Jackson carried a tone of relief for Johnson, who'd battled kidney disease for the last several years, and then lung failure.

"We talked at least once a month, sometimes two or three times a month," Jackson said. "We always stayed in touch with each other. I knew things were tough on him down the stretch, and I was real concerned for him.

"I'm more relieved now than anything. Because when I talked to him, I knew the condition he was in. He doesn't have to suffer anymore. But he was somebody I could talk to."

Johnson, a Saint from 1986-93, was a 6-foot-3, 240-pounder who played in 120 regular season games, with 98 starts. He totaled 664 tackles, 12 sacks, four interceptions and five fumble recoveries and in four playoff games, he had 24 tackles. In '92, when all four Saints linebackers were selected for the Pro Bowl, New Orleans finished first in the NFL in opponent points per game and second in total defense for the second consecutive season.

"I wish I could tell you one thing that you could hang your hat on about Vaughan, but Vaughan was just a wonderful person," Swilling said. "And I don't know any other way to describe him other than that.

"It makes football seem so minor. It wasn't just the time we had on the field. I laid last night and I was there thinking about it, and I'm smiling and I'm laughing, and my wife is looking at me, and I said, 'I'm just thinking about Vaughan.' Just all the nice, fond memories we had.

"We spent time off the field. If one of us was having something or an event, we all would attend. When I had the nightclub uptown, he'd come to the club. We all were very close, that whole group was close off the field. Vaughan was just one of those guys that you always liked to be around. Just a fun guy. Just a fun guy."

Jackson, whose Saints career (1981-93) ended the same year as Johnson's (1986-93), said his former teammate was mild-mannered.

"He wasn't a loud guy or anything like that, he was always calm and cool," Jackson said. "When he hit you, he would knock your head off. But he was never a guy that would talk or start trouble. He never did mess with people too much."

The 1992 Pro Bowl invitation was something the entire group was proud of, Jackson said.