Jacksonville Jaguars Defensive Changes
JT: “We have the technology to rebuild this [team]”
Like the US Government with ace test pilot Colonel Steve Austin, if Shad Khan will indulge us here at JaguarsTalk for a moment, then we would like to point out the necessary changes to make right now in order to rebuild this team and maximize the current Jaguars defensive talent. That was an unnecessarily long and convoluted opening just to be able to use the plot of a 1974 TV show. Look, since being absolutely destroyed by the Detroit Lions last week defensive changes have been getting a lot of play throughout the Jacksonville area. We here at JaguarsTalk would like to think we were ahead of the times in calling for some of these moves weeks ago. So, when we are finished dislocating our shoulder by patting ourselves on the back, we will dive into the whats and whys of the changes Doug Pederson and Shad Khan can make right this very second to make the Jaguars a better football team. Let’s be honest, it will be very difficult to make them a worse football team. At the very least, these moves will give everyone an understanding of exactly who we drafted as players last year and exactly what we need to acquire this upcoming offseason.
Travon Walker was the number one draft pick last year. So many have argued that it was the wrong pick and that Aidan Hutchinson from Michigan (currently with Detroit), should have been the first pick. After all, he was the most NFL ready edge rusher in the draft. Turns out, Hutchinson actually was the most NFL ready edge rusher in the draft and he has proven that throughout his rookie year. We all knew Travon Walker would be a project as an edge rusher. Frankly though, that project is still projecting to be more of a project than was originally projected. You follow? It’s been almost a full NFL season and Walker has regressed as a pass rusher. Walker’s inability to scare an offensive line has allowed teams to focus mainly on the better edge rusher, Josh Allen. So JaguarsTalk suggests the following. Move Travon Walker to an inside lineman position. That is where he is most comfortable, most disruptive, and can make the biggest difference on the Jacksonville defense. Travon Walker is infinitely better when he plays with his hand in the turf. He is more explosive when in a three point stance. He bulldozes through O-linemen from that position, and he doesn’t hesitate or think too much like he does standing up in the outside linebacker location. Move Walker to and inside line position ASAP.
Devin Lloyd, the other Jaguars first round draft pick. The Jags gave up a lot of draft capital to get Lloyd and he needs to be moved as well. Lloyd, when at Utah, was a pass rusher. He was a QB killer. This in mind, why does Mike Caldwell have Devin Lloyd playing inside linebacker dropping into coverage? It is to the point that Lloyd isn’t even starting anymore because he just is not, and never ever was, comfortable where defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell put him. Move Devin Lloyd to Walker’s outside linebacker position and let Lloyd rush the QB off the edge. All of the naysayers are screaming about Lloyd’s weight. He is too light to play an edge rusher. Maybe. But maybe he is quicker and faster because he is lighter. Maybe he gets to the QB more than the heavier Walker did. Maybe we can stunt Lloyd. Maybe Lloyd has a few more tricks up his sleeve he can use to get past the tackles. The point is, we don’t know what we don’t know and we won’t know what we don’t know until we know, you know? If it works out, and his weight is an issue, Lloyd can go all Conor McGregor and pack on muscle during the offseason. So, again I ask, what do we have to lose by making these moves? It’s rhetorical, the answer is nothing.
Two positions on an NFL defense that compliment each other nicely are the pass rush and the secondary. We want more from them, so let’s give them more. Help me, help you! Help me, help you. Help me, help you (This is an easy one and yes, he says it three times). That in mind, we need to solve the cornerback problem. The Jaguars do not have a cornerback to compliment Tyson Campbell. They’ve tried draft pick Montaric Brown, Chris Claybrooks, Tevaughn Campbell and Tre Herndon. The only person they haven’t tried is the one person who WON A SUPER BOWL playing cornerback on the outside. That of course is Darious Williams. Why have they not tried Williams? It seems almost negligent on Mike Caldwell’s part to not have played Williams on the outside. Williams got paid a bazillion (with a “B”) dollars to come over from the Rams, fresh off a Super Bowl victory, and help solidify the Jags secondary. So why is he not currently solidifying? Yes, Williams is great inside and good at playing nickel and good at everything else related to the secondary. The problem is that everyone else is NOT good at playing outside CB, aside from Campbell. T. Campbell. The other T. Campbell. This team with Campbells and Joneses, for goodness sake. We know that Williams is good on the outside, so let’s put him there and see how everyone else plays inside. Again, I pose the question, what do we have to lose? If, we can have two outside shut down corners, or at the very least two outside corners that we can trust even a teeny tiny bit, then we can blitz more. We can stunt more. We can have more of a pass rush which will, in turn, help the secondary. It’s not rocket science people, it’s a game.
The problem isn’t the talent on the current Jaguars team, the problem is the way the talent on the team is being utilized. That means the problem is with coaching. That means Mike Caldwell is yet another change that needs to be made right now. This is where things get a little tricky. Mike Caldwell will not be fired mid season. I somewhat doubt that he will be fired come this offseason, but he should be fired both times. There is so much talent being misused on this Jaguars defense that it is laughable. You don’t draft square pegs and then try to fit them in round holes and expect to be successful. We don’t have this problem with Jacksonville’s offense. Jacksonville’s offense is one player away from exploding and that player is hopefully coming next year in the form of Calvin Ridley. Doug Pederson is an offensive guy. Doug Pederson and Press Taylor didn’t bring in Zay Jones and then make him a tight end. They didn’t look at Travis Etienne and decide that we should have him at fullback pulling Mike Alstot duty. Trevor Lawrence wasn’t moved to running back (although he’s got more speed than I thought when scrambling with the rock). What I’m not so elegantly saying here is that the JAX coaches in charge of the offense are playing their players in the positions where those players are, and historically have been, most successful. The Jaguars defensive coordinator is not doing that with the JAX defense. It makes no sense. If the changes mentioned above were implemented day one, I would bet dollars to donuts (no idea what that saying means), the Jaguars would have two or three more wins under their belt right now.
To sum up, move Travon Walker to inside D-line with a hand in the turf. Move Devin Lloyd to an edge rush position opposite Josh Allen. Move Darious Williams to outside cornerback opposite Tyson Campbell. Now let’s see what happens. The bottom line is that is can’t be any worse. The only thing that can happen is improvement and wouldn’t that be great to see right now. Again, I believe we should shed DC Mike Caldwell and/or bring in a veteran defensive consultant, as well. Jacksonville needs someone who knows the game. If you want to keep Caldwell on board as a figurehead, fine, nobody in Jacksonville cares about titles as long as the Jags are winning. Jacksonville has a lot of the talent on board already, they are just being severely misused. It would be as if you took the greatest Christmas movie ever, of course we are talking about Die Hard, and made Sgt. Al Powell crawl through the ventilation ducts playing John McClane, while Holly Gennaro played Karl the crazy gun wielding bad guy who at the end came raging out of the building only to be shot by Mr. Takagi playing the LA cop who happened to be driving by Nakatomi plaza when a body landed on his cruiser (I may have beaten my run-on sentence record with that one). It just wouldn’t have worked. The talent is there, just not utilized correctly. In the spirit of the holiday season, The Jaguars look like the above version of Die Hard right now. Shad Khan, however, has the power to rearrange the puzzle pieces to make them fit, if he so chooses. He has the power to make Hans Gruber fall to his death at the hands of Bruce Willis and not Reginald VelJohnson, and that is a movie we all would tune in to root for each and every Sunday.
Last point, while everything we write at JaguarsTalk is up for a healthy debate, Die Hard being the best Christmas movie ever made, is not. Period. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.