Where is Dion Jordan's Best Fit? Part 1: SAM Linebacker in a 4-3 Under

[roy_miami]

Personally, I think had the offense gotten us some nice leads once in a while you would have seen a lot more of Jordan both at DE and at OLB in 2013. For this season I think the plan was to work Jordan in a lot more at the position discussed in the OP to get him Wake and Vernon on the field together, but we're gonna have to wait a little longer to see if I'm right about that.

 

[dlockz]

Personally I think if Jordan played better he would play more but that's just me

 

[DolfanISS]

I really haven't seen anything from Dion Jordan that has impressed me. I've keyed on him many times and to my untrained eye he's slow off the ball, tries to beat tackles around the corner and fails, then tries to peel back inside and fails again. Never seen anything else, ever. Any rush he's gotten has been a free one. Never seen him beat a tackle. Very disappointing!

 

[Awsi Dooger]

I've keyed on him many times and to my untrained eye he's slow off the ball, tries to beat tackles around the corner and fails, then tries to peel back inside and fails again. Never seen anything else, ever. Any rush he's gotten has been a free one. Never seen him beat a tackle. Very disappointing!

You pretty much nailed it. In traffic there's a remarkable sameness to his game. I'm not sure I can think of a parallel, any other player in league or franchise history. It's the same on run blocking. He's never quick upfield or angling low. It's always fully extended arms at a slightly upward angle. Then depending on the competence of the tackle he's either shoved backward or turned sideways to his right but maintaining a virtual stalemate. The latter happened several times against the Falcons backups. It was hilarity when Philbin praised Jordan for setting the edge on those plays. Based on how high and soft he was playing it didn't take any projection at all to envision Jordan at the mercy of a starting caliber tackle.

Jordan is like a racehorse who doesn't like to be boxed in near the rail. That type of horse is ultra common. They virtually quit when they are in that situation. You never see a fleck of their true ability. Horsemen are forced to take all types of steps to correct, like instructing the jockey to take the outside path even if it means sacrificing lengths. As I posted a few days ago, there needs to be creative manipulation with Jordan if we are ever going to receive a decent return. A 3-4 outside makes the most sense overall but I suspect we'd still see the vulnerability. He needs to run free toward the quarterback or wander in the secondary. I really doubt he can cover downfield to the degree of his current reputation but with that height and wingspan the ball might accidentally hit him on the noggin or force lower and mid level quarterbacks to look elsewhere.

 

[NoblePhin]

Ya 3-4 olb sounds the best, but seriously we could be more creative with his skillset even more. In the speed package I would have Ellerbe, Vernon, Shelby, Wake on the line with Jordan and Wheeler as the two lbs. At any time Jordan could go from an A gap blitz, or roam the middle, flats, or man a TE; then all of a sudden wheeler bitzes up the middle. To me, that much versatility is worth more than sacks because he demands so much attention (in the middle imo) which allows others to get through so your going to get sacks anyway. He would be like a JT/Chancellor in the middle; 6'6 255 with long arms, elite acceleration, and big hitter.

 

[spiketex]

The young kid who predicted that Jordan had been ridiculously overdrafted is looking pretty smart now. Ireland's infatuation with Dion's Combine metrics, shows the risk of overestimating the pass rushing DE. The massive real irony is that Jeff ended up drafting a young stud in Olivier Vernon the year before and he had the player he wanted already on the roster. Vernon in hindsight was a brilliant 3rd round Draft pick (and he didn't know it).
From here we need to determine if Jordan can deliver value or not. This is a Philbin/Coyle/Kacy Rogers question that Hickey needs to grapple with. He is a physical beast at 6'7' and 272 lbs, but we need to see some production or we need to salvage what we can - maybe only a 3rd round pick?
All GMs make mistakes but to give up a 2nd round pick to move up for a player who doesn't ideally fit our system was a massive error in judgement. At the time I thought it was great and I better understand my limitations re knowledge, but the best thing to come out of this is that it hastened Ireland's exit.

 

[truedolfan57]

Not worried after 1 preseason game...

 

[datruth55]

Not worried after 1 preseason game...

I wasn't worried after one preseason game either. Now the 16 regular season games last year and the fact that he still couldn't get on the field over Derrick Shelby when Wake was hurt...that had me plenty worried so I'm ahead of the curve.

 

[truedolfan57]

I wasn't worried after one preseason game either. Now the 16 regular season games last year and the fact that he still couldn't get on the field over Derrick Shelby when Wake was hurt...that had me plenty worried so I'm ahead of the curve.

i'm honestly not sure why Jordan had limited snaps last year, while wake was out, but in his limited play, I remember him doing well. in 206 pass rush snaps, he had 24 pressures. 2 sacks, 4 hits and 18 hurries. Now, it's hard to get consistant when you are in and out all game. I think he only had one game were he had 20 or more pass rush snaps. which was the Atlanta game, and when he had the most success. As for Derrick Shelby, if he did play more, he didn't show much more improvement, with 23 tackles and 2.5 sacks, vs 19 tackles and 2 sacks for Jordan...

Lets just see how Jordan does this year, before throwing him under the bus.

 

[Dolphin North]

Jordan at SOLB, Tripp at MLB and Ellerbe at WOLB would work best I think. Like that article said, you get your big 3 pass rushers on the field together and you can also put Wheeler at WEOB (weak end of bench).

I still think Jordan will be a very good player for us most likely by next year, and we should see some of it this year. Can get to the QB, long arms and if he's anywhere near the QB he can latch on and bring him down. Picks through traffic fairly well for a young guy. Rangy agile and good in pass coverage, even against big TE's (Gronk). Terrible start with injury last year and now the suspension, but I think he will do a lot to make our defense better in the coming years.

 

[So Be]

Jordan is now listed at around 275, and there will be no position change this year. My question is how stopping the PED's will affect his play?

 

[Zounds]

Jordan at any 4-3 LB position could have been possible last year, but now that he is 275 lbs, he's pretty much stuck at DE. Its not even worth discussing at this point imo.

---------- Post added at 12:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:38 PM ----------

Jordan is now listed at around 275, and there will be no position change this year. My question is how stopping the PED's will affect his play?

I doubt taking/stopping PEDs effects his play.

 

[datruth55]

i'm honestly not sure why Jordan had limited snaps last year, while wake was out, but in his limited play, I remember him doing well. in 206 pass rush snaps, he had 24 pressures. 2 sacks, 4 hits and 18 hurries. Now, it's hard to get consistant when you are in and out all game. I think he only had one game were he had 20 or more pass rush snaps. which was the Atlanta game, and when he had the most success. As for Derrick Shelby, if he did play more, he didn't show much more improvement, with 23 tackles and 2.5 sacks, vs 19 tackles and 2 sacks for Jordan...

Lets just see how Jordan does this year, before throwing him under the bus.

Shelby graded out as our best DE against the run. Believe it or not you don't have to make the tackle to be effective against the run, sometimes it's as simple as setting the edge and forcing the runner inside instead of letting him have the corner...of course you need linebackers to clean up the play but that's another story.

But I hope you realize you're comparing an undrafted player against the #3 overall pick. You would think there would be more of a disparity in stats.

 

[truedolfan57]

Shelby graded out as our best DE against the run. Believe it or not you don't have to make the tackle to be effective against the run, sometimes it's as simple as setting the edge and forcing the runner inside instead of letting him have the corner...of course you need linebackers to clean up the play but that's another story.

But I hope you realize you're comparing an undrafted player against the #3 overall pick. You would think there would be more of a disparity in stats.

honestly, I don't think anyone cared if Jordan could defend the run. biggest reason he was drafted was to get to the qb. everyone knew he needed work in the run defense. and Shelby had 415 snaps, vs jordans 310. So the stats being almost equal with over a hundred less snaps, says a lot. Also, being undrafted doesn't automatically mean you suck.

I just think people are jumping the gun. I know we would all like to see an instant pro bowl caliber DE with the 3rd overall pick, but that just didn't happen. doesn't mean he's garbage. at least not yet.

 

[Dr. Phin]

honestly, I don't think anyone cared if Jordan could defend the run. biggest reason he was drafted was to get to the qb. everyone knew he needed work in the run defense. and Shelby had 415 snaps, vs jordans 310. So the stats being almost equal with over a hundred less snaps, says a lot. Also, being undrafted doesn't automatically mean you suck.

I just think people are jumping the gun. I know we would all like to see an instant pro bowl caliber DE with the 3rd overall pick, but that just didn't happen. doesn't mean he's garbage. at least not yet.

And being drafted #3 doesn't automatically mean you are any good either...