One of the last stops on the collegiate pro day circuit came on Monday. LSU linebacker Jabril Cox held a private workout to make up for missing the Tigers’ pro day last month with a hamstring injury.
The Detroit Lions were one of several teams in attendance to watch Cox work out. A coverage-oriented linebacker, Cox tested well in the 40-yard dash (4.54) with very impressive 10- and 20-yard splits, indicating great burst. He did not do agility drills but did also show out in the broad and vertical jumps.
Cox transferred to LSU from North Dakota State, and he handled the jump up in competition quite well. He’s got some ability to play as a hybrid S/LB and is arguably the most consistent coverage LB in this draft class. He’s not a physical presence or an especially strong tackler. Cox generally projects as a third or fourth-round talent.
Not sure how I feel about Cox. I definetly think we need a LB capable at pass coverage, but do you take one at the expense of run stopping or tackling? Based on that description, we could probably grab Paris Ford later in the draft, a safety with good ball skills, whose a liability stopping the run and is not fast (4.54 at proday means 4.64). We might be better served looking for a SS. Without watching film on Cox and only reading the description posted above, I think I’d be making an uneducated argument against Cox similar to the arguement many are making against Parsons and his coverage ability.
I think Cox is very similar to Levy when Levy came out. He’s slightly better in coverage than Levy was and slightly worse at tackling but he’s a very similar player with a similar skill set. He has range unlike Paris Ford that you mentioned.
Cox likely goes mid round 2 through to mid round 3 in my opinion. He’s a great fit for a team that runs a lot of nickel packages. Which I suspect we will be doing.
I like him as a player and think he’s under rated by some.
One of my draft favorites. Near JOK level movement skills without the JOK cost. Extremely smooth in coverage. Flashes to the ball. Not afraid to lay the wood. Would likely start at WLB or WILB base coverages and Nickle.
Matt Bowen (the former NFL safety) thinks he’d be a great safety. Thinks it’s a waste to play him elsewhere. I’ll have to see if I can find the podcast that I heard it on.
Getting torched across the middle all year has me:
1 wondering what JRM did to piss off the staff. Dude could cover but I don’t recall him seeing the field much…yet our favorite concrete shoe’d LB did.
2 yearn for a coverage LB…that can run with at least one other player in the nfl…
Unfortunately he did the same thing off the field. Which I think had a big part to do with him breaking down as soon as he did. Dude became too much of a thrill seeker off the field.
Watching him run around free and unblocked behind Suh, Fairley, and Ansah was special. Dude was lighting ppl up. I remember a preseason game where he smashed RG3 three times - unreal.
loved the dude. That time was more fun to watch the D than the O (that’s what she said)
