Scouting Profile: Chris "Pooh" Paul Jr. - LB - Ole Miss
Sales Pitch: Undersized athletic defender who excels in space. Poor size will limit his early down impact but has the third down abilities to carve out a role in the NFL.
*Gold Numbers Indicate NCAA T-25 for 2024*
Scouting Report
Chris “Pooh” Paul Jr. is a former 3-Star recruit from Georgia. He spent his first three seasons at Arkansas, before becoming an All-American in 2024 with Ole Miss, after logging 73 tackles and 6 sacks.
Paul is a dynamic athlete who excels in space. He displays the downhill quickness and flexibility to shoot gaps and dip around blocks. Despite a small frame, he doesn’t shy away from contact at the point of attack. Paul is at his best working sideline to sideline, where his excellent pursuit speed is a major weapon. He plays with good leverage and effort when chasing ball carriers to the sideline and is sound open field tackler - his sub 5% missed tackler rate was a Top-20 mark among LBs in 2024. Paul is an experienced player who actively communicates pre and post snap. He does a good job pointing out motions and passing off routes in coverage. His athletic ability allows him to stay attached to RBs and TEs in man coverage out of the backfield and down the field. He is quick to close out of his zone drops and tackle receivers to limit YAC as well. Paul had a fantastic year as a pass rusher with 6 sacks and 24 pressures, both of which were Top-20 marks at the position. His quickness and agility allow him to dart around blockers as a blitzer from the edge or stack alignments.
Paul is extremely small for the position, his height, weight and arm length all check in below the 15th percentile for off-ball LBs. It is always going to be a challenge for him defending the run at the point of attack as a result. Offensive lineman are easily able to drive him out of the hole and he struggles to disengage when they get hands on. Despite his experience, Paul’s run game awareness is pretty average. He will chase the initial action too often, and get caught up in the wash of bigger bodies why trying to recover. When working sideline to sideline, the slight delay in his trigger allows climbing lineman to cut him off and take him out of the play. Paul struggles with a similar lack of awareness in zone coverage. He tends to drift and lose his leverage in underneath zones, following the first route to cross through his face, exposing space behind him. His lack of arm length also limits his ability to disrupt throwing lanes. He was only able to manage one interception and five pass breakups in 40 career games, most of which game in a single season.
Paul profiles best as a 4-3 WILL backer in a gapped up scheme that lets him work sideline to sideline. His lack of size and strength might limit him to a part time role, but his speed and coverage ability will bring value as a sub-package player. Paul projects as a priority Day-3 pick with strong special teams value and starter potential by the end of his rookie deal.