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A lot has been said about the New Orleans Saints hiring Dennis Allen as head coach to help preserve the team’s culture, and few players stand taller in the locker room than Cameron Jordan. Jordan spoke about the transition during a recent appearance on the Rich Eisen Show. When asked about this immediate reaction to news that Sean Payton was stepping down from his post, Jordan reflected on a couple of awkward days in which he had to gather his thoughts.
“I went social media dark, I had to figure out my feelings first. It’s like when your life asks you how you feel about the new couch, I have to sit in it first,” Jordan joked.
Jordan is the longest-tenured player on the team, having started nearly every game he’s played since being drafted way back in 2011. As he went on to say, life without Payton was going to hit him harder than most: “There’s a lot of factors that go into my head coach, the only head coach that I’ve had in the NFL taking a reprieve, or a sabbatical, or whatever he’s going to call it. Because he didn’t say he’s done coaching, in fact he said ‘I look forward to coaching again,’ right? So you’re saying he’s done with me? I took it personal.”
Sure, Jordan felt empathy for Payton after so many years on the job. Few people have had a front row seat to the work Payton has put in. He continued:
“Look as a business decision he put 16 years of his life into the Saints. You know the amount of work that goes into being a head coach. I’ve seen him have the cot in the room, spending multiple days there, I know how intuitive his offense, Drew, everybody was, tweaking the machine that was the New Orleans Saints offense for so many years. That takes a toll.”
But at the end of the day, Payton’s decision to bow out now didn’t sit well with Jordan. He reflected on all the challenges their team overcame last season, and how now he and his teammates have got to keep on moving without the only head coach they’ve ever known.
“I’m like why you going to leave now? We’ve been knocking on the door of the playoffs every year, even in this tumultuous year, being displaced to Dallas, starting 52 or 53 starters, I’m going to say 58 because it’s a bigger number. Going through four quarterbacks and still having a shot at the playoffs at the end of the year and ending in the positive. What were we, 9-8? Teams prior to this we’ve seen teams get into the playoffs with a losing record,” Jordan paused, then finished: “For Sean to step down, it’s got to be bigger than football for him.”
At the same time, Jordan was congratulatory about Allen’s promotion to head coach, adding that they won’t hold his disastrous Raiders run against him. Though he did note Allen immediately responded to his text message about the news, whereas he didn’t hear back from Payton right away. Maybe they’ll have time to mend fences another day.
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