Getty New Orleans Saints DE Cameron Jordan celebrates after getting a sack.
With the offseason underway, the Denver Broncos will continue to look to rebuild their team to end up back in the playoffs.
The Broncos will look to improve their pass rush this offseason after they traded away pass-rusher Bradley Chubb to the Miami Dolphins.
Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports proposed a trade that would send New Orleans Saints All-Pro defensive end Cameron Jordon to the Broncos in exchange for a third and fifth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
“Sean Payton might prefer to accumulate picks rather than trade them away as he wades into his first year as Broncos coach, but he also knows the value of leadership, and Jordan was an anchor of his team for more than a decade in New Orleans. Entering a contract year with the Saints, the edge rusher could be primed for a fresh start as Dennis Allen’s squad moves money for Derek Carr. He’d also fill a need for Denver, which lost Bradley Chubb via trade in 2022 and can’t really count on Randy Gregory.”
Before the Broncos traded Chubb after eight weeks, Denver’s defense sacked up the opposing quarterback 24 times and just 12 after the trade.
Gregory on the other hand only appeared in just six games and tallied up just two sacks and seven quarterback hits.
Denver also drafted Nik Bonitto last year in the second-round of the draft, but in 15 games as a rookie, Bonitto only had 1.5 sacks on the season and was nearly forgotten.
Jordan Has Dominated in New Orleans Under Sean Payton
On February 10, in an interview with TMZ, Jordan praised his former head coach saying, “That man, he’s a mad scientist.”
Jordan also described how detailed Payton is and that he’s “afraid for Denver.”
In 12 seasons with the Saints, Jordan has performed as one of the best defensive ends in the NFL. Averaging 9.6 sacks per season, Jordan found himself in the Pro Bowl eight times.
Making the NFL All-Decade team of the 2010’s, Jordan was named All-Pro three times from 2017-2019.
In 2015, Jordan recorded a career high 15.5 sacks and combined for 53 tackles and 25 quarterback hits. After sacking the quarterback 12.5 times in 2021, Jordan’s pass rushing numbers dropped to just 8.5 sacks, but he had 66 combined tackles.
If the Broncos were to make this trade happen, they would have to take on Jordan’s contract, unless New Orleans took on some money, his salary cap hit would be $25.6 million in 2023 and $12.8 million in 2024.
Denver currently has $9.7 million in cap space, per spotrac.com.
Broncos Didn’t Tag Dre’Mont Jones
As the NFL franchise tag deadline came and went, the Broncos decided to not place a franchise tag on defensive end Dre’Mont Jones.
Depending on which tag the Broncos would’ve used on Jones, it would’ve cost Denver up to $19.7 million.
Jones is coming off the best career of his young four-year career where he had career highs in sacks and tackles.
Before Chubb was traded, Jones totaled up 5.5 sacks and just one sack after Chubb was sent to Miami. Pro Football Focus gave Jones a grade of 51.8 for the 2022 season.
Jones will officially hit the open market as a free agent when the new league year begins.