Canal Street Chronicles
After a long, drawn-out offseason of “will he or won’t he,” Saints legend Cam Jordan is officially back for his 16th season.
Now that he’s officially back in the black and gold, what impact will No. 94 have on the team and the defense?
First and foremost, the Saints are bringing back the unquestioned face of the franchise and a vocal team leader. His presence will immediately benefit the emerging leadership of young quarterback Tyler Shough. On the defensive side of the ball, Jordan remains the vocal leader and the most experienced member of the unit.
Entering his second season under Brandon Staley, the expectation for Cam is to either repeat the success he had last season with 10.5 sacks or come as close to it as possible. Double-digit sack totals are an incredible achievement on their own, but when you compare his production to the percentage of defensive snaps he played, it becomes even more impressive. Not only were his sack numbers outstanding, but he accomplished them while playing just over half of the team’s defensive snaps.
For comparison, Chase Young played 49% of the defensive snaps last season and appeared in only 12 games, yet still finished with 10 sacks. Pairing a healthy Chase Young with Cam Jordan gives the Saints a versatile edge rotation that will allow Brandon Staley to create favorable matchups across the defensive front. More importantly, it makes the entire defense more exotic and unpredictable.
Cam Jordan, Chase Young, Anfernee Jennings, Tyre Wilson, and Carl Granderson will make up the edge rotation. In obvious passing situations, don’t be surprised to see three or more of those players on the field at the same time.
Why does that matter? Glad you asked.
An effective pass rush helps your pass coverage. There are a lot of questions surrounding the Saints’ secondary following the loss of Alontae Taylor, and that’s certainly a significant loss. However, it’s important not to forget that the Saints finished last season with the fourth-ranked pass defense in the NFL, holding opposing offenses to fewer than 180 passing yards per game.
Pass rush and coverage work hand in hand. Even when the pass rush isn’t recording sacks, disrupting the quarterback’s timing and forcing him to speed up his process can have a major impact on the defense’s success. If the Saints can continue generating pressure, they should be able to build upon the success they enjoyed last season.
While Cam continues to be productive rushing the passer, he remains one of the league’s best run defenders as well. Last season, he earned an 82.1 run-defense grade from PFF, which ranked fourth among all NFL edge defenders. This is an area where the Saints need to make significant improvements.
Adding Cam alongside rookie Christen Miller, UDFA Zxavien Harris, and Brian Bresee—who is looking to prove he belongs among the league’s top defensive linemen—gives the Saints another avenue for Jordan to mentor and lead a talented young group of defensive linemen.
In run-heavy situations, the...
