METAIRIE, La. ― Jonathan Vilma didn’t beg his Saints’ coaches to put him in for practice during August two-a-days in Jackson, Miss.

But he didn’t exactly make it easy for them to willingly submit to any requests he might have had in regard to getting him into drills after coming off of knee surgery that ended his 2007 early.

“My philosophy is always go hard and whatever happens after, you’ll figure it out from there,” Vilma said. “The coaches had to be opposite and they were the opposite way with me, easing me along.

“For me, whenever I got a chance to go as hard as I could, I’d go. If they backed me off, they backed me off.”

He added, “Now I’m going a full 100 percent. It’s not an issue."

It appears a combination of methods has worked best for both Vilma and the Saints, who sent the Jets a conditional fourth-round pick that will, according to NFL.com, become a third-round pick in the 2009 draft.

“…He’s also viewed by our players as one of the leaders on defense,” Saints Head Coach Sean Payton said.

The free-agent pickup has been superb in his first season with New Orleans, leading the team in tackles (119) and fumble recoveries (2) with two games to go in the Saints’ season.

Anybody who questioned if the former University of Miami and New York Jets standout would be able to play top-flight football after the surgery got their answer time and again throughout the season.

“I definitely like where I’m at,” Vilma said. “I like the way I’m playing. I see a progression in myself as the weeks have gone on. I’m excited about that and fortunately, my knee hasn’t been an issue.”

What has helped – besides surgery and the regular rehabilitation routine – is a move back to a 4-3 defense instead of the 3-4 that he was playing in with the Jets.

It’s not just New Orleans coaches and Saints fans who have noticed what Vilma is doing this season.

“When he was coming out, we really did our due diligence in Jacksonville of looking at Jonathan,” current Atlanta Head Coach Mike Smith, the former Jacksonville defensive coordinator. “He’s very intelligent. I think he has a great understanding of defensive football and I think he’s a great addition to the defense here at the Saints. I think he’s one of the top, if not the top middle linebacker in the NFC.”

Vilma is a 6-foot-1, 230-pound former first-round selection out of Miami who earned a Pro Bowl selection while with the Jets. He was the rookie of the year in 2004, finishing with 118 tackles, two sacks and three interceptions, among other stats.

His versatility is one of the things that stands out on video, Chicago Bears Head Coach Lovie Smith said.

“If you look at what linebackers have to do nowadays, guarding backs like Matt Forte, like Reggie Bush, like (Pierre) Thomas, you have to have athletic ability to do that,” Smith said. “And you have to be able to take on big linemen. You have to have strength, too, and he has both of those.”

And while New Orleans hasn’t re-signed him to a long-term contract, that could be coming. Vilma appears to have a fondness for the city and the team.

“I’m happy. No regrets,” Vilma said. “I still keep in touch with guys from New York. No hard feelings there. But I’m happy where I’m at.”

(wwltv.com)

METAIRIE, La. — Jonathan Vilma doesn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.

The New Orleans Saints middle linebacker still says he’s not producing the sort of results he desires as the end of his first season in New Orleans is coming to a close.

“It may sound bad and when people read it and they’ll think, ‘Man, he’s still not where he wants to be and he’s hurt,’” Vilma said. “I’m thinking in terms of that I can never be satisfied. I can’t be satisfied with my play because once you are, you’re destined for failure.

“I want to play to the best of my ability all the time, and if I did, we’d have a lot more wins. That’s just the way I look at the game.”

For a guy coming off season-ending knee surgery a little more than a year ago, some, including Pro Bowl voters, would argue against Vilma’s prognosis of his first 14 games with the Saints.

No one has come close to Vilma’s tackling production during coach Sean Payton’s first three seasons in New Orleans.

Vilma ranks second among the Saints with 130 total tackles; he has seven games with double-digit tackles and 10 games with eight tackles or more. The 6-foot-1, 230-pound defender also tallied one sack, one interception, eight pass defenses, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.

In comparison, Scott Fujita led the team in both 2006 and 2007 with 119 total tackles. Vilma still has two games remaining to add to his impressive totals.

“I think in Year 1, it’s very encouraging,” Payton said. “When you look at Jon Vilma, he spent a lot of his offseason in rehab and not as much in football. So to have the season that he’s been able to have, we look forward to having a healthy Jonathan Vilma now in the offseason participating in football events as it leads to the ’09 season.”

Vilma’s stellar numbers didn’t earn him an outright bid to the Pro Bowl as he is a second alternate for the league’s all-star game. Even if he had been named to the roster, the honor would ring somewhat hollow considering how the Saints’ season unfolded.

“It’s a little bittersweet consolation,” Vilma said. “I try to focus more on the wins and losses. It’s been kind of tough dealing with the individual success when the team success wasn’t where we wanted it to be.

“I’m thankful, but I don’t want to say I’m happy because I’m not happy because we’re not in a position as a team where we thought we should be. But I’m thankful people are recognizing my hard work in coming back. It was a whole lot of work for myself as far helping this team win next year.”
Vilma’s journey back from knee surgery — in which a floating piece of dead bone was removed midway through last season, in addition to escaping a 3-4 scheme that didn’t fit his comfort level with the New York Jets — didn’t take it out of him physically. But it made his brain work overtime.

“It’s been a tougher journey mentally from here to back then in New York. Physically the muscle came back fine the muscles around the knee healed up fine. But mentally, striving to not only compete against everyone else but competing against myself to get to the level I should be playing at and the level that I’m used to playing at hasn’t been easy.

“Once I get there and if I ever do, then I’m striving to get better than what I was before the surgery. That’s been the toughest thing mentally, trying to be patient through this whole process. I know it’s not all going to come out at once.”

Vilma said although some of the league probably hasn’t seen his progression because the Saints haven’t received the national exposure of others, he and the coaching staff do see the noticeable improvements and Vilma wants next year to be his resurrection.

The problem for the Saints could be where Vilma spends his next few years. Vilma’s contract expires at season’s end and he will be a free agent by the end of February after having only a year left on his New York deal when he was traded to New Orleans in early March.

New Orleans is the only team that can negotiate with Vilma until free agency opens. But because of a stipulation in the trade, the Saints can’t sign Vilma until the start of free agency.

If the Saints did sign Vilma before free agency kicks off, the Jets would receive the Saints’ second-round pick in 2009. That would also affect the trade involving Jeremy Shockey and the Saints would have to give the Giants their first-round pick instead of the second already committed to the Giants.

Vilma made his intentions quite clear to Payton and Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis.

“I already told Mickey and already told Sean that I want to be here,” Vilma said. “I told all the coaches I want to be here. They already know how I feel. Obviously, I don’t handle the money side. I actually told my agent (Mitch Frankel), I don’t even want to hear the money side of it. Hopefully my agent and Mickey will get it done so I can be here.”

Despite his early pleas to remain in New Orleans, Vilma understands nothing is ever definite come contract negotiation time

“(Vilma is not interested in leaving), but you know what they say that unfortunately this is a business,” Vilma said. “Even with the good relationships that you build throughout your time here, it’s a business.”

(sunherald.com)

Had New Orleans resigned linebacker Jonathan Vilma to a long-term contract extension this season, or even shortly thereafter, two New York teams would have benefited.

First, the conditional fourth-round pick the Saints traded to the Jets for Vilma would have become a second-round pick.

And if that Vilma trade with the Jets had involved a second-round pick, then the Saints would have been forced to compensate the New York Giants with a first-round pick for tight end Jeremy Shockey.

But New Orleans can exhale. The Saints did not re-sign Vilma, and will not attempt to do so until he becomes a free agent, thus the value the Jets and Giants receive now can be determined.

The conditional fourth-round pick the Saints traded to the Jets for Vilma will become a third-round pick in 2009. The Jets used the Saints fourth-round pick in 2008, but they will have to return a fourth-round pick to New Orleans this April.

And while the Jets get the Saints third-round pick, the Giants will get New Orleans’ second-round pick for Shockey.

So the Saints now are scheduled to have their first-round pick, and two fourth-round picks, with no second- or third-round picks.

(nfl.com)

It is a time to give thanks, and few players on the Saints’ roster have more to be thankful for than Saints middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma.

Vilma, the team leader in tackles through 11 games with 102 stops, is extremely thankful to be back on the gridiron in 2008 and as a member of the Saints.

“I love being here and being a Saint,” said the University of Miami product.

The sentiment from the Saints’ locker room appears to be mutual, as Vilma was recently voted by his teammates as the Saints’ 2008 Ed Block Courage Award winner, which is given annually to a player that has persevered though adversity.

In Vilma’s case, his return to playing at a high level comes on the heels of a 2007 season with the New York Jets that saw his season end mid-through the season due to a knee injury that required a portion of bone to be removed.

“There were some questions, but I knew I could get back to the level I was accustomed to playing at,” Vilma said. “It required a lot of hard work and rehabilitation and listening to what the doctors and the trainers said every step of the way. There were times I wanted to push it, but thanks to Scottie Patton, his staff and the doctors, I was able to return.”

The Saints in a trade with the Jets early in the 2008 off-season acquired Vilma after he met with Saints doctors, Executive Vice President/General Manager Mickey Loomis and Head Coach Sean Payton, among others. Vilma spoke about his passion and desire to return to the level of play that earned him the 2004 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and a spot in the 2005 Pro Bowl.

“I never doubted my desire,” Vilma said. “I am just thankful that I was given the opportunity to come to New Orleans and be a part of this team.”

In addition to his team-high 102 tackles, Vilma also has an interception, six passes defensed and a fumble recovery and seldom leaves the field when the Saints’ defense is on the field.

Each year the Ed Block Courage Awards honor those players who overcome adversity on the field, possess strong character and a will to endure life’s trials, and who continuously strive for excellence on and off the field. Ed Block Courage Award recipients are selected by a vote of their teammates.

“I believe anytime your teammates think enough of you to vote for you for an award like this is a true honor,’ Vilma said. “There is a lot of very high character players in our locker room and I’m proud to represent the Saints.”

All 32 of this year’s Ed Block Courage Award recipients - one from each team - will be honored at a banquet next spring in Baltimore. Proceeds from the event benefit abused children of The Courage House National Support Network.

(neworleanssaints.com)

METAIRIE – Jonathan Vilma sank into a sofa in the Saints’ training center with a TV remote in his hand and clicked through a few newscasts before his head tilted back and he fell asleep.

And why wouldn’t he need a nap?

The Saints’ middle linebacker has been on field for every defensive play through New Orleans’ first six games and leads the team in tackles with 56.

Then there’s the time he spends in practice and meetings learning the jobs of his defensive teammates.

“It’s like having a quarterback who knows what he’s supposed to do on offense,” Saints defensive tackle Brian Young said of Vilma.

“If you’ve got a guy who’s back there and basically telling everybody what to do and where to go, you’ve got confidence, you don’t have to worry about as much. ... You just go out there and play, so it makes it a lot easier.”

Vilma even talks like a quarterback sometimes, crediting the linemen who play in front of him every time someone asks him about making double-digit tackles in a game.

“Any time the media thinks I have a good game, it’s strictly because of what my D-line does,” Vilma said after making 11 tackles against Oakland last Sunday.

“The D-line knows I appreciate them very much.”

In New Orleans, the comparison of Vilma to a quarterback is fitting in another way.

The Saints took a chance on the former Jets star in much the same way they did in 2006 with Drew Brees, who was jettisoned by San Diego following a serious injury to his throwing shoulder.

Three seasons later, the Saints look pretty smart for bringing in Brees.

So far, last winter’s trade for Vilma doesn’t look too bad, either.

Vilma, a first-round draft choice out of Miami in 2004, was a Pro Bowl linebacker with the Jets in 2005.

Then a switch in defensive schemes, followed by a serious knee injury, made him expendable in New York.

The Saints were able to get him for a fourth-round draft choice last spring and a conditional pick next season, likely in the third round.

The hope was that Vilma, like Brees, would overcome injury and thrive in a scheme that suited his strengths.

The Saints play a 4-3 defense (four down linemen and three linebackers), the same scheme the Jets used when Vilma was 2004 Defensive Rookie of the Year and a Pro Bowl selection the next season, when he led the NFL in tackles with 187.

In 2006, however, the Jets hired coach Eric Mangini, who replaced a three-linebacker scheme with a four-linebacker formation that he knew from his time as an assistant with New England.

The switch required Vilma, who is 6-foot-1, 230-pounds, to take on blocks from offensive linemen who outweighed him significantly.
What he lacked in size he sought to make up in quickness.

Still, he wasn’t the dominant linebacker he had been when he played behind four down linemen who ate up more blockers and allowed the linebackers to focus on pursuing the ball carrier.

Vilma’s knee injury forced him to miss the last nine weeks of 2007 and required painful surgery involving a bone graft.

He had muscle atrophy in his leg and had to work throughout the offseason to rebuild his strength and quickness.

“The anticipation of whatever play’s coming and being able to just go sideline to sideline – that was something I was never going to know until I actually started playing back in training camp,” Vilma said. “Now I feel good about where I’m at. I think I’m able to make those plays and it’s comforting knowing that my knee hasn’t been an issue and hopefully it won’t be.”

(houmatoday.com)

Q: How do you feel about the timing of that game, given the result yesterday and having to adjust to London?
A: I don’t think the timing’s that bad. I think we would have been a whole lot better off if we had won in Carolina and was getting ready for San Diego. We have the bye week after this, so it’s not like we have to get back to the states and immediately get ready for another game. We have some time off. The injuries, unfortunately it is what it is for us as a team. We’ve been battling that all year. I don’t think this trip makes it any better or worse.

Q: Did you watch game film on the plane or focus on the Carolina game at all on the plane?
A: I just slept really. The flight was long and it was better to try to take your mind off of what had happened. Of course we’re going to watch the film and get the corrections. We just wanted to get some rest on the plane and get over here and get acclimated to London.

Q: What’s your impression of the facilities here so far?
A: It’s been very nice. The hotel’s very nice. The rooms are very nice. We went outside on the field and even though it was a drizzly day, the field held up well as we were running around out there. Right now, my impressions are great. They’re fantastic.

Q: How does it feel to represent the league in another country?
A: It feels great. When we knew we were going to London at the start of the season, we were honored and flattered that they picked us and San Diego to be the hosts of the NFL in Europe in London. That’s great for us. We know that last year, the team that won ended up winning the Super Bowl. We hope we can repeat that success.

Q: How tough is it to avoid distractions leading up to the game?
A: We know we’re still here for business to get ready for San Diego. We have meeting rooms and the film room set up, practices set up. We know what we’re here for. At the beginning of the week, we had those days where we could go out and about the city and sightsee and things like that. As the week closes out and winds down, we have to focus more on San Diego.

Q: Is there anything in particular you want to check out tomorrow?
A: No, to be honest with you. I just want to get out of the hotel for a little while and check out some sights.
 
Q: Have you ever been here?
A: No, this is my first time?

Q: After that game yesterday, a week before you talked about the defense developing a mentality of not giving up 100 yards rushing or 100 yards passing, what are your feelings after that game and what do you think happened?
A: My feelings after the game were disappointment. I was disappointed in not just the defense, just overall performance. We didn’t execute the way we wanted to. I think what caused our performance on the defensive side was third down. I didn’t think we got down the field enough on third down. I thought we gave up one too many big plays. We gave up the long touchdown pass to Steve Smith. We gave up the long touchdown run to (Jonathan) Stewart. Those were the things uncharacteristic of us the last couple weeks. It wasn’t anything they schemed us on. We didn’t play the ball well enough on the long bomb. We gave up 100 and change in the running game in the running game in that one long drive in the fourth quarter. We’re actually shutting them down pretty well and then on a third down they get a first down and get three more downs throwing the ball. When you look at it and put it in perspective, if we correct some of those things as far as the long plays to Steve Smith and the long runs, we played pretty good defense.

(wjtv.com)

METAIRIE, La. — Jonathan Vilma sank into a sofa in the Saints' training centre with a TV remote in his hand and clicked through a few newscasts before his head tilted back and he fell asleep.

And why wouldn't he need a nap? The Saints' middle linebacker has been on field for every defensive play through New Orleans' first six games and leads the team in tackles with 56.

Then there's the time he spends in practice and meetings learning the jobs of his defensive teammates.

"It's like having a quarterback who knows what he's supposed to do on offence," Saints defensive tackle Brian Young said of Vilma. "If you've got a guy who's back there and basically telling everybody what to do and where to go, you've got confidence, you don't have to worry about as much. ... You just go out there and play, so it makes it a lot easier."

Vilma even talks like a quarterback sometimes, crediting the linemen who play in front of him every time someone asks him about making double-digit tackles in a game.

"Any time the media thinks I have a good game, it's strictly because of what my D-line does," Vilma said after making 11 tackles against Oakland last Sunday. "The D-line knows I appreciate them very much."

In New Orleans, the comparison of Vilma to a quarterback is fitting in another way. The Saints took a chance on the former Jets star in much the same way they did in 2006 with Drew Brees, who was jettisoned by San Diego following a serious injury to his throwing shoulder.

Three seasons later, the Saints look pretty smart for bringing in Brees. So far, last winter's trade for Vilma doesn't look too bad, either.
Vilma, a first-round draft choice out of Miami in 2004, was a Pro Bowl linebacker with the Jets in 2005. Then a switch in defensive schemes, followed by a serious knee injury, made him expendable in New York.

The Saints were able to get him for a fourth-round draft choice last spring and a conditional pick next season, likely in the third round.

The hope was that Vilma, like Brees, would overcome injury and thrive in a scheme that suited his strengths.

The Saints play a 4-3 defence (four down linemen and three linebackers), the same scheme the Jets used when Vilma was 2004 Defensive Rookie of the Year and a Pro Bowl selection the next season, when he led the NFL in tackles with 187.

In 2006, however, the Jets hired coach Eric Mangini, who replaced a three-linebacker scheme with a four-linebacker formation that he knew from his time as an assistant with New England.

The switch required Vilma, who is six-foot-one, 230-pounds, to take on blocks from offensive linemen who outweighed him significantly. What he lacked in size he sought to make up in quickness. Still, he wasn't the dominant linebacker he had been when he played behind four down linemen who ate up more blockers and allowed the linebackers to focus on pursuing the ball carrier.

Vilma's knee injury forced him to miss the last nine weeks of 2007 and required painful surgery involving a bone graft. He had muscle atrophy in his leg and had to work throughout the off-season to rebuild his strength and quickness.

"The anticipation of whatever play's coming and being able to just go sideline to sideline - that was something I was never going to know until I actually started playing back in training camp," Vilma said. "Now I feel good about where I'm at. I think I'm able to make those plays and it's comforting knowing that my knee hasn't been an issue and hopefully it won't be."

Vilma hardly appeared limited last Sunday, when he quickly slid off an attempted block near the line of scrimmage, lowered his shoulder into Darren McFadden and planted the Raiders' standout rusher on his back.

"I remember watching him when he was in college making big-time open field hits," Saints linebacker Scott Fujita said of Vilma. "It's hard to get a guy down in the open field. A lot of times you're just grabbing cloth and trying to grab shoelaces, but he does such a good job in open space and hitting guys one-on-one and bringing them down right there on the spot."

The Carolina Panthers, who host the Saints this Sunday, have taken notice of Vilma's resurgence. Coach John Fox and quarterback Jake Delhomme both referred to Vilma when discussing the recent improvement of the Saints' defence, which has yet to allow a 100-yard rusher.

Carolina linebacker Jon Beason, another former Miami Hurricane, said he thought Vilma would thrive once he returned to a 4-3 defence in which the middle linebacker runs the show.

"It's what he's used to, him being the man," Beason said. "He's a smart player. He's where he needs to be. He's not going to make any mistakes. And he's an intense guy."

(ap.com)

Q: With your tackle totals, is it easy to say that you’re getting the feel for this defense?

Jonathan Vilma: "Yes, I’m getting a feel for it and Coach (Gary) Gibbs has a really good scheme. He’s really put in a lot of time and effort to get the right guys, because it’s really the guys up front and the secondary that’s been doing a great job. I just make the tackles, but the supporting cast has been really, really good."

Q: Your knee must be holding up if you’re making all these tackles?

Jonathan Vilma: "Yes, fortunately my knee’s been holding up really well. It hasn’t been an issue up to this point. I’m excited about that. I’m always cognizant about my knee. Asides from that, it’s about the guys around me that are doing a really good job even though we didn’t play up to our standards against Washington, we look to bounce back."

Q: When you go back to the film as a unit, how do you look at your tackling in the Washington game?

Jonathan Vilma: "I would have to say our tackling was average at best starting with myself and going on down. It wasn’t necessarily guys getting run over or a physical thing. I think it was that we’re taking bad angles to the ball sometimes; the players are able to cut back on us, things like that. We just have to take better angles to the ball and that starts at practice."

Q: How do you do that?

Jonathan Vilma: "It just comes in practice where you’re simulating a game. If a wide receiver catches a ball, you’re running to the ball full speed in practice, actually thinking about tackling him even if you’re not doing it in practice, in the game, it should show up."

Q: Are you coming out at all on defense?

Jonathan Vilma: "No. I like it that way. I don’t want to come out."

Q: Was it like that way in New York for you?

Jonathan Vilma: Yes.

Q: Can you talk about going against Jay Cutler this week?

Jonathan Vilma: "He had very good game asides from that one play. He had a really good game. The past two games he’s been playing really well. From what I see he can make all the throws. He’s very comfortable in the pocket. He can roll out. You’re looking at a young, talented guy who is very confident and is coming into his own right now. I think he doesn’t feel the pressure much like Aaron Rodgers with Brett Farve and him with John Elway, he’s just going out there and being himself."

Q: How important will this game be to set the tone for the entire season defensively?

Jonathan Vilma: "It’s important to respond, because this is what we do and is our profession. We play the game to win, not to put up a good fight or anything like that and when you go out there and you don’t perform up to your standards, or up to our standards, I should say, you put the most pressure on yourself. We want to go out there, play up to our capabilities. We know what kind of talent we have."

Q: Going back to John Elway, Denver’s been able to run the ball well because of their zone blocking scheme. Why is it so effective?

Jonathan Vilma: "It’s effective, because it forces defenses to be very disciplined and not just the defense as a whole, but the individual. You can have ten guys playing right and one guy misses his gap and it breaks for ten yards or 20 yards. On and on you see the film, you can have seven or eight guys do the right thing, but if one guy messes up they find the crease. It forces the entire defense to be disciplined. Of course you have to make the tackles."

Q: Around the league, does this offensive line have a reputation?

Jonathan Vilma: "They have a reputation. I don’t see it as a bad reputation, I see it as a good one. They’re known as athletic, smaller type of offensive line. They like to cut block, everybody knows that. You watch it one film, they’re 100 miles an hour, play in and play out and they do what they have to do to get the running back an open hole."

(neworleanssaints.com)

Saints MLB Jonathan Vilma recorded nine tackles (seven solo) and two QB hurries in Week 1 against the Buccaneers.
Vilma could do more blitzing than he's ever done in his career for aggressive coordinator Gary Gibbs this season, and eventually those hurries will turn into sacks. He's also a legit candidate to finish in the top 10 for tackles.

(rotoworld.com)

Each week in the Times-Picayune this summer, new Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma will let fans get behind the scenes with a first-person journal about his experiences.

The fifth-year veteran, who arrived in a late-February trade from the New York Jets, is expected to give the Saints a dynamic athletic presence in the middle of their defense. He had four tackles during the Saints' impressive 13-0 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday night, which was his second game of the preseason.

"We did a lot better as a defense in this last game, obviously, which was great for us. I think it was important to get the bad taste out of our mouths (after a poor showing the week before), and it was important for us to know that we can do it. We know that's what we're capable of, and now that's what we can strive for in the regular season. Shutouts are always great, no matter how you get them. You can look at all the numbers and statistics, but if you don't let them score, you're doing all right.

"For me personally, I think my reads were a little better, a little quicker than last week. I think that just comes with playing more, being in the game and getting used to it again. One tackle that I made on third down stood out because we talked about getting off the field on third downs, third and long. The secondary had been doing such a good job of that prior to that play, so it felt good just to get in the mix.

"You can feel that the regular season is getting close. I think we're really going to start to feel it in practice (Monday), when we really start focusing on Tampa Bay instead of just ourselves and our preseason opponents. Right now, I'm very excited, especially because I haven't played in so long in a real game that counts on the record books. I'm going to control my emotions though. I don't want to go out there and burn myself out in the first series of the first game. But I'll definitely be excited and ready to play.

"We're already into the regular-season routine in some ways. Even though they call it the preseason, and it's a warm-up for the regular season, the only thing that's really a warm-up is mentally, breaking down your opponent and understanding his tendencies. But physically it's all the same. The tackles are all the same, the hits are all the same. I've never heard of anybody who tackles harder in the regular season than they do in the preseason. And you can still feel all those little bumps and bruises.

"The aches and pains always show up the day after, a couple days after. The morning after, it's really all about just relaxing your body. You're gonna be sore, so there's really not much you can do. It's not like you can massage the soreness away. You're just tired. So the first day, I really just try to relax as much as possible. Then two days after, you start with the stretching, the massaging, getting loose and getting back into it. I don't like to do anything in particular on those off days. I just try to enjoy it. I'll definitely watch some TV. I'm a big fan of 'Family Guy.' That's always one of my favorites."

(blog.nola.com)

NEW ORLEANS -- Deuce McAllister wasn't the only New Orleans Saints player Saturday night making a return to the field for the first time since undergoing season-ending knee surgery last year.

Middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma, a key acquisition to the Saints' defense, played the entire first half in the team's 31-27 loss to the Houston Texans. It's the first time he's played since being placed on injured reserve with the New York Jets on Oct. 27 last year.

Vilma took all the snaps in the middle with the first-team defense and tallied two total tackles. He said there were no issues even though it wasn't a whole game.

"It felt good being out there," Vilma said. "It was good to get out there and play with my teammates. That was very exciting. I guess I just have to go from here."

(sunherald.com)

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Any lingering aggravation from Jonathan Vilma's difficult final season in New York is confined to the intermittent soreness in his surgically repaired right knee.

There's no hint of bitterness when the former Pro Bowl linebacker and two-time defensive captain discusses how and why his value to the Jets plummeted after Eric Mangini took over as head coach two years ago.

"It ended up working out better for both sides, me coming here," Vilma said after a recent training camp practice with his new team, the New Orleans Saints. "I don't have any regrets."

Vilma was the Jets' first-round draft pick in 2004 and became an immediate star. After making 118 tackles and three interceptions in his first season, he was named the Associated Press defensive rookie of the year. The next season, he was in on 187 tackles and was selected for the Pro Bowl.

In 2006, however, Mangini was hired and replaced the Jets' three-linebacker scheme with a four-linebacker formation that he knew from his time as an assistant with New England.

"Mangini came in and that's what he was accustomed to," said Vilma, who had never played in a 3-4 defense. "He had won Super Bowls in that defense, so you can't fault him for wanting to go with that."

The switch required Vilma, who is 6-foot-1, 230-pounds, to take on blocks from offensive linemen who easily outweighed him. What he lacked in size he sought to make up in quickness. Still, he wasn't the dominant linebacker he had been when he played behind four down linemen, who ate up more blockers at the line of scrimmage.

Vilma's tackle total fell to 116 in his third season, slightly lower than in his rookie year. Last year, a serious knee injury forced him to miss the last nine weeks of the season.

Vilma sensed he needed a change, and asked the Jets for permission to seek a trade. The Jets agreed, and Vilma lobbied for a deal with the Saints, who use the 4-3 alignment in which Vilma had thrived both in college at Miami and in his first two pro seasons.

New York accommodated Vilma, trading him to the Saints for a fourth-round pick and the possibility of a second- or third-round pick in 2009 if Vilma reaches certain playing incentives and signs an extension with New Orleans after this season.

The Saints saw Vilma as a player whose combination of talent and intelligence could help on the field and in the locker room.

Vilma has been limited in practice during the early days of training camp and he won't play in the Saints' first exhibition game Thursday night in Arizona.

(heraldstandard.com)

Jonathan Vilma has taken a step back and practiced only once per day recently. Head coach Sean Payton informs the New Orleans Times-Picayune that Vilma is "one of those guys you've got to pull back because they're not going to pull back themselves." The linebacker is recovering from left knee surgery.

(nooffseason.com)

I don't think a lot of the fans really understand how time consuming camp is. They come out and see us for two practices a day, which we really enjoy, because it makes practice go by faster having them out there. But when they're not seeing us, we're in meetings or lifting weights or eating lunch or going to meetings again. We're basically going from about 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. straight through.

Mainly, the alarm clock is in charge of getting you up, but as the days go on, you start to hear the familiar sounds, doors opening and closing from the other dorm rooms, scooters starting to turn on, all the sounds of camp life. I'm actually a morning person, so I don't mind getting up at 6 a.m. and putting in the work, just as long as I can squeeze in a nap every day. I do love my naps. They're vital whenever you can squeeze them in. It's like a recharge for your body when you can just shut down and relax for a few minutes.

Fortunately, Coach (Sean) Payton has done a real good job of squeezing some free time into the schedule, usually around noontime. It's up to you how you want to use that. Watch TV, make phone calls. I go with the nap. I think Coach Payton has done a great job of getting the work that he wants out of us, while still giving us time for our bodies to recover. I think he understands that we have a lot of guys that come here in shape, ready to go. There would be no sense in overworking us. We work hard, though, and it's been good work, and we're excited about it.

I'm always making time to study my playbook, too, since this is my first year here. The playbook is something you'll never get in one stop. You have to keep studying it, keep reviewing it. I make sure to do that at night before bed, and maybe a little in the morning, just to make sure I understand what's going on. Coaches want to see the progress, and they don't want to have to slow down progress to explain what's going on. Bedtime is usually around 11 or 12. Some guys can handle four hours of sleep. Some guys need the full eight hours.

About half the guys have a TV in the room, half the guys don't. If you have one, you're lucky. But we have the rookies to entertain ourselves. That always makes it exciting. We always get a nice song out of them in the cafeteria, and Saturday night we had the rookie show, which is always a highlight of camp. They put on some performances for us, some singing, some making fun of the other guys on the team and the coaches. We're grooming them and breaking them in, but it's also a way to bond with them. I usually like to just sit back and let the other vets lead that. Personally, I was fortunate in my rookie year not to get it too bad, so I try not to haggle the rookies too much.

(blog.nola.com)

Each week in the Times-Picayune this summer, new Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma will let fans get behind the scenes with a first-person journal about his experiences.

The fifth-year veteran, who arrived in a late-February trade from the New York Jets, is expected to give the Saints a dynamic athletic presence in the middle of their defense, assuming he can bounce back from last year's knee surgery and beat out veteran Mark Simoneau for the starting job.

When I first got traded, the transition actually went very smoothly, and it's been that way from then on. I think it was in part because I had real good teammates. When I got down to New Orleans, a lot of guys helped me out, let me know where are some good spots to live and what to look out for in the city as a whole. They've really been supportive of me, not just as a player but as a person, so that's great. Of course, I'm spending more time with my defensive teammates, but I want to build a great rapport with everybody here.

I decided to get a place in the warehouse district. A lot of guys recommended that for me, being 26 and single with no kids. There are some great restaurants, some great eating around there and some good nightlife. At the same time, I felt being in New York that I always took great pride in knowing when to go out and when to stay in. I know where to draw the line. I went back to Miami for the last month before camp started, so I'm still just getting settled.

The first three or four days of camp have actually felt really good. My knee has been holding up well. It's been about 10 months since the last time I was really running around in pads and running around out there hitting people. I was curious how it would hold up, and I'm glad it's held up so well. I never really had any doubt. Maybe I would have more doubt if I would have had more setbacks in my rehab, but I didn't have any, and that was really encouraging. I was really able to move and move well in the minicamps, and that was very exciting for me. Now I've been getting some of the rust off and I'm learning the new defense more and more, and I'm really getting comfortable out there.

And actually, this heat does-n't really bother me. I was born and raised in Miami, and I went through training camps with the (University of Miami) Hurricanes down in the heat as well. It's been about five years since

I've really been in the sweltering, intense heat. But it hasn't been too bad."

(blog.nola.com)

JACKSON, Miss. -- He had been through precisely one practice with the New Orleans Saints, but Jonathan Vilma already fit perfectly.

"I'm excited for my teammates because I know we're going to be good,'' Vilma said after Thursday morning's session at Millsaps College.

That attitude, along with his ability to go sideline-to-sideline as a middle linebacker in the 4-3 defense, is precisely why the Saints traded for Vilma in the offseason. They needed a playmaker in the middle of a defense that underachieved last year, and they believe placing Vilma behind rookie defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis will solve a lot of problems.

"We have the right kind of guys in the new additions that can help us do that,'' outside linebacker Scott Fujita said. "In terms of attitude, it has to be more about us trying to dictate what the offense does rather than dictating what we do. We have to set the tempo.''

Vilma was used to setting the tempo in his days at the University of Miami and his first two years with the New York Jets. But the arrival of coach Eric Mangini in 2006 brought the 3-4 defense, a system in which Vilma's talents weren't a natural fit.

Vilma is well along the road to recovery from a knee injury, and he's alternating on the first team with Mark Simoneau early in camp. But Vilma doesn't expect to be spending much time on the second team for long.

"I don't think so, especially the way I felt at the first practice," Vilma said when asked if he felt he had to compete for a starting job. "I felt fine. For me, it's really more about learning the plays and getting used to my teammates.''

Before long, this will be Vilma's defense.

(espn.com)

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports Saints MLB Jonathan Vilma (knee) looked great as he went full-speed during Thursday morning's practice. He ran with the second team behind starting MLB Mark Simoneau because Vilma is still playing catch-up after being limited this summer. But that will change sooner than later.

"I feel very comfortable (in the 4-3)," Vilma said. "Aside from the terminology – I have to learn that again – the concepts are the same from my first two years in the NFL."

(ffmastermind.com)

NEW ORLEANS — The Saints’ two biggest offseason acquisitions were praised by their former college coach Tuesday morning.
Larry Coker, who coached tight end Jeremy Shockey and linebacker Jonathan Vilma at the University of Miami, is now an ESPN commentator and was the guest speaker at Day 2 of the Sun Belt Media Days.

Coker, who led the Hurricanes to a BCS championship and No. 2 finish before being fired after the 2006 season, said the Saints made good moves when they traded with the Jets to get Vilma in February and with the Giants to canonize Shockey on Monday.

“Jeremy Shockey is an outstanding talent,” said Coker, who recruited Shockey to Miami. “He’s a special, special player. Jonathan Vilma is one of the smartest players I’ve ever been around. He can be as good as he wants to be.”

The Saints gave up second- and fifth-round picks in next year’s draft for Shockey, whose ongoing dissatisfaction with his role on the Giants made his future there untenable. A four-time Pro Bowler, he will turn 28 next month.

Coker acknowledged Shockey’s excessive emotion and said his passion for the game is a plus as long as it’s channeled properly. He thinks the fact that Saints coach Sean Payton was the Giants’ offensive coordinator during Shockey’s All-Pro rookie season in 2002 bodes well for the reunion.

“That says it all,” Coker said of Payton’s familiarity with Shockey. “Sean’s not going to bring a bum into his football program. Get Jeremy on your football team and you’re going to win some games. I think it’s a great match.”

New Orleans’ first major offseason acquisition came when it brought in Vilma, a former Pro Bowler, to be its new starting middle linebacker.
Its last major acquisition, apparently, was bringing in Shockey, who missed New York’s postseason run to the Super Bowl title because of a broken leg last season, to add a new weapon to an already potent offense.

Shockey’s proven ability to get open down the middle of the field should cause another concern for defenses that also have to try and contain running backs Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush and cover wide receiver Marques Colston while quarterback Drew Brees orchestrates things.

“One of the special things I love about Jeremy Shockey is that he brings passion and emotion to the game every week,” Coker said. “He’s my kind of player. He’s a tremendous playmaker.”

Coker recalled speaking with Shockey when he was trying to convince the young tight end to leave his native Oklahoma and join the Hurricanes.

He asked Shockey what he wanted to accomplish and Shockey said he wanted to win a national championship, be a first-round draft choice in the NFL, and be the first tight end drafted.

After Miami won the national championship in Shockey’s junior season and Shockey was a sure-fire No. 1 draft choice, Coker knew he had to recruit him all over again.

“Like a good head coach, I had to tell him, Jeremy, you’re not ready,” Coker said. “You’re not going to be that high a draft choice this year, there are 14 tight ends in the draft. Of course, he went into the draft, was the 14th player picked and was the first tight end.”

Coker also remembered something Shockey’s mother told him when he was trying to get her son to become a Hurricane.

“She said, he might not be your best football player,” Coker recalled, “but he’ll be your toughest football player. She was right.”

(2theadvocate.com)

Meanwhile, Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma reached out to freshmen Arthur Brown and Sean Spence, offering his cellphone number and mentoring (Panthers linebacker Jon Beason did, too). Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork reached out to Marcus Forston. Aldarius Johnson said he cultivated a friendship with Andre Johnson and has spoken with Reggie Wayne and Santana Moss.

UM alumni take losing so hard that Beason was ''in tears'' during games last year. Vilma said last winter that what troubled him in recent years is ``guys not improving year to year. You can't say it's all the talent.''

But after working out with Canes players at 7 a.m. this summer and watching several (such as Allen Bailey) improve this spring, Vilma -- like others -- is encouraged: ``You see everyone wanting to improve.''

(miamiherald.com)

These Saints could use some saving.

Jonathan Vilma could, too.

In that way, the February trade that sent the former Jets middle linebacker to the Saints for conditional draft picks was the perfect swap.

The thud of New Orleans’ disappointing ’07 campaign still echoes throughout the city. Fresh off an NFC championship game berth following a revitalizing 2006 season, the Saints sputtered to a 0-4 start and finished 7-9 in ’07, missing the playoffs after being billed as a legitimate title contender.

Vilma, coming off a season he calls the most trying of his football career, is in the final stages of rehab from knee surgery that was performed after a dead piece of bone dislodged from his knee last October, ending his season after just seven games.

“This past season, it was tough,” said Vilma, who's entering his fifth year. “That was the first time I couldn’t take anything positive from the last season. Regardless of my injury, we were having a tough time. We started 1-5 (before he was injured). The defense wasn’t doing well. That was really tough to swallow.

“So going into this year, it’s almost like starting over. It’s like a clean slate where I just have to understand that last season was a tough one and I just need to learn from that and grow from there.”

With an improved supporting cast around him on defense, most notably first-round pick DT Sedrick Ellis, who was brought in to help keep blockers off the middle ’backer, and what appears to be a successful rehab, Vilma is the key piece to the Saints’ short-term rebuilding project. If healthy, he gives the squad what it lacked most last season and even during its run to the conference championship — a versatile playmaker in the LB corps with Pro Bowl potential.

The Saints and Vilma probably will end up saving each other — a big season could mean a big payday for Vilma, entering the final year of his rookie contract — but don’t tell the 2005 Pro Bowler that. Vilma flatly rejects the notion that he’s some kind of savior for New Orleans’ woeful defense. The way he sees it, the ‘D’ isn’t as bad as its rankings of 26th overall and 30th against the pass suggest it was in ’07.

He could be right. It’s rare that one player alone is able to transform a unit’s fortunes. However, it could be Vilma's impenetrable optimism, fresh set of eyes and return to a 4-3 scheme, which his talents are better suited for than the 3-4 of Jets head coach Eric Mangini, that helps rejuvenate a defense to complement what is already one of the most dynamic and explosive offenses in the league. That combination should be able to return the Saints to the top of a weak division and quickly return them to the role of contender.

“I don’t have to come in and bark orders or anything like that,” Vilma said. “That’s not what I do, it’s not even my personality, but I’m going to do whatever it takes to win. If it means that I need to get on somebody about doing their job because it’s going to help us win, well then yeah, I’ll definitely do that.

“I’m coming in to help the team win. That’s the bottom line for me. I want to help this team win and get to the Super Bowl and win the Super Bowl. That’s what I’m here for.”

Vilma’s vision for his new crew and willingness to publicly put a Super Bowl title at the top of his to-do list could be taken as foolish ambition, but he says he felt the kind of anxiousness pulsating on the field through OTAs that leads him to believe the hunger to be the best is still strong. Those Saints who remain from last season aren’t willing to accept more losing, which should make Vilma’s job much easier.

“I say anxious because no one is really comfortable with what happened last year,” Vilma said. “Even though I wasn’t here, the guys that are still here from last season, you can tell that they’re definitely not OK with what happened. I think guys are looking to come out and prove a point. The point is that it wasn’t a fluke two years ago when they made the NFC championship. It was hard work and it was a lot effort and a lot of talent and a lot of winning, of course.

“I think that you can feel that tension, which is not a bad thing, it’s actually a good thing because it keeps the guys on edge and it keeps the guys focused.”

Hard work, effort, talent and winning — these are Vilma’s most prized football traits and a recipe for success in the NFL.

Vilma embodies hard work, effort and talent. Throw good health into the equation, and the Saints will be winning a lot once again in ’08.

(pfw.com)

Since his signing in late February, Jonathan Vilma has been held back by the New Orleans Saints. Come September, they're going to turn the linebacker loose.

After two years of captivity in New York, that's precisely what Vilma needs. After watching their defense keep them out of the playoffs last season, having Vilma roam the field might be exactly what the Saints need.

Nobody's really seen a glimpse of it yet because the Saints were extremely cautious with Vilma throughout the offseason. Coming off knee surgery, the Saints severely limited Vilma's work in team drills during organized team activities and minicamp.

But Vilma's expected to be completely healthy for the start of training camp in late July. He'll take his spot at middle linebacker and the Saints are hoping he'll become the heart of their new-look defense.

That will be a nice change for Vilma, who spent the last two seasons looking and feeling out of place in the 3-4 defensive scheme the Jets went to when coach Eric Mangini took over in 2006. In a 4-3 scheme the two years prior to that, Vilma was viewed as one of the NFL's best young linebackers.

In New Orleans' 4-3 system, Vilma could be a perfect fit.

"I look at it as a new start, a new beginning,'' Vilma told the New Orleans media a few weeks ago. "I think it's an ideal situation. You come in and they obviously want me to play a leadership role and a starting role and being in a defense that I'm comfortable with and just being able to go.''

(espn.com)

10. Jon Beason, Carolina Panthers: It didn't take long for Carolina's 2007 first-round pick to shift from the weak side to the middle, but it'll probably take much longer for anyone to move him out of that spot. Beason ranked third in the league in total tackles last season and tied for second in solo stops. He made eight or more solo tackles in a game eight times and got his hands on seven passes, picking off one. Losing Kris Jenkins and Mike Rucker up front might leave more blockers for Beason to sift through, but he has the tools to remain among the league's tackle leaders. 

12. Jonathan Vilma, New Orleans Saints: Perhaps no Jet was as negatively affected by the hiring of head coach Eric Mangini as much as Vilma. At 230 pounds, Vilma is the lightest starting middle linebacker in the league (at least until rookie Jordon Dizon officially enters the lineup), and that fact is even more pronounced in a 3-4 defense. Such a scheme creates more traffic in the middle and allows more guards to get to the linebacker level. Vilma had trouble moving through the extra bodies to make his usual number of plays. As if that weren't bad enough, knee surgery ended his 2007 at midyear. If his knee is ready and holds up this year in the Saints' 4-3 scheme, Vilma — who led the league in tackles in 2005 — could outperform this ranking. 

13. D.J. Williams, Denver Broncos: It has to be kind of tough being D.J. Williams. You come into the league and perform quite well as a rookie starter on the weak side. So, of course, the team brings back Ian Gold and shifts you to the strong side. Two years later, the team pulls the plug on middle starter Al Wilson and decides that you'd fit in well there. Despite some natural confusion in the new role, you rank second in the league in tackles in 2007. Obviously, it's then time for you to return to the weak side. Williams' new old role could well be the best spot for him. Although he's bound to face fewer tackle chances than in the middle, he could make more big plays (sacks, interceptions). At the very least, maybe he can finally settle into one role. 

25. Ray Lewis, Baltimore Ravens: This might seem low on the list for Lewis, but the Ravens leader has played a full 16-game schedule just once in the past six seasons. At 33, Lewis can still get it done, though. His solo tackles were on pace for the low-to-mid 90s in each of the past two seasons, had he not missed two games in each. He's just a year removed from a career-high five sacks and has picked off two passes in two straight years. Nevertheless, durability is a worthwhile concern, as is the fact that he made five or fewer solo tackles in eight of 14 games in 2007. 

The major piece of the Saints’ rebuilt defense, MLB Jonathan Vilma, told PFW this week that he’s in the final stage of his rehab from surgery last fall to repair a dead piece of bone that became dislodged in his knee, and that the knee held up well through the team’s OTAs and minicamp. “(The knee) feels like (it did) before surgery,” Vilma said. “The only difference is the muscles aren’t used to practicing. It’s been nine months since I’ve been on the field. I just have to get used to the plays again, running and cutting, the defensive and offensive system. I’m just getting acclimated to everything.” The Saints are hopeful that a healthy knee and a return to the 4-3 defensive scheme he’s more comfortable in will be a combination that leads to Vilma performing at the Pro Bowl level he displayed before the Jets hired head coach Eric Mangini and switched to a 3-4 defense in 2006. Vilma said he’s not quite 100 percent yet and he’s not sure when he will be, but thus far the soreness hasn’t been much of a problem for him. “I’m pretty much able to do everything,” he said. “I really need to be cognizant of when I’m trying to push it too hard and, fortunately, I haven’t been in that situation yet. I’m able to do everything. The question is: How much of everything should I be doing?”

(pfw.com)

LB Jonathan Vilma appeared in his first team drills, and snared Bush across the middle on a crossing route. Vilma said afterward that he is pleased with the progress from his knee surgery and is thrilled to be back in the team drills.

(canalstreetchronicles.com)

METAIRIE --Middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma compared playing in Eric Mangini's 3-4 defensive scheme with the New York Jets to riding a unicycle.

And Vilma doesn't do unicycles very well.

Vilma's most productive seasons in the NFL came when he played the middle in a 4-3 defense. They also came before Mangini.

So Vilma more than welcomed the late-February trade that sent him to New Orleans to play for the Saints and, more important, to line up in a 4-3 scheme that better suits his skill set.

"It wasn't that I didn't fit into the system," Vilma said. "It was one of those adjustment-type things where it's you are right-handed and someone is telling you to write left-handed. It was a really big adjustment, not just learning the defense but when you go out there and play and you have to consciously think about fitting and your assignment and footwork.

"That takes time just like anything. Two years and it was still a learning process. Now that I'm back to something that I'm used to playing with through most of my career, the learning process isn't there. It's just learning Xs and Os."

Picking up on the Saints' system hasn't been an issue for Vilma. Overcoming a knee injury that ended his 2007 season is more where his focus lies.

Through the first week of the Saints' organized team activities, head coach Sean Payton has pulled on Vilma's reins to slow the former Pro Bowl linebacker down.

"He's participating in half a practice," Payton said. "He's not taking part in any of the team reps, but he's working in the individual and seven-on-seven sessions. I have been encouraged with his progress. There have not been any setbacks. It's been real positive."

But Vilma doesn't do half-speed very well, either.

"It's one of those where there's no need to be out there and forcing the issue, especially when we have a couple of months ahead of us," Vilma said. "Right now it's more of a time where you just take it in stride and just gradually go... . For me it's really just about taking it easy. Unfortunately, I have to hold back, which is something that I don't like to do."

There were no signs of a limp during the first week of OTAs and Vilma didn't wear any sort of knee brace or protective sleeve. Vilma said he hasn't felt the need for a brace but isn't ready to declare himself 100 percent healthy yet.

"I'd say I'm pretty close," Vilma said. "I don't want to actually give a number just in case something happens. But right now I'm pretty close, barring any setbacks. I should be ready to go by training camp... . I feel good about where I'm at right now, but I'm not going to be satisfied until I get out there and we're playing full pads."

If Vilma fully recovers and plays anywhere near his first two seasons in New York, the two mid-round picks the Saints gave the Jets in exchange for Vilma may look like a small price to pay for an immediate difference maker.

Vilma didn't want to proclaim that the Saints got a steal.

"I don't even look at it that way," Vilma said. "I look at it as a new start, a new beginning. I look at it as something positive. It's a situation for me where I think it's an ideal situation.

"You come in and they obviously want me to play a leadership role and a starting role and being in a defense that I'm comfortable with and just being able to go. You're not worrying about some of the little things. You just really focus on getting better with the knee and going out there and playing."

Vilma feels his arrival, along with the numerous other offseason moves the Saints orchestrated, has brought added vigor to a Saints locker room still stinging from a disappointing '07 campaign.

"The vibe that I get is a hungry vibe," Vilma said. "It seems like regardless of the record last year, a lot of guys have an agenda. The agenda is not to just make the playoffs but to win it all. You can feel that. You can sense that in the demeanor and the approach of these guys. Especially veterans like Drew Brees where you can see how he's leading the group. It's exciting to see."

(sunherald.com)

METAIRIE – Jonathan Vilma backpedaled about five yards before breaking to his left towards the line of scrimmage.

No grimace on his face.

No brace on his knee.

No problem.

The only thing holding New Orleans’ newest linebacker back is, well, head coach Sean Payton.
“It felt good. Obviously, limited in practice,” Vilma said. “But me and coach worked out a nice little bargaining agreement. He’s letting me do a couple of things outside. Letting me work with the team a little bit, work with the linebackers. It’s exciting to come from the rehab and come from the surgery to get to this point.”

Several months after having a bone spur removed from his knee – the result of a previous injury – the 6-foot-1, 230-pound linebacker is getting ever closer to being 100 percent.

But with so much at stake, his doctors and coaches are wary of him doing much during OTAs – Organized Team Activities – or during the Saints upcoming minicamp.

“I had to make the first move,” Vilma said. “I had to initiate the conversation. It’s good. I feel good out there.”

“His progress has been good and very encouraging,” Saints head coach Sean Payton said. “There haven’t been any setbacks. It’s been very positive.”

A few years ago, Vilma said, he likely wouldn’t have understood how or even why needs to come along slowly.

“Probably if I were five years younger, I’d go out there and ignore what the coaches say,” Vilma said. “Right now, I have to take care of my body and we’re all on the same mission.”

He added, “I feel like I can do the whole practice. Is that the best thing for me? Probably not. The best thing for me is to gradually get into it.”

For the move to work for both the Saints and Vilma, though, he’ll need to at least get back to the way he produced in his sophomore campaign with the New York Jets.

As a rookie, he started 14 of 16 games and compiled 107 tackles. But in his second season, he started all 16 contests and recorded 169 tackles – 124 solo – and forced four fumbles.

But then Eric Mangini took over the Jets and changed defenses, going from a 4-3 with three linebackers to a 3-4 with four linebackers. Vilma’s production went down.

Now in New Orleans, Vilma will again play in a 4-3, and that’s making his transition to the South that much easier.

“A lot of the concepts are the same,” Vilma said. “I’m just learning a different language now.”

It’s likely Vilma will sit out of most of the heavy contact drills during the Saints’ minicamp, which begins May 30 at the team’s Airline Highway facility.

The question is whether he’ll be ready for training camp, which starts in late July.

“We’ll see,” he said.

(wwltv.com)

Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma has looked very good this week as the team goes through its organized drills, according to several people with the team. But Coach Sean Payton noted they are bringing the newcomer along slowly after knee surgery.

Vilma, the league's Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2004, was acquired from the New York Jets in a trade for a fourth-round draft pick this year and either a second- or third-round pick next year, depending on Vilma's performance.

On Wednesday, the 6-foot-1, 230-pounder looked solid in third-down and nickel drills, working mostly with the second unit. Vilma had a bone chip removed from his knee last year and missed seven games.

"He's participating in half a practice, seven-on-seven drills, and it's been very good," Payton said. "It's been real positive so far."

The Saints hope Vilma, 26, will prove to be the kind of inside playmaker the defense can build around for years to come.

Vilma said the scheme he's mastering with the Saints is similar to that run by the Jets in his first two years in the league. Vilma said he feels ready to go full speed full time, but that would be ahead of schedule. The limited action to date is the result of an agreement he reached with Payton.

"It's been exciting, to come from rehab and the surgery and get to this point," Vilma said. "We're being cautious, of course, that's to be expected, but it looks pretty good at this point."

Vilma is a welcome addition because the Saints find themselves thin at linebacker. The retirement of Dan Morgan earlier this week leaves the team with just eight at that position. And that number, which includes two free-agent rookies, has been trimmed further with a hip injury that has kept Mark Simoneau out of practice.

Payton said the team will bolster that spot soon, predicting it would acquire a player.

He said he didn't necessarily think that would be an experienced veteran.

"I think that the key is finding the right guy, and it could very well be a young player," Payton said.

(nola.com)

"Vilma's doing well. He's participating in half a practice. He's not taking part in any of the team reps, but he's working in the individual and seven on seven sessions. I have been encouraged with his progress. There have not been any setbacks. It's been real positive."



(blog.nola.com)

According to Vinny DiTrani of the Bergen Record’s True Blue blog former Jet, now NO Saint Jonathon Vilma has been in contact with his fellow Miami Hurricane alum Jeremy Shockey. Vilma’s been telling Shockey how great it would be for them to hook up again. But DiTrani writes:

A source who has proved himself reputable insists enough Giants have talked to Shockey and convinced him to stay.

Sean Payton admitted it last week. Brian Simmons didn’t work out last year for the New Orleans Saints. Simmons, a 10-year pro, only managed 27 tackles and started just three games for the Saints as he never made a real impact.

So Payton and Saints general manager Mickey Loomis went out and got someone who likely will — former New York Jets linebacker Jonathan Vilma. The Saints dealt a draft pick in 2008 and a conditional pick in 2009 for Vilma, who fell out of favor in New York thanks to injuries and to head coach Eric Mangini’s 3-4 defensive system. The Saints see Vilma as a middle linebacker would could overtake Mark Simoneau as the starter.

Vilma seemed overjoyed with the trade when he spoke to the New Orleans media for the first time.

Nearly a month later, Payton feels the same way.

“We felt the player (Vilma) fit what we were looking for from a leadership, character standpoint, from a scheme standpoint, all the things matched,” Payton said. “The key was the injury.”

Yes, that is the key, and that makes Vilma a gamble for the Saints in 2008.

Last season a dead piece of bone in Vilma’s knee dislodged itself and gave Vilma so much trouble he eventually needed surgery. He played just seven games and finished with 43 tackles. Worse, he and Mangini sparred publicly. And there was the perception that the 6-foot-1, 230-pound Vilma was a poor fit for the 3-4. He even mentioned after the trade that he was happy to be getting back to a 4-3 defense, which the Saints employ.

Payton had his own take on the injury.

“I think the way it was best described was this dead surface of bone just chipped off and has now been replaced,” Payton said.

Vilma is not game ready yet. He’s still rehabbing the injury. He was in New Orleans for the first week of the team’s offseason conditioning program, but returned to Miami for two weeks to continue training before returning to New Orleans for good. The rehab is the nagging doubt on Vilma.

“We just got to get through this period of time where he’s rehabbing and see how quickly he gets back to being 100 percent,” Payton said.

Before the injury and Mangini’s arrival in New York, Vilma was one of the most talked about defenders in football. He followed his 107-tackle rookie season in 2004 with a 177-tackle season in 2005. He quickly cultivated a reputation as one of the NFL’s most feared young linebackers.

His production before the injury was just part of the reason the Saints were willing to risk a trade for Vilma. The other, Payton said, was the simple fact that he and team official felt they needed to upgrade their talent at linebacker.

And that starts, he said, with Vilma.

“Vilma is one guy we think can compete inside,” Payton said. “We felt pretty good about his health in that decision. And that was an important sign for us we felt.”

The Saints still have Simoneau in case Vilma’s rehab slows, but all signs point to Vilma being ready for training camp, perhaps even earlier.
In some ways the situation is similar to Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who came to New Orleans before the 2006 season as a free agent and coming off a shoulder injury suffered in the 2005 finale for San Diego.

There was some degree of risk when the Saints signed Brees, Payton said. Like Brees, Payton said the first step is to be patient with Vilma as he finishes his rehab.

We knew because of the type of player he (Brees) is and the type of guy he is, he was going to rehab and do everything diligently in his control to improve the injury,” Payton said. “I feel the same way about Jonathan, that he’ll cross all the Ts and dot all the Is and do everything the doctors tell him to get himself healthy. That’s where we’re at.”

The New York Daily News reports Saints HC Sean Payton, as far as I can tell, became the first person to speak on the record about the exact nature of LB Jonathan Vilma's surgically repaired knee: “We feel comfortable that the knee is going to heal. I think the way it was best described was this dead surface of bone just chipped off and now has been replaced … They went back in and grafted some bone and repaired that little hole, if you will.”

(ffmastermind.com)

Two seasons ago, Drew Brees was shown the door by the Chargers after he suffered a torn labrum in his right shoulder during the 2005 season finale. Brees, thought by some to be damaged goods, joined the Saints the next season and set career highs for completions and passing yards while leading the team to the NFC championship game. One source in New Orleans said he sees in MLB Jonathan Vilma a mirror to Brees’ story. Vilma was sent packing by the Jets in a trade with the Saints after he missed the final nine games of last season with a right knee injury. A Pro Bowler in 2005, Vilma was moved from his natural position in the middle when coach Eric Mangini implemented a 3-4 defense in New York before the 2006 season. Vilma struggled in the new system but will return to a 4-3 defense in New Orleans and has shown in past seasons he has the ability to carry a defense, which is exactly the kind of linebacker the Saints have lacked the past two seasons.

(profootballweekly.com)

Newly-acquired middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma spoke with reporters and updated the health of his surgically repaired right knee on the first day of the team's offseason program last week.

Vilma, who was obtained from the New York Jets in exchange for a conditional draft pick on Feb. 29, played in just seven games last season before undergoing season-ending surgery on the knee.

The Saints are hoping that Vilma will return to the form that he showed in his first three NFL seasons as they try to improve their 26th-ranked defense.

"I plan to spend as much time as I can here in New Orleans," Vilma said of the Saints' 12-week program. "I have been rehabbing down in Miami and I have a trainer down there, so both trainers will be talking with each other and deciding what's best for me.

"I don't want to give a percentage, but I'll say I'm right where I need to be," he said. "It's been progressing very well and I haven't had any setbacks, knock on wood."

(saintsinsider.com)

Jonathan Vilma, linebacker of the New Orleans Saints and a former University of Miami standout, and the South Florida Educational Federal Credit Union conduct the inaugural Financial 51 Summit noon-5 p.m. Saturday, March 22 at the University of Miami in Coral Gables.

The agenda of the summit is to promote financial literacy and empowerment to the youth. Through research, it was found the majority of graduating high school students fall short of having basic skills in personal financial management knowledge.

The average young adult is deficient in the fundamental principles involved with earning, spending, saving and investing. In response to the findings, Vilma and South Florida Educational FCU will hold the summit with a few of Vilma's NFL friends.

(miamiherald.com)

The considerable lack of talent and playmaking ability at the linebacker position last year played a major role in the putridity of the Saints defense.  Fortunately, that issue has since been addressed.  Jonathan Vilma and Dan Morgan, if healthy, will immediately morph the Saints’ linebacking corps into a top-five unit. 

Scott Shanle and Mark Simoneau will provide depth should Morgan or Vilma go down.  That’s a good thing, I think.  Shale and Simoneau are better suited as backups anyway.  They’ve both got good instincts, but not necessarily the superior athleticism needed to be a starting linebacker in the NFL.    

Vilma and Morgan have both produced at a pro bowl level at one time or another in their career.  Vilma was 2004 Defensive Rookie of the Year and Morgan made 25 tackles in the 2004 Super Bowl.  So we know these guys can produce.  There’s no doubt about their ability.

The only question mark is their susceptibility to injury.  Can Vilma recover from the knee injury that sidelined him for nine games last season?  (By the way, I’d love for someone with any sort of medical knowledge explain to me what happened to his knee.  A piece of dead bone became dislodged?  What the hell does that mean?  I didn’t know bone could just die and then break off like some sort of rotten tree branch.  Has anyone ever heard of this injury?)

As for Morgan, will he be able to play with the reckless abandon that makes him so good now that he’s only a couple of concussions away from brain damage?

There’s really no way to tell for sure right now.  But one thing I do know for certain is that these guys are motivated.  They’re confident and probably cocky and most definitely eager to show the world they’ve still got it.  You know why?  Because they’re from the U and that’s what guys from the U do.

Another plus about the addition of Vilma and Morgan is that New Orleans isn’t really invested too deeply into either guy.  Morgan signed a one year contract for not that much money and Vilma was exchanged for a meager 4th round pick.  He’ll also be a free agent after next season.  So even if they don’t pan out, the Saints won’t have lost that much. 

So the linebacker position has been addressed.  I’d like to see the Saints pick up another LB in the draft for depth purposes.  A guy like Ali Highsmith out of LSU would fit the mold.  Highsmith was originally predicted to be a late first or early second round pick this year, until he ran a 5.0 forty at the combine.  He immediately dropped way down on everyone’s draft board, so the Saints might be able to nab him in the fourth or fifth round.

Either way, I feel pretty good about who’ll lining up at linebacker for New Orleans this season. 

(mvn.com)

Vilma spoke with reporters and updated the health of his surgically repaired right knee. "I plan to spend as much time as I can here in New Orleans," said Vilma, who arrived Sunday night. "Of course, I've been rehabbing down in Miami and I have a trainer down there, so both trainers will be talking with each other and deciding what's best for me. I don't want to give a percentage, but I'll say I'm right where I need to be. It's been progressing very well and I haven't had any setbacks, knock on wood."

(blog.nola.com)

Maybe playing in a city where voodoo is part of the culture is exactly what Jonathan Vilma and Dan Morgan need.

Maybe playing in New Orleans will help reverse the curse that's hung around Vilma the past two seasons and around Morgan for just about his entire career. If that happens, the Saints suddenly could have one of the most talented linebacker corps in the NFL.

But it's a giant leap to say that will ever happen, because the histories of Morgan and Vilma make them two of the biggest gambles this offseason. With these two, it's either boom or bust, and their pasts suggest the latter is more probable.

The Saints don't care, because they haven't had a truly great linebacker since Sam Mills in the mid-1990s, and their defense was a big reason they missed the playoffs last season. The moves come one offseason after the Saints thought they had patched up their defense by bringing in Jason David, Dhani Jones, Brian Simmons and Kevin Kaesviharn. Those moves didn't all work, and other problems were exposed as the Saints finished 7-9. Click here to continue reading...

While appearing on WFAN earlier today, former Jets linebacker Jonathan Vilma talked with Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts.

Are you a little bitter that Mangini came in here and played to the strength of what you guys do best as opposed to trying to enforce his system on you?

No, considering that 1, it was an experience, now I can say that I’ve played in a 3-4, so I understand that defense. 2, looking at Eric Mangini’s side, you have a coach who’s been in a defense that not only won one super bowl, but won multiple super bowls and he was a part of that and experienced that first hand, so you expect him to come in and incorporate what he knows, what he knows as a proven winner and use that as a defense. So, you can always say that some of the guys he had as far as personnel didn’t fit, but I know they’re trying to get those guys now and trying to get better on the defensive side and improve it.

You said earlier that it’s best for the New York Jets and it’s best for you that you are now with the New Orleans Saints, that it works out for both parties. Why in your mind is it best that you’re not a New York Jet anymore?

No, it’s not best that I’m not a Jet anymore, it’s best that we parted ways on good terms, meaning we didn’t have any friction. I know a lot of the media was trying to say that I wanted out. I didn’t want out, I was being proactive in the trade process, they said that they we’re looking to trade me, which is why I actually shopped around to see which teams would want me. It’s not that I necessarily didn’t want to be a Jet, because I’d love to be a Jet. Click here to continue reading...

ALLEN PARK -- Defensive coordinator Joe Barry has come to the defensive of the Detroit Lions over the franchise's failed attempt to work out a trade that would have added former New York Jets middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma.

Vilma, who played four seasons with the Jets, was given permission by the team to seek a trade and visited the Lions last week. Vilma wound up being traded to New Orleans for a conditional draft pick -- a fourth-round pick that could be as high as the third round based on playing time.

The Lions recruited Vilma aggressively, and their proposal did not fail because of lack of effort, Barry said Monday. Vilma called him after agreeing to the trade to New Orleans and complimented the Lions on how they made their presentation, Barry said Monday.

LB Jonathan Vilma should be happier in New Orleans if he can stay healthy. The Jets traded Vilma to the Saints largely because he is a linebacker who prefers the 4-3 and never performed as well in Eric Mangini's 3-4 system. Vilma missed most of last season with a knee injury, but the Saints desperately need to upgrade their defense.

(sportingnews.com)

Jonathan Vilma said he didn't necessarily "want out." It was just that if he was going to go, he wanted a voice in it. That's why he requested permission to shop himself in a trade, he said Friday, and why he eventually brokered a deal between the Jets and the Saints.

"The reality was that if there was a possibility of me being traded, I wanted to be proactive and involved in it," he told Newsday on Friday, shortly after the trade that sent him to New Orleans in exchange for a conditional 2009 draft pick was finalized. "I would have loved to have been back with the Jets. I loved the Jets."

Now, though, he loves the Saints. So much so that he's already started talking about himself and is new team as one. Like when he said "We have a good nucleus" and "Hopefully we can get back to the NFC Championship Game like we did two years ago."

NEW YORK -- The Jets have traded linebacker Jonathan Vilma to the New Orleans Saints on Friday for an undisclosed draft pick.

Vilma, who missed the last nine weeks of last season with an injured right knee, saw his production decline the last two seasons after coach Eric Mangini took over and
installed a 3-4 defensive scheme. With rookie David Harris' emergence as a playmaker at inside linebacker, Vilma became expendable.

Vilma, 27, had 118 tackles as a rookie after being the No. 12 overall pick out of Miami in 2004 and was named defensive rookie of the year. He led the NFL the following season with 187 tackles, earning a Pro Bowl selection while establishing himself as one of the league's top young middle linebackers.

That changed in 2006, when the Jets switched defenses and Vilma had just 116 tackles. He play

(thnt.com)