Doug Pederson addresses Jaguars benching CB Ronald Darby
Jaguars cornerback Ronald Darby was removed from Jacksonville’s starting lineup in Week 14 against the Tennessee Titans and did not take the field despite being active in Week 15 against the New York Jets.
Darby, who signed a two-year, $8.5 million free agent contract with Jacksonville in March and started the first 12 games of the season, was benched in favor of third-year Jaguars cornerback Montaric ‘Buster’ Brown for the rest of the year, head coach Doug Pederson revealed Monday.
Noting the move was not disciplinary, Pederson praised Brown for his performance this season, in rotation and at times in relief of starting cornerback Tyson Campbell, who has battled hamstring and shoulder injuries.
“I just think Buster’s been playing well, and really just giving him an opportunity right now,” Pederson said.
Pederson also hopes to play Jaguars fifth-round rookie cornerback De’Antre Prince, who has appeared in eight games but primarily on special teams, more often defensively by making the switch.
“Moving forward I think with the last three games, I think you’ll see Buster and hopefully get a chance to see Tre Prince and see where he’s at, as well,” said Pederson. “But yeah, Buster’s been playing really well.”
Brown has logged 63 total tackles including five for loss, his first NFL interception and seven defended passes in 14 games and seven starts this season. He has recorded 103 tackles and 11 defended passes in 34 career appearances.
A 10th-year pro, Darby previously played for Pederson with the Philadelphia Eagles from 2017-19. While productive in his time with the Eagles, recording six interceptions, Darby was dealt a string of significant injuries, a torn ACL, a dislocated ankle, and hamstring and hip strains.
After a second ACL tear, with the Denver Broncos in 2022, Darby joined Baltimore to fill spot-starting and rotational roles in the Ravens’ secondary. He experienced a career resurgence, breaking up nine passes, his most since 2020, in 18 games including the postseason.
Darby took over the starting role vacated by Jacksonville releasing Darious Williams in March, at outside cornerback under first-year Jaguars defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen.
“I just go out there and work,” Darby told Jaguars Wire in a July interview. “You know, this [is] Year 10 for me. Like, I’ve been making plays. You don’t make it to Year 10 not being able to play. So I just go out there and do what I gotta do, like I do all the time.”
Darby posted 46 total tackles with three for loss and nine defended passes through Week 14, bringing his career totals to 447 tackles with 12 for loss, eight interceptions, 106 defended passes and one forced fumble over 118 games and 107 starts.
Darby ranks No. 7 among Jaguars defenders with 659 defensive snaps logged this season. He took the field for 17 plays against the Titans in Week 14, his first game out of the starting lineup.
Pederson issues ‘day-to-day’ tags for handful of Jaguars injuries
The Jaguars are banged up ahead of their Week 9 matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles. They are navigating injuries to six starters suffered in Jacksonville’s Sunday loss to the Green Bay Packers, to pair with starting running back Travis Etienne Jr. (hamstring) missing the team’s last two games.
Cornerback Ronald Darby (hip), wide receivers Brian Thomas Jr. (chest) and Gabe Davis (shoulder), and offensive guards Brandon Scherff (knee) and Ezra Cleveland (ankle) evaded long-term injury in Week 8.
However, most of the group enters Week 9 “day-to-day,” per Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson.
“Darby’s good, Darby will be out there. [Thomas], we’ve just got to wait and see. He’s going to be day-to-day. Gabe’s going to be day-to-day. [Scherff is] day-to-day. Ezra, day-to-day, ankle. We’ll see how he is at the end of the week,” Pederson said.
The sixth starter to go down against the Packers, wide receiver Christian Kirk, suffered a season-ending broken collarbone, which was reported late Sunday.
Pederson suggested Etienne, who the head coach considered a game-time decision for each of Jacksonville’s last two games, is inching closer to returning to play this week.
“Yeah, should get him back,” Pederson said. “Looking forward to getting him out there and getting some reps, see how he feels.”
As Jacksonville kicks off its week of practice before facing Philadelphia, Pederson said the Jaguars are leaning on the development of their roster depth this past offseason as they manage their battered lineup.
“Next man up. I mean honestly, it’s easy as that,” Pederson said. “You know, the games are still going to come and the league is still going to continue on, and we’re going to continue on.
“We’ve got to coach. That’s why we develop guys in the offseason, you know, for opportunities like this. So, whether it’s a young player, a rookie, a vet or a practice squad elevation, we’re going to continue to coach everybody and get them prepared for each week.”
Doug Pederson updates Jaguars’ injuries vs. Packers
In addition to confirming a broken collarbone for wide receiver Christian Kirk and revealing receiver Brian Thomas Jr. avoided a major injury, Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson on Monday shed light on Jacksonville’s other injuries from its 30-27 loss to Green Bay in Week 8.
Wide receiver Gabe Davis (shoulder), offensive guards Brandon Scherff (knee) and Ezra Cleveland (ankle), and cornerback Ronald Darby (hip) each got hurt during the game, with only Scherff returning to action before the final whistle.
“Gabe should be fine. Again, it was just the shoulder. He just lost some feeling in there and we were just kind of waiting for that to come back a little bit during the game. Sometimes those are funny things but should be fine,” Pederson explained about Davis, suggesting he aggravated a previous injury.
Davis was on Jacksonville’s injury report with a hurt shoulder between Weeks 4-5.
“Ezra, ankle. He will be probably, as of today, probably day-to-day going into the weekend,” Pederson continued. “Scherff came back. Scherff’s going to be sore. Tough guy. Battled. Came back, finished the game. Should be okay for this weekend. Darby will be more day-to-day.”
The Jaguars return to practice Wednesday ahead of their Week 9 matchup with the Eagles in Philadelphia. Jacksonville’s next batch of injury updates will come out following that session.
Jaguars CB Ronald Darby assured entering Year 10: ‘Been making plays’
Nine seasons, five stints on injured reserve, two anterior cruciate ligament tears, a dislocated ankle and probably more soft tissue lesions than he would like to recount later, Ronald Darby remains confident in his ability to lock down an opposing wide receiver.
“I’ve always been able to play,” Darby told Jaguars Wire. “My biggest thing was, you know, getting hurt.”
The Jaguars, who signed Darby in March, are his fifth team in the NFL and fourth since 2020, when he last played a full season.
But no matter the injury, the competition he faced or the scheme he had to learn — “I done played in almost all of them,” he said, “from the zone ones to the man ones to the Cover-0 ones” — Darby typically found a way to establish himself as one of the league’s better cover corners.
“As long as I’m able to run, move — you know, each year I learn and I just get better,” Darby expressed. “It’s like, I’ve been doing this for a long time.”
He has, and he’s right.
Jan 28, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens cornerback Ronald Darby (28) upends Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice (4) during the second half in the AFC Championship football game at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Per Pro Football Reference, Darby’s 44.2% coverage completion rate with Baltimore in 2023 was not only his career-best in seasons he played 10 or more games, it led all qualifying NFL coverage defenders.
Darby’s 2022 performance with Denver was even more dominant, albeit finite.
Over four-and-a-half games before tearing his ACL, Darby allowed just seven receptions over 18 targets (38.9%), per PFR. He gave up no more than 20 receiving yards in a single game.
Working back from a ruptured knee ligament proved easier the second time for Darby than the first.
Darby was a starter under Doug Pederson in Philadelphia in 2017, but a dislocated ankle in Week 1 cost him eight games. He returned and played very well during the Eagles’ stretch run to Super Bowl LII. In 2018, he didn’t appear in a game after Week 10 after suffering his first torn ACL. He played in Week 1 the next season, but strained his hamstring in Week 4 and his hip in Week 16.
He went unsigned in free agency until 10 months after his second ACL tear, when Baltimore coveted an experienced player after starting cornerback Marlon Humphrey endured a foot injury last August.
“To be honest, it wasn’t [a challenge] when I signed with Baltimore. I was, like, eight months out of my surgery,” Darby explained.
“But me going through my first one, I knew what I had to do for my second one, and I got on it early. I was doing two-a-days, like rehab, and I was doing a lot of running, so I knew how to come back from it a lot faster.”
Despite learning a new defense three weeks before the season, Darby logged 69 defensive snaps with the Ravens in Week 1, fifth-most on the team.
If not for a Week 18 illness, Darby would have appeared in every game last year. He took the field for 624 total snaps in 2023, his third-most in a regular season since 2018.
Darby fared particularly well against star wide receivers throughout the campaign.
Per Pro Football Focus, Darby held San Francisco’s Deebo Samuel to one catch for nine yards over two targets; Miami’s Tyreek Hill to two-of-four for 17 yards; Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins a combined two-of-five for 15 yards with two pass breakups; and Houston’s Nico Collins’ zero-of-two with a pass breakup in the playoffs after Collins went three-of-five for 46 yards against him in Week 1.
While he was limited to 48 of 67 possible appearances over the last four seasons, with three different teams in that span, Darby never allowed a year-long completion percentage higher than 54.3% (ranking No. 27 of 274 coverage defenders in 2021).
Some observers ding Darby for not intercepting a pass in that same stretch. However, his 32 defended passes since 2020 rank No. 28 among the 247 cornerbacks who have recorded at least one.
All but two players on the list in front of Darby have appeared in more games. Eight have appeared in at least 20 more.
Jacksonville managed to add Darby on a two-year contract with a $4.25 million average annual value. If he can remain healthy and perform as he has in recent years over a full season in 2024, the deal could end up a steal for the Jaguars.
“I just go out there and work,” said Darby. “You know, this [is] Year 10 for me. Like, I’ve been making plays. You don’t make it to Year 10 not being able to play. So I just go out there and do what I gotta do, like I do all the time.”
Pederson, now the Jaguars’ head coach, desired to reconnect with Darby this offseason as part of Jacksonville’s effort to strengthen its roster with established veterans; players who have been there, done that and can help the Jaguars battle through adversity to reach their goals.
This year, they entail a return to the postseason — and ideally a playoff run — after Jacksonville lost its grip on seeding in the AFC bracket in Week 18 of the 2023 campaign, following a 1-5 slide to end the season.
Darby is one of five free agents Jacksonville signed with at least six games worth of playoff experience, joined by center Mitch Morse (13), defensive lineman Arik Armstead (12), wide receiver Gabe Davis (seven) and safety Darnell Savage (seven) in that department.
“With Ronald, a veteran guy, he comes in here competing for that spot and just really embracing the opportunity. But at the same time, being able to lead because we got some young guys at the corner position,” Pederson detailed in June.
“Being able to I think show them how to practice, how to study, how to prepare, are all things that guys like that really bring to us.”
Darby is expected to start opposite freshly extended cornerback Tyson Campbell, with safeties Andre Cisco and Antonio Johnson returning and Savage expected to occupy the nickel cornerback position in Jacksonville’s revamped secondary.
July 25, 2024: Jaguars cornerback Ronald Darby during Jacksonville’s 2024 training camp. [Credit: Zach Goodall – Jaguars Wire/USA TODAY SMG]Darby believes his experience and coverage savvy will benefit the Jaguars as they vie for a return to playoff contention.
And while he understands his influential role, Darby is convinced Jacksonville’s roster features plenty of similarly capable players.
“I know what it takes,” Darby said. “Like, I’ve been there. Even last year, [Baltimore] made it to the AFC Championship. I just know what it takes.
“You know what you gotta do throughout the year. You’ve got to stay focused and go out there and just compete, really. Just have fun and compete. We’ve got a lot of guys that like to compete, so it’s gonna be good.”
CBS: Jaguars’ Ronald Darby ‘under the radar,’ could help shape 2024
Despite being the NFL’s top coverage defender last season with a 44.2% allowed completion percentage, per Pro Football Reference, Ronald Darby signed a two-year contract with Jacksonville in March including only $5.5 million in total guarantees, a figure that ranks No. 52 among cornerbacks.
Accordingly, CBS analyst Zachary Pereles believes Darby is flying under the radar as next season approaches.
Identifying 50 such players “who could shape the 2024 season,” Pereles noted Darby’s dominance in coverage and how it should benefit the Jaguars’ entire secondary after joining the team via free agency in March.
Quietly, Darby has been excellent over the past two seasons, allowing just a 46.7% completion percentage when he’s the primary coverage defender. The only two players who have been better are [Cleveland’s Martin] Emerson and [New York Jets cornerback Sauce] Gardner, who is too good and too well known to be on this list. Darby hasn’t picked off a pass since 2019, but he is very steady, and that’s a boost for an up-and-down Jacksonville secondary.
Joining Darby on Pereles’ list of cornerbacks were Emerson, Miami’s Kendall Fuller, Pittsburgh’s Donte Jackson, Kansas City’s Jaylen Watson and Joshua Williams, Chicago’s Tyrique Stevenson and New Orleans’ Kool-Aid McKinstry.
Paired with posting the NFL’s lowest coverage completion percentage with Baltimore in 2023, Darby recorded 28 tackles and seven pass breakups over 16 appearances and seven starts.
In five games with Denver in 2022, before tearing his right ACL, Darby gave up a 38.9% completion percentage and logged 14 tackles, three defended passes and one forced fumble.
Darby has kept his coverage completion percentage below 55% for four consecutive seasons, making 48 appearances in that stretch.
In his nine-season NFL career, Darby has accumulated eight interceptions, 97 defended passes, one forced fumble, and 401 total tackles including nine for loss.
Darby is expected to start opposite Tyson Campbell at cornerback for Jacksonville this year. He will replace Darious Williams, who the Jaguars released in March.
PFF joins list of outlets saying Jaguars need another CB
One of the first way-too-early 2025 NFL mock drafts, released April 30 by The Athletic, paired the Jaguars with Ohio State cornerback Denzel Burke in the first round.
In May, ESPN wrote that a trade sending cornerback Marshon Lattimore from New Orleans to Jacksonville “should happen.” Bleacher Report followed up in June, suggesting a “shocking” trade proposal in which Jacksonville would acquire cornerback James Bradberry from Philadelphia.
Then earlier this month, CBS wrote that the Jaguars’ “biggest need” entering the 2024 season is — you guessed it — cornerback help.
Pro Football Focus is the latest reputable outlet to suggest Jacksonville would benefit from adding to its cornerback room with the NFL’s major offseason roster transaction windows, free agency and the 2024 NFL draft, in the rearview mirror.
Analyst Thomas Valentine called the position “bare” behind the Jaguars’ projected starting corners, Tyson Campbell and Ronald Darby.
The Jaguars still have a need at cornerback. They added veteran Ronald Darby after his strong 2023 season in Baltimore, but the jury is still out on Tyson Campbell. And beyond that, the position is bare.
A career journeyman, Jacksonville marks Dabry’s sixth team since entering the NFL in 2015. Despite his jumping around the league, he’s been a dependable coverage option at almost every stop.
Darby has allowed a sub-50% completion percentage in coverage each of the last two seasons, 44.2% in 16 games with Baltimore in 2023 and 38.9% in five games with Denver the year before, per Pro Football Reference.
Darby signed a two-year, $8.5 million contract with the Jaguars in March. In his eight-season career, he’s compiled eight interceptions, 97 defended passes and 401 total tackles, including nine for loss.
Campbell, Jacksonville’s first second-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft, has tallied six interceptions, 30 pass breakups, two forced fumbles and 203 total tackles in three seasons with the Jaguars. He shined in 2022 by allowing a 54.2% completion percentage over 83 targets.
However, multiple soft tissue injuries limited Campbell to 11 appearances in 2023, and his performance level regressed when he was available. He allowed a 69.4% completion percentage over 62 targets and defended fewer than 10 passes in a season for the first time.
The Jaguars picked two cornerbacks in April’s draft, Jarrian Jones in the third round and Deantre Prince in the fifth round. They also signed free agent corner Tre Flowers in May.
Per Over the Cap, seven unsigned cornerbacks played on at least 50% of their team’s snaps in 2023: Xavien Howard (formerly with Miami), Adoree’ Jackson (New York), Stephon Gilmore (Dallas), Patrick Peterson (Pittsburgh), Fabian Moreau (Denver), Ahkello Witherspoon (Los Angeles) and Jerry Jacobs (Detroit).
Tre Flowers, Terrell Edmunds signings continue Jaguars’ secondary rebuild
One important aspect of Jacksonville’s busy 2024 offseason has been the team’s necessary secondary rebuild.
The Jaguars released two starting defensive backs from last season earlier this year, cornerback Darious Williams and safety Rayshawn Jenkins, and have added six since, including four veteran free-agent signings and two rookie selections in the NFL draft.
The moves weren’t coincidental or business as usual.
They were intentional, a concerted effort by Jacksonville’s front office to revamp the back five of the Jaguars’ defense after the team allowed 239.8 passing yards and 1.59 passing touchdowns per game in 2023, both stats ranking No. 26 in the NFL.
The first addition, cornerback Ronald Darby, is expected to take over for Williams at outside corner, opposite Jacksonville’s 2021 second-round draft pick, Tyson Campbell.
Darby, a nine-season pro, has started 95 games in his career and tallied eight interceptions and 97 passes defended. Per Pro Football Reference, Darby allowed sub-50% completion percentages in coverage in 2022 and 2023, with a career-best 38.9% mark two years ago.
Safety Darnell Savage joined Jacksonville shortly after Darby, after five seasons with his drafted team, Green Bay. There, he accumulated nine interceptions and 32 pass breakups over 72 games and 69 starts.
Although he has been considered a replacement for Jenkins on the backend, next to safety Andre Cisco, Savage has been floated as a candidate to play nickel corner by Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson.
Despite obtaining those veterans, the Jaguars were widely projected to target another outside cornerback early in the 2024 NFL draft, leaving some analysts surprised when they waited until the end of Day 2 to address their secondary whatsoever.
Notably, Campbell is entering the final year of his rookie contract in 2024, while Darby turned 30 years old in January.
They double-dipped at the position, though, taking nickel corner Jarrian Jones late in the third round and then picking outside corner Deantre Prince in the fifth round.
“I think what both Jarrian and Prince probably share as players is confidence in terms of their coverage ability, but also knowing how to use their athletic ability,” Shrine Bowl director of football operations and player personnel, Eric Galko, described Jones and Prince in an interview with Jaguars Wire.
“Some guys are athletic and don’t know how to use it, and they’re just guessing and trying to use their athleticism and kind of recover a lot, not necessarily maximizing it. I think both these guys know where they can get to on the field in coverage.”
The Jaguars have been similarly complimentary of the rookies and believe each can become an impact player in the secondary.
Still, Jacksonville thought it had room to improve. Accordingly, the club signed another pair of veteran defensive backs on Thursday, safety and former first-round pick Terrell Edmunds and cornerback Tre Flowers.
Flowers, in particular, provides a sense of familiarity as the most recent season of his six-year career was under the guidance of current Jacksonville defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen, who occupied the same role for Atlanta in 2023.
He appeared in 17 games with three starts last year, and has compiled four interceptions, 22 pass breakups and five forced fumbles over 90 games since 2018.
Edmunds could fill the safety role initially expected of Savage in 2023, with 79 starts at the position under his belt over six seasons. He’s recorded six interceptions, 28 pass breakups, 7.5 sacks and 17.5 tackles for loss in that span.
Second-year Jaguar Antonio Johnson will vie for a starting safety role, too, after intercepting two passes and defending three as a rookie in 2023.
While it remains to be seen how the batch of new faces will perform as a unit, Jacksonville was wisely aggressive in acquiring defensive backs of varying positional fits, experience levels, and physical and athletic potential this offseason.
The unit added a combined 287 starts via free agency, patching holes in the Jaguars’ previously underwhelming secondary and, as a result, slowing down the pace of the incoming rookies’ development track.
Jones and Prince won’t need to be forced into action at cornerback early in their career — barring injury or if they prove to be equipped for pro ball immediately — with Campbell, Darby, Flowers and perhaps Savage at nickel available to start in 2024.
The running mate for Roquan Smith, Queen made his first Pro Bowl this season after logging 125 tackles (78 solos) and matching a career-high with six passes defended. He also added 3.5 sacks, nine tackles for loss, one interception, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery for the best defense in the league.
Social media reacts to everything, and Queen exiting was a hot topic.
Jaguars to sign CB Ronald Darby to a two-year deal
Another Baltimore Raven is leaving for Jacksonville as cornerback Ronald Darby is expected to sign a two-year deal worth up to $10 million with the Jaguars.
The veteran cornerback performed admirably for the Ravens while filling in for an injured Marlon Humphrey at various points throughout the season after signing with the team in August.
The Jaguars are adding another veteran to their secondary by signing Ronald Darby.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have an agreement in place with Baltimore Ravens cornerback Ronald Darby on a two-year contract worth a maximum of $10 million, according to Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report.
Darby, 30, began his career as a second-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2015 and was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles just before the start of the 2017 season. After three years with the team, Darby played one season with the Washington Football Team, two seasons with the Denver Broncos, and the 2023 season with the Ravens.
In Baltimore, Darby was credited by PFF with allowing 31 receptions on 60 targets in 2023 with only one penalty and one touchdown allowed.
Here are the top FA cornerbacks on @PFF_Brad and how well they prevented separation in 2023 broken down by man, zone, and overall separation. Separation based on all snaps, not just when targeted as well pic.twitter.com/9jJStgTPCF
At the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke called cornerback “a group that we need to address.” That deficiency was exacerbated when the Jaguars made the decision to release Darious Williams in a move that saved the team $11.5 million in salary cap space.
For now, Darby is the favorite to start in the Jaguars secondary opposite Tyson Campbell, although that could change if the team targets a cornerback early in the 2024 NFL draft.
