Daniel Jeremiah Mock Draft: Dion Jordan To Buffalo Bills

One of my personal favorite NFL Draft analysts out there right now is Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com. A former scout with the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles, Jeremiah got out of the scouting business for family reasons; if you have NFL Network and tune in regularly, you now see Jeremiah a lot, where he's typically reviewing tape and talking about personnel.

As Jeremiah points out in his latest 2013 NFL Mock Draft, when he was working in Baltimore, he spent four years working with a Ravens defensive assistant coach by the name of Mike Pettine - who is now, of course, the defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills.

"I was with new Buffalo defensive coordinator Mike Pettine for four years in Baltimore," Jeremiah writes. "He loves versatile defenders who allow his creative mind to mess with opposing quarterbacks. (Dion Jordan) is a perfect fit for that role."

Jeremiah projects Jordan to the Bills with other, better-thought-of (in the public eye, at least) pass rushers like Damontre Moore, Bjoern Werner and Barkevious Mingo still on the board. Scouts rave about the 6'7", 243-pound Jordan's natural athleticism, but he really only scratched the surface of his potential as a two-year starter under Chip Kelly at Oregon. In those two years, Jordan accumulated 86 tackles, 23.5 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks.

Jordan is an interesting prospect simply from a background perspective: he was recruited as a tight end, but was athletic enough to get a look as a wide receiver in Kelly's offense as a freshman (when he still weighed around 215 pounds). He was eventually moved back to tight end, and then found a permanent home as a defensive end in 2010, playing as a wave player for a year before starting in 2011 and 2012. That speaks to his athletic ability and upside, but he also therefore profiles as a bit of a project.

I wonder if a player like Jordan isn't, in some ways, a redundant talent with the similarly-built (but less athletic) Mario Williams on the roster. Then again, I wonder if having two of that type of player wouldn't fit into the "mess with opposing quarterbacks" part of Jeremiah's thesis. We have more to learn about Jordan in the coming months - not to mention about pretty much every other prospect out there, as well - but clearly, this is a name that fans should be keeping in mind.