Cameron Jordan Says Returning to the Saints Has to Make Sense. The Math Is Not Working.
Cameron Jordan has spent 15 seasons in New Orleans. He has 121.5 career sacks. He is the Saints’ all time sack leader. And he might be playing somewhere else this fall.
Jordan has been a free agent since the new league year began in March. He just told reporters that returning to New Orleans is his preference. The complication is the contract. “If the cents doesn’t make sense, then we have to find our own path,” Jordan said this week. That is a polite way of saying the Saints have made an offer and the offer is too low.
The Saints are in transition. New Orleans missed the playoffs again last season. The team has a new head coach. The roster is being reset. The front office has limited cap space and several younger players who need extensions. Paying a 36 year old defensive end at the rate he wants is not in the budget.
That is the cold business reality. The football reality is more complicated.
Jordan led the Saints with 10.5 sacks last season. That is a real number for a player his age. He has not slowed down the way evaluators expected. He still rushes the passer with leverage and savvy. He still sets the edge in the run game. He still gives the locker room a veteran voice that the rebuilding Saints desperately need.
The market for him is real. Cowboys, Bears, Eagles, Lions, and Steelers have all been mentioned as potential landing spots. Dallas needs an edge rusher to pair with Mike Parsons. Chicago has cap space and a young defense that would benefit from a veteran presence. Detroit could absolutely use depth behind Aidan Hutchinson. Each of those teams could offer Jordan more money than the Saints want to pay.
The Cowboys situation is the most interesting. Dallas has been linked to several veteran defensive ends in recent weeks. They have the cap room. They have the immediate need. Brian Schottenheimer’s first season is on the line, and an edge rusher of Jordan’s caliber could be the kind of veteran addition that pushes a borderline playoff team into the postseason.
The Bears connection makes sense from a coaching standpoint. Ben Johnson knows how to use defensive line depth. Chicago has been rebuilding the front for two years and could use a finishing piece. Jordan would also be a mentor for younger players, which has value beyond pure production.
The Saints have to ask themselves a hard question. If Jordan leaves, who replaces those 10.5 sacks? Chase Young is on the roster. Carl Granderson is solid. Tanoh Kpassagnon is a piece. None of them are Cameron Jordan. The pass rush gets significantly worse without him, and the Saints defense was already trending in the wrong direction.
The compromise probably looks something like a one year contract with incentives. The Saints get to bring back their franchise icon for one more season at a manageable cap number. Jordan gets to finish his career in the building that drafted him. Both sides agree the partnership has a finite end.
The longer this stretches into the summer, the more the cracks show. Training camp is two months away. Jordan needs to know where he is playing. The Saints need to plan their depth chart. If a deal is going to happen, it should happen this month.
Cameron Jordan has earned the right to choose how this ends. The Saints have to decide if they are willing to be part of that ending. Right now, it does not look good.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
