Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - CHIPS IN: Why Cam Jordan Is Denver Broncos Missing Piece For Super Bowl 61 Push

Starting point is 00:00:00 If the Denver Broncos want to push their chips in on a Super Bowl, they need someone to replace JFM that has some unc status to him. Cam Jordan could be that guy. You are locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Broncos country, it is Friday. I'm Cody Roar. joined as always by Sarah Benjohn today's bonus episode show.

Starting point is 00:00:29 We're going to tell you why Cam Jordan should become a Denver Bronco. We'll go through the pros and cons of what he would bring to the table. for Van Joseph's defense in 2026, but on top of that, we're going to tell you why Cam Jordan makes the most sense here for the Broncos this upcoming season. Sarah, I see a lot of debate and a lot of discussion on social media about Cam Jordan, Cameron Jordan. We like to call him Cam. But for him, one thing that he just recently did appearing on Taran Armstead's podcast was kind of outlined as the Saints kind of moved on from him because of salary cap implications. he's now outlined that there are things that he's looking for.

Starting point is 00:01:06 One, the ability to play for a winner or a team that could compete for a championship. Two, a unit that could go through and compete for a Super Bowl. And obviously get after the quarterback too. Well, the Broncos, they've led the NFL in pass rush, obviously, in sacks and back-to-back seasons. All the stars really kind of aligned to it being a perfect destination for Cam Jordan. On top of that, the Broncos, they have a need. John Franklin Myers left in NFL Free Agency to Tennessee. And if the Broncos are going to make another external free agent addition on the defensive front

Starting point is 00:01:38 and really bring in a veteran to kind of guide along but also compete with the likes of Inoma Uwazerike, Savian Jones, I don't know that there's anybody better suited to do that in free agency right now than Cameron Jordan. Cody, I mean, I know some fans have brought up the idea of Callais Campbell. I wouldn't be mad about that either, but Cameron Jordan has the ties and the connections to Sean Peyton, right? I mean, Sean drafted him back in 2011, that amazing, incredible draft class that also produced Super Bowl 50 MVP,

Starting point is 00:02:09 Von Miller, who also happens to be a free agent. But Cameron Jordan has been a model of consistency over the course of his NFL career. I mean, I think when you think about some of the most disruptive defensive linemen and pass rushers over the last 15 years, Cameron Jordan is in the top five, isn't he? I mean, he's one of those guys that he can

Starting point is 00:02:29 get it done from a number of different alignments on the defensive front. There's been quite a bit of discussion about that. Where does he actually play? What is his home position? The real answer to that, Cody, is that he's played everywhere over the course of his career. He plays outside the tackle. He plays right face up with the tackle. He can play over the guard. But in Denver, here's why I think he's the best possible fit. Because what has Cam Jordan proven that he can do in his NFL career? He can whip some folks in one-on-one situations. And so, You give him those one-on-one situations by playing him with Zach Allen, Nick Bonito, Jonathan Cooper, all these other guys.

Starting point is 00:03:06 And he's also got chemistry with Malcolm Roach having played together in New Orleans. So I just, I love, I love the idea of bringing him in. He'd be, he would get me so excited after the, I mean, you're kind of just trying to put the JFM stuff at the back of your mind. Cam Jordan would get me actively excited about what this team could do in 2026. And it just feels like if the Broncos were to approach this office and say, we're good with Injoma and Savion Jones being the guys that are going to replace him. It feels, at least on paper, it feels underwhelming. Whereas with Cam Jordan at this point, he still feels like he has a lot left in the tank.

Starting point is 00:03:41 I mean, this is a guy that has been durable, Sarah, throughout the course of his entire NFL career folks. You don't believe me, drafted in 2011, has never missed a career game and has started 242 out of 243 career, regular season games. That type of durability is crazy. It would be different maybe, Sarah, if we were talking about a guy who over the last couple of years, has been dealing with injuries and this kind of broken down a little bit. Cam Jordan had one of his better years last year in comparison to some of the other years that he had. 10 and a half sacks played over 50% of the defensive snaps for the Saints defense last season. And to your point, you know, yes, in New Orleans recently, he's been a stand-up guy, right,

Starting point is 00:04:20 in terms of stand-up pass-rusher. He has been able to play inside, though. And I know there was a lot of debate and contention from Broncos country about, well, he doesn't play the role that JFM does. I disagree. Go back to 2018 when the defensive scheme in New Orleans was a three, four defensive scheme and watch what Cam Jordan did. And you made the mention of Malcolm Roach, sir, you imagine that he's probably been on the phone talking to him a little bit. I know for Jordan, it's just about making sure that, hey, if he's going to play another NFL season, he's going to the right fit. Denver makes the most sense out of anybody out there right now

Starting point is 00:04:51 for a player like Cam. I think so. I think that for him, like you said, I mean, there's been a lot of rumors about should he go sign with the Kansas City? chiefs. And to me, I'm thinking the chiefs are no longer checking certain boxes for, I mean, maybe the perception among players is different, but Patrick Mahomes is recovering from injury. Their key players are all getting older. The roster not very good and has been plucked over. Their drafting hasn't been very good. So I can't help but wonder if maybe this offseason is a little bit of an indicator of what the league really thinks about the piece because, I mean, shoot, they haven't been able to go out there and just replace their departed starters with a bunch of

Starting point is 00:05:28 ring chasers. And maybe that'll change. But up to this point, I think that's proven to be the case. And so the Broncos are the new team in the AFC West that, you know, these other players, they might be looking at Denver and say, shoot, I want to join that team. We heard it from Debo Samuel even last year and saying, hey, I think Denver could be that next team that really emerges. I think that's more the perception of the Broncos around the league right now than maybe other spots. And so, yes, I think if it comes to recruiting, the Broncos will have no shortage of opportunities to do that between Sean Payton being the coach that drafted Cam Jordan. Obviously Malcolm Roach having played with him, Cody Rager was in that front office as well.

Starting point is 00:06:08 Plus, the Broncos have that new training facility. So the financial is the aspect of it that I think might be the only hurdle. And we can talk about the pros and cons of it as we go about this show today. But I think you're right, Cody. The Broncos are the perfect landing spot potentially for Cam Jordan. Maybe not necessarily in terms of, hey, go out there. You're going to lead the team in Sax. because, I mean, you've got to be a team player on this Broncos team. But as we've seen the last couple of years, there's plenty of sacks to go around when it comes to this team has heights that it could still get to. We're talking about 70 sacks on a previous episode of the show.

Starting point is 00:06:42 There's plenty to go around for a guy like Cameron, Jordan. Yeah, and as the Broncos are looking to push their chips in here on the Super Bowl window, Cam Jordan could be that missing piece here for Denver. But at what cost? We'll look at the pros and cons of what it would mean to add Camp Jordan to this roster at this point on today's episode of the show. Today's episode is brought to you, our friends over there at five-hour energy. Welcome to the five-hour energy flavor draft with 18 different flavors to choose from, including new options like confetti craze, fruity rainbow or cotton candy.

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Starting point is 00:09:57 And pre-desert for life must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert. The pros and cons of signing Cameron Jordan to this Denver Broncos team, I can tell you right now, the pros vastly outweigh the cons. But we do have to talk about what it could potentially cost the Broncos, not just financially to sign a player like Cameron, Jordan. We'll talk about that on today's bonus episode. Lockdown Broncos, Broncos country. We appreciate you so much for making us.

Starting point is 00:10:21 your first listen of the day every single day. And really a great way for you to support the show as well as listening is to check out the everyday or all access club. The link will be in the show notes. You can check out more on that. We appreciate you for considering that today. Cody, let's talk some about the pros and cons of signing Cameron Jordan to the Denver Broncos. And I always like to get the bad news out of the way first.

Starting point is 00:10:43 So let's talk about the cons here because when you talk about signing a veteran like this, I don't think on a team like Denver, I don't think that his age is. a concern. Like, you know, if the team was rebuilding and you're talking about, hey, let's sign a 37-year old player to a one-year contract. I think that would be like, ah, that's kind of just wasting snaps for a young guy that could come in. But on a team that's Super Bowl contending, his age means nothing to me.

Starting point is 00:11:06 But the cost, like I mentioned, it's both financial and potential that it could affect the compensatory formula, right? So you really have to consider what are you willing to pay to bring in somebody like this? And are you willing to potentially sacrifice that? FM compensatory pick next year. Yeah, and that's a great question, too, because what is it? That JFM compensatory pick could be a fourth rounder. I think, I believe that's something where that formula kind of equates to.

Starting point is 00:11:33 How important is that to the Broncos, right? I think that's a great question. Do they care about that or is that something that they're hoping that they do get? I mean, obviously right now going into the 2027 NFL draft, the Broncos today are anticipated to have around 10 picks. You factor in potentially two cop picks if you have JFM and then obviously maybe a later cop pick with PG. Jay Locke signing with the Dallas Cowboys,

Starting point is 00:11:54 Denver slated to potentially have up to 12 picks going into next year's draft. That could obviously all change on draft day. If the Broncos want to maneuver around, add some players, you know, it could all change. But I think that the opportunity cost, right, when we look at that, what are you giving up versus what are you getting, right? What you were giving up essentially is maybe that opportunity for a fourth round cop pick for JFM. And it could also maybe impact your player development with Savian Jones and or I,

Starting point is 00:12:21 Njoma Uazirike, but I look at that as not necessarily being something that has much weight to it when I think about adding a player like Cam. And this kind of ties into the pros because when you add a player like Cam Jordan to that room specifically, I think that helps out a player like Savion Jones, who's going into a second year, where it's not like Sabian's not going to play if you add Cam. I think he'll play quite a bit. But now he's learning from a veteran guy and Zach Allen, and those guys can play off each other really well this upcoming season. So I think it is you are getting a lot more than maybe you are risking losing by adding a player like Cam into the mix here. But I also think, Sarah, when we talk about pros, for me, it's the durability. It's a guy who's been consistently available.

Starting point is 00:13:04 I outlined it a little bit earlier, 242 starts in 243 career games. And that one game he didn't start came in his rookie season. After that, he started the rest of the way for the New Orleans Saints and never looked back. And his production speaks for its durability, longevity, impact over 132 career sacks for him and has played in every playoff game possible. This is a guy that you can rely on here, especially for what the Broncos need at this point in a Super Bowl window. Yeah, because remember, Yomo Oazurike wasn't like an inactive last season.

Starting point is 00:13:38 He played 300 something snaps. And John Franklin Myers left behind 500 and something snaps. So there's going to be plenty of opportunity for these snaps to be divided up, especially because we know the Broncos want to keep Zach Allen fresh as well. And how detrimental was it for a short period last year for this team to not have Malcolm Roach when he was injured? So we can't bank on the same exact scenario happening year after year when it comes to guys who get injured, guys who don't, guys who end up missing time. Now is the time of year when you should be fortifying your depth,

Starting point is 00:14:15 when you should be fortifying your roster and saying, okay, in the event, Like we don't want this to happen, but in the event that Zach Allen goes down, let's just say that he misses two or three games. Who's going to step up? Or, you know, heaven forbid one of these guys misses the entire season. And then all of a sudden you're saying, well, now we got to bring up this guy off the practice squad because we didn't sign somebody in the off season when we had the chance because, well, it didn't make sense because we want Savian Jones to get more snaps

Starting point is 00:14:45 or we want In Yuma-Uaz Rake to get more snaps. I just don't, I know that's a philosophy. thing when it comes to team building. Everybody thinks differently in that regard, and you can't just go out and sign the best veteran available at every position right now. But I think in Denver's context with pass rush being the identity of this team, a guy like Cameron Jordan just makes way too much sense to come in and play even a versatile role.

Starting point is 00:15:10 Let's flip that argument on its head. I mean, some are saying, well, he doesn't fit the Broncos. He plays more standing up off the edge or he doesn't play the same position as JFM. well, let's use that versatility that he has shown over the course of his career to our advantage here and say, shoot, he could come be depth for a number of different positions for you. He can be a threat. You can start shaping packages around having this guy around. So I just think you don't want to do nothing to address the John Franklin Meyer situation.

Starting point is 00:15:39 And I don't think just saying, hey, Savion Jones stepping up, I think you bring him along a little bit more slowly. Yeah. And look, here's another thing too. And for Inyoma, this isn't meant to be a slide at him at all. He's not a consistent pressure player. That's just not in his game with the 300 plus snaps that he played. He didn't have even close to the amount of pressures or quarterback hits that certainly JFM did. Whereas you look at Cam Jordan, what he brings to the table, well, he at least had 22 pressures last season.

Starting point is 00:16:05 He had 10 and a half sacks. But here's the thing as well, he can get in the backfield and make plays. I think arguably last year, you could even ask our friend Ross Jackson a locked on Saints. Cam Jordan under the radar at that point of his. career played one of the better seasons that he did with the New Orleans Saints was a big reason why the Saints defense was good in some areas last year. Also 15 tackles for a loss behind the line of scrimmage. I mean, he kind of turned back the clock a little bit in 2025 to kind of what we saw at the prime years of his career last season. So I think he's got a lot to offer to the table.

Starting point is 00:16:37 I think the biggest question would be what would be the financials. Well, right now as we're sitting here, the Broncos have around $19 million in cap space here. They're set to get an additional $8 million after post-June 1st designation here on Jerry Greenlaw. So we'll see what changes between now and then. But if Cam Jordan wants to push the chips in for a Super Bowl wants to have a chance to compete, you got the relationship there with Sean Payton. That is obviously a pro.

Starting point is 00:16:59 It's about who you know. You have ties inside that building as well, not only with Cody Rager, but Bo Lowry in terms of the experience that he has there. Malcolm Roach, you mentioned that teammate bond right there and a chance to go out there and get after the quarterback. Well, guess what? Denver is the best destination here for Cam Jordan. think that there are more reasons for the Broncos to make it push for him,

Starting point is 00:17:19 then there are reasons for them to avoid him. If they add Cam Jordan, I truly think that this Broncos team will get to the Super Bowl next season because of what they have already defensively and what we expect the offense to do, this is them upgrading the roster significantly. Yeah, and they have opportunities to do that now. So take advantage. Like, that's the beauty of waiting out free agency is,

Starting point is 00:17:41 okay, well, you're not going to be players in the first wave of free agency or even the second wave of free agency or even the second wave of free agency. But at some point, you do got to get off the beach and into the water. You know what I'm saying? You can't just completely run it back with the same roster. I know we added Jalen Waddle. You got Tyson Anderson. Those are got at least one high impact edition. But when you lose somebody like John Franklin Myers, I mean, Jalen Waddle is not replacing John Franklin Myers. So you do have to supplement that in some way. That's a significant loss to your team, to the quality of your defensive line. So I think some way, shape, or form, it makes sense for, for me to say the Broncos

Starting point is 00:18:19 go after somebody in free agency. So I think the question becomes then if you are going to do that, or if you're going to bring in somebody to help your defensive line depth, why not Cameron, Jordan? You know what I mean? So almost identical size to John Franklin Myers. And like we said, the versatility is there, the production, the availability, the desire to play for a contender, the proven pass rush ability and clutch moments, big situations, he's played in big games, he's played for Sean Payton, like he gets the culture that's expected. Like, it's just a fit to me all around. There's, I would not be able to sit here and say, like, I don't think I could even play

Starting point is 00:18:55 devil's advocate of why I wouldn't want it to happen unless the price was so prohibitive that you're just saying like, yeah, he wants like 18 million a season or something crazy about that. So I, and I'm not saying that he shouldn't, he's proven, but he's 37. So like, I think there's just too much. good and too much that could come from it that would benefit the Broncos to ignore it at this point. Well, I mean, Sean Payton will say, you know what you're getting from him. I mean, if we're going to, you're going to bring in anybody with New Orleans Saints ties.

Starting point is 00:19:22 Cam Jordan is the perfect guy to bring into the Ma'i City. Broncos country, make sure you let us know what you thought of today's bonus episode. Locked on Broncos, Sarah and myself, we'll be back with you on Monday for a brand new episode unless there's breaking news that happens over the weekend. You know, we got you cover every single day, every step. Make sure you subscribe or follow if you haven't done so already. so you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite teams. We'll see you on Monday.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - CHIPS IN: Why Cam Jordan Is Denver Broncos Missing Piece For Super Bowl 61 Push

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