New Orleans Saints Flashback: Jess Phillips

Jess Phillips played running back for the New Orleans Saints for two seasons, in 1973 and 1974.

A native of Beaumont, Texas, Phillips played his college football at Michigan St., where he played safety.

During his senior season, Phillips was convicted of forging a check, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Despite his conviction, Phillips was drafted in the fourth round of the1968 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals, where he played safety in his rookie year.

The Bengals then moved Phillips to running back/fullback, and over his next four seasons, from 1969-1972, he rushed for 1,753 yards, along with eight touchdowns.

In 1973, at the age of 26, Phillips joined the Saints, and led the team in rushing, carrying the football 198 times for 663 yards, while catching 22 passes for 169 yards.

In his final year with the Saints, 1974, Alvin Maxon became the team's starter at running back, but Phillips still managed to rush for 556 yards, including two touchdowns.

While only scoring two touchdowns in two years as a member of the Saints, his first score was memorable, as he scored on an 8-yard touchdown run with under 2:00 remaining to lift the Saints to a 14-13 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in week three of the 1974 season.

Phillips left the Saints following the 1974 season and joined the Oakland Raiders in 1975, before playing the final two years of his career with the New England Patriots, from 1976-1977.

In his ten NFL seasons, Phillips rushed for 3,568 yards and 13 touchdowns, while gaining 1,219 yards and scoring twice for the Saints.

Now 66-years old, Phillips is presently writing a book about the history of technical analysis of stocks and commodity futures.

You can follow Phillips at his twitter account.