Cal Football: Cameron Jordan Feels Insulted By NFL's Claim He Faked Injury

MRI showed a foot injury but the league issued the veteran a fine for $50,000.

Former Cal star Cameron Jordan feels like the NFL is questioning his integrity. And he’s not happy about it.

The 33-year-old New Orleans Saints defensive end was fined $50,000 by the league, which claimed he faked an injury in last Monday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But Jordan, who played at Cal from 2007 through 2010, said he actually was injured and was not faking anything.

He briefly went down to one knee than walked off the field and went into the injury tent to be checked out. He returned to the game but the next day underwent an MRI, which showed a midfoot sprain.

"I feel like my name's low-key been slandered,” he said.

Jordan had never missed a game due to injury until this season, and feels like his record should give him some credibility.

"In terms of how I play this game and how hard I play this game,” he said,
“I was like 'Yo, if this was a civil lawsuit, I'd countersue for triple the amount.' The amount of work that I've put in to be a part of the league, the amount of honor I take in playing this game, yeah, that's why I also laugh at this. ...

“You know my track record, you know I'll do everything I can to try to be on the field and try to be part of the team.”

Jordan plans to appeal the fine, but is annoyed that he has to even go through that process.

"The fact that I have to go through an appeal is almost funny in itself," Jordan said. "If anything, the league should be like 'Hey, call in and be like there was an actual (injury) and that's the end of it,' but apparently, there's almost a half million dollars' worth of fines, so you have to go through an appeal process.”

The Saints were fined a total $350,000, including $100,000 for coach Dennis Allen $100,000, and $50,000 each for co-defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen and Jordan $50,000 for their roles in the fourth-quarter delay, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Jordan said he was unaware of the fine until his agent called last week.

"I was like, fine for what?" Jordan asked. "You hit a quarterback too hard, you can catch a fine. I was like, 'Dang, the play I did get hurt, I did grab Tom Brady. I didn't put a pillow down before I hit the ground, that could've been a fine there.' But no, it's because I got hurt and was trying to walk off the field and my team was doing the right thing by me, by making sure it wasn't anything more than it was.”

Jordan said his foot has been swollen since the game and he just started running again on Monday after spending the bye week rehabbing.

He hopes he'll be cleared to play by the end of the week but said it's up to team doctors.

Asked if faking injuries is a common practice that should be addressed by the NFL, Jordan said he thinks a bigger problem is quarterbacks looking for a penalty flag each time they get hit.

"It's a part of the game,” he said. “But in terms of somebody going down, you can't tell me that if somebody has a soft tissue injury, whether it be a cramp, or a hamstring pull, or whatever it is, how does someone tell you that it's not what you're feeling? You can't prove that.

“And for me, mine is actually something that you can prove. I had a fat foot for a week."

Cover photo of Cameron Jordan forcing a fumble against Tampa Bay last week by Douglas DeFelice, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo