NEW ORLEANS -- Joe Johnson is a man with spring in his step these days.

	Saints DE Joe Johnson earned his first Pro Bowl berth in 1998.

This fall he hopes to add a cocky swagger -- the kind that will show teams around the league it takes more than a wrecked knee and a bad back to keep one of the New Orleans Saints' top defensive linemen off the field.

A big stride for a man who could barely walk for the last nine months.

Johnson had surgery twice last year -- once to repair the ruptured patellar tendon in his knee, a second time to take care of a bulging disc in his lower back.

The trouble started during the second practice of training camp. It was a routine drill. Johnson was lined up across from William Roaf, but he wasn't hit, tripped, blocked or cut.

"We were not even making real contact," Johnson said. "Then, all of a sudden, my right knee just buckled under me."

Within 24 hours Johnson was on the operating table and out of football.

"Getting injured in practice, and then having to watch us lose, made it all the more frustrating," Johnson said.

Johnson's leg was in a cast for about three weeks. Once it was off, his days took on a new routine.

"He was in here by 10 in the morning every day, Monday through Friday," said Kevin Mangum, the Saints' director of rehabilitation. "He spent a good five hours a day working to get back. It's been a long hard road."

	“	It felt good to get back out there with the guys. It's been a while since I've been in the huddle. I was a little rusty, but it was important for me to ease back into it and get a feel for live action again. ”
		— Joe Johnson, Saints defensive end

In addition to rehabilitation, Johnson, along with the rest of the Saints defense, has to learn the new scheme installed under coach Jim Haslett. But unlike his teammates, who have now had two minicamps to work on the plays, Johnson could only attend meetings and watch from the sidelines.

This week that changed.

The Saints are holding non-contact teaching sessions and Johnson was able to take part in them.

"It felt good to get back out there with the guys," Johnson said. "It's been a while since I've been in the huddle. I was a little rusty, but it was important for me to ease back into it and get a feel for live action again."

Johnson, New Orleans' No. 1 pick in 1994, is just eight sacks shy of moving up to No. 10 on the Saints' all-time list. He should have a good chance to get them quickly on the new and improved defensive line, which has this year's top draft pick Darren Howard penciled in at the other end and La'Roi Glover and Norman Hand in the middle.

The group is counted on to help prevent anything close to last year's 3-13 debacle.

By the time training camp opens in Thibodaux, La., on July 14, Johnson hopes his year of pain will be just a memory. At least he's moving in that direction.

"I've got the mental part down," he said. "Now I've just got to get the physical part back, the footwork and technique. There were a few false steps, but it's just a matter of believing what my eyes are seeing and getting comfortable again."