Bio
Super Bowl champion and three-time Pro Bowler Jonathan Vilma returns for his fourth season as a FOX NFL analyst in 2023 alongside play-by-play announcer Kenny Albert and reporter Shannon Spake. A 10-year veteran NFL linebacker, BCS national champion and prominent college football studio analyst for several years, Vilma made his NFL analyst debut for FOX Sports in 2020 with Albert.
Prior to FOX Sports, Vilma spent four years at ABC and ESPN, serving as a color commentator for ABC’s college pregame, halftime and postgame shows in 2018 and 2019, and as an ESPN college football analyst beginning in 2016. Vilma also regularly appeared on several ESPN programs, including “Get Up” and “First Take,” in addition to time at NBC and NBCSN as a pregame and halftime analyst covering Notre Dame football in 2015.
He was selected out of the University of Miami by the New York Jets as the 12th pick in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft. After being named the 2004 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press, Vilma went on to lead the league in tackles (173) in 2005 and was named to his first Pro Bowl on the strength of 128 solo tackles, six passes defensed, four forced fumbles and one interception. After suffering a season-ending knee injury in Week 7 of the 2007 season, the defensive leader was traded to the New Orleans Saints in February 2008.
The New Orleans partnership was a fruitful one, with Vilma serving as a defensive captain in the Saints’ run to the Super Bowl XLIV title in 2009, a season in which he led the club in tackles (110) with two sacks and three interceptions. Vilma retired following the 2013 season and was inducted into the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame in October 2017.
A standout at the University of Miami, Vilma helped lead the team to the 2001 BCS National Championship, in addition to earning a spot on the All-BIG EAST First Team (2001) and All-American honors (2003). He was selected three times to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team, earned the Jack Lambert Trophy (2003) and was a finalist for the Butkus Award in his senior year (2003). That same year, he led the squad for the third time in tackles with 127 (81 solo), one sack, one forced fumble and three fumble recoveries.
The son of Haitian immigrant parents, Vilma founded the Jonathan Vilma Foundation in 2010 after the Haiti earthquake to assist with the country’s rebuilding efforts, with a focus on a charter school for children ages elementary through high school.
He was named to the Orange Bowl Committee in 2018 and serves on the Board of Trustees for the University of Miami as Chairman of Student Affairs. Vilma was born and grew up in Coral Gables, Fla., where he attended Coral Gables High School. He graduated from the University of Miami’s School of Business Administration with a bachelor’s degree in finance. He currently resides in Miami with his daughter, Samaara. You may follow Vilma on Instagram at @jonvilma.