2013 NFL draft scouting report: Dion Jordan, the bear argument

If you follow the world of finance at all, you'll often hear "bull" and "bear" arguments. Bulls are optimistic and generally arguing in the affirmative, while bears are pessimistic and arguing in the negative. Eagles/Ducks fan KJ Brophy recently took a more bullish view of Jordan in our "pound the table" series, so I'm going to go with a more bearish look at the Oregon LB.

2013 NFL draft scouting reports

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At a glance, it's easy to see why people like him for the Eagles. For one, the new coach Chip Kelly just so happened to be the guy that recruited and coached Jordan in college. So obviously there's a level of familiarity and presumably scheme fit.

Plus, there is is his freakish athleticism. He's 6-6, 250 and runs a 4.6 40. He's got nearly 34 inch arms, which would be great for an OT, let alone a DE/OLB. He's lined up all over the Oregon defense from DE to LB to even shallow safety. While he is most often talked about as a pass rusher, his best asset may be his coverage ability, which is rare for a college LB.

But taking all that into account, there's still one little issue that bugs me about Jordan. He doesn't make plays. As often as you hear him talked about as a pass rusher, he only registered 5 sacks last season and 7.5 the year before. Compare that to a guy like Damontre Moore, who has tumbled down draft boards despite having 12.5 sacks last year and 8.5 the season before in a better conference.

Then there's the coverage ability we always hear about with Jordan. But there's the fact that he's never intercepted a pass and has been credited with exactly 2 passes defensed in his college career. INTs and PDs are certainly not the only measure of coverage ability (or even the best), but they do illustrate the point further that the guy hasn't been much of a playmaker.

He had 10.5 tackles for a loss last year, which doesn't even register in the top 20 in the Pac-12.

Now, college production isn't all that matters when you're scouting prospects for the NFL. Much of this is projection and looking at a guy's raw ability. But still, when you're talking about the #4 overall pick in the draft, does Dion Jordan require a little too much projection?