Casillas on track for strong comeback

Published Aug. 18, 2012 7:03 p.m. ET

foxsports

METAIRIE, La. (AP) -- Jonathan Casillas still has a screw in his left foot where ligaments had to be reattached following a season-ending injury nearly one year ago.

The third-year Saints linebacker says he can still feel it, but teammates and coaches are pleasantly surprised at how hard it is for them to notice any lingering effects.

Middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma says Casillas is "doing great" and clearly put in "a tremendous amount of time" rehabilitating his Lisfranc injury.

Casillas was on track to win the starting job at weakside linebacker before his injury in the 2010 preseason finale.

The only practice he's missed this training camp was for the birth of his child. He had a team-high seven tackles in the Saints' preseason opener.

Now he just has to stay healthy.