Category: Shaquill Griffin

Team leaders speak on Jaguars’ future after firing Urban Meyer

“This locker room needs a head coach that actually believes in what their players are saying and trust in that. We can all make this work,” cornerback Shaquill Griffin said.

In their first public appearances since the Jacksonville Jaguars decided to fire coach Urban Meyer early Thursday morning, interim head coach Darrell Bevell, quarterback Trevor Lawrence and cornerback Shaquill Griffin spoke to the media to address the future of the team without Meyer.

Lawrence, a generational quarterback prospect who became Jacksonville’s first No. 1 pick in franchise history, hasn’t had the start to his NFL career that many envisioned, and with the team struggling under Meyer, many questioned how this season would impact his long-term development.

But Lawrence, who reportedly told Jaguars owner Shad Khan when he was drafted that he wanted to retire as a member of the Jags, said that he’s undeterred by what has been a mostly disastrous season for the team that resulted in the dismissal of a first-year coach.

“I wouldn’t believe you if you told me how this year would go,” Lawrence said. “But like I said, I’ve learned a lot and I still feel that way (about the franchise). Me and Marissa have come to love Jacksonville. And that’s our plan like ‘Let’s go turn this thing around. Let’s go become a winner. Let’s go win some games.’

“I have full faith in that still. Obviously, there is a lot of steps to be made in the future to go in that direction, but I still believe that and I plan on being here a long time. Hopefully, my whole career, whatever the future holds. I know I’m just going to be the best I can every day wherever my feet are. So, that’s how I’m approaching it and that’s how I always will.”

Griffin, meanwhile, was asked what kind of head coach the team needs moving forward. While his answer was concise, it was also very telling and gave a glimpse at how some of the leaders of the team felt about Meyer’s management strategy.

It’s also the closest any of the three who spoke came to criticizing Meyer.

“This locker room needs a head coach that actually believes in what their players are saying and trust in that we can all make this work,” Griffin said. “It’s not a one-man show. I feel like sometimes a head coach can come in and be like ‘I’m just going to flip around, this is my way, let’s do it.’ And sometimes they forget about us. For any coach that decides to take on the job, trust your teammates. We can do this together, we can win this together. This is a team effort.”

The experience this season was a new one for Griffin. He spent the first four years of his NFL career playing for the Seattle Seahawks, who have been one of the most stable franchises in the league over the last decade, and has employed Pete Carroll as head coach (and executive vice president of football operations) since 2010.

Coming to a Jacksonville team with a first-year coaching staff that saw a mid-season head coach firing and will likely have several staff shakeups later down the line, Griffin said the change took some adjustments.

“Yeah, it was different. It was different,” Griffin said. “But I appreciate it. I learned a lot. I grew as a person, I grew as a leader… I know for a fact I’m prepared for anything. So I’m grateful.”

It has certainly been a tough season for everyone involved, especially captains in their first year with the team like Lawrence and Griffin. In the case of the former, it certainly wasn’t the rookie season many had in mind for the talented passer.

But it was clear that the Urban Meyer era needed to come to an end sooner rather than later, and with owner Shad Khan pulling the trigger with four weeks to play in the regular season, the team can now at least work on building for next year without the distractions Meyer brought.

Jaguars nominate Shaquill Griffin for Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award

Players will vote on the winner of the award, which goes to “an NFL player who best demonstrates the qualities of on-field sportsmanship, including fair play, respect for the game and opponents, and integrity in competition.”

Cornerback Shaquill Griffin, who the team acquired in free agency this offseason from Seattle, has immediately become one of the most vocal leaders on the team. Though some questioned whether his three-year, $40 million contract was excessive for a player who played more of a No. 2 role with the Seahawks, his addition to the roster has been a bonus on and off the field.

He’s one of the team’s best defensive players, and his absence the last two games with a concussion has had a noticeable impact on the secondary. But he is apparently also making a significant impact in the places that fans don’t necessarily see, as he was the Jaguars’ 2021 nominee for the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award.

The Art Rooney Award is given annually to “an NFL player who best demonstrates the qualities of on-field sportsmanship, including fair play, respect for the game and opponents, and integrity in competition.” It was created in 2014 in honor of late Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney.

Just based on the way he speaks in press conferences, it is clear that Griffin is one of the team’s vocal leaders, which explains why he was named a captain in his first season with the team. He has also almost certainly played a role in the development of the rookie who plays on the opposite side of him in Tyson Campbell. After a rough start to the season, Campbell is playing much better recently and has shined in the No. 1 role while Griffin awaits clearance to return.

While defensive backs may have earned a reputation for trash talk, it’s an interesting change of pace to see Griffin nominated for a sportsmanship award. His fellow players in the league will vote on the winner of the award.

Urban Meyer says CB Shaquill Griffin has been ruled out vs. Falcons

The Jags will be without their top cornerback when they take on the Falcons this week.

The Jacksonville Jaguars will be revealing their final injury report Friday afternoon, and when it’s released, Urban Meyer expects starting cornerback Shaquill Griffin (concussion) to be ruled OUT for the team’s game against Atlanta.

However, there was some good news aside from Griffin’s situation in terms of injuries as Meyer added that he expects to have starting running back James Robinson (knee/heel) and cornerback Tyson Campbell (shoulder) on the field Sunday.

“James Robinson should be good to go,” Meyer said Friday morning. “Shaq Griffin will not play. [Tyson Campbell] is good to go.”

Griffin sustained a concussion in the first half of Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers. The Jags didn’t reveal what play he sustained the concussion on, but it could’ve been on a tackle that he wasn’t able to complete on receiver Brandon Aiyuk that ended up being a 30-plus yard reception.

With Griffin expected to miss the game, the Jags have options to replace him. Tre Herndon, who was inactive last week against the 49ers can play on the outside, or the Jags could replace Griffin with the player who filled in for him Sunday in Nevin Lawson.

Griffin currently has 35 total tackles to his name this season and five pass breakups throughout the Jags’ first 10 games. He was the team’s biggest addition of the free agency period and is viewed as their top cornerback, but the Falcons’ passing offense is 21st, so the Jags may be able to hold their own without him this week.

Jaguars CB Shaquill Griffin breaks down Seattle’s offensive weapons

Griffin, who played with Seattle for four seasons, gave the rundown on its weapons in the passing game.

Entering the 2021 season, the Halloween afternoon matchup against the Seahawks in Seattle was considered one of the toughest games on the schedule. Through seven weeks of the season, though, the matchup looks a lot less overwhelming for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Seattle sits at just 2-5, and quarterback Russell Wilson is on the injured reserve. Without him, the Seahawks have been starting Geno Smith, who has been significantly less effective under center.

But just because Smith is lining up under center doesn’t mean this offense doesn’t pose a threat. The team is loaded with offensive weapons, most notably DK Metcalf, the third-year receiver who has become one of the NFL’s most explosive playmakers. He’s 6-foot-4, and ran a 4.33 40-yard dash at the combine in 2019, and that size and speed have translated very well to the next level.

Metcalf is coming off a 1,300-yard season in 2020, and he’s already over 500 receiving yards this season even with Smith starting the last two games. Jacksonville cornerback Shaquill Griffin, who spent the first four seasons in his career in Seattle and has a good bit of familiarity with Metcalf, talked about how challenging it can be to slow him down.

“A secret sauce to slowing DK [Metcalf] down? Man, just competing,” he said. “I know DK as a person, he knows me as a person. It’s going to be a hard-fought battle. That’s it, we’re just competing. And that’s the one thing, being in the same system for a very long time. I’ve seen DK come in as a rookie to where he is now and everything was, ‘We’re going to make it tough. We’re going to make it tough.’ It’s literally just battling, one play at a time. The person who gets frustrated first or the person who gives in first, is the person who usually loses. But knowing who he is, knowing who I am, it’s just going to be a hard-fought battle. Every corner, everybody that goes out there, we’ve just got to compete, no matter who’s out there.”

Griffin also has a lot of familiarity with Seattle’s other offensive weapons, including receiver Tyler Lockett and tight end Gerald Everett. While Everett and Griffin were never teammates in Seattle, they did face off against each other twice a year as Everett, a 2021 free-agent acquisition for Seattle, began his career in Los Angeles.

“They’ve got a lot of (weapons),” Griffin said. “You can talk about Tyler Lockett, I feel like he’s a very underrated player. He’s a guy who’s been doing everything he can to consistently, every single year, to make sure he does his best for the organization. And I tip my hat off because I know him personally. But like I said, he just does everything right. The tight end is a guy who I had been facing twice a year over there, (Gerald Everett) very aggressive, a guy who loves to compete, same way. So, he fits well in that system. So, like I said, they have so many guys and weapons.

“We talk about Geno Smith and not having Russell (Wilson), understand it’s a man who’s been in the system for a very long time. He knows how Lockett likes to run his routes, he knows how DK, what type of ball he wants… So, it’s not a walk in the park.”

Wilson being out certainly helps Jacksonville’s chances in this one, but considering the secondary has struggled against sub-par quarterbacks in the past, there are no guarantees. A road win over the Seahawks won’t come easy, and it will be one of the secondary’s toughest tests yet.

Shaquill Griffin says the captains are keeping the Jags motivated despite loss

Shaq Griffin said that the captains have kept the team focused in practice this week.

Losses don’t really get more disappointing than Sunday’s was for Jacksonville. The team was excited to show that it’s entering a new era, but instead, we just saw more of the same as the Jaguars were run out of NRG Stadium by the Houston Texans.

The 37-21 loss caused a lot of re-evaluation of this team’s offseason improvement, and this could very well be another difficult season in Jacksonville. But starting cornerback Shaquill Griffin says that the team’s leaders aren’t going to let that happen.

Griffin said he spent a lot of time after the game talking with safety Rayshawn Jenkins, a fellow team captain, and offseason acquisition, about how to improve and keep the team focused.

“I definitely feel a lot better after the game after watching it, seeing what we did good, seeing things we have to work on,” Griffin said. “I feel like me and Rayshawn [Jenkins] probably had the longest talk about the game after watching it on the plane. I feel like guys like us, you talk about the second play of the game, I have to make that play. [It’s] something I have to work on. The play with Rayshawn, have to bring those in. It’s little details like that that we have to fix, but I think the biggest thing we took from that game is that first series, the energy, the way we started it off, the passion, you can feel it, you can see it.

“That’s the part that we have to kind of continue throughout the whole game. I feel like that’s the biggest thing. One more thing about the game that we learned was let’s find a way not to get frustrated with how the game is going, but focus on completing each task, each play, one play at a time. We can’t kind of figure out what the offense may do each game, but we can control what the defense does each play.”

Looking beyond the secondary and at the team in general, Griffin said the captains have put a lot of emphasis on keeping the team motivated through the struggles. He said that it has been apparent in practice this week that the approach is working.

“It’s tough, but now you have the captains who’ve seen it before, been through winning teams, know how it feels to lose games, and how to get prepared for the next one to continue to try to get better so you don’t lose another one,” he said. “It’s critical for the captains to do a lot more, speak up a lot more. I feel like that’s what a lot of our captains are good at is speaking up and just giving guys hope. That’s the main thing, you have to believe in something that’s bigger than yourself and it takes the captains to continue to show the way, doing everything right, being that leader on and off the field. That’s the part we continue to preach as captains, and I feel like every day we try to come up with something new to try to figure out how to do better, how to get guys to continue to believe.

“Right now, just off today’s practice, I can see the spirit’s still there.”

Though the Week 1 loss was certainly disappointing, there’s a lot of football left to be played this season, and with the Texans being the only victorious AFC South team in Week 1, there is still no clear pecking order within the division. The Jags will need to stay focused to avoid tilting in the coming weeks.

Shaquill Griffin named a bounce-back candidate by ESPN

Griffin struggled a bit in 2020 with Seattle, but ESPN expects him to return to form with the Jaguars in 2021.

Though the result was a sizable deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars, cornerback Shaquill Griffin didn’t have an ideal contract season in 2020 with Seattle. He struggled to stay healthy, and when he was on the field, he wasn’t exactly a shutdown player.

However, Jacksonville believes that last season was an anomaly for Griffin, and as a result, it gave him the biggest contract on the team this offseason. His play in 2021 has only become more crucial with rumors circulating that the Jaguars could be looking to trade former ninth-overall pick C.J. Henderson, who enters into his second year.

The Jags certainly hope Griffin becomes a shutdown corner, and according to ESPN (in collaboration with PFF), he’s the team’s most likely bounce-back candidate in 2021.

What went wrong: Griffin played through nagging injuries for the Seahawks last season and had moments in which he didn’t look like his normal self. Relative to the rest of the league, he wasn’t terrible, but his seven touchdowns allowed and 64.8 coverage grade overall were well below his 2019 standard. Griffin was one of the five highest-graded outside corners in the league that season and ranked first among the group in forced incompletion rate (22.8%). How he fares playing a higher rate of man coverage in Jacksonville will be important. –– PFF

Outlook for 2021: With cornerback CJ Henderson working his way back after a stint on the Jaguars’ reserve/COVID-19 list, Griffin has been the No. 1 corner in camp and has played like it. He already has one interception and nearly had another. Griffin, who signed a three-year, $44.5 million deal with Jacksonville in March, has had good one-on-one reps against Marvin Jones Jr. and DJ Chark Jr. (before Chark’s broken finger) and has frequently been called out as a “winner” in coach Urban Meyer’s winner-loser drills. “I haven’t set any expectations, one day at a time,” Griffin said. — Michael DiRocco

Griffin had a solid debut for the Jags in the preseason, totaling three tackles in the loss to Cleveland. He and Henderson looked like the two best corners in that game, which is a sign that Jacksonville wanted to see.

Some have been skeptical of how much the team invested in Griffin, but as a capable starter in a secondary that was one of the worst in the league last season, he should be a difference-maker in 2021.

Risers and fallers after Jaguars’ Week 1 preseason game vs. Browns

Which players from the Jags’ roster are climbing and which players are fading after their first preseason game of 2021?

Football has returned to Duval County finally as the Jacksonville Jaguars started their 2021 campaign in a preseason game against the Cleveland Browns at TIAA Bank Field. The fans in attendance were treated to the first taste of NFL action for No. 1 selection Trevor Lawrence and the NFL debut of former Utah, Ohio State, and Florida University coach Urban Meyer.

While the debuts of those two were high on the list, a few other Jags players stood out. Unfortunately, some who started off the season on the wrong foot, too. Here are the players whose stock is on the rise and some whose stock is already falling after Week 1’s preseason game.

Did the Jaguars overpay for Shaquill Griffin?

Bleacher Report says the Jags overpaid for Griffin, whose contract guarantees $29 million.

Former Seattle Seahawks cornerback Shaquill Griffin was easily the flashiest free-agent acquisition the Jaguars made this offseason, but he didn’t come cheap. The team gave him a three-year, $40 million contract ($29 million of which is guaranteed), making him the league’s No. 12 highest-paid corner.

It was a clear upgrade for a secondary that has been looking for a shutdown option since Jalen Ramsey was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 2019, and the cap space-leading Jaguars could certainly afford to foot the bill. But was it a good use of capital? Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox doesn’t think so.

Bad teams often have to overpay in free agency, which is exactly what the Jacksonville Jaguars did with cornerback Shaquill Griffin this offseason. Jacksonville, which won only one game last year, gave Griffin a deal worth $13.3 million annually.

Griffin is now the 12th-highest-paid corner in the NFL in terms of annual value, which his play doesn’t justify. He was a four-year starter before arriving in Jacksonville—and a Pro Bowler in 2019—but he isn’t elite.

Over the past three seasons, Griffin has surrendered 1,984 yards and 15 touchdowns in coverage. While he did log five interceptions over that span, he also allowed an opposing passer rating over 93.0 in each of his last three campaigns.

There’s no faulting Griffin for taking the money, and there’s no faulting Jacksonville for overpaying to improve the league’s 31st-ranked defense. However, Griffin is going to be excessively compensated for at least the next two years.

The earliest out for the Jaguars will be in 2023, when Griffin will carry a cap hit of $17.5 million and have only $4 million in dead money remaining.

Knox is right about the fact that Griffin’s production in Seattle, though very solid, was never at an elite level. In all fairness, his contract isn’t exactly in line with that of an elite player at the position, but it’s still quite hefty. Luckily for Jacksonville, Griffin will be just 26 when the season starts and should still have some of his best years ahead.

He’s also right about the fact that even if the Jaguars overpaid, they had little choice. The secondary needed an upgrade as 2020 first-round pick C.J. Henderson didn’t exactly reassure the club with his play, which was limited to eight games due to injuries.

Griffin will certainly need to take a step forward from where he was at with Seattle if this deal is going to be justified, but as the leader in the defensive backfield for at least the foreseeable future, the Jags have high hopes for him.

Jags’ acquisitions of Shaquill Griffin, Marvin Jones Jr. mentioned with the NFL’s top upgrades

Though Jacksonville largely avoided splashy signings, opting instead for tactical, value pickups, a couple of those players were among the best upgrades in the league this offseason, according to ESPN.

The Jacksonville Jaguars entered the offseason with the most cap space in the NFL after going 1-15, which set them in a direct path towards Trevor Lawrence. That said, with a generational talent on the way, it was clearly time to spend in free-agency.

Though Jacksonville largely avoided splashy signings, opting instead for tactical, value pickups, a couple of those players were among the best upgrades in the league this offseason, according to ESPN.

Though neither cracked its top 25 offseason upgrades, cornerback Shaquill Griffin and receiver Marvin Jones Jr. were listed as honorable mentions.

Griffin replaces Sidney Jones IV, who remains on the team, in the starting lineup. Though he wasn’t massively productive in his first four seasons in Seattle, he’s been very solid and immediately becomes the clear top corner in this secondary.

As far as Jones (the receiver) goes, he’s a seasoned veteran coming off a 978-yard season in 2020. He will likely replace Keelan Cole, who played alongside D.J. Chark and started in five games, most of which came at the end of last season. Cole signed with the New York Jets as a free agent this offseason.

With 18 touchdowns in the last two seasons, Jones is a solid veteran addition to a talented and young receiving corps. Griffin, meanwhile, will be just 26 when the season starts, and if he continues to develop, he should be in Jacksonville beyond his three-year contract.

Bleacher Report thinks Shaquill Griffin could disappoint in 2021

The Jaguars badly needed another starting-caliber cornerback to supplement Henderson and hedge against any continued struggles. Griffin provides that, but he may not provide the quality you would usually associate with the type of deal he received.

Newly acquired Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Shaquill Griffin was very solid for Seattle throughout the first four years of his career. But Jacksonville will ask him to be a lot more than solid now. The franchise handed him a three-year, $40 million contract that places him just outside the top-10 highest-paid corners in the league.

Griffin, a former third-round pick, is coming off what was arguably the best season of his career in 2020. He finished with three interceptions (the most of his career) to go with 12 passes defended and 63 total tackles despite only appearing in 12 games.

But with the development of 2020 first-rounder C.J. Henderson still very much a question mark, the Jags will be relying on Griffin to lead the secondary. And Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox is concerned he may not be up to the task. On his list of the players on each team most likely to disappoint, Griffin was the candidate in Jacksonville.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have their new quarterback of the future in No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence. However, Lawrence is going to do little to help improve a defense that ranked 27th against the pass, 31st overall and 31st in points allowed last season.

Jacksonville spent big on former Seattle Seahawks cornerback Shaquill Griffin to help improve the defense, but they probably won’t get their money’s worth.

Griffin landed a lucrative three-year, $40 million deal from the Jaguars in free agency this offseason. That’s a lot of money for a player who has been merely average in his pro career.

While Griffin does bring plenty of experience to the proverbial table—53 games in four seasons—and has one Pro Bowl on his resume, he hasn’t been an elite cover man. Over the past three seasons, he has allowed 15 touchdown receptions and has an opposing quarterback rating of 93.3 or higher in all three campaigns.

Griffin also had 24 missed tackles over the past three years, which isn’t going to help a run defense that ranked 30th in rushing yards allowed last season.

Jacksonville clearly needed a boost this offseason defensively, but given Griffin’s relatively meager production to this point in his career, it’s understandable why Knox isn’t sold. Though he’s paid like an above-average No. 1 cornerback, the goal is still for Henderson, who was selected with the ninth pick, to eventually fill that role.

But injuries limited him as a rookie, and the action he did see wasn’t overly impressive. The Jaguars badly needed another starting-caliber cornerback to supplement Henderson and hedge against any continued struggles. Griffin provides that, but he may not provide the quality you would usually associate with the type of deal he received.