Longtime Saints DE Cameron Jordan remains unsigned a week after the legal tampering period began, but he does intend to return for another year.
Jordan expressed nothing but love for the organization and the city he’s spent 15 years with, but he gets the business side of the game if it’s not meant to be.
“As much as I love the city of New Orleans, as much as I want to be in the city of New Orleans … If things don’t add up to what I consider as value happen, I understand the business nature of it all,” Jordan said, via “The Set with T.Stead” podcast. “In my mind, I’m like, ‘of course,’ you see guys my age re-sign with a team because that’s the only team they’ve ever been with, and you’re like, ‘hell yeah, we love that,’ but that’s to his situation. That may not be to my situation. As football players, we can only control what we can control. … You gotta be able to take your emotions out of it. Of course, I’d love to be in New Orleans, but at the same time, if the cents doesn’t make sense, then we have to find our own path.”
“Just because I love the city and the organization doesn’t mean the city and the organization has to love me back. The city definitely has and always will. I’m just saying, my love doesn’t mean it’s unrequited.”
Entering his age-36 season, Jordan understands teams prefer to spend free agency money on younger players. He also outlined the numerous aspects that make up what value a team can bring to him at this stage in his illustrious career.
“I came in knowing, after a 10.5 sack season, 15 TFLs, 40-some tackles, alright, we have another season like that, we crack deep in the top 10,” he said. “And at the same time, I’m also accepting the fact that at 36, everybody wants to go younger. Younger doesn’t mean more proof than what is presented. But potential gives the league a lot. There’s a set value that I have in my mind. Value is to the eye of the beholder, at this point. Value means position, rotation, monetary, sure, but more along the lines of if I want to get 10, 12, 13 sacks, this next season, then I need to be in the best position to do so. And that could be at the Saints. Hell, it could be at the Miami Dolphins. It could be … It can’t be Cleveland or Buffalo or Green Bay, but … it could be. It could be.”
Jordan, 36, is a former first-round pick of the Saints back in 2011 out of Cal. He was entering the fifth year of a six-year, $61.969 million contract that includes $33.469 million guaranteed that he signed back in 2015 when he agreed to a three-year extension with the Saints worth $52.5 million in 2019.
New Orleans gave Jordan a two-year, $27.9 million contract extension through 2025 before the 2024 season.
In 2025, Jordan appeared in all 17 games for the Saints and recorded 47 total tackles, 15 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, one recovery and two pass defenses.
We have him included in our Top 100 Available 2026 Free Agents List.
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