For three years, Tom Johnson couldn’t touch Drew Brees in practice. Now, he’s hoping to sack him.

“Definitely,” Johnson said. “I want to do that.”

Johnson was the quarterback’s teammate with the New Orleans Saints before signing with the Vikings last spring. Now, the defensive tackle is preparing to return to the Superdome for a game Sunday.

With a sack in each of the first two games this season, Johnson already has equaled last year’s output with the Saints. If he can get one on Brees, that would make for a nice trip back.

“You want to play at the highest level that you ever played,” Johnson said of facing his former team. “You always want to show up for your (former) hometown crowd. Those are guys (on the Saints) that you practiced with. You know their strengths; you know their weaknesses; you know their type of scheme.”

Johnson hopes he knows how to get to Brees, who has been sacked twice in the first two games. He certainly wasn’t able to drop him during a New Orleans practice.

“You’re not touching Brees,” Johnson said of Saints practices. “Just like anybody who’s a first-ballot hall of famer, like he’s going to be, nobody’s going to let anyone touch him.”

Johnson’s latest victim was another probable first-ballot hall of famer: Tom Brady. He got to the New England quarterback in Sunday’s 30-7 loss to the Patriots.

Johnson doesn’t start for the Vikings, but he comes off the bench with the mentality of pressuring the quarterback.

“Tom has been a great asset for us,” Vikings defensive end Brian Robison said. “I think what he does in the middle allows us more freedom to do different things. He’s a guy that can get (to the quarterback). He has great quickness off the ball.”

The 6-foot-3, 288-pound Johnson didn’t have a lot of opportunities to rush the passer in 2013. With the Saints shifting from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 under new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, his snaps were limited.

Johnson, who made the Saints in 2011 after an odyssey that included playing in NFL Europe, Arena Football and the Canadian Football League, became a restricted free agent after last season. But the Saints agreed not to tender him, enabling him to become unrestricted.

“They let me go out and explore, and I ended up going to the Vikings, which is a pretty good situation,” said Johnson, 30. “(Coach Mike Zimmer’s) defense attacks, and that plays to my strengths.”

Johnson signed a one-year, $845,000 contract with Minnesota that included a $100,000 signing bonus and has incentives that could earn him an additional $600,000. He figures getting sacks will help his cause this year and next when he’s a free agent.

“Sacks are good production, and production equals money, so I’m definitely trying to be as productive as possible,” Johnson said. “That’s one of my roles here is to pass rush, to put pressure up the middle to get sacks.

“I’m trying to hit the quarterback. That’s my deal. Even if I get there a little late, if I’m hitting him, I’m being productive. And I’m going to get one sooner or later.”

Follow Chris Tomasson at twitter.com/christomasson.