Analysis: Cam Jordan’s season showed why he won’t give the Saints a discount on his contract again

Cam Jordan said he needed to talk with his wife, Nikki, before deciding whether to play in 2026.

It was a short conversation.

“I said, ‘I would love for you to be in full support,’ ” the New Orleans Saints defensive end said. “She said, ‘You got 100% of support.’ So it was pretty quick.”

By the end of the season, it was hardly a question. Jordan demonstrated he could still produce at a high level after recording 10½ sacks in 2025, something the Saints’ own brass didn’t expect. The only mystery now is whether Jordan and the Saints can hammer out a new contract ahead of next season as the 36-year-old is set to become a free agent in March.

“Until they don’t want me anymore, this is where I’ve always wanted to be,” Jordan said.

Jordan’s resurgence creates an interesting wrinkle for what could be a complicated negotiation between the defensive end and Saints. A year ago, Jordan took a pay cut of slightly more than $6 million, but he had built-in incentives to earn back some of the money if he performed well. But the dynamic is different now after Jordan earned more than $2 million off incentives alone. Jordan is coming off his best season in years, but he also turns 37 in July.

The Saints and Jordan have weeks to sort out the situation. But in the meantime, it shouldn’t be lost that Jordan just put together one of the better “old guy’ seasons in NFL history.

Here’s how:

A rare group

There have been only 10 instances of a player reaching at least 10 sacks in a season after turning 36 since sacks became official in 1982. Jordan became the latest when he brought down Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins in the season finale.

Just look at some of the names Jordan joined, many of whom appear more than once:

1. Reggie White: 16 sacks in 1998 (age 37, Green Bay Packers)

2. Chris Doleman: 15 sacks in 1998 (37, San Francisco 49ers)

3. Kevin Greene: 12 sacks in 1998 (36, Carolina Panthers)

4. Doleman again: 12 sacks in 1997 (36, San Francisco 49ers)

5. Greene again: 12 sacks in 1999 (37, Carolina Panthers)

6. Julius Peppers: 11 sacks in 2017 (37, Carolina Panthers)

7. White again: 11 sacks in 1997 (36, Green Bay Packers)

8. Cam Jordan: 10½ sacks in 2025 (36, New Orleans Saints)

9. Too Tall Jones: 10 sacks in 1987 (36, Dallas Cowboys)

10. Bruce Smith: 10 sacks in 2000 (37, Washington Redskins)

That’s seven players total — five of whom are in the Hall of Fame. Only Jordan and Jones aren’t enshrined.

Jordan became the first defender north of 36 to record double-digit sacks since Peppers in 2017. There have been only 25 defensive players of that age total to log a snap in that span, let alone a sack.

Unexpected season

Jordan loves to say that he knew he was still capable of putting together such a season, often noting that all he needed was an opportunity. In those remarks, he’d usually throw a potshot or two toward former Saints defensive line coach Todd Grantham for being the one he felt limited his usage.

But Jordan had just two sacks in 2023 and four sacks in 2024. The productivity, or lack thereof, was hard to ignore.

“Did we expect 10½ sacks from him?” general manager Mickey Loomis said. “No, I wouldn’t say that we expected that, but I’m excited for him.”

Jordan’s 6½-sack jump from the year prior is one of the biggest ever when factoring in his age. The last player who was at least 36 years old to see an increase of at least six sacks from the year prior was Hall of Famer Michael Strahan in 2007. That year, Strahan recorded nine sacks after totaling three in 2006.

But in Strahan’s case, his production was cut short at 35 because of a broken foot that limited him to nine games. There weren’t many questions about Strahan’s play when healthy. Jordan, on the other hand, hasn’t missed a game since 2022 and has been remarkably durable throughout his career, even while battling through some significant ailments. (He’ll note part of his down 2023 season was because of a foot injury that required offseason surgery.)

Still, when players reach double-digit sacks, they typically have been playing at a high level. Peppers, for instance, put together a respectable 7½-sack campaign in 2016 before finishing with 11 sacks at age 37 in 2017.

Jordan appears to be one of the rare exceptions, which makes it remarkable.

Rotational production

This is what might be most impressive regarding Jordan’s turnaround: He did it while playing a rotational role.

The stat sheet will show that Jordan started all 17 games. But once Chase Young returned from a calf injury that sidelined him for the first five weeks, Jordan played less than half of the defense’s snaps in the eight games played between Weeks 7-15. 

In that span, Jordan recorded four sacks. He then recorded four sacks in his last three games, when his playing time increased, but still never cracked 60%. The Saints have tended to limit Jordan’s snaps as he has gotten older to keep him fresh throughout the season. 

In all, Jordan played 53.6% of the Saints’ snaps in 2025. Of the 17 players to have at least 10 sacks this past year, according to Stathead, Jordan had the third-smallest percentage of playing time, ahead of only Arizona’s Josh Sweat (12 sacks at 47.1%) and Detroit’s Al-Quadin Muhammad (11 sacks at 41.4%).

Since 2012, when Stathead began tracking player snap counts, Jordan’s 590 snaps were the 17th fewest out of the 257 instances in which a player recorded at least 10 sacks in a season.

“The Saints have done nothing but show that they want me to be here,” Jordan said. “Now, at what price? Some would say half off this last year. I can’t do that again.”