New Orleans Saints First Round Draft Choices: Kenny Vaccaro (2013)

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 2012.

Today: 2013

The 2013 draft was the 47th draft in the history of the Saints.

The selection turned out to be a fairly solid one for the Saints, taking a player who was a starter in his rookie year, and continues to be so today.

The pick: Kenny Vaccaro, a defensive back from Texas.

A native of Brownwood, Texas, Vaccaro, who was the 15th-overall pick of the 2013 NFL Draft, will enter his fourth year with the team in 2016.

The 6-foot, 214-pound Vaccaro played in 14 games, all as a starter, at safety, as a rookie in 2013, while compiling 62 tackles, including one sack and one interception.

In 2014, Vaccaro slipped just a little, generating 51 tackles, to go along with one sacks, and one interception in 15 games, including 14 as a starter.

During 2015, a season in which Vaccaro rebounded, he totaled 71 tackles and 3 sacks, both career-highs, while playing in all 16 games, all as a starter.

In 3 seasons in the NFL, all with the Saints, Vaccaro has appeared in 45 games, including 44 as a starter, accumulating 185 tackles, 5 sacks, and 3 interceptions.

The Saints made an outstanding selection in the third round in 2013, selecting Arkansas-Pine Bluff offensive lineman Terron Armstead, who has been a starter at tackle for the last two years, in the third round.

John Jenkins, a defensive lineman from Georgia, was also selected in the third round, while the team took Oklahoma receiver Kenny Stills in the fourth round.