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METAIRIE — He was a card-carrying Dirty Bird who often spoke about hoping to play his entire career in Atlanta.

But now, middle linebacker Curtis Lofton is a treasured member of the Who Dat Nation.

“I get that all the time,” said Lofton, who in March became the Saints’ first impact free agent signee from the Falcons since wide receiver Michael Haynes 18 years ago. “People will say, ‘I hated you, Curtis. But now that you’re a Who Dat, we love you and are happy to have you part of this team.’ ”

Proof again, as Jerry Seinfeld said, we root for the laundry.

But it’s not just a fan thing.

“When Curtis was with Atlanta, we never spoke a word to each other,” said teammate Jonathan Vilma, whose injury and suspension status was a major factor in the Saints’ hot pursuit of Lofton. “We never felt the need to talk to guys from that team.

“But he’s a great teammate. He’s a good guy who fit right in because practices hard, plays hard and always finds a way to keep things positive.”

Read more: Former Falcon Curtis Lofton now a true

SaintnDE

I like this dude.

FinSaint

He'll be the anchor for this Saints defense for years to come, and they could've certainly done a lot worse than Lofton.

I hope we'll have a chance to see a fully healthy trio of Vilma-Lofton-Hawthorne still this season, because that would be a very solid LB corps - one of the better ones in the league in fact.

AlaskaSaints

Leader in a box. Just add BlackandGold!

Alaska in NOLA

Brandon428

He's pretty much the only guy that we picked up in the off season that lived up to expectations. We definitely did right by signing him.

|Mitch|

I like Lofton; I hope he gets a pick off 'ole Skid this week and hits him so hard Mike "Fits" Smith feels it!

Shoe.

Goin to my first Saints game this weekend, can't wait to see Lofton play live.

I feel like a kid waiting for it to be Christmas morning

Who Dat!

QBREES9

I'm glad he on our side. WHO DAT !

RaginCajun83

It took long enough but finally the Saints have signed a good player away from Atlanta, the way he talks you would have sworn he never played for the Falcons

lumm0x

He was one of the few guys you had to admire on their team before. Even better now that he's here. As much as I hate the Falcons they always have a couple of guys who have earned respect. Hard to dislike a guy like Gonzalez for instance. His being a Falcon is the only blemish on a great player.