METAIRIE, La. -- In typical Cameron Jordan fashion, the New Orleans Saints' defensive end offered some playful but serious praise to rookie defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins.
“You’re the best rookie I’ve seen since me,” Jordan told Rankins after their season-ending loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
Rankins said he took it as a compliment -- as well he should.
Jordan has emerged as the Saints’ best defensive player since being drafted in the first round in 2011, making two Pro Bowls along the way. And that’s the kind of potential Rankins has hinted at since being drafted with the 12th overall pick in 2016.
Rankins missed the first eight weeks of the season with a broken fibula suffered in training camp, but he finished with four sacks and a forced fumble over the final nine games.
“Really, you get a glimpse of what [rookies] can be in the first year. And if this a glimpse, this is gonna be something special,” Jordan said of Rankins. “I think he came in really aware of what he could and couldn’t do. And he definitely expends all of his energy doing the right things.
“They say that leap is from the first year to the second year. And if there’s gonna be a leap,” Jordan said with a laugh, “I’m more than ready for that to happen.”
Rankins is admittedly a pretty quiet, unflashy guy. But don’t mistake that for any lack of confidence.
The 6-foot-2, 305-pounder said he is willing to take on whatever type of high expectations or leadership demands the team needs from him as a focal point of their rebuilding defense, which started to make some progress in 2016 after two awful years in 2014-2015.
“I’ll gladly take it,” Rankins said. “I’m always a person who has high expectations for himself, so if other people want to put those expectations on me, I’ll gladly take 'em and run with 'em.
“So I look forward to being a focal point of this defense going forward. And we just look forward to building off what we’ve done [down the stretch].”
Rankins said his performance will probably never meet his own expectations, but he was proud of the way he was able to produce coming off the injury, not knowing for sure how the leg would respond once the real action started. And he feels like he got better each week.
Rankins expects even more, though, heading into his first full NFL offseason.
“It’ll be fun,” Rankins said. “Obviously the eagerness to build off of what I think I’ve done so far, and just my own drive to be one of the best.
“I think anyone that knows me knows I love this game, knows every time I take the field it’s not just something I’m there to do. It’s something I tend to do with a purpose.”
Rankins showed flashes of both the disruption and the versatility he displayed in college, making plays against the run and the pass while spending time at both the three-technique tackle position in four-man fronts and the end position in three-man fronts.
Over his final two years at Louisville, Rankins had 14 sacks and 26.5 tackles for loss.
Rankins is part of a small but impactful rookie class -- which also includes breakout receiver Michael Thomas and safety Vonn Bell (both) drafted in the second round), fourth-round DT David Onyemata and seventh-round RB Daniel Lasco -- that has the Saints excited about the future.
“He’s doing exceptionally well,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “He’s just one of those quiet, no-nonsense guys. We were fortunate [after losing him] in training camp that we were able to get him back during the year and get him some work, a half a season of experience.”
Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said Rankins has “done a really good job,” though he had to battle through what Allen called “camp legs” for a few weeks during the season because of his late start.
“As he’s gone on, he’s gotten a lot better,” Allen said. “I think he’s gotten a better understanding of what we’re asking him to do. And he’s been a really productive and disruptive player for us.”
Rankins said the leg injury “is just something else that’s gonna drive me.”
“I’ve always been an intrinsically driven person, someone who always finds things that motivate me to go out and do better. So that’s just one more thing to add more fuel to my fire,” Rankins said.
“I wasn’t able to put together a full 16-game season this year. So going into this offseason it’s gonna be big for me to do the necessary things to come back healthy, strong, explosive and ready to help this defense dominate.”
