48 days until Saints opener: Every player to wear the No. 48 jersey

Only 48 days remain until the New Orleans Saints open their 2026 regular season. New Orleans will be on the road for their first game, traveling to play the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Sept. 13. As the Saints enter training camp, no player currently wears the No. 48 jersey. It's a number worn by just eight different players in the history of the franchise. Our countdown to kickoff series looks back at each of them who did so now.

Saints History of No. 48RB Andy Livingston (1969-70) • >S Don Schwartz (1978-80) • >WR Jeff Groth (1981) • >RB James Fenderson (2002) • >TE David Sloan (2003) • >RB Kendall Hunter (2015) • >S Vonn Bell (2016-17) • >S J.T. Gray (2018-24)Andy Livingston was the first Saint to wear 48, doing so for 15 games over the last two of a six-year NFL career. Livingston made the Pro Bowl with New Orleans in 1969, rushing for a team-high 761 yards and scoring 8 A touchdowns. The No. 48 wouldn't be worn for the Saints until almost a decade later, when Don Schwartz became the first defensive player, and the first New Orleans draft choice, to wear the jersey. A Round 4 pick in the 1978 NFL draft, Schwartz had 2 interceptions over his three years and 46 outings with New Orleans.

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>Jeff Groth had a solid five-year career with the Saints. However, he'd only wear 48 during his first year with the team before switching to 86. James Fenderson, David Sloan, and Vonn Bell also switched out of 48 to another jersey during their multiple years with the franchise. All told, Schwartz was the only one of the seven players before J.T. Gray that wore No. 48 to do it for more than two years.

>Vonn Bell is the highest-drafted player by the Saints to wear a 48 jersey. A Round 2 choice in 2016 from the Ohio State Buckeyes, Bell wore 48 for his first two years with New Orleans before changing to 24 for the last two. Bell played 32 games in No. 48, forcing two fumbles with 5.5 sacks and recording 170 tackles in the uniform.

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>With Bell switching to 24 in 2018, the No. 48 was free for undrafted rookie J.T. Gray from the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Gray surprisingly made the team in his first year and has worn 48 for seven years and 98 games since. While he has seen little action on the defensive side, Gray was annually one of the top special teams contributors in the NFL. It is a role that's earned him one Pro Bowl and three years of 1st or 2nd Team All-Pro recognition. New Orleans moved on from Gray at the end of the 2025 preseason. The number 48 stayed vacant for the Saints throughout last season and remains so heading into training camp.

>This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: 48 days until Saints opener: Every player to wear the No. 48 jersey