Throughout the offseason, general manager Dave Caldwell and the Jacksonville Jaguars made it a point to rebuild an aging and depleting defense. The team had losses along the defensive front with the trade of Calais Campbell and the release of Marcell Dareus, as well as in the secondary with the trades of Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye.
Caldwell entered free agency with limited cap space but seemed to make the most of it by signing Joe Schobert to a five-year, $54 million contract. Caldwell then doubled down on defense, signing other pieces such as Cassius Marsh, Al Woods, and Rodney Gunter. When breaking down these moves, it was apparent that Caldwell wanted to restore the once-dominant Jaguars defense.
No move made that more apparent than spending both of the team’s first-round picks on the defensive side of the ball. C.J. Henderson and K’Lavon Chaisson seem to be the future of the defense going forward along with last year’s first-round pick, Josh Allen, and linebacker Myles Jack.
Along the defensive line, the team looks vastly different from years past. The team needed to fill the holes left by Campbell and Dareus, and Caldwell did just that. One new addition within the unit to be excited about is rookie defensive tackle, Davon Hamilton. Hamilton saw limited snaps at Ohio State, but when he played he performed. With Abry Jones and Al Woods in place to groom the young buckeye, Hamilton could develop into a dominant interior piece for the Jags.
In continuing with the theme of young players, Taven Bryan will be returning for his third year in the league. While Bryan certainly hasn’t lived up to the hype coming out of college, he’s gotten better over the last two seasons. In 2019, Taven Bryan finished the year with one of the stronger seasons on defense according to Pro Football Focus, receiving an overall grade of 75.6. Here’s to hoping Bryan can still grow into that player we all had hoped he would become.
At defensive end, Jacksonville is young, fast, and physical. Allen is one of the league’s best young talents at the position while Chaisson could be if he is the player fans saw at Louisiana State. Allen will be coming off a league-best 10.5 sacks among rookies and with more playing time now as a starter, his game will only continue to improve.
Chaisson, on the other hand, is playing a bit of a waiting game while Yannick Ngakoue and the organization work things out. If Ngakoue does not suit up in teal in 2020, expect Chaisson to become an instant playmaker for the defense. As the team has mentioned, Allen and Chaisson’s versatility as pass rushers and edge setters allows the team to be versatile in their alignment and mix in both 4-3 and 3-4 looks (if they want).
At linebacker, the Jags should look much better in 2020. Myles Jack is projected to move back outside and will be much better suited to use his athleticism to create plays. Schobert will be taking over the middle linebacker position, and with Jack beside him, they should create one of the stronger linebacker duos in the league.
The secondary is the most intriguing group for me. Josiah Scott and Daniel Thomas were very intriguing players in the draft and I believe both players could develop into potential starters down the road. Thomas, especially, has a shot to see significant playing time by season’s end. He’s a violent and fast player who could help out at both safety positions.
At cornerback, Tre Herndon returns, coming off of a promising first year as a starter, replacing Jalen Ramsey. If Herndon can continue his development and Henderson lives up to his draft selection, the Jaguars’ corner duo could soon return to strike fear in the eyes of opposing quarterbacks.
In terms of creating pressure, the Jaguars should rank among the league’s best. If Ngakoue does play in 2020, the Jags should rank among the league’s best in sacks (around the 44 sack range), having possibly the best pass-rushing trio in the NFL.
In the back seven, Herndon and Henderson both have shown the ability to get their hands on the ball. Additionally, Schobert offers better coverage ability than fans have seen in the past for the linebacking corps. With these additions, I think fans can bank on Jacksonville creating a lot more turnovers in 2020 after they registered 19 (10 picks and nine fumble recoveries). From a ranking perspective, they could be around twelfth in the league.
Last season the Jaguars’ biggest issue on the defensive side of the ball was their porous run defense. The team was ranked No. 28 in the category in 2019, but much of that came following the core injury to Dareus. Now, with Dareus gone, some may have concerns about the team’s run defense going forward.
The team devoted a lot of capital to that area, however, and the defensive line depth got much deeper. Woods is highly respected around the league as a run-stuffing nose tackle while Gunter and Hamilton will come in and immediately contribute as well. I’d expect the run-defense numbers to drastically improve, too, and progress back to the mean.
This defense has gotten very young and with youth comes hope and promise. The pass-rushing duo of Allen and Chaisson is certainly encouraging and the influx of young secondary pieces should help remedy a previously thin group. It will definitely be a different team when the Jaguars return to the field once the 2020 season gets underway. If some of these young talents can develop, this defense might just be back to form sooner than some think.