{"id":764882,"date":"2026-02-20T16:14:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T16:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/764882\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T16:14:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T16:14:41","slug":"ex-miami-dolphins-draft-bust-dion-jordan-find-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/764882\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Miami Dolphins draft bust Dion Jordan find success"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new head coach of Eureka (Ill.) College finished the football team\u2019s laundry earlier in the day. He vacuumed the coaches\u2019 offices. The financial-aid office is closed for the weekend, so he didn\u2019t constantly deal with players\u2019 paperwork, like on most days.<\/p>\n

So, he sat at a school wrestling match, representing his Division III football program, as he talked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know anything about wrestling,\u2019\u2019 Dion Jordan said. \u201cI\u2019m still adapting to it all \u2014 the small town, the Midwest, the cold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, that Dion Jordan.<\/p>\n

But not that Dion Jordan.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s 35 now and on his second act, the one with such a good and organized direction you can untether him from those struggles as a Miami Dolphins defensive end.<\/p>\n

Just like he has.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not 24 years old anymore,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cI don\u2019t hold myself to the mistakes and the things that happened to me in a different time. I moved on. I\u2019m an adult helping raise and mature college kids now. That\u2019s where my mentality is, where my life is right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s approaching NFL draft season, that period of hope and harvest with a language all its own: risers and fallers, hand sizes and 40 times, combines and pro days and, ultimately, the bests and busts separated by a flimsy vowel.<\/p>\n

No one busted more for the Dolphins than Jordan in recent years. He tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs three times and was suspended for the 2015 season. But you can look at it with perspective all these years later;<\/p>\n

The Dolphins, not Jordan, traded up from 12th to draft him with the third pick in 2013.<\/a> The Dolphins, not Jordan, whispered how his size and disruptive game were reminiscent of Jason Taylor.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins\u2019 front office, in a recurring problem, also didn\u2019t do their background work on Jordan to understand a physically gifted player had some issues he needed to grow out of. Just as says he has after retiring from a three-sack season with San Francisco in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ended up going back home to Arizona, and got involved with the Arizona Burn Foundation (for victims of fires) and working with youth,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

He got his degree in sociology from Oregon (he\u2019s looking into his masters degree). He answered the phone two season ago and his former Dolphins mentor and defensive linemate Randy Starks said: \u201cGet your butt on a plane to Eureka College. I need some help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan\u2019s google search showed a Eureka in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was excited for a second,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

Starks\u2019 Eureka, the alma mater of Ronald Reagan, was in central Illinois.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve found what winter is like,\u2019\u2019 Jordan said.<\/p>\n

Jordan became the defensive line coach, special teams coordinator, assistant head coach, office cleaner, field liner, laundryman \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this level, you wear a lot of hats,\u2019\u2019 he said. Eureka\u2019s total undergraduate enrollment is less than 600 students.<\/p>\n

Starks and Jordan inherited a troubled program. They brought in big recruiting classes the past two seasons. They went 2-8 playing that youth last season. The hope is these rising sophomores and juniors have developed into better players, even as Starks left to be a University of South Florida assistant coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cRandy said to me, \u2018If you want to continue coaching, you\u2019re ready to be the head coach,\u2019 \u201d Jordan said. \u201cI talked to my family in Arizona, talked to the athletic director, Sarah Shaw. I took a deep breath and said, \u2018Let\u2019s do this.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s hiring a staff. He\u2019s recruiting. He\u2019s also on school committees to help student retention and the black student union.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just football here,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cI can give more back to the youth. I don\u2019t have a problem working to help these kids with their studies and their direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he looks back on his four Dolphins years, he talks of the strong veterans on the defensive line like Starks, Cameron Wake and Jared Odrick.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told me what it took to be a pro,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201c(Dolphins owner Steve Ross) supported me however he could. All I can say is I was a young 24.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone has a story. Sometimes you meet people in the wrong chapter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m most proud of my will to fight for myself and always feel like there\u2019s something on the other end,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

Coach Jordan\u2019s newest chapter has found that something.<\/p>\n

\"Miami<\/p>\n

JOE CAVARETTA \/ Sun Sentinel<\/p>\n

In this file photo, Miami Dolphins defensive end Dion Jordan works out on the sidelines during training camp on July 31, 2016, at Nova Southeastern University in Davie. (Joe Cavaretta\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new head coach of Eureka (Ill.) College finished the football team\u2019s laundry earlier in the day. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,929,216,251,2087,6,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-764882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dolphins","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-dolphins","13":"tag-miamidolphins","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116103851814932414","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}