Cameron Jordan has been a Saint for the last 14 years, and has often expressed a desire to finish his career with the New Orleans Saints. His father, Steve Jordan, played his entire career with the Minnesota Vikings, and the younger Jordan hoped to do the same. But for the first time in his career, his hope wavered.
The 2024 season was a frustrating one for Jordan, especially early on. One of the notable low moments of the season came after the Saints’ loss on the road to the Carolina Panthers. Instead of joining his teammates in the locker room, Jordan was spotted walking alone down a hallway at Bank of America Stadium, frustrated after a seventh consecutive loss and having to be calmed down by Derek Carr and Alvin Kamara. In that moment, Jordan thought about pushing for a trade.
Jordan reflected on the incident in a feature with Sports Illustrated: “At the end, I was like, ‘Man, this has to end this way?’ I was about to, you know, force my way out of there; really, I was contemplating that for the first time ever.”
It wasn’t a fleeting thought, either. Jordan’s father had supported it and he spoke to his agent about a trade. Ultimately, they decided options weren’t viable. He wanted to go to a contender and that wasn’t likely with his contract.
One of the biggest catalysts of Jordan’s frustration was feeling poorly-coached and lied to by Todd Grantham, who reduced his playing-time in favor of younger teammates who weren’t producing. The tension boiled over to a point where Jordan told Dennis Allen he wouldn’t speak to Grantham any longer because of a lack of respect shown to Jordan.
It wasn’t until Allen was firing Brian Young that became the defensive line coach that things began to turn around. Jordan began to see more snaps and the the fundamentals and technique were emphasized along the defensive line, which helped those younger pros like Payton Turner make more plays.
Jordan is still a part of the Saints’ roster, and we’ll see how long that lasts. They have a decision to make about that contract this offseason (his $20 million salary cap hit is second-highest on the team), but it’s interesting to know he and New Orleans nearly parted ways earlier in 2024.
“There will be major talks that happen after the season, I’m sure,” Jordan told SI. “My mind, and how I take things, is: I’m either all-in or all-out.”
