Jaylan
Ford.
Jaylan
Ford.
Texas· 6'2"· 240 lb
"A green-dot processor whose eyes were always a beat ahead of the block — the draft question was never whether he could find the football, but whether he could stay on the field on third down."Pre-draft read
Ford was Texas' every-down MIKE, the green-dot signal-caller who set the front and played downhill between the tackles. His best trait was diagnosis: he read guard sets and backfield flow a beat early, then attacked the crease with a square frame and a tackle that rarely got broken.
The second layer was ball production. Ford played with his eyes on the quarterback in zone drops, and in 2022 that became four interceptions and four fumble recoveries — takeaway volume that is the signature separating him from a generic thumper. Athletically he timed as an average NFL linebacker, better sideline-to-sideline in pursuit than matching backs and tight ends in man coverage.
Zone-heavy 4-3 / nickel base that lets the MIKE trigger downhill and drop with vision on the quarterback rather than carrying man matchups
Year 1: base-down MIKE off the bench and four-phase special-teamer. Ceiling: two-down starting signal-caller who comes off the field in nickel.
A man-match nickel defense that asks its inside linebacker to travel with backs out of the backfield and cover slot tight ends one-on-one — Ford's hip fluidity gets exposed the moment the call turns into a matchup.
Value is highest where the front keeps him clean and the coverage keeps his eyes forward.
Jaylan Ford / LB / Texas / 2023 Full Highlights
Senior-year cut-ups showing the green-dot run fits and downhill trigger.
Jaylan Ford / LB / Texas / 2022 Full Highlights
The breakout All-Big 12 season, including the four-interception ball production.
Jaylan Ford Texas Highlights
Condensed reel of tackles in the hole and zone-drop takeaways.
A four-year Longhorn who arrived a three-star and left as the defensive voice of a playoff team, Ford's identity was instincts over traits. He processed run keys faster than most linebackers in the class and consistently arrived at the ball with leverage, which is why he stacked 272 tackles and 27.5 tackles for loss across 49 games without ever being the best athlete on the field.
The 2022 season was the calling card: 109 tackles, four interceptions and four fumble recoveries earned first-team All-Big 12 honors and made him a national name. The 2023 follow-up was quieter — 96 tackles, two picks — partly because Texas' front was better and partly because he fought through a groin injury that limited him to jumps only at the Combine and a partial Pro Day workout he later admitted he entered at roughly eighty percent.
The board consensus put him in the Day 3 pocket precisely because of that health-and-testing gap. Evaluators liked the tape, the leadership and the takeaways; they questioned the change-of-direction and man-coverage ceiling in a passing league. New Orleans, needing linebacker depth behind Demario Davis and Pete Werner, took the fifth-round swing on a special-teams-ready processor with a starter's résumé.
- 01
Run diagnosis
Reads guard pulls and backfield flow a beat before the block arrives, letting him beat linemen to the crease instead of absorbing them.
- 02
Takeaway instincts
Six career interceptions and five fumble recoveries from off-ball depth, including a four-pick 2022 that tied a Texas linebacker record.
- 03
Tackling reliability
Wraps through contact with a square base and finishes in the hole; very little of his production comes on second-effort cleanup.
- 04
Leadership and command
Wore the green dot for a College Football Playoff defense and set fronts, checks and strength calls without help from the sideline.
- 05
Special-teams readiness
Started his college career on coverage units and brings the closing burst and fit discipline to hold a core four role immediately.
- 01
Man coverage limits
Loses ground opening the hips against backs and move tight ends, which caps him as a zone-only piece on obvious passing downs.
- 02
Testing profile
A groin injury kept him from running at the Combine and left the athletic questions unanswered when the board needed a tiebreaker.
- 03
Block deconstruction
Functional but not violent at the point of attack; guards who reach him cleanly can wall him off and erase the run fit.
- 04
Pass rush value
Three career sacks and mostly pressure-by-effort on blitzes, so he adds nothing on third down beyond his zone drops.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- —s
- Vertical
- 33.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 121inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Texas | 10 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Texas | 12 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Texas | 13 | 109 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 2023 | Texas | 14 | 96 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Career | — | 49 | 272 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
Verified season-by-season against CollegeFootballData (Texas 2020-2023, defensive/interceptions/fumbles categories); season sums match career totals (49 G, 272 tackles, 27.5 TFL, 3.0 sacks, 6 INT, 4 PBU, 5 FR). Forced fumbles left null - not verified in the source split.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Honors
- First-team All-Big 12 (2022)
- Second-team All-Big 12 (2023)
- Texas team captain (2023)
The realistic landing spot: a valued core special-teamer and fourth linebacker who gets defensive snaps in base packages and injury weeks.
The optimistic version: an instinctive downhill MIKE who out-produces his testing and holds an every-down job because the run fits are always right.
The floor: a late-round Saints linebacker whose coverage limits keep him to kick teams and a short second contract search.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
New Orleans never treated Ford as a defensive answer. He was inactive for nine games as a rookie in 2024 and played all 104 of his snaps on special teams across eight appearances, finishing with four tackles. Year two brought availability but not a defensive role: he dressed for all 17 games in 2025 and logged 337 snaps, 330 of them on coverage units, and his 11 tackles came almost entirely on kicks and punts. Demario Davis and Pete Werner absorbed the every-down work, and Ford stayed the fourth linebacker.
In hindsight the pick did what a fifth-rounder is supposed to do without doing what the tape hinted at. Two full seasons produced 25 games, 15 tackles and zero defensive starts — a core special-teamer, not the instinctive starting MIKE the Texas film suggested. With Davis gone and Kaden Elliss signed in 2026, Ford entered his third camp still competing for rotational defensive snaps alongside Danny Stutsman, which is a fair place for a Day 3 processor whose coverage ceiling never expanded at this level.
Data note: Verified season-by-season against CollegeFootballData (Texas 2020-2023, defensive/interceptions/fumbles categories); season sums match career totals (49 G, 272 tackles, 27.5 TFL, 3.0 sacks, 6 INT, 4 PBU, 5 FR). Forced fumbles left null - not verified in the source split.