ChrisXVI

Lofton's gonna be phenomenal with an actual fanbase pumping him up and celebrating the success he'll have. He'll realize it's nice to be appreciated!

FinSaint

IDK, Vilma in his prime was an excellent player with better mobility and pass coverage than Lofton has, but I'd give it to Lofton when it comes to tackling. Vilma's 40 y/d from combine was 4.65 while Lofton's was 4.79, and Vilma's vertical was 37 inches while Lofton's was 24.5 inches. And actually Vilma beat Lofton in all of the combine measurables, except for bench reps in which they tied, so that to me might suggest that Vilma was a better athlete in his prime - or at least when entering the league - than Lofton was.

The thing that probably puts Vilma (in his prime) before Lofton in my opinion is his leadership qualities on and off the field, and although we've heard great things all offseason about Lofton's abilities in this regard as well - he is still an unproven commodity and that is why I'd still place Vilma (in his prime) above Lofton overall. Vilma has (or had) this great ability to make players around him better just by his presence and leadership alone, and hopefully Lofton will be able to do the same with the Saints... he sure wasn't able to do it with the Failclowns' players, but then again, who could?!

Regardless, I'm so happy that the Saints were able to sign him, and that he wanted to become a Saint in the first place.

"I'm not bashing people, I'm bashing their opinions because in my opinion their opinion is wrong" - Danno

Danno

Agree with a lot of Fin's comments, but I think it also depends on what type of scheme you put them in.

If your scheme requires your MLB to cover more ground, then a young Vilma is your guy.

If your 4-3 scheme doesn't require your MLB to drop as deep into coverage, then Lofton's your guy.

From what I gather about Spags, his scheme will not be as demanding on the MLB in coverage.

But we're probably splitting hairs with the comparisons. Lofton's better in traffic, Vilma's better in coverage. I'd be happy with either one as my MLB.

atltillidie

No... I must have took someone else's user name.

atltillidie

I guess I am stupid since every thing on this board is 100% accurate.

skymike

actually every thing on the internet is 100% accurate.

|Mitch|

It was obvious that Nolan didn't want Dent as the starter, why else would they have tried to resign Lofton, go after Hawthorne, and then settle for Tatupu?

As we all know, Lofa didn't work out... I'm sure that if Nolan could re-live the offseason knowing what he does now, they would have tried a little harder to keep Lofton...

TheOak

Finally two honest assessments.

TheOak

Finally two honest assessments.

See, this is honesty, not disrespect. I agreed with you.

Speedy Ron

I see where yall are going. But i and everyone on here has seen vilma get run over at the goal line or first down. Lofton looks like he delivers the blow way harder than vilma and is a little more agressive at the line of scrimmage. he makes back field tackles where i think vilma would have met the guy at the line. Vilma may be better in pass but i have not had the chnace to watch lofton in too many passing situations yet. However..this is a great problme to have when we tiff over 1a and 1b. Both are prob the best LB we have had in years. Both on the field together would be awesome. Lofton says healthier than vilma i think too