An in depth and complete scouting report and draft prospect profile of Texas Linebacker Jaylan Ford for the NFL Draft.

Prospect: Jaylan Ford

School: Texas

Age: 22

Jaylan Ford Measurables:

• Height: 6’2” (NFL Combine)
• Weight: 240 (NFL Combine)
• 40: 4.63-4.72 (Pro Day)

• Vertical Jump: 33.5” (NFL Combine)- T-7/17
• Broad Jump:
  • 10’1” (NFL Combine)- 4/17
  • 10’6” (Pro Day)
• 20 Yard Shuttle: Sub 4.3 (Pro Day)
• 3 Cone: 7.1 (Pro Day)
• Bench: 18 (Pro Day)
• Side Notes:
  • 1” shorter than ESPN had him listed
  • Only jumped, nothing else. Not even drills
    • Tweaked something in jumps
  • Didn’t participate due to significant groin strain from the season
  • In the very, very few reps we saw of his pro day, he looked like he moved well for the most part 

Tape Watched: Alabama, Oklahoma

Prospect Grade: 64%

Projected Draft Day: Rounds 3-4

Player Comparison: Frankie Luvu

Best Team Fits: Minnesota Vikings with Brian Flores

Jaylan Ford Player Summary:

The  Positives

• Versatility
• Strong zone coverage
  • Understands drops, passing off routes
  • Spatial awareness is good
• One of the better block shedders at LB that we’ve watched this year

The Negatives

• Struggles to navigate traffic in the box(particularly when blitzing)
• Gets lazy in pursuit at times
• Inconsistent use of length to keep blockers off of him
• Speed in question
  • The slow 40 shows on tape
• A pretty consistent, reliable tackler BUT he tackles high and some of the tackles he makes in college probably won’t work at the next level
• Bad angles when scraping to QB

Jaylan Ford is a good not great prospect. We think the teams that draft him are going to use him in a variety of ways. Ford is a really good coverage backer, especially in zone. Playing in space is definitely a strength of his game. However, his run reads aren’t that great. So we envision a hybrid role where he probably plays as a true OLB type on early downs and off ball on 3rd down/passing downs. 

Updated 3/3/24:

• Combine numbers and rank added to measurable portion of profile

Updated 4/11/24:

• Grade switched from “60%” to “64%”
• Pro Day numbers added to measure portion of profile
• Projection switched from “Day 2” to “Rounds 3-4”

Updated 4/18/24:

• Comp changed from “Kyle Van Noy” to “Frankie Luvu”