Jaguars DE/OLB Aaron Lynch Comes Out of Retirement
Two months ago, Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end/outside linebacker Aaron Lynch retired from the league at 27-years-old. Now the veteran pass-rusher is looking to get back into the game.
The Jaguars announced on Wednesday that Lynch, who retired on Aug. 17 after signing with the club in May, had been reinstated from the team's reserve/retired list to its exempt/commissioner permission list.
Lynch, a seventh-year veteran, was drafted in the fifth-round (No. 150 overall) by the San Francisco 49ers in 2014. At the time, current Jaguars director of player personnel Trent Baalke was the 49ers' general manager.
In 2019, Lynch played in all 16 games with the Chicago Bears and recorded six tackles, 2.0 sacks and two passes defensed. Before spending the last two seasons with the Bears, Lynch played four seasons for the 49ers from 2014-17. In 2015, he started 13 games and registered career highs in tackles (38), sacks (6.5) and tackles for loss (13). In his first two seasons, he recorded 12.5 sacks. He has recorded 7.5 sacks in the four seasons since.
If Lynch does end up returning to the Jaguars active game day roster, the Jaguars will have a decision to make in terms of edge depth. The Jaguars currently have Josh Allen (2.0 sacks), K'Lavon Chaisson (1 sack) and Dawuane Smoot (1 sack) at defensive end.
The Jaguars did have a fourth defensive end in 10th-year veteran Jabaal Sheard, but he was signed to the New York Giants' active roster off of Jacksonville's practice squad yesterday.
"I mean Jabaal, he’s a veteran guy, he’s been around a long time. We brought him in, [the] thought process was, ‘Hey, let’s bring him in just to make sure we cover ourselves with Josh Allen being out,'" head coach Doug Marrone said on Wednesday.
"Now, he played eight snaps and then we looked at, ‘Okay, well Josh is going to be coming back, so how can we get him snaps and keep K’Lavon [Chaisson] going and [Dawuane] Smoot and a couple of the other guys.’ So, we couldn’t really guarantee a lot of snaps and a veteran guy is going to make a move where he can go there [New York Giants] and get increased playing time.”
