Jordan Magee, LB Temple: 2024 NFL Draft Profile

Magee was a three-star athlete recruit from Dover High School in Dover, Del. in the class of 2019

Temple linebacker Jordan Magee has worked his way into consideration for a Day 3 selection in the 2024 NFL Draft. His size will be a limiting factor, but he has the agility and speed to play a unique role in defensive subpackages.

Visit my Twitter account @Sam_Teets33 for more opinions on prospects, clips, and the latest football content.

Jordan Magee, LB Temple: 2024 NFL Draft Profile

Classification: Fifth-year weakside linebacker from Dover, Del.

Background: Magee was a three-star athlete recruit from Dover High School in Dover, Del. in the class of 2019. He was the No. 2,508 recruit according to 247Sports and No. 2,368 for On3.com. Magee was an unranked two-star recruit for Rivals. He did not receive a star rating or grade out of 100 from ESPN. Magee played quarterback and safety in high school. He led Dover to a 9-2 record as a senior while earning Second Team All-State and First Team All-Conference honors for completing 58 of 109 pass attempts for 1,208 yards, 18 touchdowns, and one interception. Magee also ran for 510 yards and six touchdowns on 49 carries. As a junior, he completed 61 of 114 passes for 854 yards, 11 touchdowns, and one interception and ran 41 times for 203 yards and two touchdowns, according to MaxPreps. Magee also lettered in basketball three times.

Injuries & Off-Field: Missed SMU and UCF games in COVID protocol (2020), suffered a torn right bicep vs. UAB (2023) which led to him missing the Memphis game (2023), required right biceps surgery to address the injury

Awards: 2022 Team Captain, 2023 Second Team All-AAC, 2023 Team Captain

Pros: Special teams experience on the kick return, kick coverage, punt return, punt coverage, and field goal block units, some experience lining up over the slot receiver/tight end, athletic and explosive testing was all well above-average, good stop-start agility, fluid mover with good change of direction skills, closing burst, quick downhill trigger, quick lateral flow to the football, explosive flying in off the edge as a backside run defender, excellent pursuit range, wrap-up tackler, defeats blocks with quickness, swim move, rarely taken to the ground by blockers, recognizes and takes away RB screens, quickly gets outside the numbers to impact WR screens, flips head and hips and gains depth quickly in zone, speed to carry running backs and tight ends on routes

Cons: Undersized frame, lean build, arm length is 32-inches, returning from injury, pass rush or downhill trigger are derailed by contact, displaced easily by linemen, lacks the mass to stack and shed linemen consistently, stuck on tight end blocks, late to recognize climbing blockers at times, rotated off the field in short-yardage situations, pushed around by Miami’s receivers (2023), trouble shedding Akron’s offensive linemen (2023), aggression leads to fitting wrong gaps, slides off some low tackle attempts, a step or two late to take away receiving options in zone, needs to recognize route concepts quicker

Overview: Magee has special teams experience on the kick return, kick coverage, punt return, punt coverage, and field goal block units. He gained some experience lining up over tight ends and slot wide receivers at Temple, but not enough to say he thoroughly adapted to the role. With his undersized, lean frame, Magee turned in some of the most athletic and explosive testing numbers among linebackers at the 2024 NFL Combine. He has good stop-start agility and excellent change of direction skills. Magee’s fluid movement and burst also help him in coverage. He flips his hips and quickly gains depth in zone coverage. The Delaware native has the speed to carry running backs and tight ends on routes. Considering his lack of size, Magee will likely be asked to play outside of the tackles as an overhang defender more often in the NFL, so he’ll need to cover the flat and slot options frequently. The former three-star recruit is sometimes late to take away receiving options when operating in zone coverage and is still learning to recognize route concepts. Magee has a quick downhill trigger and flows laterally to the ball well. He flashes his explosiveness flying in off the edge as a backside run defender or blitzer. The All-AAC selection has nice pursuit range, and quickly diagnoses and attacks running back or wide receiver screens on the perimeter. He defeats blocks with quickness or a swim move instead of playing through the blocker because he lacks high end play strength. Despite being undersized and underpowered, Magee isn’t taken to the ground by blockers often. He is a wrap-up tackler but slides off some low attempts. Magee’s frame impacts him negatively in several ways. His downhill trigger is derailed by contact, and he’s easily displaced by linemen. He doesn’t have the power to stack and shed blockers consistently and ends up stuck on tight end blocks. Even Miami’s wide receivers had success blocking him out of plays (2023). Magee is late to recognize linemen climbing into his lap. Temple substituted him off the field in short-yardage situations on late downs because of his limitations against heavy formations. Magee’s aggression leads to him fitting the wrong gap sometimes.

Overall, Magee has the speed and agility to be a playmaker at the second level in a specific subpackage role. His lack of size and play strength contribute to issues in the run game that make him project best as a rotational defender who uses his mobility to contribute in coverage and penetrate into the backfield on run plays or as a blitzer.

Role & Scheme Fit: Subpackage off-ball linebacker or overhang defender

Round Projection: Late Fifth to Early Sixth

Size: 6'1 3/8", 228 lbs. (NFL Combine)

Submitted: 03-09-24