Jordan Morgan scouting report: Exploring the Arizona OT's strengths and weaknesses
A three-star recruit in 2019, Jordan Morgan started two games at left tackle across six total played as a true freshman. The following two season he was in the lineup on the blindside for the first couple of weeks before missing the final three of that COVID-shortened year.
Jordan Morgan started 21 contests across over between and 2021 and ’22, making honorable mention All-Pac-12 in the latter. Despite coming off a late-season torn ACL, Morgan was his best this past year, as he was named first-team All-Pac-12 as a 12-game starter.
Profile: 6-foot-6, 320 pounds; RS SR.
Breaking down Jordan Morgan's scouting report
Run-blocking:
- Tremendous athleticism in the zone run game and adheres those 11-inch paws to defenders in order to stay connected deep into plays
- Almost glides laterally as he’s reaching out with the backside hand to determine if he can climb and then is still able to pin linebackers away from the action on zone concepts
- Does a great job of establishing the inside foot and turning his body in order to shield edge defenders and present a clear lane inside of him on the front-side of gap schemes
- Showcases impressive short-area agility and dexterity in the lower half to execute to cut-off and scoop-blocks on backside B-gap defenders
- Has increased his power to get double-teams rolling before either peeling off or keeping that momentum going on the down-lineman
- Presents the loose lower body to attach to combos one way and then flip around at otherwise challenging angles in order to secure linebackers
- Displays quick reactionary skills to adjust his assignment based the defense exchanging gaps or the end slanting across his face
- His burst out to the corner on crack-tosses pops and he looks comfortable getting out in space as part of the screen game to pluck defenders, regularly doing so with safeties
- Received top-10 grades among FBS offensive tackles with 100+ snaps played each of the past two seasons (83.1 and 83.5, respectively)
Pass-protection:
- Smooth kick-slide and well-coordinated in general as a pass-protector, with consistent hand-carriage just above the belt
- Actively adjusts his approach depending on who he’s facing, whether to get onto them quickly or sit back, etc.
- Regularly is the first to establish meaningful contact and lift upwards to negate the initial charge of rushers before they can really get into their move
- Shows an excellent feel for how long to stay square and when he can lean into rushers along the arc, in order to neutralize them
- Displays impressive lateral agility to effortlessly mirror quick inside moves
- Recognizes when guys off the edge attack too aggressively up the field, he can flip, attach and ride them past the arc
- With his dexterity in the lower body and re-anchor skills, you see him get back into good positions after looking like he’ll lose the rep early on a lot of times
- Surrendered only three sacks and QB hits each over the past two years combined (920 snaps in pass-pro), with pass-blocking grades of 82.0 and 87.3, respectively
Weaknesses:
- Not an overpowering drive-blocker, lacking pop in his hands and settling for stalemates at the point of attack regularly
- His arms measured an eighth of an inch short of the 33 benchmark and you see it at times when edge defenders are able to lock out create separation from him in the run game
- Tends to jump out too far against wide alignments and presents opportunities for edge rushers to crash through the B-gap
- Can get lackadaisical with his inside hand and then sort of swing it from his hip trying to snatch rushers, which ends up with him sort of hugging and/or slipping off guys especially on spin moves
Jordan Morgan's 2024 NFL Draft projection
Jordan Morgan was one of the easier evaluations among this tackle class. I believe his profile is very clean, even though it includes some limitations. Whether it’s latching and sustaining on zone concepts, gliding up and securing targets on the second level or letting him work to the perimeter, he’s a gifted mover in the run game.
Unfortunately, he lacks violence into contact and generally in that regard to create significant displacement against static defenders. In pass-protection, outside of losing the length battle to several NFL edge rushers, the one thing he really needs to clean up is not getting his center of gravity shifted too far onto the feet closer to defenders and being more firm with the inside hand to support his base redirecting laterally.
I don’t think it’s the mobility that’s missing in those moments at all. If you can get over the limited arm length, you can probably get a day one starter with pro-ready pass-protection skills early on day two. Yet, with what he showed inside during Senior Bowl week, Jordan Morgan's play at guard may actually be even above that level.
Grade: Late first / Early second round