The Jags’ defense had some standout moments against the Colts Week 1. James Johnson chatted with Turron Davenport and previewed the unit.
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ defense may have allowed 445 total yards against the Indianapolis Colts Sunday, but there were moments where they came up big. Among those who made crucial plays were Abry Jones, Myles Jack, and rookie cornerback CJ Henderson, who was nominated for the Pepsi’s Zero Sugar Rookie of the Week Award.
Heading into Week 2 they will need an even better performance, however, and especially will need to slow the run game down with Derrick Henry lining up behind the quarterback. To discuss the state of the Jags’ defense heading into Week 2, I joined ESPN 102.5 The Game of Nashville for a chat with Titans beat writer Turron Davenport via the “Talking with TD Show.”
Some specific players we discussed at included Jack, Henderson, Jones, DaVon Hamilton, Josh Allen and K’Lavon Chaisson to name a few. To listen to the full clip, just hit play below.
Dave Caldwell, despite not making a lot of splash additions in free agency, is definitely doing some good things for the Jags this offseason.
We’ve almost reached the one-week mark of the tampering period and the Jacksonville Jaguars have made several key moves in terms of rebuilding their franchise. Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done and more moves will follow, but before we get to that point, we figured we’d reflect on who came out as winners from this week’s moves:
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GM Dave Caldwell
There was a lot of damage done to the Jags’ organization with the addition of Tom Coughlin (and before his arrival, too), and though general manager Dave Caldwell hasn’t fixed the team by any means, the future is one fans can somewhat be excited about.
In the beginning, it may not have been clear to fans exactly what Caldwell was doing or why he was breaking up what remained from 2017, but it is now and it’s the right move. It has long felt like the Jags’ organization was living in the past trying to hold on to what happened in 2017, but the fact of the matter was they overachieved that year and lost way too many key parts from that unit to begin with. The Jags were without notables Paul Posluszny, Telvin Smith, Tashaun Gipson, Barry Church and Malik Jackson in 2019 to name a few, and they needed to face reality then.
They’ve now finally realized that a rebuild is right, and though strong cases can be made that it should be without Caldwell, he’s almost knocked the early 2020 process out of the park. He moved on from pricey players like Calais Campbell, A.J. Bouye and got fifth and fourth-round selections, respectively, for them. While they both were talented, the Jags likely weren’t going to be good by the time their contracts ended. That said, to get draft picks out of both is great.
However, Caldwell’s best move came this past week when he managed to trade quarterback Nick Foles and somewhat get away from his bad contract. To make things even better, he was even able to get something in return (a 2020 fourth-round pick) when maybe it should’ve been the other way around. That gave the Jags 12 draft picks and now they are in a situation where their starting quarterback, Gardner Minshew II, is on a sixth-round pick salary for two years.
If Minshew is good in 2020, that’s awesome. If he isn’t, he’ll lead them into a top selection to land his successor. That’s a win-win situation and one in which Jags fans should give props to Caldwell for — whether they like him or not.
