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Factoid

Older pass rushers

Can Camerons keep cooking?

Football is a young man's game, which needs to be remembered when considering a couple of typically strong fantasy defenses, and individual defensive players. In particular, a couple of veteran Camerons.

Pittsburgh's Cameron Heyward (pictured) and New Orleans' Cameron Jordan both came into the league as late first-round picks in the same NFL draft (2011). Both have steadily put up strong numbers throughout their careers, and both are perennially part of top-1o pass rushes. But both are turning 34 this summer, so it's fair to wonder if they can keep it going.

If either is going to slow down, it hasn't been apparent yet. Jordan has 21 sacks across the last two seasons, while Heyward has 20.5. Heyward has also averaged 82 tackles in those seasons, and Jordan 63, both of which are top totals for defensive linemen. They've been doing it at 32 and 33, but recent history makes it seem a little less likely at 34.

This century, there have been 25 players aged 32 or older to record at least 50 total tackles and 8 sacks. That includes those two Camerons doing it in each of the last two seasons.

But just two guys have done it at age 34 or older. One was Bruce Smith, way back in 2000, and the other was Michael Strahan (who did it twice). It hasn't happened in the last 15 years. In the table below, those older players are in bold; data from pro-football-reference.com was used in generating this table.

50-TACKLE, 8-SACK SEASONS, AGED 32-PLUS (2000-PRESENT)
YearPlayerTeamAgeTckAstTotSk
2022Cameron HeywardPIT3339357410.5
2022Cameron JordanNOR334026668.5
2021Cameron HeywardPIT3253368910.0
2021Cameron JordanNOR3238215912.5
2021Von MillerDEN,LAR323317509.5
2018Calais CampbellJAX3253197210.5
2016Lorenzo AlexanderBUF3356207612.5
2014Terrell SuggsBAL3236256112.0
2013Calvin PaceNYJ3337165310.0
2013Robert MathisIND3244155919.5
2011James HarrisonPIT334811599.0
2011Andre CarterNWE3231215210.0
2010James HallSTL334965510.5
2010James HarrisonPIT32703010010.5
2009Aaron SchobelBUF3234225610.0
2007Michael StrahanNYG364611579.0
2007Jason TaylorMIA334795611.0
2007Mike VrabelNWE3256217712.5
2006Leonard LittleSTL325736013.0
2006Jason TaylorMIA3242206213.5
2005Michael StrahanNYG3461218211.5
2004Willie McGinestNWE333516519.5
2003Michael StrahanNYG3260157518.5
2001Robert PorcherDET324575211.0
2000Bruce SmithWAS374895710.0

That being said, the steady recent production on the part of Heyward and Jordan make it seem reasonable that at least one of the two will join Strahan and Smith this year; maybe both. Heyward has T.J. Watt around to command more defensive attention, while Jordan is part of a defense that hasn't ranked lower than 8th in sacks since 2017. They're going to grade out pretty high at the position in this year's IDP rankings.

There's a third candidate to join them this year as a 34-year-old top performer, Buffalo's Von Miller. He had 8 sacks (though just 21 tackles) in 11 games a year ago. But Miller tore his ACL last November, and the latest news has him iffy for the start of the season. Unlikely he puts up top sack numbers if he opens the season on the PUP list.

--Andy Richardson

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