Cam Jordan nominated for Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award

Yeah, I mean, first and foremost, I wanna say, you know, thank the Lord for the blessings of being healthy, of having *** beautiful family of everything that uh has been accomplished just to get to the point of being drafted by the Saints. You know, my time at CAL was phenomenal. Um being raised in Arizona was amazing, being born in Minnesota uh to watch *** legend play football for *** few years of my life before we got it out of that cold state and into warmth where I belong. Um You know, was the origin of the story um again, to be drafted in 2011 uh by the Bensons, you know, uh Mrs Benson, I’m, I’m forever happy to have *** phenomenal uh owner of an organization that from top down has been top notch. We talking about Mickey Loomis Sean Payton who drafted me, appreciate the uh taking *** chance, I guess as I was spiraling down to pick 24 back in 2020 2011. Um sitting there in New York with the family uh pops at the table, older brother, sister, cousin uh Walter Venerable um the third and uh you know, got *** phone call, picked it up and was so elated just to hear *** voice on the other side of the phone saying they wanted me. Um, you know, I, I don’t even remember what I said. I mean, probably, probably shot that statement out *** few times but I said, let’s do it because at the, in my mind it was, it was good to go. I was like, look, II, I don’t know what happens from here on out, but I’m gonna give you my all. So 13 years later, what is this 3/4 contract? Technically really, really like the third earned, you know, like everybody’s granted that, that, that contract on the first one but third earned contract situation, fourth overall, 13 years in um looking to play two year 15, spoken into existence at like year eight or nine. And for honestly to, to have the family behind me, to have everybody that I’ve had, you know, um I’ve been truly honored and blessed to enter *** market as New Orleans to enter, you know, everything that you think that you want as *** football player. Um coming up as ***, as *** man, coming up as uh *** kid with dreams of playing in the NFL uh to sit here and be embraced by the city of New Orleans to sit here and um be able to start so many different initiatives uh sitting here with, with, you know, the God is love foundation and everything that I’ve been able to do in this city. Um being empowered not only by the saints um by the saint staff. You talk about Alicia, she Bashar Sheridan. Um You talk about the phenomenal media guys that we have our equipment guys, um our trainers, you know, back when below was, was in the was in the building. Now he’s an enemy over at uh over in Denver with, with Sean Vader, I Darth Vader, I mean Sean Payton. Um you know, you talk about um just the phenomenal staff from day one. you talk about, you know, what, what is, what is Bum’s real name? John Bumgarner throws you off. Um Just everybody in this building. Um It has been such *** phenomenal and amazing experience that I couldn’t see myself being anything but black and gold. You talk about uh from the, from the, you know, niche breakfast spots we go to, to uh being at, you know, Ruby slipper cafe to finding wonderful situations like, you know, Zach Street being *** former teammate in Porter, you know, opening Port Orleans and, and the good times that we’ve had there, uh it has this entire essence of being drafted and being in New Orleans has felt like family and stayed like family. Um And I can’t really see myself. Luckily I don’t think I’ll ever have to see myself being anything other than black and gold. So appreciate it. JD. Can know how much it means to you to be ***, in soccer, to be *** one club, man. That one means we got old with the same team, you know, um, being, of course, being born in Minnesota, uh, you see pops working his work ethic, his, his talents going to, you know, six pro bowls, uh, 13, over *** 13 year career. Uh, you don’t even put that in *** quantifiable position of yourself. Um, when you think about, you just want to make the NFL think about the NFL average when I got to league, it was like 2.7 years, 2.75. Now it’s sitting at 2.98. Um, you think about position wise, then position wise, I guess it goes up *** little bit and it goes up *** little beyond three years. Um, but that’s just, uh, you know, NFL stands for, not for long for *** reason. Um, and to, to then even have the exclusive membership of being with the team for 10 years. Uh, it’s been *** blessing to turn around and three years later, you’re sitting, you know, heading to year 13 with the opportunity, signed through year 15. I mean, what more can I say that? You know, I’m, I’m elated just to be wanted. I’m elated to, to be here at this dance, uh, probably the first time ever. I went home and, you know, on the, uh, contract extension offer, I, I asked Nicky, I was like, hey, you got any pushback about this? I was like, is there any, any line we’re drawing in the sand? Like, don’t Tom Brady me. Um And she was like, no, she’s like, we’re, we’re riding until the wheels fall off. And I was like, great. Uh I, you know, I even asked, I even asked Tank Jordan over here. My oldest son, I was like, hey, man, I was like, I was like, what do you, what do you wanna do? You wanna go back to Arizona? You wanna stay in New Orleans? He’s like, I’m going to school this year. Ok, great. That’s exactly, that’s, that’s all I got out of him. Um So all his friends are here, you know, all our, all our friends that have become like family uh throughout the years uh clearly from the team, you know, you can talk about some of the best friends I’ll ever have um with Mark Ingram. Uh You talk about the return of Jimmy Graham, you know, guys that I’ve looked up to John are still in, still in group chats but friends that have became family all started from here, you know, and this has been an extension of, of not even *** heart but extension of, of who I am. Um talk about just the, the numerous amounts of schools that I visited over my time here. Um Talk about the initiatives that we started with Crescent City Cop. Um I think that every turn the saints either have been behind me guys like kai, who you, you, you see as *** roaming shadow that doesn’t give enough credit for what he does in the building. Um You know, clearly Mickey, um Mrs Benson has been *** phenomenal voice at anything that we’ve ever done. Uh everything that we’ve wanted to do, you know, has been *** reason why I wanted to stay in building, man. Uh, what is it that has made you now three times, be willing to give up that and your give *** little leverage by always signing it. I want to give that. I mean, when I say Tom Brady, like I wanna, like, I don’t wanna have to go to *** different franchise, you know, Tom was at the Patriots for 20 years and that’s probably the most winningest quarterback you’ll ever see somebody who has seven Super bowl rings. I’m still hunting for my first one, but I wanted to be in building. I want *** chance to be here. He, you know, he went to, to Tampa Bay and on another one that’s good for him. That’s his story line. I’m just saying, I, I’d want to finish my career here. I want my storyline to be here. I would love that. My story has been drafted here. Kept here, been here, never played *** season without guaranteed money here. Um, and which that’s probably in ***, in *** category of its own right there. But the story is to let it unfold finish and be here. So maybe year 15, if there is *** year 16 death, we’ll talk about it then. But there probably won’t be, I can’t wait to give everything that I’ve been giving to the saints, to the, to the city, to the community, to my family uh to continue doing so for the foreseeable future, which is currently, you know, three years this year, next year, year 15, I get to see, I, I get to see the, the, the chance to take uh Derek car back to Las Vegas. I get ***, get *** chance for the Super Bowl to come back to New Orleans. And then hopefully by then I’ll be looking for my second ring into my final year of this deal. Um You mentioned your father having like tangible memories of growing up and what he did, how important is it family memories of this man. Um My second youngest daughter, Nia is five. I think that’s when we left, left Minnesota when I was *** kid just in, you know, it all comes full circle. But luckily, you know, I, I feel like I’m blessed enough to have older kids too who, who actually have solid core memories. You know, maybe it’ll be uh down at uh at the Go Kart races or maybe it’ll be, you know, took him to LSU to go see Mike the Tiger who wasn’t there yesterday, you know, it, um, too hot. We, we’ve had *** record heat here but, you know, these, these core memories that they’ve had when they get older they’re gonna actually remember it. You know, I’ve got some, some memories of mine, you know, being back in the Minnesota Vikings facility playing with some bags opening up, you know, random cans of, of, of, you know, random cold drinks of, of Gatorade whatnot that I didn’t even, you know, took me 13 years to find it again because it’s like *** league thing. I swear. Um, you’re not gonna find, you know, tho those bottles anywhere else, um, those cans of, of, of whatever, anywhere else. Um, so these memories that I have, you know, being *** kid we left when again, retired in what, 94 and then, so I was five years old at that time. Um, I remember being locked out of cars because it was too, too cold. Hence my distaste for cold. Um, I remember, you know, watching watching games in the stadium. I only want the hot dog but it was too cold and not wanting to go back down to the seats because it’s too cold. Um, they don’t have that. They, they have the, they have the super dough, you know, they get, they get to watch the brightest light, some of the best fan bases, the crowd going crazy. They get to watch us. Pummel Atlanta, Carolina and Tampa Bay once or twice *** year, you know, Tampa Bay. Yeah. The Buccaneers. Yeah, I know. It’s ok. We’ll talk about it later. Um, you know, I get to, I get, I get to take pictures with, you know, my daughters, uh, Glory, Nia and Chanel. It’s like *** thing, you know, Tank will come over, come through, you know, we get it on the sidelines. Um, and hopefully these are core memories that they’ll always remember. If not, we got pictures, we’ll document it. You know, we’ll, we’ll act like they do. So God has been good. Who uh you, you, you say you say yes, that was like the only blemish but then *** year later, like I missed *** game against, you know, like if you don’t, if you not, then I would act like it never happened, you know, like, but absolutely. Well, I mean, I was trying to, I was trying to play last year regardless. But um that’s, that’s who I, that’s what I do. If I, if I commit to something, I give it my ***. I only know one way to go. You in this kind of modern climate. You see *** lot of contract disputes and it’s always one side, only on the running back side. Like, you know, my, my guys are fighting for the livelihood here in that case. It just felt like from, from day one and you were talking about the contract when the love is reciprocated, it feels good, doesn’t it? Um No, I mean, honestly, you know, when you, when you hear, of course, every agent is supposed to say, hey, my client wants to be here forever. Um But to hear that same statement from your GM uh reverberate through the building and you know, everybody from the, you know, the legends that are in building from, you know, Jay again to John Bumgarner to uh you know who I call Ben. Ben Ben’s real name is Benedict Stolberg. Um to Sean Gibson, everybody again, top down um to even, you know, my, my guys uh um in the equipment room, there’s, there’s nobody that you wouldn’t rather be around. So when everything makes sense, why fight against it, Kim, how do you build this here *** week, man? Let’s, yeah, let’s talk about football. I’m loving this idea that we finally drafted ***, *** detox on the first round. You know, first time it happened in the last six years, we won’t bring it up again. But um good things happen to those who wait and you know, we, we uh we got, I think we have *** talented one. We’ve put on pads for the past couple of days and you see flashes from Brian Bra that you love to see. Um I think we have talent and, and Isaiah FSI granted, he’s *** Notre Dame guy. So, you know, there’s, there’s *** stigma out there. Um I think that he’s, he’s got the right mindset to want to be great. I think that uh you talk about our defense with DEMAR Davis, honey badger Marshawn Lattimore looks motivated and phenomenal this count. Um You know, Paul and abo you talk about Alan Taylor, you just go down the line. Carl Granderson looks stellar this, this, this camp Peyton Turner looks highly motivated, looks strong coming around the corner. Um His flexibility sliding him down to *** three technique. I mean, there’s things that he can do that you, you love to see and he’s finally taking advantage of it and hopefully that goes into the season. I’m, I’m overly hyped about what our, what our defense can do this season this season. Hopefully. Um, and I say hopefully because you never know until those bullets to really start flying. So give me *** couple of games, we’ll come back to it, but I’m, I’m excited about how we’re, we’re starting to conj as *** team. Uh on, on the defensive side, you talk about offense side as aggressive and competitive as they are. Derek cars came in seamlessly and even brought back more of an edge to their offense if that’s even possible with guys like uh *** lot Chris Olave, uh healthy Mike T and you know, hitting these sticks, these posts that look phenomenal. Um Just watching it as we’re doing pass rush, we’re supposed to go one on ones with officer lineman like I care about officer lineman, but I’m looking over at our receivers, uh and our D BS going at it, I’m looking at our running backs, you know, you talk about *** K Jamal. Um and then we have the young young Buck Kendra uh Miller, um just going after that with our linebackers, Pete going crazy like there’s nothing but names, talent and ability on this team. So as long as we live up to our full potential, what’s not to be excited about? I think I’m taking it today, I think, I mean, there’s *** reason why this, this conference is at eight o’clock. It’s, it’s all calculated. That’s, I mean, that’s neither here nor there. I mean, I, I do believe that the Saints have always done *** phenomenal plan. I remember, you know, my first nine years in the league, I didn’t get *** vet day period now, you know, some guys get some in like year five. It’s impressive to see. Um, you know, for me, it’s all about what can I do to get better, you know, what can I do to, to hold my craft? This is the time period to do. So, you know, this is what I look forward to putting pads on. You put pads on, you know, it’s, it’s beautiful. You put, you put that them jump man cleats on, paired with the with jump man gloves with the Saints, Florida Lee on the shoulder with the shoulder pads underneath the, the jersey. I’m looking, I mean, minus this bubble wrap we got on the head, I’m looking to, you know, hold my craft and, and inflict some damage. Um, and that’s what I, you know, I get excited about. I look forward to every year, you know, you get to the off season and everybody goes through OTAs, it’s two hand touch and that’s just not something I, I grew up wanting to play. I want to play tackle football. I’m here for this part of the game. Can you, can you like never ever allow yourself? Like, um, of course, I do in the off season. It’s not off season. You hope this then set the franchise record, man. Um I think earning that un un earning the official sack record last year was, was *** phenomenal uh milestone. Um I, I still got to get that unofficial, so I mean, we’ll talk about it later. Um I think that coming in draft class 2011 being as deep as it was possibly one of the greatest draft class ever to ever, you know, have been had, uh I got drafted at pick 24 pick 28. Mark Ingram comes in with that. Here’s your, your two franchise leading one rusher, uh and Mark Ingram and then hopefully you’re, you’re your sack leader and me. So it’s easy to, you know, look at it and sort of take it with *** grain of salt because that’s just what we do. We break records. We take two more and then *** photo you want, I mean, the moment, the moment uh Mickey and Sean drafted me, I was like, all right. Well, this is where I’m going. I, I’ve never had, I probably had *** jaded reality with this man sitting right here, you know, six time pro bowler, 13 years with the Minnesota Vikings should be *** hall of Famer but isn’t so somehow, um sitting here as ***, as *** Vikings ring of honor Vikings, you know, all, you know, all decade, all century, all, you know, 50th what all teams, all these accolades that he has and he goes in and he still runs four times *** week and he does all that he does. I’m sitting there and I’m just like, all right, cool. That’s me. So, you know, get drafted and I’ve never thought about leaving. I, I play around with the idea of if, if the Saints try to trade me, I’m going to Atlanta to beat you twice *** year. But like that’s just the pettiness that I have, you know, that’s *** part of my motivation uh is to never, you know, is to never leave this building. And if do so, I’m trying to come back and, and create, create as much damage as I can where some players might hold up until they get an extension. You’re not, you got one but no, you made, I mean, you said you that um you were gonna go hard situation, speak to that in the context of your durability and maybe um where you rank your availability throughout your career from here. Other statistics like that. Well, I have been, I’ve been blessed. I mean, in my mind, if you wanna know the, the, the, the truth is when I got drafted, I was like, all right, I gotta make *** pro bowl like you don’t want to be the son who goes to the league right after his dad and not make *** pro bowl after that. It has all been uh I mean, I have II I know one mode and that’s to go as hard as I can. Um You from the time I was born to now, it’s been the same idea. Wake up, give everything you got fall asleep by nine. I don’t make it, I don’t make it past that. I mean, if we’re having conversations, I’m really not there. Uh And that’s because I’m giving every like everything I can give during the day and that, I mean, this man will attest to it 10 years old, five o’clock in the morning, I’m sitting at the top of my lungs, you know, then, then you gotta get corrected because everybody else is still sleeping. Some people are irritable. Um Thanks Anita Jordan. Um You know, to what I give now when I wake up, this guy is officially uh my son tank is officially the only person in the household that can beat me waking up. He’s up at 5 30 sword practicing, um playing, trying to sneak video games, uh hopefully reading. Um But it’s just this, this innate ability to wake up and want to go get it and that’s what I still wake up to this day. So when it comes to what I wanna do, what we wanna do, what I’ve always been as *** saint, I’m gonna continue doing so till I can’t do it anymore. You’re gonna, um, you trying to speak *** certain number of accents? Who aren’t we all? How many sex does it take to get to the Super Bowl? Whatever that path is. That’s what I need as ***, as *** player as *** team as *** franchise. If it’s, if it’s, you know, God forbid, it’s only like 20 or 2, 20 or 30 as, as *** team. If it takes 60 that’s what I’m looking forward to. And if my part plays in, I mean, I mean, you know, the goal is always 25. I don’t know if we ever, if we’re ever gonna get there, but we’re gonna strive for it each and every time. Um I think that with our talented D line with Tao passion with the additions of, uh, being *** K *** Colin Saunders, um I think that we have ***, *** force to be reckoned with. If you insert, uh Peyton Tao, uh, if we, if we got Nathan Shepherd, uh big chef, I think is, is somebody who is gonna be *** sleeper. Um, Brian Brazzi myself, Carl and whoever else comes in, it’s that, it’s *** mindset of, it’s up to the D line to take over and we just gotta live up to it each and every play. Sure. Come on guys. Uh.