Jordan
Burch.
Jordan
Burch.
Oregon· 6'4"· 279 lb· 4.67s 40
"Burch is a powerfully built 6-4, 279-pound defensive end with rare straight-line explosiveness for his size, whose 2024 breakout finally showed the five-star potential of a foundational defensive lineman, but his inconsistent get-off and pass-rush plan remain a lingering concern."Pre-draft read
Base defensive end in an odd-front rotation, aligned mostly at 4i/5-technique on early downs and kicked inside to a 3-technique on obvious passing downs. Heavy-handed at the point of attack: he shoots his hands, locks out and holds his gap against base and reach blocks, and takes on pullers with the pad level of a true edge-setter rather than a track-and-chase rusher.
The pass rush is power-based, not twitch-based. He wins with a cross-chop and dip on the arc, converts speed to power against tackles who overset, and does his best work as the looper on line games where his stride length eats ground. The signature is size-adjusted speed — 279 pounds with a 4.67 forty — and the closing burst that turns a quarterback stepping up into a sack.
Odd-front (3-4 / multiple) base defensive end who kicks inside to 3-technique on passing downs
Year 1: two-down base end in a rotation, setting edges and holding gaps while rushing as the looper on line games. Ceiling: full-time three-down 5-technique who wins with power and adds 6-8 sacks a year if the counter package develops.
A wide-9 speed-rush system that asks him to win one-on-one off the edge with get-off and bend on every snap; his late trigger and lack of a counter sequence turn those reps into stalemates.
Best used with a stunt-heavy pressure package that manufactures free runs rather than isolating him on an island.
NFL DRAFT HIGHLIGHTS: DE Jordan Burch | Oregon Football
Draft-cut reel of his 2024 Oregon tape: edge-setting, cross-chop wins and interior pressure.
Jordan Burch Full College Football Highlights | Oregon EDGE
Extended college reel showing the power rush, line-game loops and closing speed for his size.
EDGE - Jordan Burch: 2025 NFL Draft Prospect (Oregon)
Prospect breakdown focused on hand usage at the point of attack and the late get-off.
A five-star recruit who took five years and two programs to look like the player his frame promised. Burch arrived at South Carolina as a top-of-the-class prospect, spent three seasons as a rotational piece with flashes and no volume, then transferred to Oregon and grew into a real defensive end in their system — a dense 6-4, 279-pound frame with rare straight-line juice for the weight class.
The 2024 tape was the argument. Ten games, 31 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks — more than he had recorded in his first four seasons combined — while missing three games with a knee issue and another with an ankle. Run defense was the steadier trait: hard edges, gap discipline, physical spill work. The flags were the get-off and the plan. He was often late off the snap, slow to flip from run to pass on play action, and prone to fighting to a stalemate instead of shedding.
The board read him as a Day 2 rotational base end with a starter's floor and no star projection — a fifth-year senior whose best football arrived late and whose testing said the tools were still there. Arizona took the size, the power and the 4.67 at 78 rather than betting on a smaller, bendier rusher, and the pick read as fair value for a defense that needed early-down bodies.
- 01
Point-of-attack strength
Shoots his hands, gets extension against base and reach blocks and holds his gap, which lets him set a hard edge without giving ground on early downs.
- 02
Size-adjusted speed
At 279 pounds he ran 4.67 with a 1.66 ten-yard split, a combination only one other edge that heavy has beaten at the combine since 2015.
- 03
Spill and force discipline
Takes on pullers with good pad level and stays square against zone-read mesh points, so the defense keeps its structure on his side.
- 04
Line-game looper
Solid acceleration and change of direction on twists and stunts, where his stride length lets him arrive before the guard can pass off the exchange.
- 05
Motor and finish
Good closing speed to the ball and enough awareness to collect coverage sacks when the quarterback climbs, plus hands up to bat passes at the line.
- 01
Get-off
Frequently late reacting to the snap, which blunts his power rush because he arrives at the tackle's chest without accumulated momentum behind it.
- 02
Pass-rush plan
Cross-chop and long-arm are real, but he lacks a counter sequence and stalls when the first move is answered by a tackle with good hands.
- 03
Block shedding
Not violent disengaging; he fights to a stalemate and gets stuck on blocks longer than a rusher with his mass should.
- 04
Play-action processing
Slow run-to-pass transitions leave him stuck at the line of scrimmage, and offenses used that hesitation to buy an extra beat.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.67sp50
- Vertical
- —in
- Broad jump
- —in
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | South Carolina | 8 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | South Carolina | 13 | 26 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2022 | South Carolina | 13 | 56 | 3.5 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2023 | Oregon | 14 | 34 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2024 | Oregon | 10 | 29 | 8.5 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Career | — | 58 | 164 | 16 | 1 | 10 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Honors
- Five-star recruit, 2020 class (247Sports)
- All-Pac-12 honorable mention (2023)
- Career-high 8.5 sacks and 11.0 TFL in 2024
Long, strong interior/edge tweener who becomes a durable full-time starter through discipline and reps rather than explosion.
Heavy-handed base end whose power and size travel, with the same question of whether the rush plan ever catches up.
Rotational big body who holds his gap and plays 17 games a year without ever becoming a pressure producer.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Arizona used him exactly as scouted. He appeared in all 17 games as a rookie in 2025, one of two Cardinals draft picks to do so, and finished with 22 tackles, 1.0 sack, three passes defensed, one tackle for loss and three special-teams stops. The role was rotational base end and situational body in an odd front, listed at outside linebacker but living with his hand in the dirt on early downs. The counting stats were thin, but the reps were real and the run defense held up in a defense that lost games in the secondary, not on the edge.
Judging the pick after one season is premature, and the honest read is that nothing has changed the pre-draft argument. The strength, the gap discipline and the 4.67 are still there; the get-off and the counter-move library are still the thing standing between rotational contributor and starter. Burch profiles as a Year-2 or Year-3 riser if the pass-rush plan catches up to the frame, and as a useful base end on a rookie deal if it does not. Third-round picks who play 17 games and hold an edge are not misses — they are just not answers yet.