A look back at the career of Joel Hilgenberg, our Saints Player of the Day.
The New Orleans Saints have a 61-day wait until they host the Arizona Cardinals to kick off their 2025 regular season and 59th year in the NFL. Kellen Moore is the team’s new head coach, and he’ll be accompanied by several other new faces. However, there is no player on the roster that currently possesses 61 as a jersey number. Only nine players have ever worn this number in Saints history, with offensive lineman Connor McGovern being the last to do it for six games last season. For our choice as Saints Player of the Day, we’ve selected the best to wear 61 in team history with Joel Hilgenberg.
- Name (age): Joel Hilgenberg (62)
- Hometown: Iowa City, Iowa
- Position: Center
- Height, weight: 6-foot-3, 250 pounds
- College: Iowa Hawkeyes
- Drafted: Round 4, 94th overall in 1984 (Saints)
- NFL career: 10 years (all with Saints)
Joel Hilgenberg played all of his 10 NFL seasons with the Saints. Over that span, he appeared in 142 games while making 97 starts. Joel was even reunited with brother Jay during the 1993 season with the Saints. It would be the last year in the playing careers of both Hilgenberg brothers. Joel Hilgenberg earned one Pro Bowl berth, in 1992, but was widely recognized as one of the league’s better interior linemen during his career. After retirement, Hilgenberg spent three years as an offensive line assistant with the Green Bay Packers. In 2006, Hilgenberg was inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame. He was just the fifth New Orleans offensive lineman to receive that honor at the time.
