Four teams in six months would certainly qualify as a roller-coaster rookie year.
That road is exactly what former LSU defensive tackle Marlon Favorite traveled after he went undrafted in 2009. Now his journey has come full circle as Favorite, a native of Gretna, was signed to the Saints’ practice squad Jan. 19 in the midst of the team’s unprecedented run to the Super Bowl.
Favorite said getting the call from the Saints after spending the final four weeks of the regular season on the practice squad of the 5-11 Seattle Seahawks was “a dream come true.”
“I rushed over to the facility and gave them every ounce I had in me,” Favorite said. “Just to be a part of history in the making is huge … Everyone works so hard, and they really deserve this moment to make history for a city that really deserves it.”
Favorite grew up following the Saints and remembers his earliest days as a fan.
“I didn’t care how bad or good they were doing,” he said. “It just meant so much. I was 5 or 6 years old when I went to my first Saints game. My dad got tickets that were in the nosebleeds.”
More recently, Favorite was a sophomore at LSU when the Superdome reopened after Hurricane Katrina on Sept. 25, 2006.
“I watched that game on TV in my [West Campus] apartment after we got out of practice, and you could see it in all the players,” he said. “Everyone knew there was something special about that team.”
He said he felt similar emotions as he stood on the Saints sideline at the NFC Championship Game against the Minnesota Vikings.
“We have a group of guys who treat each other like brothers here,” Favorite said. “The way they took me in, it was like, ‘You’re our brother now. This is what you have to do.'”
Favorite joins wide receiver Devery Henderson and cornerback Randall Gay as fellow Tiger alumni with the Saints. Henderson and Gay are both 6-year veterans and Louisiana natives, born in Opelousas and Baton Rouge, respectively.
All three players won a national championship at LSU — Henderson and Gay in the 2003-04 season and Favorite in 2007-08 in the Superdome.
“We can relate to a lot of the same stuff being a part of Tiger Nation, Tigers for life,” Favorite said. “They were messing with me about our national championship rings — they had the one from ’03, and we had the upgraded one from ’07.”
In just one year in the NFL, Favorite traveled far and wide across the country trying to land roster spots — in Carolina, St. Louis, Kansas City, Buffalo and Seattle, before finding himself back home again. And he said home is now where his heart is.
“Devery was saying to me, ‘Dude, it’s crazy. We’re about to play in the Super Bowl for our home state,'” Favorite said. “It’s one thing to play in the Super Bowl with a great team, but to be playing in the Super Bowl on the roster of your hometown team is a dream.”
Despite the revelry that has enveloped New Orleans since the Saints secured a Super Bowl berth, Favorite said the mood of the team is “cool, calm and collected.”
“One thing I respect about the coaching staff is we’re not caught up in the hype about just being in the Super Bowl,” Favorite said. “It’s, ‘Let’s go get our Super Bowl.”
——Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]