Back when Curtis Lofton left the Atlanta Falcons for the New Orleans Saints as a free agent, he did it because he wanted to be an every-down linebacker.
Lofton has said the Falcons made it clear to him shortly after the arrival of new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan that he’d come off the field on passing downs. The Saints lured Lofton largely by telling him he’d be an every-down linebacker in their system.
He ended up coming very close to literally being an every-down linebacker. The Saints had 1,137 defensive plays. Lofton was on the field for a team-high 1,121 (98.59 percent) of those plays.
Let’s take a look at the playing-time percentage breakdown for the rest of the New Orleans defense:
Safety Roman Harper 96.48
Cornerback Patrick Robinson 96.13
Defensive end Cameron Jordan 91.29
Defensive end Will Smith 86.72
Safety Malcolm Jenkins 76.78
Cornerback Jabari Greer 71.94
Defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis 62.36
Cornerback Corey White 45.65
Safety Isa Abdul-Quddus 41.6
Defensive tackle Tom Johnson 36.85
Linebacker Jonathan Vilma 35.71
Defensive tackle Akiem Hicks 32.72
Defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley 32.1
Linebacker David Hawthorne 28.14
Defensive end Junior Galette 26.21
Defensive end Martez Wilson 23.75
Cornerback Elbert Mack 22.34
Linebacker Jonathan Casillas 21.9
Linebacker Scott Shanle 19.26
Cornerback Johnny Patrick 18.91
Defensive end Turk McBride 12.31
Safety Rafael Bush 10.73
Linebacker Will Herring 8.97
