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The Jacksonville Jaguars‘ decision to draft former Florida defensive tackle Taven Bryan with the 29th pick in 2018 was widely seen as a gamble at the time. He didn’t become a full-time starter until his junior season, but he showed glimpses of athletic ability in 2017 that made him a first-round prospect despite his team’s 4-7 season.
But his relatively meager college production was a red flag, and it’s why he fell toward the end of the first round.
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“Bryan’s lack of production is due to a lack of instincts and feel for the position, and he’s still in a developmental phase as a prospect,” NFL Network analyst Lance Zierlein wrote before the draft. “… His instincts and feel are below average so his development could take time, but when he is a finished product, Bryan has the ability to become a disruptive, highly productive talent with a very high ceiling.”
Three years later, Bryan is nowhere near that ceiling, and the concerns about his lack of feel for the game seem to have been justified. He’s never looked comfortable on the field.
He has 71 career tackles and 3.5 career sacks, never totaling more than two quarterback take downs in a season. Despite never missing a game, Bryan has only 17 starts with the Jags.
Jacksonville declined the 25-year-old’s fifth-year option in May, which would render him an unrestricted free agent next offseason unless an extension is reached. Barring a considerable improvement in his play with the new defensive coordinator Joe Cullen, it seems 2021 will be his last season with the Jags.
According to ESPN’s Mike DiRocco, Bryan is the Jaguars’ veteran on the roster bubble that’s in the most danger.
Bryan, the 29th overall pick in 2018, has been a disappointment in his first three seasons and lost his starting job last season to undrafted rookie Doug Costin. Bryan is one of the strongest and most physically gifted defensive linemen on the roster, but his feel for the game isn’t at the same level as the others, which was one of the concerns draft analysts had about him coming out of Florida. He’ll play some end in training camp as the Jaguars switch to a 3-4 defense, and maybe that will be the spark to ensure that he’s around to finish out his rookie contract.
One thing Bryan was praised for as a prospect was his versatility, and we’ll see if that’s the case this year. If he gets to work some at defensive end in camp as DiRocco indicated, it may be a better fit than the 4-3 defensive tackle role he’s played to this point.
Given Jacksonville’s general lack of interior depth on the defensive line, it seems very unlikely that Bryan is released during the preseason. Though there is perhaps no veteran on the team in more danger than he is, the team invested too much in him for the new staff to not give him the final season of his rookie contract as a “prove-it” opportunity.
It would take a very impressive season to earn an extension, especially as he’ll have to vie for playing time with free-agent pickup Roy Robertson-Harris and trade acquisition Malcom Brown. But he should be able to earn a roster spot during his contract year.
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