BEREA, Ohio — Grant Delpit has history at the Superdome.
Some of the 26-year-old Browns safety’s fondest childhood memories are of attending Saints’ games as a young boy, thanks to the season tickets of his maternal grandparents — Louis Lester Eames Jr., who died in July 2023 and whom Delpit referred to as “Papa,” and Leila Eames.
As an energetic, sports-obsessed kid, the stadium workers knew Delpit well back then.
He first made his name there not on the field, but on the stadium ramps.
“They used to know me running around the stadium, up the ramps,” he said. “A little kid that was just not even focused on the game, really just running around the stadium. So definitely got some history and some roots in that stadium.”
Delpit can joke about not paying attention to the games as a young kid.
But he was clearly paying enough attention, and getting plenty of inspiration. Even now, in the fifth year of his NFL career, he can rattle off the Saints players he looked up to back then.
“Deuce McAllister, man, Joe Horn, Devery Henderson, Marques Colston, Reggie Bush when he was on the Saints was my favorite player of course,“ Delpit said. ”I feel like he was everybody’s favorite player.”
So when Delpit plays in the Superdome for the first time in his NFL career this week, as the Saints host the Browns Sunday at 1 p.m., it will be special game for Delpit and the 40-plus family members he’ll have in attendance.
“I had to get a suite and a couple more tickets,” he said. “I want to get them a good win. But of course, they’re going to be torn between the Saints and me. But nah, they’re going to be cheering for me.”
Delpit has never lost his love and energy for the game, or his roots and ties to the city over the years — even in the face of unspeakable adversity and change.
As a 6 year old, Delpit and his family, mom Endya, dad Marc, and sister Grace had their lives uprooted in August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina made landfall.
The storm claimed more than 1,800 lives and ranked as the costliest hurricane in U.S. history. While the Delpits evacuated ahead of the storm’s arrival, they were unable to return to their New Orleans East home.
So they wound up in Houston, where they had extended family, becoming just several of the estimated 250,000 people that went there in the initial aftermath of the storm.
In the years following, Houston became their new home. Delpit stayed there until his senior year of high school, when he transferred to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, ranked as a top-50 high school prospect in the nation.
He finally returned to Louisiana however, signing with LSU and going on to star with the Tigers. His immediate family moved back to the city as he started college, too.
And interestingly enough, his college career was bookended by two games played in the Superdome, the building that helped grow his football dreams.
In 2017 as a freshman, Delpit and the Tigers got a season-opening win over BYU. His final game with the Tigers was their College Football Playoff national championship win over Clemson in 2019.
“I was blessed to start my career there, make my first start, first game, and end my career there in the best way,” Delpit said. “So I wanted to do a good job bringing love to the city, bringing love to Louisiana and LSU and all that. So I feel like I did my job.”
This is the first time the Browns are playing in New Orleans since the 2018 season — two years before the Browns selected Delpit at No. 44 overall in the NFL draft.
Cleveland Browns safety Grant Delpit (left) hits New Orleans Saints tight end Juwan Johnson (83) during the 2022 game between these two teams. John Kuntz, cleveland.com
In the NFL, Delpit has played against his childhood favorite team only one other time, the below-freezing Christmas Eve game in Cleveland in 2022. He had an interception in the Browns’ 17-10 loss.
The fact that he’s already played them once should help temper emotions some.
“It’s not like I’m just a Saints fan still,” he said. “They’re just another team and I’m playing in front of my people which will probably give me some more energy and juice.”
While at home, besides trying to get a win, Delpit said the thing he’s most looking forward to is eating some of grandmother, or “mamiere,” Leila’s gumbo.
“She knows what’s going on, she’s probably making a roux right now,” Delpit said.
It’s a recipe that is top secret, however.
“My momma don’t even know,“ Delpit said with a laugh. ”I said, ‘Ma, you better hurry up and learn, (she) ain’t going to be here forever.‘”
Endya Delpit confirmed that even she doesn’t know her mother’s exact gumbo recipe.
But she also confirmed the obvious: that this game will hold special significance for the family.
Leila hasn’t missed being at a Browns game yet this year. Endya too has made a trip for just about every game of Delpit’s NFL career.
But playing at home, in this building? It will be hard for those close to Delpit to not get emotional.
“We have family and friends coming from all over to see Grant play in the Dome,” Endya told cleveland.com in a text. “We have literally watched him grow from a toddler running the ramps in the Dome to playing there professionally. It is a surreal experience as a parent. The last time he played there, we won the national championship, so watch out Saints.”
Delpit may not be just a Saints fan anymore, but in so many ways, it all comes back to this city, family, and that little boy who just loved running up and down the stadium ramps.
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