The 2011 NFL draft class was something special. At the top, the Carolina Panthers landed Cam Newton and he changed the face of their franchise forever. From there, several more superstars and future Hall of Famers were taken in the rest of the first round, including Von Miller, A.J. Green, Patrick Peterson, Tyron Smith, J.J. Watt and Ryan Kerrigan.
Most of them are done playing at this point but one exception is Cameron Jordan, who’s still ticking with the New Orleans Saints 14 years after they took him wtih the 24th overall pick. All together he’s put in 226 regular season games. That includes 28 against the Panthers, who he had a ton of success against, especially during Newton’s career when Jordan was the team’s chief antagonist.
Newton has been out of the game for a while now and these days he puts in appearances on ESPN’s First Take and also runs his own podcast. On his most recent episode, Newton broke down the brave new world of the transfer portal and what it means for high school athletes. Apparently Jordan watched and was impressed enough to share it.
Cam Jordan comments on Cam Newton’s podcast
In case you’re wondering, Jordan is still under contract another year with the Saints. He has a cap hit of over $20 million plus another $15 million next year – which is the beginning of several of the void years that New Orleans made so famous. It took a while for the bill to arrive but the Saints are finally suffering from all those years of cap trickery. Heading into the offseason they are once again ranked last in cap space at -$47,482,537.
