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Expectations are high for Marcus Davenport. The big defensive end has fought through injuries early in his New Orleans Saints career, slowed by a critical turf toe issue in 2018 before getting sidelined with a Lisfranc break in 2019.
Despite those setbacks, he only needs to log seven sacks in 2020 to crack the Saints’ top-20 sack leaders in franchise history. He bagged six sacks in 13 games last year, and has already notched more of them in first two years put together (10.5) than the superstar lining up opposite him: Cameron Jordan, who racked up nine sacks between his first two seasons.
Davenport has taken what Jordan’s taught him and ran with it. The two got closer during the long offseason while rehabbing injuries (Davenport had his foot issue, while Jordan dealt with post-season surgery), spending a lot of time in the trainer’s room, and Davenport took Jordan’s lessons to heart.
“I had the chance to be around Cam and you know, watch how he works. And so my goal is, shoot, I’m trying to be better than Cam,” Davenport said in a media conference call. Obviously he’s one of the best and I think that’s a good goal, try to model (after him). I would say my aspirations (are) to just try to be better. He always says ‘1% better each day’ and so if I can do better than Cam, I’m doing something right.”
Jordan had a personal-best 15.5 sacks of his own in 2019, so that’s quite a lofty goal to chase. And Davenport knows that. But the 23-year old already understands that the NFL season is a marathon, not a sprint, and day-to-day consistency is what will help win the day.
He continued: “I just say better than Cam when I just talk about statistics. I tell Cam I always want one more sack than he has. And so when I think of it as like more of a competition. That’s a driving force always present.”
If nothing else, that’s some serious motivation. And Davenport achieving anything close to Jordan’s production would be tremendous. He started the 2019 season on pace to create nearly 100 quarterback pressures, and still showed great growth over his rookie-year performance. If Davenport’s body recovers well, he just might be able to beat his own sky-high expectations.
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