Cameron Jordan has forged a legendary career in New Orleans as one of the NFL's premier iron men.
The Saints defensive end has collected 115.5 career sacks to become the franchise's all-time leader, a feat he accomplished in 2022 during his 12th season in the league. Jordan has done it all having missed just two games along a Hall of Fame-worthy career, and the 33-year old knows exactly where he got that dependable trait.
During SiriusXM NFL Radio's "Generations" series this week, Jordan reflected on how his father, former Minnesota Vikings tight end Steve Jordan, instilled in him the staunch work ethic necessary to be such a reliable force, even if it sometimes disrupted his days as a youthful soul.
"As much as you'd want to complain, you see this man getting it," Jordan said of his father. "He's running 50-yard sprints, 75-yard sprints, he's got a whole system running these old Viking workouts, which was really the key. I stole them the first two years just because he was always in shape. He was always running, he was doing these NFL iron man workouts or whatever it is, so I couldn't complain too much. And here we are doing two or three gassers and he's doing a full gambit of them.
"So, you have to eat that and realize that there's a reason why he made the league, there's a reason why he played for 13 years, there's a reason why he was a six-time Pro Bowler."
Steve Jordan had 498 receptions for 6,307 yards and 28 touchdowns during a 13-year NFL career, all of which played in Minnesota. His finest seasons were from 1986 to 1991, where he made six consecutive Pro Bowls and missed just four games along that stretch. Steve Jordan remains as the Vikings' all-time leading tight end in receptions and receiving yards.
Cameron Jordan explains that he wasn't the only one benefiting from his dad's weekly workouts as Steve Jordan welcomed anyone to join his routine, which is yet another example of his fatherly support.
"When I was growing up, people used to like love coming to our house on a Saturday cause they knew we'd be going to a park somewhere and we'd be running sprints, we'll be running routes, if we're playing basketball we're shooting shots, we were doing some sort of activity or technique work after we did chores," he said. "Now, for friends, they'd love to come over and for me, you'd fear Saturday. Like, I just want to play video games. I had been at school Monday through Friday, track practice, football practice, wrestling, trying to join the swim team -- all these other extra curriculars -- and come Saturday I'm really just trying to chill. And you wake up, sneak some video games, Pops would come down you'd have to clean the living room, do the bathrooms, all this other stuff and then it would be, 'It's time to go to the park.' And it's not a park in Colorado, or Texas or even Louisiana -- it's Arizona. This is like prime 110 degrees by, you know, May. It's march and it's 95 degrees. So we're in the mid-morning, middle of the day and it's 110 degrees outside. Where do you want to be? You don't want to be outside, but here we are."
Father-son relationships are often the backstory to many NFL careers. From the incredible story of the Manning family to the new generation of NFL talent that includes the Porters, the Warners and even the Belichicks.
As he enters his 13th season in the NFL, Cameron Jordan is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel of his playing career. And he hopes to draw one final inspiration from his father by recently saying he hopes to retire with the team that drafted him in 2011.
