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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