Jaguars Trade Sidney Jones to the Seahawks: 3 Observations on What It Means for the Defense
The Jacksonville Jaguars made a somewhat surprising move on Monday evening, trading veteran cornerback Sidney Jones to the Seattle Seahawks after re-signing Jones earlier this offseason.
The Jaguars took Jones in last year and developed him, but now have moved on from him for a sixth-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Jones entered training camp as a potential starter after a career year in just eight games with the Jaguars last season. But now, Jacksonville has opted to take future draft compensation in place of Jones, trading the veteran cornerback with fewer than 24 hours to go before final roster cuts are due.
Why did the Jaguars trade the veteran cornerback and what could it mean moving forward for the defense? We break down the move below.
CJ Henderson took the outside cornerback job and ran with it, which made Sidney Jones expendable
There is a good chance this trade doesn't get made if CJ Henderson doesn't play as well as he has since he returned from the COVID-19 list. Sidney Jones was terrific insurance for the event Henderson wasn't available at the start (or at any point) of the 2021 season. As a result, Jones entered training camp with a legitimate shot to start across from Shaquill Griffin. And for the first half of training camp, Jones did just that, having a firm grip on the Jaguars' No. 2 cornerback job until Henderson returned during the middle of training camp.
Once Henderson got back just in time for the start of preseason games, things changed. The Jaguars didn't just hand Henderson a starting job, forcing him to work with the second- and third-team defenses when he returned to the practice field ahead of the first preseason game. But Henderson was the Jaguars' top defender in Week 1 and had a similarly impactful performance against the Saints a week later. He had not only played well, but he had stayed on the field and practiced every day.
With Henderson's ascension and recent consistency, Jones got bumped to the second-team. Jones started as a nickel corner against the Cowboys on Sunday, but this was more or less a result of the Jaguars' top two nickel cornerbacks -- Tre Herndon and Tyson Campbell -- not dressing for the game. Henderson took the starting job and ran with it, playing well enough to make Jones expendable in the process.
Chris Claybrooks' chances to make the team just increased exponentially
No player is more likely to benefit from this move than second-year cornerback Chris Claybrooks. The former seventh-round selection got a lot of experience at cornerback last season after being thrown to the wolves, but the Memphis product has shown throughout the preseason and training camp that the experience was for the better and that he belongs at the NFL level. With Jones now out of the picture, this clears up a fifth cornerback spot for the Jaguars' 53-man roster, and no player has a better track to that role than Claybrooks.
Aside from improving in coverage and run defense, Claybrooks also offers special teams value as both a return man and a gunner. He was one of the NFL's most impactful punt and kick gunners last season, while he has arguably the best straight-line speed on the team and plenty of kick and punt return experience. Due to his special teams value, Claybrooks always had an outside chance at making the roster. It is likely that his ability to impact both the defensive depth chart and the starting special teams units played a role in the Jaguars' decision to trade Jones. Jones had some special teams value, but not as much as Claybrooks. Add in Claybrooks' strong play in the new system, and he has a good shot to make the 53-man roster.
Jaguars are stocking up on Day 3 picks for a reason
The Jaguars' list of 2022 draft picks is long; the team currently holds 12 picks in the event that Josh Oliver makes the Baltimore Ravens' roster, which certainly appears to be likely. Trading Jones means the Jaguars have picked up their third sixth-round selection this month, getting similar compensation for Joe Schobert and Gardner Minshew in recent weeks. One has to think the Jaguars have a strategy when it comes to stockpiling the Day 3 picks, both in terms of their value and in terms of why they are making these moves.
With Jones' preseason struggles and Claybrooks' special teams value, there appears a good chance Jones could have been cut on Tuesday; instead, the Jaguars now get a late-round draft pick. They similarly didn't see a role for Schobert, while trading Minshew was a move that was obvious for months. Ultimately, the Jaguars are moving on from players that they otherwise would potentially have just released, but are instead trying to salvage some draft capital before doing so. With so many Day 3 selections, the Jaguars will have ample chances to navigate the 2022 NFL Draft landscape, something they weren't afraid to do in their first draft under Urban Meyer and Trent Baalke.
