Cameron Jordan had to deal with MVP winners Cam Newton and Matt Ryan in the NFC South over the first nine seasons of his New Orleans tenure.
A new divisional challenge now awaits the star defensive end and the rest of the Saints defense.
Jordan will be seeing a lot of Tom Brady over the next two seasons with the six-time Super Bowl champion now a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While Jordan understands the Bucs’ addition of Brady potentially could make the Saints’ lives more difficult, there’s a part of him that’s excited to have the greatest quarterback of all time in the NFC South.
“What was I, nine or 10 when he first got drafted by the Patriots? I mean this is going to be super, super weird,” Jordan said on Sirius XM NFL Radio, as transcribed by ProFootballTalk.
“The fact that he’ll be in my division gives me more chances to hit him, hopefully,” Jordan said. “You talk about somebody whose just been known as one of the greatest of all time for all six Super Bowls that he’s won, he’s a winner. And for that to be in my conference, I’m not excited about it. At the same time, I sort of am. I would love to welcome him to the NFC South which we’ve had the last three years. But we know the talent that he has. He has Mike Evans. He has (Chris) Godwin. He has O.J. Howard. They’ve got Bruce Arians now and now you’ve got Tom Brady so it’s just exciting for them to be in our conference.”
You’d have to go all the way back to 2007 for the last time Tampa Bay won the NFC South title, which New Orleans has garnered in each of the past three seasons. But with Brady now aboard, coupled with the Atlanta Falcons’ and Carolina Panthers’ offseason additions, the division race could be awfully exciting.
