Orleans SaintsFinal season; eleven years, one club
Era context
What the league looked like while Wayne Martin 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.
Ditka to Haslett
1997–2005
The first playoff win, a franchise-altering trade, and then the storm.
- Sixteen-game seasons throughout; the 2004 emphasis on illegal contact re-opened the passing game league-wide.
- The 2005 Saints played no home games in New Orleans, splitting a nomadic season between San Antonio and Baton Rouge.
- Free agency and the cap were fully mature, shortening the typical tenure of a star player with one team.
Data & sources
Statistics on this profile are current through the 1999 season.
- A verified season-by-season sack line is not compiled in this profile, so no season table is shown.
