Latest / AFR Saints / Cam Jordan Returns to the Saints: Why the New Deal Makes Sense for New Orleans

Transcript

Cam Jordan Returns to the Saints: Why the New Deal Makes Sense for New Orleans · AFR Saints

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: AFR on Demand is brought to you by Breck Golf.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Try Beaver Creek today, just twenty minutes from downtown Baton
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Rouge in the Zachary area. They've got a PGA toward
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: driving range, a short game practice area, thirty to forty
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: yard practice shots. It's a great place to chip and
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: putt and practice. If you don't have time for a
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: full round, book your tea time today. Golf dot Breck
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: dot org. Golf dot Breck dot org. One of the
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: sagas we have been watching since the start of the
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: league year in the NFL is what is going to
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: happen with Saints defensive end and future Pro Football Hall
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: of Famer Cameron Jordan. Well, today we have that answer.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: It was well a day ago. Actually, hat tip to
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Tront Armstead, Yes, former Saint Tront Armstead, who on his
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: podcast sort of announced that Cam Jordan would be visiting
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the Saints.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Cam Jordan will be flying to New Orleans tomorrow, going
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: to the facility, planning to have a conversation. Nothing set
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: in stone, but the hope is alive that Cam Jordan
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: will continue his career in Black and Go.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: And that's exactly what happened. The Saints and Cam Jordan
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: did in fact agree to a deal for Cam Jordan
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: to return to New Orleans for the twenty twenty six season.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: The twenty eleven first round draft pick now looks like
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: he is in line to finish his career where it
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: started a decade and a half ago. Cam Jordan did
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: meet with reporters and had this to say about his
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: decision to return to New Orleans.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: Just, you know, over the appreciative of the Saints organization,
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: of you guys, of every random fan that we've talked
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: to the last fifteen sixteen years. Like I said, just
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: excited to be back in the city. I think we
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: got a lot of work to accomplish, especially with the
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Cam Jordan Foundation, how we've been able to send kids
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: to school the last couple of years, looking forward to
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: doing more. I think we're about to activate, you know,
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: sixteen years, sixteen weeks of give back to New Orleans.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: We've got so many, so much plans on the works already.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Even if I hadn't been here, I still would have
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: gave given back. But I'm overly blessed and highly favored.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: For being here.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: So I have a lot to say about this I'm
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: ecstatic that it worked out this way for a lot
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: of different reasons. So let me give you my opinion
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: on this. I'm going to come back and let you
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: hear a little more of Cam have to say about
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: how all of this came together. Good for Cam for
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: accepting reality and having the humility to return to return
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: to a team and an organization that he has played
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: for fifteen years, given everything of his body, his family,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: his time, his energy, his love, his passion, his commitment,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: all the tangibles and intangibles, a guy who is destined
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: to be in the Saint's Ring of Honor and one
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: day will wear a gold jacket in Canton. And in
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: spite of all of that history, the reality of Cam
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Jordan in twenty twenty six says you don't give Cam
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Jordan in twenty twenty six a multi year contract with guarantees.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: But despite all of the past, Cam could have said, hey, man,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: after all I've done for a decade and a half
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: in this organization, You're gonna give me a prove it deal,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Especially after I just played on one and had a
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: double digit sack season. He could have said, man, forget it.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: He could have been bitter retired, done literally anything else,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: but the market spoke and the Saints, who I will
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: compliment and I always have in this respect. It's so
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: bizarre because as fiscally irresponsible as they have been largely
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: for the last decade, restructuring contracts and going into uote
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: unquote cap hell, they have actually had incredible financial discipline
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: when it comes to free agents, in particular their own.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, they let mark Ingram walk to Baltimore over
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: a matter of about a quarter million dollars. They let
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Marcus Williams walk. They let Trey Hendrickson walk a year
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: ago was pulsing a debo. This year they let Alonte
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Taylor walk, They let the Titans pay him. They let
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Ruman Harper go to Carolina. They ship Darren Sprawls off
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: to the Eagles. The old adage you'd rather get rid
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: of a player a year too soon than a year
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: too late. Like they have been almost bizarre with how
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: fiscally responsible they've been with free agents and how committed
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: they are to their valuation, because they were anything, they
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: have been anything but with the way their restructure deals.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: But the Saints stuck to their number as they are
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: wont to do, and Cam who went and shopped his
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: services and the market spoke, had the humility to come
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: back and say, you know what, this is where I
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: want to be regardless of what the deal looks like.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: So good for him. We'll see what that contract looks like,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: but I can tell you what it's gonna look like,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: one year incentive lated deal just like the one he
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: just played on. And that may be hard to stomach
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: or to swallow her to understand, but the reality is
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: that Cam Jordan is a declining football player. And you
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: could say, well, he had ten and a half sacks
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: last year, and that is true. He did have ten
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: and a half sacks a season ago. That is also
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the outlier for Cam Jordan. Prior to that it was
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: four sacks. The year before that it was three, twenty
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: twenty two it was nine. He hadn't had a double
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: digit sack season since twenty twenty one. And you're not
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: paying Cam Jordan for what he did from twenty eleven
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: to twenty twenty one. You're paying Cam Jordan for what
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: he will be in twenty twenty six. And the reality
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: is over the last half decade, last year's production was
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: an outlier. You could also look at his snap counts.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Look you have paid Chase Hung and Carl Granderson to
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: be your starters and Cam is now a rotational player.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Look at his snapcounts in twenty twelve, one thousand and
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: thirty eight, twenty thirteen, one thy seventeen, nine, ninety nine,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: nine seventy nine, nine sixty three, eleven, thirty six, ten
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: oh one, nine fifty nine oh eight, eight thirty one,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: seven ninety seven, seventy five, sixty five, five eighty nine.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: He's playing half the snaps. He's a rotational player. You
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: don't give multi year guarantees to a rotational guy at
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: thirty seven years old, and the Saints didn't, regardless of
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: what his resume was. Now leader, locker room guy, productive
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: player at thirty seven, as a rotational piece in a backup.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: All those reasons you want Cam Jordan in your locker room,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: on your team, in your culture, with your all yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: but it's got to beat the right price. And the
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: market spoke. How many people have listed their home for
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: sale by owner because you think and you get no
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: offers because you've overpriced your home because it's your home
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and you're emotionally attached to it and you think it's
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: worth so much more than an actually is based on
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: what the market says. That's Cam. Cam didn't want to
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: accept the fact that his value isn't what the market
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: says it is. So he went and shopped his services
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: and the Saints moved on. The Saints hadded Tyree Wilson
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: on a Draft day trade, They signed Anfredy Jennings. They
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: moved on from Cam Jordan. They had to. They had
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: to go act as if he weren't going to be back,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: and so they fortified that spot and left the door
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: open if he wanted to return on this deal to
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: be able to do it, and good for him for
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: being willing to do it. He didn't have any suitors.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: He recognized the reality of the situation and came back
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: to a place that's gonna love him no matter what,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: and we're all gonna pull for him like Matt and
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: hope he has another awesome season in New Orleans and
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: capitalizes on all the financial incentives of his deal and
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: continues to do the thing he just talked about, the
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: sixteen weeks of six day of give back and all
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: that sort of stuff. It's amazing and he's going to
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: be one of the most beloved saying in the history
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: of this organization for all time, and rightfully so. And
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: I'm you we give be nostalogic about it, but I'm
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: glad that Cam Jordan's going to finish his career in
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: New Orleans. It's not that dissimilar from what happened with
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: JJ Watt. But JJ Watt didn't finish in Houston. Watt
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: was at one point the best defensive player in the NFL.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: I mean, he went twenty and a half sacks, ten
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: and a half, twenty and a half, seventeen and a half,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: and then the injuries hit one and a half zero,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: had a healthy twenty eighteen sixteen sacks than four five
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: the trade Arizona one, then twelve and a half in
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: his last year and he was retired. JJ Watt had
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: seven incredible seasons and five seasons that were injury plagued
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: and not productive. It's easier when you can remove emotion
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: and talk about JJ Watt. But Cam Jordan's in a
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: very similar spot. Now Cam hasn't had injuries, but the
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: productivity in the age is certainly part of it as
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: well as it was with JJ Watt, as it is
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: with Cam Jordan. Jordan did also meet with reporters if
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: this was ever It was asked if this was ever
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: in doubt.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: The open line of communication I've had with Mickey as
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: well as the Saints and all my guys here has
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: been another short of you know, a blessing, and at
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: the end of the day, you know, it was mutual
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: benefit for us to come back from what I want
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: to do with perspective, I always believe in you know,
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: black and Gold and how you know, I'm still pumping
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: up the draft like I'm still part of the team.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: I don't think that is ever going to change the
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: way that I want to affect this city. I don't
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: think that's ever going to stop. I think I still
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: went to a couple of school visits. Of course, there's
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: always avenues that you could take, that'll that'll take you
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: away from home, but it's become home for us, so
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: he always end up back at the crib.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: It's very non denial denial there from Cam Jordan when
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: asked if this was ever in doubt, because of course
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: it was and they had the open line of communications.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: But I think if the right offer was there for
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Cam Jordan to go somewhere else. This would have taken
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: him somewhere else, but in the end, all roads lead
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: back to the Crib, cam Jordan back for his sixteenth
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: season in New Orleans,