Jordan Hicks

Jordan Hicks (born June 27, 1992) is an American football linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL).

Hicks won the High School Dick Butkus Award in 2009.

Hicks played college football at Texas from 2010 to 2014 under head coaches Mack Brown and Charlie Strong.

He played in every game in his freshman and sophomore seasons and was named honorable mention Big 12 Conference Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2010 and to the 2011 Academic All-Big 12 first team.

Hicks completed all of the combine drills and ran the 11th fastest 40-yard dash among all linebackers.

He also finished with the third best vertical jump and broad jump among his position group.

He started the first three games of his junior season at weakside linebacker, starting the season on the 2012 Lombardi Award watch list, but then missed the remainder of the season due to a hip injury.

He earned a medical redshirt to preserve a year of eligibility, and the following season, started the first four games at weakside linebacker before again suffering a season-ending injury, this time a ruptured left Achilles tendon.

In 2013, he was on the watch lists for the 2013 Nagurski Trophy and graduated in December after making the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll seven-times.

He returned from the injury to start all 13 games in the 2014 season, while working on a master's degree, and earn second team All-America honors from Walter Camp and the FWAA, second team All-Big 12 honors and become a semifinalist for the 2014 Chuck Bednarik Award.

He was also on the watch list for the 2014 Butkus Award, made the 2014 first team Academic All-Big 12 team and was named to the 2015 National Football Foundation (NFF) Hampshire Honor Society.

On December 1, 2014, it was announced that Hicks had accepted his invitation to play in the 2015 Senior Bowl.

On January 24, 2015, Hicks played in the Reese's Senior Bowl and recorded five combined tackles to help Tennessee Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt's North team defeat the South 34–13.

He was one of 34 collegiate linebackers to attend the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana.

On March 24, 2015, Hicks attended Texas' pro day, along with Malcom Brown, Quandre Diggs, Jaxon Shipley, Geoff Swaim, Cedric Reed, Mykkele Thompson, and ten other prospects.

He opted to stand on his combine numbers and only perform positional drills for NFL team representatives and scouts from all 32 NFL teams attended, including New England Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.

At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Hicks was projected to be a fourth or fifth round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts.

He was ranked the fourth best outside linebacker in the draft by NFL analyst Charles Davis and the ninth best outside linebacker prospect by NFLDraftScout.com.

The Philadelphia Eagles selected Hicks in the third round (84th overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft.

He was the ninth linebacker selected in 2015.

On May 14, 2015, the Eagles signed Hicks to a four-year, $2.99 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $652,732.

Throughout his first training camp, he competed against Mychal Kendricks, Kiko Alonso, DeMeco Ryans, and Najee Goode for a starting inside linebacker job in defensive coordinator Billy Davis' base 3-4 defense.

Head coach Chip Kelly named him the backup inside linebacker behind starters Kendricks and Ryans to starts the regular season.

He made his professional regular season debut in the Eagles' season-opening 26–24 loss at the Atlanta Falcons.

The following week, Hicks made seven solo tackles, his first career sack, and forced a fumble during a 20–10 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

He made his first career tackle on Jason Witten after he caught a five-yard pass by quarterback Tony Romo in the second quarter, He also had the first sack and forced fumble of his career after he sacked Romo for an eight-yard loss in the third quarter and Fletcher Cox made the fumble recovery.

While making the sack, Hicks broke Romo's collarbone.

He earned more snaps on defense after linebackers Mychal Kendricks suffered a hamstring injury and Kiko Alonso injured his knee in first half of the game.

On September 27, 2015, Hicks earned his first career start due to injuries to Kendricks and Alonso.

He recorded a season-high ten combined tackles, deflected a pass, recovered a fumble, and made his first career interception off a pass attempt by Ryan Fitzpatrick during the Eagles' 24–17 victory at the New York Jets.

In Week 6, Hicks made his third career start in place of Mychal Kendricks and collected a season-high ten solo tackles in a 27–7 victory over the New York Giants.

On November 8, 2015, he made seven combined tackles, deflected a pass, an interception, and scored his first career touchdown during a 33–27 overtime victory at the Dallas Cowboys.

He scored his first career touchdown after intercepting quarterback Matt Cassel and returning it 67 yards in the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately, he left the game in the fourth quarter after suffering an apparent pectoral injury.

On November 9, 2015, the Eagles placed Hicks on injured reserve after it was discovered he suffered a torn pectoral.

At the time of the injury, Hicks led the team in tackles.

He has also played for the Philadelphia Eagles, with whom he won a Super Bowl ring in 2018, and the Arizona Cardinals.

He played college football for the Texas Longhorns.

Hicks attended Lakota West High School in West Chester, Ohio, where he started his final three seasons for their football team, posting 216 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 36 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles, four interceptions, 10 pass breakups, and a touchdown.

He was a two-time first-team all-state, all-county and all-district selection at linebacker and named an All-American selection by Parade, USA Today, and EA Sports.