The decision was made at some point during the second half of what Cam Jordan describes as a "craptastic" game out in Cleveland.
The temperature was a couple dozen degrees below zero, and the longtime Saints DE -- and warm weather appreciating -- Cam looked at then co-defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen and said he was going back on the field. Nielsen protested, there was a rotation, and it wasn't his turn to be out there.
It didn't matter, the cold made the decision and he was going back in. But it also did something else as the Saints salted away a 17-10 win on Christmas eve.
"Somewhere in there I was like, ‘you know what, I’m going to another country after the season. You don’t have to worry about me.’ … And it snowballed from there, literally, out the snow,” Jordan tells WWL, speaking from a hotel in Spain as he promoted his new partnership with NFL Rivals, a "build and own" arcade-style mobile football game created in partnership with the NFL, NFLPA and Mythical Games.
In fact, he's spent the past several months hopping across Spain on what has been less like a vacation and more like a study abroad program for his entire family.
See, Jordan might have been born in Minnesota where his father, Steve, starred as a tight end for the Vikings, but he's a southern man at heart. He grew up in Arizona, then played his college ball at Cal-Berkeley. He's played 12 seasons for the Saints, and had avoided a snow game his entire career until that point.
Related
"Friends from Minnesota are like, ‘you haven’t played a real football game until you’ve played in the cold.’ They are liars. They are full blown egotistical maniacs that are just living this machismo life of embracing the cold," Jordan said. "And I get that’s what they have to do for mental keepsakes. But that’s not real football. It hurt to hit people. It hurt to shed people. It hurt to lace them up. It hurt to try and get warm. It hurt to get ready to get cold. ... After that first half I ran into the locker room and I remember everybody was drinking soup and some guys were like, 'ah, this is football.' And I was like, they’re absurd."
Once the Saints got back from Cleveland, a place he now says he would never go play under any circumstances and for any sum of money, he looked to his wife, Nikki, and asked how she'd feel about homeschooling the kids for the second semester. She'd done it during COVID, and was OK with doing it again.
"It just went from there," Jordan continues. "I had a plan, … and a week-and-a-half after the Super Bowl, I was in Madrid.”
It's the reason Jordan's last NFL appearance was at the Pro Bowl in Las Vegas on Feb. 5. And if you follow Jordan on Twitter, you'll have noticed he's been his normal active persona -- even shelling out mock drafts for the first time -- but in location after location after location.
The Jordans spent a month in Madrid, then visited Bilbao. From there it was Barcelona for a month before a return trip to Bilbao for a soccer match -- though they call it football over there. Then it was a quick jaunt to San Sebastian, then a stop over in Seville before heading back to Barcelona.
But don't worry, the family will be back for Saints camp.
“It’s been a time," Jordan said. "We had a time this past couple months.”
Related
━━━━
MORE FROM CAM JORDAN
On partnership with NFL Rivals
“I’m excited because it brings back that nostalgic feeling of, I keep saying Blitz, because it’s that arcade style of play. It’s not 11 on 11, it’s like a smaller condensed version, because it’s on your phone. Download it. I happened to download it this morning [when it was released] ... and I’m having a blast. I’m not going to say I’m addicted. ... I’m working on getting better, getting my players in the right positions, the right roles. But it gives you that arcade style, like going in, throwing a 25 quarter in and playing some NFL Blitz. It gives you that type of feel. It’s like NFL Blitz and NFL Street combined, and you’ve got it on your phone. And I don’t know what’s great about trying to be your own general manager. I’ve been doing some mock drafts lately for like the first time in my career, I’m like ‘I need D-tackles.’ Right? And in this game, I’m like ‘I’ve got to have AK here. If I can push Mike T there. If I can put these pieces together, my team is going to be unstoppable. And clearly I’m biased because I’m only using my own teammates."
━━
On teammates/coach joining NFC South rivals
As Cam mentioned, one of the reasons he's been doing mock drafts is his team needed DTs. That's due, in part, to David Onyemata departing in free agency to the Falcons, along with former DL coach and co-DC Ryan Nielsen, and Shy Tuttle heading to the Panthers.
“Of course I’ve talked to my traitorous friends," Cam said jokingly. "It’s cool, we drafted them. In Shy’s case he wasn’t drafted, which should endear him even more to us. We took him when nobody else was looking at him. But no, I’m overly happy for them. The fact that David, I’ve been playing with him for … 8 years. It’s been a long time, and it’s hard to replace somebody like him. Hence my mock drafts and taking like four or five D-tackles each time, because it’s so hard to replace a guy like him. You lose Shy Tuttle. You’ve got a guy like Kentavius Street that goes out there. D-tackles sort of bring that defensive line together. We have the return of Malcolm Roach, hopefully the resurgence of Albert Huggins. But Tanoh [Kpassagnon] and my young gun … Payton Turner will have to slide down to that 3-technique on third down situations. Maybe I will, I don’t know."
Related
━━
On expectations for Payton Turner/Carl Granderson
“Man, I think with Marcus leaving to Minnesota, I think that could be a great play for Carl Granderson to step up as well as Payton Turner. The best ability is availability as we all have seen over the years, and with Payton Turner these last two years, we see glimpses, and then he’s sort of been bitten by a little nagging injury here or there, and I’m just looking forward to more glimpses. You can see a glimpse, you can see the picture. You can see the picture, you can understand what the painting’s about. I’m trying to figure out exactly what the painting’s about in game time. Because I know the work that he’s put in is not matching up to his own expectations, because he’s grinding, he’s trying to get right. At the same time he’s also played 12 or 13 games over two years? You’ve got to play a little bit more than that.”
━━
FINAL THOUGHTS ON CLEVELAND
“I was thinking about the crazy fanatics that I have so much respect for with no shirt on in the upper bowl. Somewhere in the middle of that game they were like, hey, everybody in the upper bowl come down to the lower bowl. They were like, for body warmth purposes so you don’t die, come huddle together so you can watch this football game. And I was looking at the fans, I was like, much respect. Because there is no amount of money that could ever make me play for this team. Like, you could be like Cam, I have $58 million a year for you, an unprecedented amount, you’ve never been paid this much for 1 year of football. And I’d be like, thank you very much. If there’s 50 on the table here, there’s got to be 40 on the table somewhere in a warmer climate. Thank you, I’ll be leaving.”