One player that has stepped up his play in recent weeks is Cameron Jordan. Jordan didn’t have a good season last year and started this season slow as well. The defensive end even began to be phased out of the rotation.
Jordan has awoken over the last five weeks. He’s getting to the quarterback and making impact plays again. Darren Rizzi described Jordan as being “reenergized” during this hot streak.
But what changed? Why is one of the leaders of the New Orleans Saints suddenly improving and feeling reenergized in the middle of the season?
The Saints changed philosophically when they changed head coaches. Rizzi moved position coaches around, too, putting longtime pass-rush specialist Brian Young in a more prominent role working with the entire defensive line, instead of Todd Grantham.
Jordan received one of the biggest direct impacts from the changes. Instead of being phased out of the rotation, Jordan has returned to being a critical piece. Pro Football Focus charting has credited him with 26 pressures this season and 15 of them have come in the five games since Rizzi took over and charged Young with livening up the defensive line, including Jordan.
Rizzi points to playing time and style of play as reasons for this improvement from Jordan: “I think the fact he has more opportunity to play, number one. We made the change and tried to simplify things up front these last five games.”
Rizzi also mentioned the way the Saints are practicing as a benefit to Jordan as well. There have been many changes in New Orleans since Rizzi has taken over and many of them have benefitted Jordan.
