Did you know Cameron Jordan played the second-fewest snaps in a game of his career on Sunday? The New Orleans Saints defensive end was on the field for just 20 snaps while taking a backseat to younger teammates Carl Granderson (55) and Chase Young (53) against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Jordan managed just 17 snaps in last year’s game with the Detroit Lions — his first since suffering a serious ankle injury, and that remains his career-low. He played 27 snaps in Week 1 (46% of the total) and 34 reps in Week 2 (49%), but that count dropped to 20 (28%) in Week 3.
Jordan was the best player on his side of the ball in New Orleans for more than a decade. But those days are behind us, and the Saints are making adjustments to cope with their new reality. Just ask head coach Dennis Allen.
“I think you’re gonna see more of Chase and Carl,” Allen said Monday, pointing out that those two have been too effective to keep off the field. The other side of that coin is that Jordan hasn’t been effective enough to take snaps from them.
Father Time is undefeated. He’s beaten Drew Brees and Jordan’s own father Steve Jordan, who found great success in 13 years with the Minnesota Vikings. Anyone who has watched Jordan play in recent years has known this day was coming. He only had two sacks last season. Jordan had 8.5 sacks the year before but five of them came in two games.
The signs of his decline have been there for those willing to acknowledge them. It’s why the Saints have poured so many resources into defensive end searching for his successor — signing Young in free agency, developing and extending Granderson, and spending high draft picks on guys like Marcus Davenport, Payton Turner, and Isaiah Foskey. It’s just a shame so few of those players have stepped up into the vacuum created by Jordan’s decline.
Between rotating in other players more heavily and moving him inside to defensive tackle occasionally, the Saints are trying to find ways for Jordan to continue helping the team. He’s under contract through 2025 but we’re clearly approaching the end of the line. And whenever Jordan hangs up his cleats to pick up a microphone for a job in the media, we’ll be ready to support his Hall of Fame candidacy.
