We’re counting down the days until the New Orleans Saints’ regular season opener by highlighting a Player of the Day every day, but there isn’t an active player using the No. 54 jersey. And there aren’t many notable players in team history who have worn it — no Pro Bowlers or All-Pros, and the member of the Saints’ Super Bowl XLIV-winning team who used it, Troy Evans, was a backup.
So we’re cheating a little and going with an old fan-favorite. Scott Fujita (who wore No. 55) is our pick for the New Orleans Saints Player of Day 54.
Fujita played college football at California, and he grew up six hours’ drive down the West Coast in Ventura, near Los Angeles. The Kansas City Chiefs picked him in the fifth round of the 2002 NFL draft and it didn’t take long for him to win a starting job. He spent the 2005 season with the Dallas Cowboys and the experience of working against him in practice every day convinced Sean Payton (the Cowboys’ offensive play caller at the time) to sign him as a free agent the next spring.
And that’s when Fujita’s career really took off. He was a key piece of the changing locker room culture that Payton installed in New Orleans, starting 54 of the 56 games he appeared in over the next four years — plus three playoff games in 2009, including Super Bowl XLIV. Fujita was an impressive tag-team partner for Jonathan Vilma at the second level of the Saints defense, and he quickly endeared himself to Saints fans.
He spent the last three years of his playing career with the Cleveland Browns, but Fujita retired a Saint — and he did so memorably, perched on top of a mountain in South America back in 2013. He’s remained close with his old teammate Steve Gleason over the years and helped Gleason hike the Andes to visit the famous ruins of Machu Picchu, where he formally signed his one-day retirement contract with the Saints and shared an emotional speech to his supporters.
Few players have done the black and gold prouder. Fujita left his mark on New Orleans and the Saints, and it’s a great thing that his time with the team was as meaningful for him as it was for those cheering him on.
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