The Jacksonville Jaguars had troubles all over defensively this past season. Not one unit along the defense was ever considered a strong point. With Gus Bradley in a make or break year, the Jaguars have spent all off-season trying to get more talent across the defense. They had a lot of cap room and threw out some big contracts, and nearly their entire draft was made up of defensive players.
Jacksonville Jaguars Linebacker Projections
Strongside Linebacker
Telvin Smith was one of the few bright spots for the Jaguars last season on the defensive side of the ball. A fifth round pick in the 2014 draft out of Florida State, Smith has all the looks of a long term building block for this Jaguars defense, and after last season he’s now viewed as one of the better young linebackers in the entire NFL.
Tyrone Holmes
Just drafted out of Montana in the sixth round, Holmes may have fallen down draft boards not because of talent, but because of the weak competition he faced in college. Some analysts think that he could be one of the diamonds in the rough that has some real pass rush ability. Due to his decent versatility, he is expected to move around a bit on this defense.
Middle Linebacker
One of the other strong points, at least in some ways, of this defense the last couple years has been Posluszny. He has a ton of trouble in passing downs but there aren’t many linebackers better against the run. He likely is going to be replaced by Myles Jack in the not so distant future, and likely will need to come out on third downs this year if the Jaguars are serious about competing. However, he is still a rock inside and a leader that some of these guys will lean on this season. Leadership is an intangible that cannot be replaced on the field, so expect Posluszny to remain the starting linebacker for the Jaguars in 2016.
Tripp signed in Jacksonville last October to help with linebacker depth for the Jaguars last season. He ended up getting some playing time when other linebackers got hurt late last season, and looks to be someone that the Jaguars can count on as solid backup.
Weakside Linebacker
Myles Jack
One of the most talented players in this past draft fell to the second round due to knee concerns. His fall was extremely surprising, and the Jaguars had no problem trading up to select him when he was available at the 36th overall pick. Jack was a top six player on their draft board even with the injury concerns. He figures to have a large role in this defense right away, as the Jaguars have had trouble covering tight ends for a long time, something that Jack is expected to excell at.
A free agent signing back in 2015 from San Francisco, Skuta figured to be a solid contributor that finally had his chance to start last season. Unfortunately, he battled injuries and never really got it going. He’s not going to just hand over the starting gig this year, but Skuta probably best serves as a very good depth piece that can provide some pass rush at different spots in this defense.
This group looks to have improved greatly this offseason. A large reason for the struggles on this defense had to do with pass coverage, and this group didn’t have anyone they could really lean on to help out in that area last year. Myles Jack figures to be pretty vital for this defense, even as a rookie. This is why it’s best to temper some expectations, as guys like Ramsey and Jack figure to be key proponents to this defense this year if they want to compete. Rookies are never the ones you want to have to lean on.
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