2011 NFL Draft Recap - Day 1

1st Round
24. New Orleans Saints - Cameron Jordan, DE

With the 24th overall pick, New Orleans chose Cal’s star defensive end Cameron Jordan. Jordan goes to an established contender in New Orleans, who likely vie for playing time at left defensive end slot opposite Will Smith.

I know that many are going to look at where Cameron Jordan was drafted and see it as a slide, and granted, Jordan went lower than where I and most had projected. I had Jordan going in the Top 20, most likely headed to the Patriots or Chargers, thinking few teams would let him drop out much further than that.


So dropping down to the 24th spot wasn’t nearly as much of dramatic slide as some might presume or make it out to be. I will say however, what was surprising was the number of defensive ends who were drafted ahead of Jordan. Heading into the draft, Jordan was considered one of the top defensive end prospects, and ideal at the 5 technique spot.

However, the draft had five defensive ends chosen ahead of Jordan. So I suppose that while it wasn’t much of a slide, I did think there was some undervaluing of Jordan.

Getting too immersed in the talk of a slide however, has us losing sight of how incredibly proud we should be of Cameron Jordan. The guy was a model student-athlete for the Bears, and is now a first round NFL draft pick.

He’s also about to make millions. Holla.

P.S. This also makes it three straight years that the Bears have had a first round draft pick (2009 - Alex Mack, 2010 - Tyson Alualu, Jahvid Best, and now, 2011 - Cameron Jordan).

Congratulations Cameron Jordan!