Grading the Jaguars’ Trade for DT Malcom Brown
Needing to completely overhaul their defensive line during the first week of free agency, the Jacksonville Jaguars didn't waste much time. Three signings and one trade later, and the team has a new-look defensive front.
Among the biggest additions, both in a literal and figurative sense, is nose tackle Malcom Brown, who the Jaguars traded the No. 229 overall pick (seventh round) to the New Orleans Saints to last week.
The Jaguars then reached a new agreement with Brown for a new two-year deal, keeping the 2015 first-round pick in Jacksonville for the first two years of Urban Meyer's regime.
So, what grade do the Jaguars get for the move from us? We break it down here.
How does he fit?
The Jaguars had some young depth at the nose tackle position, but they didn't exactly have an established and experienced starter. Brown gives the Jaguars just that considering he has appeared in 89 regular season games (80 starts) and 14 playoff appearances, so he has vastly more experience than the Jaguars' other in-house options for the position.
Tyson Alualu played nose tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers last season and could potentially fill in at the position in Jacksonville, but Brown is the most natural fit. He is a large and stout body in the middle of the defense at 6-foot-2 and 320 pounds and gives the Jaguars an experienced but still younger starter.
Considering Joe Cullen's defensive lines in Baltimore were built around stopping the run, Brown is a natural fit for his unit in Jacksonville. He excels at anchoring at the point of attack, absorbing double teams, and making plays at the line of scrimmage. He may not provide the Jaguars with the pass-rush they still need to find along the interior defensive line, but his ability to stop the run will be valuable for a unit that finished in the bottom-five of most run defense rankings last year.
Brown also just gives the Jaguars a more talented and physical player up front. Urban Meyer has stressed that he wants to make the defensive line a priority and add physically large players, and Brown and has massive frame accomplish just that. In the most simple terms, he adds a ton of beef to a defensive line that badly need an influx of size and power.
Brown also likely won't have much of a transition from the Saints' scheme to Cullen's. They are two very different defenses, but the Saints asked him to play multiple alignments along the interior. Whether as a shaded nose or head up on the center, he won from a variety of spots in New Orleans. He will have to the exact same in Jacksonville.
Impact on depth chart
With the contract the Jaguars gave Malcom Brown (two years, $11 million, $7.6 million guaranteed) it is clear they see him as the starting nose tackle. The Jaguars were always going to look to add to that position on the defensive line even with the presence of DaVon Hamilton and Doug Costin, two rookies who impressed last season.
Brown played 46% and 33% of the Saints' defensive snaps in his two years with the team, so around 40-45% should be the expected figure with the Jaguars in 2021 pending he plays every game. This would still allow room for Hamilton to rotate in behind him at nose tackle, which may be a better fit for the former third-round pick following the scheme change and his season-ending injury in 2020.
While Brown should be expected to be one of the first defenders on the field when the Jaguars begin the 2021 season, it is hard to imagine the Jaguars see him as much more than a run-stopping nose tackle. His cap hit this season is just 42nd among defensive tackles, and the Jaguars gave defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris a more lucrative deal.
As such, look for Brown to be featured predominantly in the base defense and see some third-down and sub-package snaps here and there, but the Jaguars have too many other options to rotate in on passing downs (Jihad Ward, Dawuane Smoot, Tyson Alualu, Robertson-Harris) to leave Brown on the field for too many passing downs.
Overall grade: A.
Getting a starting nose tackle of Brown's quality for a seventh-round pick in a draft where the Jaguars already had 10 other picks is just a bright move by the Jaguars. While they have solid young nose tackles on the roster, none are as proven or as experienced as Brown is, and those traits should make a difference early on.
Sure, you would like to get more of a pass-rush impact from each starting player, but Brown fills a big, big role for the Jaguars' new look defense and how they are prioritizing attacking defenses.
Without a true nose tackle, this scheme would have been unable to lift off the ground. This is no longer the case and as a result of the minimum cost they paid, the Jaguars get a top grade.
