Jordan Evans – Oklahoma Sooners

Position: Off-ball Linebacker
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 232
Year: Senior
Hometown: Norman, OK
Experience: 3 year starter

Measurables:

40yd dash: 4.51
Broad jump: 9’11”
Vertical: 38.5
3-cone: 7.01
20yd. Shuttle: 4.18
Bench Press: 19 reps

Career Notes:

The son of former three-time all-Big Eight Oklahoma defensive tackle Scott Evans, Jordan Evans was a three star recruit out of high school with offers on the table from Air Force and Colorado State, among others, in addition to OU. In his first year, Evans played in eight games as a rotational linebacker. He stepped into a starting role as a sophomore and held down the position ever since. In his final three years, Evans started 36 of a possible 39 games, and as a senior in 2016, led Oklahoma both in tackles (98) and in interceptions (4), two of which were returned for touchdowns. Evans was not invited to the combine.

In his senior season, Evans was used as the team’s primary coverage linebacker, typically lining up on the passing strength of the offensive formation or to the wide side of the field. He occasionally lined up over slot receivers in certain coverages, and was used in both man and zone coverage. He was also used as a blitzer quite often on third downs, as is evidenced by his 2.5 sacks in 2016.

Injury Report: 

Jordan Evans missed two and a quarter games in 2015 with injured muscles “behind his knee”, presumably a left hamstring injury. He also suffered a shoulder injury in OU’s loss to Clemson in their bowl game that season, which caused him to be limited to non-contact practice in spring workouts in 2016. He also suffered a slight hamstring injury against West Virginia late in 2016 on a pick-six and missed the rest of that game, but did not miss OU’s next game. Lastly, Evans suffered a slight shoulder injury on a hit on Sean White in OU’s win over Auburn in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the 2016 season, but he only missed one play before returning to the game.

Career Stats(click here):

Analysis:

Against the Run: 2.5/5

Evans’ instincts against the run are inconsistent at best. He is often slow to react to both misdirection in the backfield and pulling linemen, and as a result can be a step slow getting to the corner to cut off the ballcarrier. However, against simpler blocking schemes or on plays where Evans can easily identify a lane to the runningback, his athleticism stands out, shooting gaps and making contact with the runningback in the backfield. While he isn’t a big hitter, he has good upper body strength and usually is able to lock onto and drag down backs both when he squares them up in a running lane as well as when he is coming in from an angle in pursuit. He is explosive enough to deliver a strong pop to offensive linemen when he is coming downhill, which is occasionally enough to blow up a run play at the point of attack. However, once original contact is made, his lack of size shows up and he can get taken for a ride by bigger blockers, although he does a good job of fighting off blocks from TEs and fullbacks and can usually keep their hands off of his body. If he comes downhill and makes contact with a blocker at an angle, he can usually fight off the block and keep an arm free to make a tackle, but if he makes contact squarely, bigger blockers often lock onto him and he has difficulty disengaging. He has more than enough athleticism to pursue sideline to sideline, even against change-of-pace backs or against jet sweeps from receivers.

Coverage: 4.3/5

Evans is extremely comfortable dropping into hook zones in the middle of the field. He is not overly responsive to play action, and even when he does get fooled, he’s smooth and fast enough backpedaling that he can recover quickly. He has a very good feel of where receivers will be running, dropping underneath crossing routes from the slot, coming up on runningbacks in the middle of the field, and sinking underneath and turning and running with tight ends down the field. He also shows a knack for making plays on the ball in the air. Although he doesn’t have great hands, he has the awareness and fluidity to jump to break up passes and react to the ball coming out of the QB’s hand. He has limited experience in man coverage, but there were times where OU trusted Evans to man up against slot receivers, with mixed results. He has the athleticism and coverage skills to survive in man coverage against most NFL tight ends and runningbacks, although zone coverage is where he will thrive.

Pass Rush: 4.5/5

While Evans rarely rushed the passer relative to how often he dropped into coverage, he was an even more effective blitzer than he was dropping back. He was especially effective on delayed blitzes looping around to the outside. Not only does his explosiveness allow him to patiently wait for a seam between blockers to open up, and then immediately close the distance to the quarterback, he also has a great feel for where the quarterback is trying to throw the ball and frequently got his hands up into passing lanes when coming unblocked. Many of his pressures were when he was unaccounted for by the blocking scheme, but even when the QB correctly identifies him as a blitzer, there will not be many NFL runningbacks who can withstand Evans coming downhill at them with a full head of steam.

Movement Skills: 4.2

A fluid, explosive athlete, Evans demonstrated this thoroughly in his testing at the combine. He looks natural in zone coverage, adjusting to routes and flipping his hips to run down the field. He has good short area burst as well as very good top end speed, and he is able to convert that burst to power when making contact with blockers. He does not move well when being blocked, often struggling to disengage from bigger blockers. Evans can get sideline to sideline with ease, although he is at his most explosive when coming downhill against inside runs.

Impact Play Ability: 4.0

Evans’ playmaking ability shines most in the passing game. He is consistently a pest for quarterbacks, taking away their primary reads and then dropping deeper and with more range than expected. His athleticism and route concept recognition combined with his ability to read the quarterback put him in position to make plays on the ball (as shown by his 4 INTs and 8 PDs in 2016), and his two pick-sixes in 2016 show his ability to make a play once he has the ball in his hands. He is also an explosive pass-rusher, often stopping the offense in its tracks on third and longs either with a sack or with a batted pass after he gets his hands up in a passing lane. However, against the run, Evans has very limited impact play ability. While he does have the quickness to penetrate into the backfield and blow up some plays that way, on third and short situations, Evans simply has not demonstrated the ability to stonewall even smaller runningbacks or prevent them from falling forward to gain the first down.

Summary: 

Evans is an extremely athletic linebacker with the physical tools to be dominant in coverage while also being effective in the run game. His coverage instincts are very good, while his instincts against the run are average at best. He is a versatile player, as he lined up everywhere from middle linebacker to edge rusher to slot corner at Oklahoma, and is good enough in both coverage and as a rusher to be a valuable chess piece in third down situations in the NFL. He does not play with a sense of urgency 100% of the time, especially when other teammates seem to have the ballcarrier tackled or the situation under control. He is assignment-sound and is a reliable player. In the NFL, his best fit will be in a one-gap scheme where he can attack downhill, and although he is smaller than many other linebackers, he will perform better as a strongside linebacker where he can take on the run at the point of attack, rather than trying to sift through traffic and cut off the runningback from the weak side, which was not his strong suit in college.

Overall Grade: 3.74/5

If Drafted by the Packers:

Evans would be an extremely valuable addition for the Packers in the middle or late rounds, as he would be entering a linebacker room with very few playmakers. He would be able to compete for a starting job and at the very least be usable in a more limited role on third downs. He would provide a much-needed athleticism upgrade to the Green Bay linebacking corps, as well as a much needed coverage upgrade. He can match up with tight ends better than Joe Thomas can due to his size, and because he’s an extremely effective blitzer, Dom Capers would have a field day lining him up in multiple places in blitz packages and alternating between dropping him into coverage and sending him after the quarterback. Although Evans isn’t especially strong against the run, he can be effective enough there that it won’t be a reason to keep him and his stellar coverage skills off the field on earlier downs.

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