Former Saint Defensive Legend Arrested in Miami

Athlon Sports published the original article “Former Saints Defensive Star Arrested, Per Report.” today.
Jonathan Vilma, a former linebacker for the New Orleans Saints and current football pundit for FOX, was allegedly detained earlier this week.
Andy Slater, a reporter in the Miami area, says that Vilma, 43, was arrested in his city of Miami on Wednesday evening. Slater says Vilma was pulled over for driving a car with expired tags and given a ticket for driving with a license that had been banned since October 2023.

Reports also say that Vilma has a bench warrant out for her arrest in the state of Florida. He didn’t show up to court when he was supposed to after getting a ticket for driving with a suspended license in Miami Beach in April of this year.
If you remember, Jonathan Vilma was a great defender for the Miami Hurricanes from 2000 to 2003.

He was on the Hurricanes’ national title team and was named to the All-Big East team three times. In 2003, he was also named to the 1st Team All-American.

Vilma was the 12th overall choice in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. He won the 2004 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award and led the league in solo and combined tackles in 2005.

In four years with the Jets through 2007, Vilma made one Pro Bowl (2005) and had 6 interceptions, 2.5 sacks, and 17 tackles for loss while averaging 110 tackles per season.
He was traded to the New Orleans Saints during the 2008 offseason in exchange for a fourth-round draft choice.

Villama played for the Saints for six years and was an important part of their Super Bowl XLIV winning team in 2009–10.

During his time with New Orleans, Vilma earned two Pro Bowl appearances. As a Saint, he intercepted 7 passes, recorded 8 sacks, forced or recovered 17 fumbles, and had 28 stops for negative yardage.

For the last several years, Vilma has been a color analyst for NFL games on FOX Sports and has also been part of college football coverage for the network.

Jonathan Vilma was inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame in 2017. He is on this year’s ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame.