“He’s obviously not shy and a lot of people can take what he says the wrong way, but us as players, as teammates, as friends, it’s great,” Vilma said. “It’s great that you have a guy that’s honest like that. He’s up front and he’s forward about everything and I can really relate to him.”

So what went wrong in New York?

Shockey said he isn’t sure himself, but somehow, “it just didn’t feel right.”

He was relieved that the Giants dealt him before training camp, saying he knew it would be “a circus” if he was forced to report to Albany.

“The last thing I wanted to do was go back to the Giants,” Shockey said. “All the rumors that they would have been better off without me — that’s the last thing I wanted to do was be a distraction.”

By contrast, the Saints see him as yet another play-maker in a star-studded offense led by Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and Marques Colston.

Brees said he was in the middle of a workout when he received text messages from friends about the Shockey trade and was so excited he called Payton immediately to be sure it was true.

Brees said he was “not at all” worried about Shockey’s past lack of discretion in communicating his unhappiness to quarterbacks.

“All competitive guys play with that passion and fire,” Brees said. “All I know is what I’ve seen on film and that’s a guy that plays hard and you can tell he cares about the game. Certainly, you hear this and you hear that, but I’m going to make my own judgment.”

If Shockey can get in the end zone in the Louisiana Superdome, as he did in the Sugar Bowl nearly nine years ago, Brees and the rest of the Saints could become quite fond of him.

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