WhoDat!656

Bobby Hebert thought he was joining the Seattle Seahawks in 1985.

Then, Tom Benson bought the New Orleans Saints, and Hebert's plans suddenly changed.

"I wouldn't have played for the New Orleans Saints if it wasn't for Tom Benson," Hebert said Wednesday at the visitation service for Benson, who died last Thursday. "After the USFL folded and I played in the championship game with the Oakland Invaders, I was going to the Seattle Seahawks."



The Cajun Cannon, a native of Cut Off, said the Seahawks offered him a $750,000 signing bonus, and he was ready to agree to the deal.

However, Benson bought the Saints from John Mecom. The Saints were supposedly moving to Jacksonville, but Benson ensured they would stay in New Orleans.

Then, Benson made his move to acquire Hebert. The new owner called in help from then-Gov. Edwin Edwards, and former state Senator Leonard Chaubert even called Hebert's father.

Hebert flew to San Antonio on Benson's jets to meet at a car dealership. Benson and Hebert's agent Greg Campbell negotiated a deal.

All of a sudden, Hebert received a $1.2 million signing bonus, which was the largest in NFL history at the time. Hebert thought he "hit the lottery," and he was so excited that Benson made him a millionaire at 25.

Bobby Hebert shares how Tom Benson brought him to the Saints | NOLA.com

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

ScottF

largest signing bonus at the time?

interesting fact

RailBoss

Ahh the good ole days...

skymike

I'm a fan of Bobby, as you may know.
His roughness is part of his charm. He's kind of the Trump of
sports personalities. (which is funny, because he doesn't like
Trump- not necessarily for political reasons, but because he didnt
like his actions as a USFL Owner. (I didnt like Trumps leadership
in the USFL, either. I like him fine, as a president.)
Bobby's loud and says off the wall stuff-- and I enjoy his work.

I know he has detractors, even from his football career.
But even you guys who remember the 80s, sometimes forget
how excited we were, when he replaced Dave Wilson as the
starter. How we screamed for Bum to put him in, and how exciting
he could be, when he got in. He was a gunslinger, like Favre, for
better or worse.

Also, we forget how respectable the Saints were, with him at QB.
We all thought we had a chance to finally go to the playoffs,
which we did. And each year, we felt like we had a chance
to win it all. Sure a lot of it was our Defense, but I'm right,
and you know it.

It didnt end the way we wanted it, but the ride was fun much of
the time. I'm glad I went, and I had some good times being a
Saints fan, in the Dome Patrol era, with Bobby at QB.

44Champs

Bobby was good enough to win a Super Bowl for us. Carl Smith held the whole team back

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

RailBoss

"It didn't end the way we wanted it, but the ride was fun much of
the time. I'm glad I went, and I had some good times being a
Saints fan, in the Dome Patrol era, with Bobby at QB"

Bobby breathed life into the Saints and it was a fun ride.
Others had The Snake(us too for a short time) Machine Gun Kelly
Broadway Joe but we had The Cajun Cannon.

Rugby Saint II

He was definitely a gun slinger with moxy!