IRVINE, Calif. -- Cameron Jordan wanted the ball.
It was the second day of the New Orleans Saints' training camp, and Taysom Hill was streaking down the sidelines by himself, headed to the end zone. With training camp still ramping up in intensity, most of the other players were already conceding the touchdown.
The exception was 287-pound Jordan, giving chase until he'd touched the ball.
"Settle down Cam," an assistant coach yelled jokingly.
In Year 14, after a disappointing season in which he battled injuries and had only two sacks, there's no settling down for Jordan, 35. It's true for linebacker Demario Davis, 35, and safety Tyrann Mathieu, 32, too. Davis is preparing for his 13th season while Mathieu is entering his 12th.
As the three oldest defensive players on the roster, there are questions how much their bodies have left to give. There is a perception that the clock is ticking on their careers, although none will say if and when they want to retire. But seeing them on the training camp fields almost 2,000 miles from home, it becomes clear the love for the game hasn't diminished at all.
"Surgery sucks," said Jordan, who had a procedure on his ankle in the offseason. "Being hurt for the last seven games of the year sucks. And at the same time, it puts a lot of dip on your chip. All I can think about is, the moment I'm healthy, what can I do? Whatever juice I can squeeze out of this, let's do that."
Dip in your chip?
"On your shoulder," Jordan explained. "Like you know, when you're a kid, your mama says, 'You have too much dip on your chip. You need to calm your ass down.' As a grown man, there's no calm. It's always full go."
During one particular practice Jordan and Davis spotted the football lying on the ground in between periods and they dashed for it at the same time, laughing as they reached the ball together.
The pair is among the loudest voices on the team. Jordan's voice often carries over the others as he cheers on his teammates, imploring Chase Young to win a rep over rookie left tackle Taliese Fuaga or giving fourth-year player Payton Turner congratulations.
Davis stands at attention on the sidelines, directing, critiquing and offering encouragement.
"I think time is an illusion. How much time does anybody have? Your life can be gone tomorrow, and so in that case, you're old," Davis said. "Or you could live to be 100 years old, and in that case you're young. ... We don't know how much time we really have, so all you know is right now. And I love where we're at right now and that's what I'm focused on."
In the idle moments, there are talks of legacies and what it would mean to win a Super Bowl in New Orleans, where Super Bowl LIX will be held on Feb. 9. Mathieu has one ring from his time with the Kansas City Chiefs, while Davis and Jordan are still searching for theirs.
"It would be a shame if I came back home and teamed up with Demario and Cam and a lot of other great guys on the defense and we don't punch our ticket," Mathieu said. "Like we don't live up to the hype or the expectations or the standards we set for ourselves."
Davis and Mathieu took reduced salaries in the offseason in exchange for another year. Jordan signed a contract last year that he hopes makes him a Saint for life, admitting that there "probably won't be" a Year 16 and a Year 15 is a maybe.
"I have right now," Jordan said. "This is all that I have. I'm squeezing the juice. I'm giving all that I have, every day, every play. Because ... in football, you never know when it could be over."
Jordan, drafted by New Orleans in 2011, said this isn't a new feeling for him. He's felt that way since the Saints lost to the Minnesota Vikings in the infamous "Minneapolis Miracle" game in the 2017 playoffs.
"Each and every chance you have to take the field is that much more important, because you don't know if you're going to get back. You don't know if you can reach that level of success," he said.
He has reached it before. Jordan earned six consecutive Pro Bowl nods from 2017-2022. He and Davis were a part of the 12-4 2020 team that lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round.
That's the ultimate goal: To get back to it. But to do that, they have to pull their younger teammates along with them.
"You are who you are, whether you're in Year 12 or Year 19 right? ... So it's important to be who you are and understand that a lot of young guys are looking to you trying to find their way," Mathieu said. "It's important to show up and be the same guy every day."
According to Saints defensive backs coach, Marcus Robertson, a former All-Pro who played in the league 12 years, there comes a point where the player stops thinking about themselves and more about how they can lift their teammates up.
"To a certain degree (you) know who you are as a player and obviously you've got a ton of experience," Robertson said. "But the key thing is, you've got to continue to develop the guys. It's almost like, reach one, teach one."
Can the will of three players get the team back to the Super Bowl this year? Mathieu believes it's possible.
"It would mean a lot," Mathieu said of winning a Super Bowl in New Orleans. "That's a long way down the line. It's a lot of work you've got to put in to get to that game. ... We've just got to find a way to continue to hold people accountable and make sure that everybody is kind of pushing toward that standard and kind of hitting their head on the ceiling each and every day."