Tag: Cameron Jordan

ESPN highlights a free agent pass rusher fit for the Saints

ESPN highlighted the best team fits for its top 50 free agent, linking the New Orleans Saints to pass rusher Za’Darius Smith:

We’re moving closer to free agency, and there’s a good chance the New Orleans Saints are going to make some moves to improve their team. ESPN has already shared their list of the top 50 free agents — now, ESPN staff writer Matt Bowen has linked each of those players with the best teams they could join in March.

And one name was highlighted for the Saints: Za’Darius Smith. Here’s why Bowen sees New Orleans as a good fit for him:

Given the Saints’ cap issues, this would probably be a one-year deal for Smith to play in Dennis Allen’s multiple defense. I like the fit here, though, given Smith’s pass rush versatility. Allen could deploy him off the edge or inside as a stand-up defensive tackle/nose. He’s a power rusher who has 60 sacks in his career (5½ with the Browns in 2023), and New Orleans finished tied for 28th in sacks last season with 34.

Smith has the size that the Saints covet off the edge, and he brings productivity that few players in their lineup can match — Pro Football Focus charting credited him with 61 and 80 quarterback pressures in his last two seasons on the Cleveland Browns and Minnesota Vikings. Before that, he was a two-time Pro Bowler with the Green Bay Packers and a big piece in the Baltimore Ravens’ rotation to start his career.

If the money checks out, he’d be a good get. But he shouldn’t be seen as the long-term fix at defensive end. Smith is an older player (he’ll be 32 when the season starts) and he would be joining an aging defense. Four of their top 11 defenders in snaps played are 30 or older, including Cameron Jordan, the second-oldest player on the team. Having two defensive ends on the wrong side of 30 and few young draft picks developing into known commodities behind them is worrisome.

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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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Twitter is obsessed with Kirk Cousins dancing at NFL Honors

From Kirko Chains to Dancing WIth Kirk Cousins, it’s been a wild couple of years for the Vikings soon to be free agent quarterback

The last two years for Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins have been a fascinating ride.

Through his first four seasons with the Vikings, Cousins was really reserved in both media appearances and the public eye. Ever since Kevin O’Connell took over as head coach, that has changed.

The team and organization has outwardly embraced the quirky guy that Cousins is with the chains and Kohls Cash and it has culminated two years in a row with Cousins having a blast at the NFL Honors ceremony.

Just a few months after rupturing his Achilles tendon, Cousins was dancing with New Orleans Saints DE Cameron Jordan and Twitter was immediately obsessed.

Saints DE Cameron Jordan takes shot at Ryan Jensen on ‘Up & Adams’

For someone who claims the Bucs and Saints don’t have a rivalry, Cameron Jordan certainly thinks about the Bucs quite a bit.

For someone who claims the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New Orleans Saints aren’t rivals, Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan seems to talk about Tampa Bay an awful lot.

Jordan was on Kay Adams’ show “Up & Adams,” and the two played a game where a Plinko-type board determined what type of question Jordan had to answer. When tasked with “Guy on another team you’d most like to fight,” Jordan answered by alluding to former Bucs center Ryan Jensen but claiming he couldn’t remember his name.

“The trash can,” Jordan said. “Tampa Bay, center, got hurt two years in a row, I always forget his name, the redhead … big holder, after-the-snap guy.”

Jensen announced his retirement a week ago after a knee injury limited him to one game in the past two seasons. Jordan seems to have a great memory when it comes to Tampa Bay despite claiming that the Bucs and the Saints are not rivals. The last time Jordan played against Jensen was in 2021, when the Saints won 9-0. Tampa Bay scored zero points that game, which is coincidentally the same number of Super Bowl rings held by Cameron Jordan.

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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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Ranking the Saints’ most important team needs for 2024

Musts, needs, and wants: Highlighting the New Orleans Saints’ areas of concern for 2024 with targets for free agency and the NFL draft

It’s no secret that the New Orleans Saints are a flawed team: their three-year playoffs drought is proof of it. So changes are obviously going to be needed this offseason. But where to begin? Who could cure what ails them?

Some disgruntled fans are calling for an overhaul of team leadership with a new head coach, general manager, and quarterback, but none of those things are going to happen this offseason. We need to keep expectations realistic.

Here are some positions of need the Saints should prioritize in the spring, along with realistic free agent targets and possible draft prospects who might be available when New Orleans is on the clock.

Saints report card: Grading every position from 2023

New Orleans Saints report card: Grading every position group from 2023, from Derek Carr at quarterback to the offensive line and cornerbacks

Which position groups held the New Orleans Saints back in 2023? Which ones carried the team? Those are the questions we set out to answer in our 2023 report card by evaluating every position on the team from quarterback to cornerback and everywhere in-between.

Here’s how we graded all of them:

Ranking the Saints’ 5 most disappointing players of 2023

The Saints didn’t meet expectations in 2023, but some players have dirtier hands than others. Here are our five most disappointing performances:

The 2023 season was a weird one for the New Orleans Saints. It seemed as if the team was primed for a postseason berth, surging in the back half of the year and winning four of their last five games. That, however, wasn’t the case. The Saints’ season ended in the regular season. That is what’s most disappointing — they’re stuck at home watching the playoffs instead of competing in the postseason.

It wasn’t simply missing the playoffs that made this season a disappointment. The journey along the way was equally as disappointing and frustrating.  And it’s important to acknowledge which position groups and players did not meet expectations. Which performances were the most disappointing in 2023? Here are our five picks:

Saints make some good moves in Dane Brugler’s two-round mock draft

The Saints got better in the trenches on both side of the ball with their picks in Dane Brugler’s two-round 2024 mock draft:

These should be some popular choices for New Orleans Saints fans. There are many draft analysts who are better connected and more clued-in to what scouts and teams are thinking than the Athletic’s Dane Brugler, who updated his projections for the 2024 NFL draft with a two-round mock.

Brugler has been all-over the Saints’ interest in prospects like Chris Olave and Isaiah Foskey in recent years, so it’s important to tap in when he’s sharing information. A lot will change between now and draft day at the end of April, but Brugler’s projections are often a good tell as to which positions the Saints might be favoring.

And in this mock draft he has New Orleans upgrading its pass rush in the first round with Florida State defensive end Jared Verse. Here’s why Brugler sees Verse as a fit with the Saints at No. 14:

The quarterback situation will dominate draft talk, but the Saints must address the trenches (on both sides) this offseason. With his experience and traits, Verse is a plug-and-play pass rusher who fits the mold for what New Orleans likes to target in Round 1.

Verse nails the athletic prototype the Saints look for at the right defensive end spot, weighing in at a listed 6-foot-4 and 260 pounds. Timing drills and final weigh-ins at the combine will be important for New Orleans’ pre-draft process in evaluating him, but his tape speaks for itself: Verse came away with 29.5 tackles for loss, 18 sacks, 3 pass deflections, 2 fumble recoveries, and a forced fumble in his 25 games at Florida State, plus 89 tackles (45 solo). Pro Football Focus charting found he generated 60 quarterback pressures this season. He can play against top-shelf competition.

So it’s safe to say that Verse would add some much-needed pass rush production off the edge. That would be big for a Saints defense that tied for the fourth-fewest sacks and fifth-worst pressure rate in 2023. Cameron Jordan isn’t the force he once was and Carl Granderson can’t do it alone while Foskey and Payton Turner struggle to make a positive impact. Tanoh Kpassagnon is a good player to have in the rotation but he shouldn’t rank fifth on the team in pass-rush snaps (264).

But this is a two-round projection — so what does Brugler have the Saints doing with that second-round pick coming back to them from the Denver Broncos, slotted in at No. 45 overall? It’s no secret that their offensive line wasn’t good enough in 2023, so Brugler likes New Orleans to draft one of this year’s underrated blockers in Kansas Jayhawks tackle/guard Dominick Puni. Here’s why:

The Saints aren’t ready to give up on Trevor Penning just yet, but they still need to address the offensive line in a major way. After playing with his older brothers at Central Missouri, Puni transferred to Kansas and put together back-to-back strong seasons, starting at both left tackle and left guard.

Puni certainly has the size the Saints look for at a listed 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds, though he might be moving back to guard in the NFL after playing left tackle in 2023. Pro teams (especially the Saints) have very strict standards for arm length and wingspan when evaluating college left tackles and there are concerns Puni might not hit those thresholds.

James Hurst was a liability for the Saints at left guard last season and he’ll be entering a contract year in 2024, the same year he’s turning 33 years old. New Orleans is hopeful that Nick Saldiveri can develop into a starting-quality left guard, but he wasn’t able to fully make the transition from playing right tackle in college before an injury took him out late in the regular season. Puni has more experience at the position and the ability to play left tackle is a positive given the uncertain-at-best outlook for Penning.

Both of these picks would address the Saints’ needs and make the team better. There’s certainly an argument for drafting a young quarterback but don’t expect Dennis Allen and Mickey Loomis to reverse course on Derek Carr after spending four months making excuses for his poor performance. Their mission statement this offseason is going to be all about supporting him and empowering him to lead the offense. That means improving the trench play on both sides of the line and getting him more weapons to work with.

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The Saints have an easy decision on Payton Turner’s fifth-year option

Unfortunately, the Saints have an easy decision on Payton Turner’s fifth-year option. Maybe he can turn things around like Cesar Ruiz did:

Unfortunately, the New Orleans Saints may not need to wait until the May 2 deadline to choose whether to pick up Payton Turner’s fifth-year option for 2025. The former 2021 first-round pick just hasn’t shown enough to warrant the cost: an estimated (and fully-guaranteed) $13.8 million, per the experts at Over The Cap.

For context, the Saints have already paid Turner a total of $10.1 million between his signing bonus and first three years’ salary. In 2024 he’ll play on a salary just over $2.3 million.

To this point in his three-year career Turner has appeared in a total of 15 games (out of 51 combined Saints games played), missing all but the first and last matchups in 2023 due to a devastating injury. He was banged up through his first two years in the league, too, but he missed a handful of games as a healthy scratch when teammates were outproducing him. In those 15 games he has totaled 29 tackles (20 solo, 8 tackles for loss), 3 sacks, 8 quarterback hits, and a fumble recovery.

Now he’s going into a make-or-break 2024 season. If Turner can stay healthy and make plays rushing the quarterback, he’ll earn an extension with the Saints in 2025 or a lucrative contract elsewhere. If he can’t do either of those things, he may hang around the league for a little while thanks to his draft status, but it’s just as possible that he’ll be out of the game altogether.

In any case: the 2024 season is critically important for Turner’s future in pro football. He did everything right in 2023 by attacking the offseason with a positive attitude and being receptive to coaching. He just needs to repeat that process and hope for better injury luck when the season kicks off.

This isn’t the end of the line for Turner. The Saints chose to not exercise right guard Cesar Ruiz’s fifth-year option for 2024, either, ultimately signing him to a long-term extension before the season started in 2023. Ruiz broke out in 2022 after settling into his new position and built on that progress over the summer. Obviously Turner isn’t in the same situation, but he can still turn things around and earn a second contract with the team that drafted him. With Cameron Jordan getting older and the Saints pass rush falling off, they could really use a breakout campaign from Turner in the fall.

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