New Orleans Saints First Round Draft Choices: Mark Fields (1995)

The first round of the 2016 NFL Draft will be held on Thursday, April 28, in Chicago, Illinois.

Between now and then, we’ll be looking back at all of the drafts of the New Orleans Saints, from 1967-2015.

Yesterday, we looked back at 1994.

Today: 1995

The 1995 draft was the 29th draft in the history of the Saints.

The pick: Mark Fields, a linebacker from Washington St.

A native of Los Angeles, California, Fields, who was the 13th-overall pick of the 1995 NFL Draft, played seven years for the Saints, from 1995-2000.

The 6-foot-2, 244-pound Fields played in all 16 games as a rookie, starting 3, before becoming the full-time starter at right-inside linebacker in 1996.

Over the next five seasons, from 1996-2000, Fields averaged 76 tackles and 4 sacks a season.

Fields had his best season, statistically, in 1997, when he compiled 88 tackles and 8 sacks, both career highs, but was actually named to the Pro Bowl in 2000, his last year with the Saints, when he accumulated 63 tackles and 2 sacks, which both tied career-lows as a starter in New Orleans.

Fields left the Saints following the 2000 season, signing with the St. Louis Rams, where he played for one season, before signing with the Carolina Panthers prior to the 2002 season.

After a solid 2002 season with the Panthers, in which he racked up 74 tackles and 7.5 sacks, Fields learned he had Hodgkin's Disease, and had to sit out the 2003 campaign.

Fields returned in 2004, being named to the Pro Bowl for the second time in his career, before retiring, after learning that his Hodgkin's Disease had returned.

In 6 seasons with the Saints, Fields played in 93 games, including 73 as a starter, compiling 412 total tackles, including 23 sacks.

In 9 total NFL seasons, Fields appeared in 136 games, including 113 as a starter, accumulating 584 total tackles and 34.5 sacks.

The Saints made one other draft choice of note in 1995, selecting Notre Dame fullback Ray Zellars in the second round.