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Over the weekend, there was a report that Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma could be sufficiently recovered from his recent knee surgery to play in the team’s season opener against the Falcons.

We’re a couple of days closer to that game and Vilma’s presence in the lineup is looking unlikely. Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports reports that Vilma will not play in Week One.

What’s more, Garafolo reports that Vilma is likely to miss at least a few games before he’ll join Junior Galette’s quest to dominate the NFC South this season. Vilma has a lenghty history of problems with his knees, so it’s not overly surprising that he’d need more time to recover after the recent procedure. Coach Sean Payton was noncommittal about Vilma’s status on Monday.

“I think it’s speculation right now,” Payton said. “We’ll see. I’ll have more when we get to commenting on injured players later in the week.

If Vilma isn’t in the lineup, David Hawthorne and Curtis Lofton would be the starting inside linebackers for the Saints.