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Early into his 14th—and perhaps final—NFL season, Cameron Jordan clings to significance, possibility, symmetry and routines. So dawns another fall. It will be spent like all of the others on the New Orleans Saints’ defensive line. So resumes another push for that elusive Lombardi Trophy. So begins another symphony—of bruises, battered limbs and pain; of massages, ice baths and recovery; of interviews, workouts and practice sessions; of mentorship, community activism and fatherhood.
Plus, soon, a sharp divergence from the present. The shift looms on near horizons; the specifics, undefined. It beckons, this future, these visions of freedom, flexibility, actual free time. Jordan welcomes all; just not yet. For now, he will do as he has always done. Like on one day this August: up at 6 a.m., sauna, steam room, stretching, cupping therapy, then beach volleyball with the fam—all done, in one day, before training camp even starts.
Pundits have slept on the Saints, who will soon vault toward contender status. Jordan paid the preseason snubs no attention, same as the giddy reactions to a 47–10 bludgeoning of the Carolina Panthers in Week 1. “I mean, it’s Carolina,” Jordan says. “Nobody has been like, Oooh, snap! with Carolina for a long time. People haven’t been afraid of Carolina since Cam Newton and Christian McCaffrey were a tandem.”
Thus begins a project—The Final Season?—that will provide a window into Jordan’s maybe-maybe-not grand football finale. He will embody the latter stage of every veteran’s career. His, of course, is not that. Jordan ranks among his era’s most dominant pass rushers and most dominant defenders, period.
continued
Early into his 14th—and perhaps final—NFL season, Cameron Jordan clings to significance, possibility, symmetry and routines. So dawns another fall. It will be spent like all of the others on the New Orleans Saints’ defensive line. So resumes another push for that elusive Lombardi Trophy. So begins another symphony—of bruises, battered limbs and pain; of massages, ice baths and recovery; of interviews, workouts and practice sessions; of mentorship, community activism and fatherhood.
Plus, soon, a sharp divergence from the present. The shift looms on near horizons; the specifics, undefined. It beckons, this future, these visions of freedom, flexibility, actual free time. Jordan welcomes all; just not yet. For now, he will do as he has always done. Like on one day this August: up at 6 a.m., sauna, steam room, stretching, cupping therapy, then beach volleyball with the fam—all done, in one day, before training camp even starts.
Pundits have slept on the Saints, who will soon vault toward contender status. Jordan paid the preseason snubs no attention, same as the giddy reactions to a 47–10 bludgeoning of the Carolina Panthers in Week 1. “I mean, it’s Carolina,” Jordan says. “Nobody has been like, Oooh, snap! with Carolina for a long time. People haven’t been afraid of Carolina since Cam Newton and Christian McCaffrey were a tandem.”
Thus begins a project—The Final Season?—that will provide a window into Jordan’s maybe-maybe-not grand football finale. He will embody the latter stage of every veteran’s career. His, of course, is not that. Jordan ranks among his era’s most dominant pass rushers and most dominant defenders, period.
continued
