PFF projects Jags to start 4 rookies in 2020

PFF believes four of the Jags’ top-5 draft picks will be starters for the team once the season begins and, of course, C.J. Henderson is one.

The Jacksonville Jaguars surprisingly used all 12 of their draft picks this April, which means the team will be one of the youngest in the NFL. They also could end up starting a lot of the rookies they drafted after parting ways with veterans A.J. Bouye, Calais Campbell, and Marcell Dareus.

The good folks at Pro Football Focus recently took a crack at projecting the lineups of all 32 teams, and unsurprisingly, the Jags almost had a handful of rookies in their lineup. That included one rookie on offense in fourth-round pick Ben Bartch and three rookies on defense in pass-rusher K’Lavon Chaisson, cornerback C.J. Henderson, and defensive tackle Davon Hamilton.

Offense

QB: Gardner Minshew
RB: Leonard Fournette
WR: DJ Chark
WR: Chris Conley
Slot: Dede Westbrook
TE: Tyler Eifert
LT: Cam Robinson
LG: Andrew Norwell
C: Brandon Linder
RG: Ben Bartch
RT: Jawaan Taylor

Defense

DI: Taven Bryan
DI: Davon Hamilton
EDGE: Josh Allen
EDGE: K’Lavon Chaisson
LB: Myles Jack
LB: Joe Schobert
CB: CJ Henderson
CB: Rashaan Melvin
CB: D.J. Hayden
S: Jarrod Wilson
S: Ronnie Harrison

Starting with the offense, it’s not shocking to see PFF slot Bartch in at the right guard position because they haven’t given veteran A.J. Cann overly impressive grades in the past. He’s only graded over 70 once in his career, and this past year, Cann was given a career-low of 55.3.

A.J. Cann is staying in Jacksonville pic.twitter.com/47VMQ02rbG

— PFF (@PFF) March 16, 2019

The issue with slotting Bartch as a starter is the fact that many in the Jags’ front office referred to him as a project player when he was selected. When adding in the fact that the team likely won’t have a minicamp and possibly won’t return until training camp, the rookies may be a little behind the curve. That being said, fans should probably expect Cann to start in 2020.

It’s a given that the Jags first selection of April’s draft in Henderson would be slotted in as a starter. The team lost both of their 2019 starters at the cornerback position, trading with Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye, so Henderson was arguably the biggest acquisition of the offseason with linebacker Joe Schobert.

With the Jags saying they will move to more 3-4 looks on base downs, Chaisson could get a starting role alongside Josh Allen as the team’s go-to pass rushing duo. However, if Yannick Ngakoue decides he wants to play on the franchise tag, that could complicate the snap count for Chaisson. Still, the Jags took him with the No. 20 overall pick, which is an indicator that they have plans for him to see the field a lot.

Lastly, Hamilton is a player who I listed as someone who could be the Jags’ biggest surprise of 2020 in a recent episode of “Bleav in the Jags.” Like most rookies, he’ll have to go through a veteran in Al Woods though, who will be entering his 11th season. While it could be a difficult task, it’s hard not to like Hamilton’s chances because Woods is the oldest player on the roster at 33 years of age.

Jags depth chart prediction: Offensive line

Jags fans entered 2020 with a lot of concerns about the OL and with the team only drafting one player on the unit, it may not change.

We started our depth chart predictions around this time last week and have previewed the quarterbacks, running backs, tight ends, and receivers so far. That leaves just one unit on the offensive side: the offensive line. Here are our predictions for how the unit could turn out in the trenches:

	Left tackle	Left guard	Center	Right Guard	Right Tackle
No. 1	Cam Robinson	Andrew Norwell	Brandon Linder	A.J. Cann	Jawaan Taylor
No. 2	Will Richardson	KC McDermott	Tyler Shatley	Ben Bartch*	Ryan Pope
No. 3	Blake Hance		Tyler Gauthier	Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms*	Steven Nielsen*

Left tackle

Cam Robinson will enter 2020 as the starter and will be on a contract year. It appears he might also have some competition to remain a starter as the Jags will be letting Will Richardson settle in at left tackle, too. Right now, I’d say the edge goes to Robinson, but it’s probably not a certainty as he’s been up and down on the blindside.

Behind them could be Blake Hance, who will be entering his second season but has no starts to his name. When looking at his background, however, he was a starter for multiple years at left tackle in college at Northwestern University.

Left guard

Andrew Norwell has been underwhelming since joining the Jags in 2018 via free agency. The team renegotiated his deal this offseason but he still will come with a $9 million (all guaranteed) price tag, so he’ll be starting.

It’s unknown who will be a reserve behind Norwell at left guard, so I slotted KC McDermott there for the time being. He’s been developing on the team’s practice squad for two seasons and it’s about time he enters the season on the final roster as he played at a variety of offensive line spots in college at Miami.

Center

There aren’t many who would disagree that Brandon Linder is the best offensive lineman on the team. As one of the team’s generals, he’ll enter 2020 with another solid season behind him as he registered a 75.3 Pro Football Focus grade, good for the best on the offensive line.

Behind him will be the Jags’ most experienced reserve offensive lineman in Tyler Shatley. He’ll enter 2020 with 16 starts, and like Linder, he possesses the ability to play both guard and center if the team has to do some shuffling.

Tyler Gauthier joined the team in early December of last year as a reserve. He previously played guard and center during the preseason process with the New England Patriots but was designated to their practice squad in the regular season. With a solid preseason, he has a small shot to make the roster on the back end, but if not, he’s a perfect candidate for practice squad.

Right guard

While it hasn’t always been pretty, A.J. Cann will come into the 2020 season as one of the team’s most experienced players, with 75 career starts to his name. He’ll have some competition from fourth-round rookie selection, Ben Bartch, who the team believes is a developmental project for now.

Behind those two could be the massive Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms (6-foot-5, 330-pounds), who went undrafted in April’s draft. He could be a sleeper to make the team after being a starter for Missouri since 2017 and earning all-conference honors in 2018.

Right tackle

Rookie Jawaan Taylor started in every game for the Jags a right tackle and finished strong after struggling mightily with penalties earlier in the season. He’ should only get better with more experience and fans should be encouraged about his future.

Behind him on the depth chart could be Ryan Pope, who joined the Jags’ practice squad last year as an undrafted free agent. Before that, he spent time on the Detroit Lions’ and San Francisco 49ers’ practice squad so he’s unproven on the NFL level. He’ll get an opportunity to prove himself as a practice squad candidate in the preseason and it will likely come at the right or left tackle positions when considering his background at San Diego State.

As for undrafted free agent Steven Nielsen, a majority of his collegiate starts at Eastern Michigan came at right guard, which makes him a candidate to battle Pope for a practice squad spot this offseason.

Jags to make left tackle Will Richardson’s official position in 2020

The Jags have made some key decisions for their reserve lineman including moving Will Richardson to left tackle.

Jacksonville Jaguars offensive lineman Will Richardson filled in at left tackle for the team in their first two regular season games in 2019 and was moved to right guard where he split time on the field with A.J. Cann afterward. However, in 2020 he’ll call the left tackle position his permanent home according to head coach Doug Marrone, who met with the media Friday.

“The one thing about Will is he has shown progress and shown the ability to play and shown consistency when we have kept him in one position,” Marrone said Friday. “I want to be real cognizant of what we do with him. He has the ability to grow and get better and he has the traits to be a starter somewhere along that line, but we have to put him in a spot and we’re putting him at left tackle right now.”

This move likely will make Richardson the Jags’ new swing tackle. It also makes him the most versatile player on the line as he’s now played left tackle, right tackle (in college), and right guard.

The move comes after the Jags invested a fourth-round selection into Ben Bartch of St. Johns college this offseason, who will make the right guard spot his official position. Upon drafting the rookie there were some who felt he could take A.J. Cann’s spot in the starting lineup in 2020, but the staff views him more as a project right now. That means they could be eying 2021 as the year he cracks the lineup as he’ll have a year under his belt and Cann will have a potential out in his contract.

When adding in Tyler Shatley’s ability to man the guard and center positions with 15 starts to his name, the Jags now have their top-3 reserves on the offensive line between him, Bartch, and Richardson. This approximately leaves one spot open for the final 53-man roster on the unit as the team could potentially take another reserve on the roster for the left guard spot.

Winners, losers after Jags’ 2020 NFL Draft haul

While Gardner Minshew didn’t get any immediate starters on the offensive line, he did get some threats at receiver to help him in 2020.

With every draft class comes the potential of veterans being replaced by younger and cheaper options. That applies for the Jacksonville Jaguars and the class they brought in last month, which consisted of a whopping 12 draft picks. Add in the fact that the team added 18 undrafted players, and it appears Dave Caldwell could be looking to make the team super young.

That being said, there were some players on the roster who benefitted from the moves made in the draft while others, unfortunately, didn’t.

Here’s our list of winners and losers from the annual event:

Winners

(Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)

OT Cam Robinson

Many fans were hoping the Jags drafted an offensive tackle or guard early to help upgrade the line, but that did not happen. In fact, with the offensive tackle class being talented at the top, the Jags elected to pass on names like Mekhi Becton, Tristan Wirfs, and Jedrick Wills, all of whom were thought to be top-15 prospects grade-wise.

This is huge for Cam Robinson as he will now get to return to the starting lineup and protect Minshew’s blindside. While his play has been sporadic, there is a chance he’ll improve in 2020, especially when considering he’ll be further removed from his ACL tear from 2018. That said, like Minshew, 2020 is a year for Robinson to be a permanent starter as he’ll be playing on the last year of his rookie contract.

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Podcast: Previewing Jags’ OL, potential candidates to enter Pride of the Jaguars

In the latest episode of “Bleav in the Jags” Phil and James previewed the Jags’ offensive line, which could be retooled in the draft.

With the draft set for next week, Jags Wire contributor Phil Smith and myself tackled another episode of the “Bleav in the Jags” podcast. This week, we continued our positional previews by evaluating the state of the Jags’ offensive line. We also looked at where some upgrades could be made for the group through the draft.

Afterward, we jumped into a fun topic and listed off some players who we feel should be inducted into the Pride of the Jags next. When looking throughout the team’s history we were able to find at least four guys who should be worthy and felt it would be a topic that would be fun to interact with others about.

All of that and more in episode 12 of the “Bleav in Jags” podcast.

Feel free to listen to the archived episodes of “Bleav in the Jags,” too, and subscribe via Apple podcasts, Google Play, or Spotify.

Ep. 12

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Jaguars come in at No. 26 spot on PFF’s regular season OL rankings

Without a shadow of a doubt, most Jacksonville Jaguars fans would like to see the team address the offensive line to some degree this offseason. Despite the resources Dave Caldwell and company put into the position with high draft picks and steep contracts, things haven’t quite panned out for the group and it’s hard to envision the team not making any changes within the unit.

The data recently accumulated by Pro Football Focus in 2019 further validates that changes are needed and will likely in the trenches as the Jags finished the regular season with the No. 26 ranked offensive line. According to them, a key reason behind their struggles were partly due to Cam Robinson, who had a rough season though it’s worth noting he was coming off a 2018 ACL tear.

26. Jacksonville Jaguars

After returning from an injury-shortened second season, left tackle Cam Robinson showed more of the form that we saw from him as a rookie when he posted one of the worst pressure rates allowed in the NFL (9.0%). This season, Robinson allowed 45 pressures at left tackle in 552 pass-blocking snaps for a slightly improved — yet, still concerning — rate of 8.2%. As this ranking would suggest, Robinson wasn’t the only player along the line who struggled. Outside of Brandon Linder, there wasn’t a whole lot to get excited about for Jacksonville up front.

According to PFF, Robinson accumulated a grade of 54.8, a total tied for the worse amongst the whole starting offensive line with A.J. Cann. Simply put, that’s not good for someone who the Jags selected in the second-round and hoped could become their franchise player on the blindside. Add in the fact that he was tied for fifth in penalties in the league with 10, and it’s possible the Jags may look for new options at left tackle despite Robinson being young.

However, the young left tackle has been far from the only issue within the unit.

The Jags made Andrew Norwell the highest-paid guard in football temporarily but he hasn’t looked close to the player we saw dominate with the Carolina Panthers. As previously mentioned, the Jags’ other guard in Cann, didn’t really look any better either.

As for the positives with the unit, rookie right tackle Jawaan Taylor had a rough start to his career, too, accumulating the second-highest penalty total in the league (15), but at least came on strong towards the end of the season and cleaned up several issues. As mentioned by PFF above, Brandon Linder was the unit’s most encouraging player accumulating a score of 75.7. While it’s worth noting he had 10 penalties on the season, too, he did enough to keep his job in 2020.

When considering all the data above, Linder and Taylor are the two that will be a part of the offensive line without question in 2020. However, the left and right guard spots, as well as the left tackle spot, should definitely be evaluated for upgrades. They could also use a new positions coach, too, though George Warhop has only had a year with them.

If the Jags attack the needs of the unit right this offseason, they could put a respectable product on the field, and maybe even get back to the level of play fans saw in 2017. With a lot of draft capital by their sides, maybe the draft will provide a starter or two, which would be huge in a crucial year for Caldwell and Marrone.