Pro Football Focus recently ranked the Top 15 pass rushers in the NFL in the 2016 season. New Orleans Saints Defensive End and Pro Bowl-snub Cameron Jordan came in on the list as the fourth best pass rusher in the NFL, directly behind Super Bowl MVP Von Miller and ahead of names like Jadeveon Clowney, Joey Bosa, Chandler Jones, and Michael Bennett.
About Cam, PFF said:
Another player that doesn’t quite get the recognition they deserve because the sack totals aren’t there, Cameron Jordan posted the same 79 total QB pressures as Von Miller did, but only nine of them were sacks, compared to Miller’s 14. Jordan actually had a slow start to the 2016 season, but after three fairly mediocre games to open the year, he went on a tear that few players could hold a candle to. Over the final 13 games, he notched 73 total pressures, or 5.6 per game, though he did face an unusually soft schedule of offensive tackles.
Their analysis of Cam’s season as a whole is fair, but it’ll be interesting to see if Cam can actually improve on his 2016 season with additional pass-rushing help on the Saints defensive line. Whether in the 2017 NFL Draft or via free agency, look for the Saints to bring in a pass-rusher to pair opposite Cameron Jordan. With opposing offensives forced to respective the entire defensive line as a unit, Cam should be able to beat more one-on-one assignments and could see his total sack number increase from this past season.
Of note, also on PFF’s list were two potential Saints’ targets in free agency: Mevin Ingram of the Chargers (who might get franchise tagged) was #7 and Jason Pierre-Paul of the Giants came in at #14.