METAIRIE, La. -- Sheldon Rankins has been with the New Orleans Saints for less than two years, but he has been around long enough to realize that teammate Cameron Jordan is vastly underappreciated.
“If people can watch his tape and not say he’s one of the top five defensive players in the league, you’re not watching the same tape I am,” Rankins said.
New Saints linebacker Manti Te’o added: “He can go from power to speed better than anyone I’ve seen.” And Te’o has seen some good ones, including Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram with the San Diego Chargers last year.
If you wanted to create a highlight reel that perfectly demonstrates the versatility Jordan has displayed throughout his stellar seven-year career, you could pretty much find all the clips you need from Sunday’s 52-38 victory over the Detroit Lions.
Obviously it would start with one of the biggest plays of the season to date -- Jordan’s batted pass and interception in the end zone for his first career touchdown, which cemented New Orleans' win with 5 minutes, 4 seconds remaining.
The 6-foot-4, 287-pounder also flashed his athleticism by chasing down running back Theo Riddick in the open field on a dump-off pass later in the fourth quarter -- and using his helmet to deflect the ball to safety Kenny Vaccaro for an interception. Jordan also made an open-field tackle earlier in the game after dropping back in coverage.
And, my oh my, did Jordan display his power with one of the most unique sacks you’ll ever see in the third quarter, when he didn’t even touch Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford. Instead, Jordan literally shoved backup right tackle Brian Mihalik into Stafford so hard that Mihalik knocked Stafford over. It was one of Jordan’s two sacks on the day.
“At some point [starting right tackle Rick Wagner] 71 left the game and 72 came in, and you’ve gotta take advantage. I don’t know what year he is, he’s nameless, faceless,” said Jordan, who then got off track for a minute as he tried to make a “Joker” analogy. “But that being said, when you get your mismatch, you’ve gotta take advantage of it, and that’s what I had to do.”
Jordan got his due Wednesday when he was named the NFC's Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career.
I find myself asking Saints coach Sean Payton about how underappreciated Jordan is about twice per year (including this summer, when he was having a dominant training camp). But this time I asked Payton if it’s possible that Jordan is having his best season ever at age 28, with five sacks, four pass defenses, an interception and a forced fumble.
“I think he had one of his better games of his career [Sunday],” Payton said. “So I think he’s [still] improving, and I think he was very good yesterday. I don’t think you plateau ... I thought [Sunday] he was exceptional.”
Jordan is the highest-rated edge-rusher in the NFL this year, according to Pro Football Focus. His grade of 92.7 is the only one in the league above 90.
Jordan was also rated as the No. 3 edge-rusher by PFF last year. But he got snubbed from his third career Pro Bowl berth because he only had 7.5 sacks (and because the Saints were 7-9). Never mind the fact that Jordan tied for the NFL lead last year with 17 tackles for loss and ranked in the top seven with 24 quarterback hits and five batted passes.
Sacks alone have never told the full story with Jordan, who ranks ninth in the NFL with 50.5 sacks since 2012 and tied for fifth over that span with 21 batted passes. He has also been a terrific run defender (which the Saints thought would be his greatest asset early in his career after they drafted him in the first round out of Cal in 2011).
According to PFF, Jordan has the third-highest pass-rush grade of any edge-rusher this year and the fourth-highest run-defense grade.
“I was talking to [Saints rookie defensive end] Trey Hendrickson two days ago, and we were talking about Cam,” Te’o said. “He’s just so unorthodox. He’s so savvy in how he rushes. He can go from power to speed better than anyone I’ve seen. And he’s just fluid. He’s really athletic.
“There was a play he made [Sunday] in space in coverage that you don’t see a lot of people that size making. ... He can do a little bit of everything.”
Jordan just missed the top 100 in ESPN’s NFL Rank of all players this year. And he was also left off of the NFL Network’s top 100 list this summer, which led him to tweet, “Wake up a sleeping giant this yr! That is all.”
I mentioned to Jordan this summer that I didn’t think he was “sleeping” the past six years. But apparently he had another gear.
“You hear about him ... that name gets passed around,” said Te’o, who was playing across the country in another conference the past four years. “But me being here and being able to play with him, I think the NFL in general doesn’t give him the respect he deserves.”