Jordan Magee scouting report: Exploring the Temple LB's strengths and weaknesses

Just a two-star recruit in 2019, Jordan Magee appeared on special teams in four games but redshirted his first year on campus. He rotated in on defense for five contests in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, recording 15 tackles, one interception and a fumble recovery.

In Week 4 of the following year, he took over the starting gig at WILL linebacker and never gave it up again. Across those final 35 games, he racked up 220 total stops, 29.5 of those for loss, eight sacks, ten passes broken up and a couple of fumbles forced. He was a second-team All-AAC selection in 2023.

Details: 6-foot-2, 225 pounds; RS SR.

Breaking down Jordan Magee's scouting report

Strengths

Jordan Magee #6 of the Temple Owls tackles Brandon Chatman #24 of the Navy Midshipmen

Run defense

• Only Texas A&M’s Edgerrin Cooper, N.C. State’s Payton Wilson and Buffalo’s Joe Andreessen earned higher overall PFF grades (87.2) among FBS linebackers in the 2024 NFL Draft.
• Jordan Magee consistently plays with an aggressive mindset and doesn’t shy away from crashing through one-half of a pulling guard, while the shock in his hands generally stood out when dealing with significantly bigger bodies.
• Proactively uses those 32-inch arms to bury his palms inside the chest of offensive linemen with a good forward lean and then ripping through the play-side shoulder as those guys are trying to seal him away from the action.
• Asking slot receivers to block Magee when he’s walked out there is typically a mistake, as he can put them on the ground when he sees it coming.
• Has the instant burst to beat blockers to the spot and create negative plays as he angles down behind pullers or other lead blockers whom the ball carrier is trying to follow.
• Has some really impressive moments of redirecting or spinning off contact after flowing with the mesh point on zone read, to run down the quarterback for limited yardage.
• He’s like a flash as a blitzer on run-downs, creating tackles for loss with the O-line not being able to account for him in time.
• Routinely joins the party late and provides excellent leg drive to stop the momentum of ball carriers.

Coverage

• Jordan Magee is light on his feet as a zone-dropper and covers plenty of ground with those initial couple of steps in order to get to his landmarks, particularly when threatening blitz originally.
• Does a nice job of funneling pass-catchers to his teammates as he controls his landmarks and they are trying to pass through.
• Oily hips to open with the release of the guy initially occupying his zone and then flipping the other way as a secondary target works across his face.
• The way he triggers and flies up for completions in the flats pops off the screen, and he generally provides excellent pursuit once the pass is being thrown, with appropriate angles across the field.
• Not someone you’re going to pick on by creating rubs and wheeling the running back up into the boundary when he’s matched up with them.
• Temple legitimately put Jordan Magee in the slot and asked him to cover receivers one-on-one in designated dropback situations, where he was able to stay patient initially, then bump them during the stem and wall them off effectively.
• Has a knack for navigating around bodies on screen passes and helps corral the recipient for minimal gains.
• Over the past two seasons, Magee has been charged 30 completions on 37 targets but only for 229 yards (and one touchdown) across more than 500 coverage snaps.

Blitzing

• Based on the pressure-per-pass-rush snap rate, Jordan Magee was an elite player in that regard, racking up 20 pressures on just 32 such opportunities (90.7 PFF pass-rush grade).
• Offer great explosiveness as an off-ball blitzer, combined with a sudden shoulder dip to create favorable angles towards the passer.
• Was brought from different angles and depths, showing the ability to consistently take the shortest path to the QB and shaking running backs oversetting on him.
• Features the quickness to win one-on-ones vs. interior pass-protectors in impressive fashion, throwing in some spin moves after aiming at their outside shoulder to get them leaning that way.
• His closing burst as a spy or when he has the freedom to come forward when his man is locked in protection allows him to shut down scrambling opportunities before they can really get started.
• Finished in the top five in the 40-yard dash (4.55), the vert (35.5 inches) and the broad jump (10’4”).

Weaknesses

• Presents a rather slender build without much girth in his extremities.
• Gambles for cutback lanes rather than staying in line with the back-hip of running backs on zone concepts and runs himself out of the picture in the process.
• Allows himself to get locked up by tight-ends on longer-developing plays, as they latch into his chest as blockers, and generally has a tough time disengaging when he doesn’t set the tone on contact.
• Gets pretty tall in his back-pedal and slips trying to redirect because of it at times.
• The only interception of his career came as a freshman.

Jordan Magee's 2024 NFL Draft projection

Jordan Magee #6 and Diwun Black #34 of the Temple Owls celebrate after a sack by Magee against the Navy Midshipmen

Jordan Magee is a player I wasn’t familiar with at all coming into this pre-draft process, in large part due to the Temple program only winning 10 combined games over the past four seasons. So when I saw him test as well as he did at the combine, I did put him on my watch list of course, but I was blown away when I finally put on the tape.

This guy brings a physicality to the game that his physical stature wouldn’t suggest and that athletic profile transfers to the field. Now, he’s more of a gap-shooter and has to be the aggressor with initiating contact against blockers for the size to not become an issue.

This leads to some moments where he takes himself out of the play to some degree, but that’s the case for many off-ball players in today’s game and if allowed to maintain that style of play in the NFL, I think his future coaches may fall in love with him.

He’ll need to work on playing lower in order to maximize his potential in coverage and the sample size we have of him rushing the passer is fairly limited (111 total snaps), but Jordan Magee has a chance to be a difference-maker on third downs and get a chance to start early on if he’s not buried on the depth chart.

Jordan Magee Grade: Fourth round.

You might like other LB scout reports: Edgerrin Cooper; Tommy Eichenberg; Trevin Wallace; Nathaniel Watson; Jaylan Ford.