Fixing the Jags' Defense in 3 Easy Steps

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A look into what can be done to fix the Jaguars' defense in 2016. 

By Travis Johns

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Obviously, our defense performed poorly last year. Luckily for the team, there are three steps that the team can easily take (especially with our incredible amount of cap room) to fix the major problems and make a defense that will be good enough to let the offense win games for us. The team needs to fix the safety situation, add a coverage linebacker, and evolve the Elephant end position. 

Sorting Out the Safety Room

For all the blame that the secondary takes for our poor defense, the corners actually played fairly well once the team settled on its three main starters (Davon House, Aaron Colvin, and Nick Marshall). While adding a corner will be necessary to take this defense to the next level, the team could field a good defense without adding a big name at that position. Safety is much more important. 

​The corners looked so poor at times because the safety play was absolutely atrocious. Sergio Brown, who the team signed last offseason to start at free safety, was one of the worst safeties in the NFL and was usually on the wrong end of highlight reels. Strong safety, Jonathan Cyprien, showed flashes this year (see his forced fumble against Buffalo to save a touchdown) but has absolutely no idea how to play in coverage. The backups weren’t much better. James Sample, a career strong safety who the team drafted to play free safety, was injured last season and was unable to convert to free safety well. Josh Evans is a tough player who can play both safety positions but shouldn’t be starting on a good defense. This horrible group is the primary reason that our defense played so poorly last season.

Luckily for the team, fixing the group won’t be difficult. There are a few obvious moves the team can make that will turn this group from a weakness to a strength. 

The first move the team should make is to release Sergio Brown. Last year I was incredibly critical of the signing, for Brown had never been a starting free safety and hadn’t shown the range and coverage skills that Bradley’s defense requires. His contract isn’t even a big one, but I think he’s the worst free safety on the team right now and will be come August. He’ll probably be cut near the end of training camp, but he definitely should be released at some point before the season starts. 

The second move will be putting Josh Evans and James Sample at their correct positions. This past offseason, the team tried to move Evans to strong safety (even though he was the only free safety with experience starting in this scheme) and Sample to free safety (even though he had never played free safety before). I think that both players would be better used in their original roles. The team can keep Evans at free safety and teach Sample to play strong, where his coverage skills are above average for a box safety. Sample can compete with Cyprien for the starting job there (and hopefully win).

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The third change to the safety group is to add a starting caliber free safety. There are many good choices on the free agent market, including Eric Berry, Tashaun Gipson and Eric Weddle, but also some underrated players like Walter Thurmond III, Rodney McLeod, Reggie Nelson and Husain Abdullah. All of these players have shown the ability to play center field in an NFL defense at a high level. The addition of one of these players would help the play of the entire secondary. The team could also look to the NFL Draft to add a free safety. Jalen Ramsey from Florida State has been the most obvious draft pick mocked to the team, but there are several other good options on Day 2. Tyvis Powell from Ohio State, Darian Thompson from Boise State, and Jalen Mills from LSU would be viable second or third round picks for the team who could start right away if the team doesn’t sign a free agent. 

Rearranging the safety group is the easiest way to help this defense succeed in the pass-heavy AFC South.

Adding a Coverage Linebacker

The team needs a coverage linebacker who can work the middle of the field and hurt opponents’ intermediate passing game. Tight ends tore our defense up this year by working over the middle of the field. Tight ends against the Jaguars had 81 catches for 965 yards and 9 touchdowns, which ranked near the bottom of the league. Fixing the safety problem will help to stop this, but the team should also add another linebacker who can cover and step in during sub-packages or replace Pozluszny as the starter in the middle. Poz, while a fan favorite, has been horrible in coverage for most of his career, even though he is able to secure interceptions. His slow feet and lack of man coverage skills lets tight ends work the seam as much as they want to. Telvin Smith was supposed to be a good coverage linebacker with his great speed and field awareness, but he doesn’t have a great feel for coverage and often looks out of place. If the team were to add a coverage-specialist linebacker, we can take Poz off the field in nickel situations and put this sub-package linebacker in his place. If Telvin improves in coverage and we add this nickel linebacker, tight ends will become a lot less of a problem next season, which will help on third downs and in the red zone.

I can see the team signing a player like Keenan Robinson or Dane Fletcher, who have shown they can cover well and will bring some speed to the defense. Fletcher in particular interests me, as he is a good player, but is coming off of a torn ACL and should be incredibly cheap as a result. Robinson is also incredibly fast for a linebacker and should be available as a mid-level free agent. In the draft, I can see the team drafting someone like Darron Lee from Ohio State or Scooby Wright from Arizona in the third (or even fourth, if they were to fall that far) round if the team really likes them. Someone like Terrance Smith from FSU could also be available in the 6th round if the team felt comfortable with a project player.

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Adapting the Elephant End Position

As I noted last week in my article about the front seven in the Jacksonville defense, the Elephant end is designed to occupy space and open up gaps for the linebackers and the under tackle to make plays. This position is incredibly vital to the run defense and is one of the reasons that our run defense improved this year (thanks to Jared Odrick replacing Red Bryant). However, this position needs to have more of a consistent pass-rushing impact to play as many snaps as it does. The team sometimes employs sub-packages that move Jared Odrick inside (where he excelled) and replace him with a more traditional pass rusher, but in the team’s nickel package, they leave the Elephant out there to defend the run. With the way our division and the rest of the league is moving, rushing the passer is more important than stopping the run. I believe it is in the team’s best interest to replace the Elephant with a more traditional SDE with more pass rushing capability.

Basically, the team needs to replace the 300lb Elephant end with someone smaller and more agile, but who can still defend the edge. As opposed to putting a massive lineman on the edge, we should find a bigger pass rushing defensive end to put at that spot, at least for most of the snaps. I’m fine with having Odrick occasionally play the Elephant, like on third/fourth-and-short or goal-line situations. However, he played so well inside last season that I think he would improve by moving inside for more snaps and the pass rush will improve as a whole with the new SDE. 

The only problem with this idea is that it would require an OTTO that can play more of a traditional 4-3 SLB role (as opposed to his current role, where he mostly plays at the LOS). The OTTO could still fulfill some of the responsibilities that he does now and could play snaps at the LOS, but it would be beneficial to have him off-ball as well for different coverages and run defense. However, I think that the OTTO is such an insignificant role that Gus will be willing to be flexible (for the first time in his career) and add this new SDE to help cure an awful pass rush.

Luckily, we picked a good year to need a SDE. In free agency, one big (unlikely) name to add is Greg Hardy. Hardy is a proven pass rusher who, at 272lbs, can hold up against the run. His attitude and domestic violence history are concerns, but he would be a splash signing that could be huge for the team. Other signings could include veterans like Williams Hayes and Jeremy Mincey, who are both over 30 years old but are solid pass rushers who could step in and start for a year or two while the team developed another. The draft is filled with bigger talented SDEs. The cream of the crop is Joey Bosa from Ohio State, who is athletically perfect for this role. He should be the #1 target for the Jags if he is available at #5 overall. If we choose to avoid SDE in the first round, a player like Jonathan Bullard from Florida, Emmanuel Ogbah from Oklahoma State or Shilique Calhoun from Michigan State would be solid picks. Later round players that I like for the SDE are Charles Tapper from Oklahoma, Shawn Oakman from Baylor (if he puts on weight) and Anthony Zettel from Penn State. 

​This simple move of drafting a better pass rushing defensive end could do wonders in improving the pass rush but shouldn’t have a drastic effect on the run defense.

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Overview

So these are the easiest ways to fix the defense. I think all three are necessary if we want to field a defense that can win a division where the worst quarterback will probably be whatever talented rookie Houston decides to draft. Who knows, maybe Gus Bradley and Todd Wash will read this, follow it and give me a job when the defense makes astronomical leaps. These moves should at least make our defense respectable and give our offense more possessions to score points and control the flow of the game. 

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments section below. Follow me on Twitter @twjohns97 and check out my writings on Reddit (/u/twjohns97) and right here on Generation Jaguar. Can I get a DUVAL?