Category: Cameron Jordan

Cameron Jordan has a hot take on Saints’ first-round pick: ‘I’m very biased’

Cameron Jordan has a hot take on what the Saints should do with their first-round pick: ‘I’m very biased’

Everyone has their own ideas about what the New Orleans Saints should do with their first round pick in the 2024 NFL draft — including players already on the team. Cameron Jordan sat down with NFL Network to preview the first round of selections on Thursday, and he shared his take on where the Saints should look to improve with the 14th overall pick.

“Who do I want? I’m very biased,” Jordan laughed. “If y’all are thinking top-10, offense galore, I’m thinking No. 14, defense. Run me the big defensive tackle. I like the little Florida State kid. I really like a Texas D-tackle. Just know, if it doesn’t happen in the first I’m still looking for our second or our fifth round pick. I think we have like four fifth round picks, we could trade up.”

The players Jordan is referring to there have been linked to the Saints at different points in this process: Florida State’s Braden Fiske and Texas products Byron Murphy II and T’Vondre Sweat.

Jordan’s position coach Todd Grantham attended both school’s pro day workouts and personally put Fiske through his paces. While Murphy is someone who could be realistic at No. 14, Fiske and Sweat are each expected to be picked later in the draft, which is why Jordan sees them as possible trade targets.

But why does he see defensive tackle as such a high priority? Jordan is always asking for more linemen around draft time in these media spots, whether it’s another pass rusher or more depth on the interior. At this point it’s part of his brand. Murphy would be an awesome pairing with Bryan Bresee in the middle of the line, but the Saints really can’t afford to not address their offensive tackle spots in Round 1. Maybe they’ll surprise us and make Jordan happy.

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Cameron Jordan had ankle surgery, on track for offseason program

A midseason ankle injury slowed Cameron Jordan down in a big way last year. He’s since had surgery, and isn’t expected to miss a day of the Saints’ offseason program:

It’s no secret that Cameron Jordan didn’t look like himself in 2023. He played in all 17 games but only bagged two sacks and three tackles for loss, the lowest totals since his rookie season way back in 2011. The New Orleans Saints defensive end underwent offseason surgery to get right. Both Jordan and his coaches blame his poor production on that midseason ankle injury, but head coach Dennis Allen doesn’t expect him to miss any time in spring training while healing up.

“I don’t think it’s going to be anything that’s going to keep him out of the spring,” Allen told reporters at NFL owners meetings this week. Teams with returning head coaches, like the Saints, are allowed to open their offseason program on April 15.

While he doesn’t anticipate any setbacks from this ankle surgery, Allen did point out that the team plans on lightening Jordan’s offseason work to keep him fresh and rested when the season kicks off in September.

Allen continued: “I do think when you have a guy like Cam who’s getting a little older, how much do we do with him in the spring, how much do we do with him in training camp, I think those are all things that we’ve got to take into account when we’re dealing with a more veteran player.”

Jordan will turn 35 in June, making him one of the oldest players in the NFL along with his teammate Demario Davis. Their only senior among the league’s defenders is Calais Campbell. Left tackle Trent Williams and quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, and Russell Wilson are the other active players who can say they’re older than Jordan.

It isn’t unusual for the Saints to scale back practice reps for older players to save them for the regular season. They took that approach with Drew Brees in the final years of his career, too. Giving Jordan a day off here or there could pay off.

But the most important thing is recovering fully from this ankle injury. Jordan’s snap counts plummeted after he suffered both lower and higher ankle sprains in his left foot, and he wasn’t able to push the pocket on passing downs because of it. The hope is he can return to health and bounce back.

What complicates things is that both Jordan and the player he figures to split snaps with, Chase Young, are each recovering from surgeries. Any time they miss — and, again, Allen said Jordan should be back soon — is going to disrupt the chemistry in that group at defensive end. Hopefully everyone can heal up and get time in training camp to work together and develop a plan for attacking Week 1 in September.

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Cameron Jordan criticizes NFL’s rule banning hip-drop tackles

The NFL ignored complaints from the players association and voted to ban the hip-drop tackle. Cameron Jordan took issue with the rule change:

A big change is coming to the NFL. League ownership ignored complaints from the players union and voted to ban the hip-drop tackle on Monday, and big names around the league weren’t happy. New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan took issue with the rule change on social media.

Now, officials will be penalizing defenders for tackling offensive players around the waist and leaving the ground with both feet — resulting in a 15-yard foul and automatic first down for the offense. It’s a change in the name of safety after some high-profile players were injured on routine tackles last season.

But implementing it will be a challenge. Officials already struggle to get many penalties and penalty-worthy plays right, and this is something that can’t be practiced given the limited contact at training camp and summer workouts. It’s an unpopular move with players and a difficult task for officials, but team owners are determined to see it through anyway.

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Alvin Kamara and a couple of famous friends working hard in Liberia

Alvin Kamara and close friends Mark Ingram II, Cameron Jordan started their offseason with some hard work volunteering in Liberia:

Shoutout to Alvin Kamara. The New Orleans Saints running back started his offseason overseas, visiting his grandparents and extended family in his mother’s home country of Liberia. And while he was there, Kamara met with local government officials and community organizers to lend a hand however he could, including the mayor of Monrovia, the nation’s capital.

And he had some big help from a couple of famous friends. Kamara’s teammate Cameron Jordan says he invited himself to fly into Monrovia and join Kamara in volunteering with the sanitation department to help clean up the streets. Their former teammate and close friend Mark Ingram II made the trip, too. All three Pro Bowlers picked up shovels, slung on bright green vests, and got to work.

It’s a really great gesture from all of them. Ingram was a key influence in the Saints locker room as a team leader and mentor for Kamara, and Jordan has always valued community outreach and charity work. Both Jordan and Ingram volunteered for USO Tours during their decade-plus in the NFL. Grabbing some work gloves and choosing to leave a place better than they found it was an easy decision. Good for them providing a great example.

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Cameron Jordan on Saints’ controversial TD vs. Falcons: ‘Say sorry we didn’t go for 50’

Cameron Jordan doesn’t see the problem with running up the score on the Falcons, much less apologizing for it: ‘Say sorry we didn’t go for 50’

The New Orleans Saints ended their season with a flourish — and then some controversy. When the second-string offense and backup quarterback Jameis Winston went rogue to get Jamaal Williams a late touchdown run over the Atlanta Falcons, Saints head coach Dennis Allen responded by apologizing to the other team for their actions.

It was a move that got him lambasted by the Saints fanbase. And one of Allen’s captains and the longest-tenured player on the team, Cameron Jordan, wants it known that he disagreed with Allen’s decision to apologize for scoring too many points on their greatest rival.

“I’m so sorry the locker room really enjoys being a brotherhood,” Jordan joked during an appearance on the Around the NFL podcast this week. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry we punished a rival team. I would do it again. In fact, I would’ve gone for two. The only thing I’m gonna have a discrepancy with is I didn’t understand the ramifications of like, ‘No, they were taking victory formation.’ The ‘Can’tlanta Failcons’ had already acquiesced. They were just trying to get it out there just like their head coach was about to get out there.”

Already unpopular among Saints fans, Allen’s determination to take a stand and tell them to stop enjoying themselves rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Whatever goodwill he earned for his first winning season in five years as a head coach went with the wind. He has more work to do to convince the team’s supporters that he’s the right man for the job, even as general manager Mickey Loomis continues to cook up bad arguments favoring Allen.

But this isn’t going away. Jordan finished his piece with “Half of my gripe was Dennis ended up saying sorry. And I’m like why would you say sorry? Say sorry we didn’t go for 50.”

It’s unfortunate, but it makes sense that Allen still doesn’t get this rivalry. He doesn’t understand why Saints players and fans dislike the Falcons because his heart’s not in it. He was born in Atlanta as the son of former Falcons linebacker Grady Allen. He grew up and into life with Texas A&M as a student, college football player, and assistant coach; the Aggies have built an unhinged program with strange culture and ideas of sportsmanship, which has defined its relationship with its biggest in-state rival by running from the Texas Longhorns to join a new conference (only for Texas to get the jump on them anyway in the expanding SEC). The sense of rivalry and bone-deep hate isn’t in him.

And Allen’s reluctance to lean into that rivalry and engage with Saints fans (and, apparently, his own players) is going to be a storyline until something bigger happens to overshadow it. Hiring an entirely new offensive coaching staff will help. But Allen has a lot of work to do to convince fans the team he’s leading is worth lending their time and money to support. All we can do is it and see whether he can deliver.

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Matt Ryan got some long-awaited payback against Cameron Jordan

Matt Ryan got some long-awaited payback against Cameron Jordan. The ex-Falcons QB finally sacked his greatest rival:

Matt Ryan finally enjoyed some payback. The ex-Atlanta Falcons quarterback surprised his nemesis on the CBS Sports set ahead of Super Bowl LVIII, sneaking in from offstage to tackle Cameron Jordan. And the New Orleans Saints defensive end took it in stride, laughing and embracing one of his oldest rivals.

“Never have I been sacked in my life,” Jordan later wrote on social media in disbelief.

He’s normally the one sacking the quarterback. Jordan and Ryan set the record together for the most sacks of a single quarterback by a single defender (23), though it’s debatable whether Ryan is proud of his part in that accomplishment.

Either way, it’s clear that there’s a ton of respect between the two. Jordan got Ryan one last time during pregame warmups when he was on the call for a Saints game earlier this season. Ryan hasn’t made his retirement official, but he’s been working for CBS as a broadcaster in recent years, and it’s a role he’s grown comfortable in. There’s a good chance Jordan will join him on the other side of the microphone some day soon.

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Cameron Jordan says retirement isn’t an option in 2024: ‘I love the Saints too much’

Cameron Jordan says retirement isn’t an option in 2024: ‘I love the Saints too much’

It’s been a rough year for Cameron Jordan. The New Orleans Saints’ perennial Pro Bowler fell off in 2023, finishing with just two sacks and likely missing the annual all-star event (unless he gets in as an alternate). Pro Football Focus charting ranked Jordan’s 45 quarterback pressures as the 44th-most among defensive ends around the league, despite ranking 29th in pass-rush snaps (449).

He just wasn’t productive enough. Now 34 years old (and turning 35 this summer), Jordan acknowledged that his numbers aren’t where they needed to be. But he isn’t ready to call it a career just yet.

“I love the Saints too much to retire,” Jordan told local media at his locker on Monday. “I love this locker room, I love everything about it. I’ve got too much juice to give.”

Jordan rattled off his list of complaints from the 2023 season — a lingering ankle injury that had him playing “like a freaking shell of myself” in the back half of the schedule, along with losses to the Packers, the Texans, and the Falcons in Atlanta. But he likes the way the Saints finished the season playing strong on both sides of the ball, even if he wishes that kind of consistency had manifested earlier in the season.

So he’ll be back in 2024, which makes sense when you look at his contract (he’s signed through 2025). What the plan is for him remains to be seen. Jordan remains a strong run defender, anchoring the left end of the line and tracking the ball well in the backfield, but he’s lost a step moving forwards as a pass rusher. Too often he’s a step slow to close on the quarterback and finish the sack.

Maybe the answer is moving him inside to rush against slow-footed guards, as some older defensive ends have tried around the league. Or the Saints could ask him to rush the quarterback less often altogether and focus on winning the first two downs. Jordan ranked second on the team in pass rush snaps (449) by a wide margin. Young draft picks like Marcus Davenport, Payton Turner, and Isaiah Foskey haven’t panned out. The Saints need to keep trying to find someone who can take some pressure off Jordan’s shoulders in that role.

Jordan added that he won’t be vacationing with his family in Spain like he did last summer; he’s planning to dial in and train his body so he can get back to performing at his usual standards. “There’s some things I need to clean up. And as much as I needed last offseason to happen, it takes a lot to be committed to your craft. That was great for the mentals, but I feel like in a physical aspect, and even in a team aspect, there’s more to give.”

He added, “I’m already looking forward to a revenge arc.”

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Cameron Jordan could miss just his second-ever game due to injury in Week 13

Cameron Jordan has played a lot of games in his NFL career — 214 of them, including the playoffs. But he could miss a game to injury for just the second time this Sunday:

This is tough. Cameron Jordan has played a lot of games in his NFL career — 214 of them, including the playoffs. But an ankle injury suffered late in last week’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons has kept him out of the first two days of practice going into Week 13’s matchup with the Detroit Lions, and it’s looking like Jordan could have to sit this one out.

If so, it’ll be just the second game of his 13-year pro career that he’ll miss due to injury. Jordan’s NFL-best streak of 172 consecutive starts came to an end in 2021 when he missed a game in isolation during the league’s COVID-19 protocol, but his first absence due to an injury came last year with a fractured orbital bone.

So it’s looking like he’ll be sidelined for a second time this weekend unless Jordan is able to practice on at least a limited basis Friday. The eight-time Pro Bowler has pressured quarterbacks at a higher rate this season but struggled to finish plays with takedowns; his 2.0 sacks are the fewest he’s had in a single season since his 2011 rookie year.

What’s more frustrating is that the Saints just had Jason Pierre-Paul on their practice squad. They knew Jordan was hurt and could have signed Pierre-Paul to the 53-man roster, but he chose to leave and join the Miami Dolphins. Now, it’s possible they made Pierre-Paul an offer and he declined for a better long-term opportunity elsewhere (as happened last season with Latavius Murray going to the Denver Broncos). Miami is a legitimate Super Bowl contender with an 8-3 record and one of the game’s most popular head coaches in Mike McDaniel. The Saints are 5-6 and trending in the wrong direction. If Pierre-Paul wanted out, there wasn’t much they could do to force him into staying.

Should Jordan be unavailable on Sunday, look for Carl Granderson and Tanoh Kpassagnon to start at defensive end with Isaiah Foskey and Kyle Phillips rotating into the game; the Saints could also bring up preseason standout Niko Lalos from their practice squad. Foskey missed some time with a quadriceps injury but has practiced fully this week, and this could be the opportunity the rookie second-round pick needs to prove he’s earned more snaps. Stay tuned.

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These Saints players are on the 2024 Pro Bowl Games ballot

Voting has opened for the 2024 Pro Bowl Games. Here are the New Orleans Saints players on the ballot:

Voting has opened for the 2024 Pro Bowl Games, and a number of New Orleans Saints players are on the ballot. Who will make the trip to Orlando for this season’s festivities?

Last year, the Saints were represented by linebacker Demario Davis (in his first-ever Pro Bowl appearance) and defensive end Cameron Jordan (in his eighth). Derek Carr was also in attendance, though he was repping the Las Vegas Raiders on the AFC roster.

Here are the Saints players you can vote for:

Saints’ tough loss to the Vikings forced Cameron Jordan to change his tune

The Saints’ tough loss to the Vikings forced ever-optimistic Cameron Jordan to change his tune. He’s feeling the pressure to improve:

Well, they did it: the New Orleans Saints broke Cameron Jordan. The team’s ever-optimistic defensive captain has sworn by the “24 hour rule” for years, but Sunday’s gut-punch loss to the Minnesota Vikings is tough for even him to withstand. After falling short in Minnesota, he’s ready to do away with that practice altogether.

A popular tool in youth sports, the “24 hour rule” is often used to prevent discussion of negative feedback until 24 hours have passed since the last performance, so all sides can have dialogue with clear heads and calm minds. But Jordan says the time for patience has run out. The Saints could probably use some emotional energy right now.

This game was frustrating for everyone, but Jordan in particular saw some positive plays wiped out by his teammates’ mistakes. He sacked Joshua Dobbs in the red zone but an illegal contact penalty on Pete Werner erased it, and Dobbs ran into the end zone for a lead-extending touchdown a couple of plays later.

It’s time for tough conversations on Airline Drive and inside the offices at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center. It’s past time. The Saints are going into their bye week lucky to have a 5-5 record, and that’s the best thing to be said about their results since Dennis Allen was hired as head coach. He and his staff have not gotten the job done or prepared their players to go out and compete against good teams. They’re wasting the careers of great players like Jordan and Alvin Kamara and Demario Davis. They invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Derek Carr without appreciable improvement on offense.

And players are feeling the pressure. The clock is ticking, and even optimists like Jordan are acknowledging it. How much longer will team decision-makers like Mickey Loomis and Gayle Benson delay in doing something about it?

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