Ditka to Haslett- Pro Football Hall of Famer
- Saints Hall of Fame
- Franchise Legend
Willie Roaf
- Position
- OTOffensive Line
- Number
- #77
- Saints years
- 1993–2001
- NFL career
- 1993–2005
- Era
- Ditka to Haslett
- Franchise
- New Orleans Saints
Honors
- Pro Football Hall of Fame
- New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame
- 11x Pro Bowl
- NFL 1990s All-Decade Team
Also played for Kansas City Chiefs (2002–2005).
Why he’s a legend
The legacy
Willie Roaf was the eighth pick of the 1993 draft out of Louisiana Tech, and by his second season he was the best left tackle in football. He made the Pro Bowl in seven of his nine seasons in New Orleans and four more after being traded to Kansas City, retired with eleven selections in thirteen years, and was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012. Offensive line play does not produce a statistical record, so the case is made in selections and in the fact that opposing coordinators stopped running plays to his side.
Why he matters
- Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 2012 — the second player enshrined principally as a Saint.
- Eleven Pro Bowl selections in thirteen seasons, seven of them in New Orleans.
- Named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1990s while playing on Saints teams that reached the playoffs once.
- A Louisiana native drafted eighth overall in 1993, he became the standard the franchise has measured offensive linemen against since.
- After a 2002 trade to Kansas City he anchored one of the highest-scoring offenses in NFL history, proving the résumé was never a product of one system.
Defining moment
A second-year All-Pro
1994 season
Roaf made his first Pro Bowl in his second NFL season and did not miss another until he left New Orleans. Rookie left tackles who become the league’s best inside two years are rare enough that the trajectory itself is the achievement.
Career statistics
Current through the 2005 season
With the Saints
- Seasons
- 9
- Pro Bowls as a Saint
- 7
- Draft
- 1993, 8th overall
Full NFL career(1993–2005, all teams)
- Seasons
- 13
- Pro Bowls
- 11
Where he ranks
- #1Pro Bowls by a Saints Offensive Lineman7Saints all-time
Honors & accolades
Championships & enshrinement
- Pro Football Hall of FameClass of 2012
- New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame
League awards & All-Pro
- NFL 1990s All-Decade Team
Selections & records
- 11x Pro BowlSeven with New Orleans, four with Kansas City
Career timeline
13 seasons in the NFL, 9 of them in New Orleans.
- 1993New Orleans SaintsDrafted 8th overall out of Louisiana Tech
- 1994New Orleans SaintsFirst Pro Bowl selection, in his second season
- 1995New Orleans Saints
- 1996New Orleans Saints
- 1997New Orleans Saints
- 1998New Orleans Saints
- 1999New Orleans Saints
- 2000New Orleans SaintsStarts at left tackle for the first playoff-winning team in franchise history
- 2001New Orleans Saints
- 2002Kansas City ChiefsTraded to Kansas City
- 2003Kansas City Chiefs
- 2004Kansas City Chiefs
- 2005Kansas City Chiefs
Era context
What the league looked like while Willie Roaf 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 2005 season.
- Offensive line play has no meaningful traditional statistics. This profile is built on selections, longevity and team results rather than on a counting line, which is how the position is evaluated everywhere else too.
- Games started by season are not compiled in this profile, so no season-by-season table is shown.
