2024 Pro Bowl: Which Jaguars Were Snubbed as Starters?
The NFL announced the initial rosters for this year’s Pro Bowl yesterday, and for the second consecutive year the Jacksonville Jaguars boast two starters; Long snapper Ross Matiscik and edge rusher Josh Allen. For Allen, 2024 marks his second selection in five years while Matiscik will be enjoying his first trip.
Allen earned the nod with a 16.5-sack campaign that saw him smash Calais Campbell's former franchise-mark of 14.5 in a single season. Matiscik can likely attribute his selection to a forced fumble against the Tennessee Titans:
Today teams began announcing their Pro Bowl alternates–essentially, the ‘runners-up’ to each group of starters. The Jaguars have a whopping seven; quarterback Trevor Lawrence, running back Travis Etienne Jr., tight end Evan Engram, linebacker Foyesade Oluokun, cornerback Darius Williams, punter Logan Cooke and return-man Jamal Agnew.
Despite a disappointing second half of the season, these Jaguars deserve recognition; some, however, deserve more than they’re being given.
Two names really stick out to me; Engram and Oluokun. While being named a Pro Bowl alternate is nothing to scoff at, both have legitimate cases to be starters at their respective positions.
Oluokun likely has the stronger one; 2023 saw the former Atlanta Falcon lead the league in solo tackles with 108, and finish third in total tackles with 166. Tack on a laundry list of impact-stats like his career-high 2.5 sacks, eight tackles for loss, six pass deflections and a pick-six, and you’re left wondering the same question I am:
How on earth was he snubbed?
It’s hard to make the argument he deserved the nod over Baltimore Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith. His 158-tackle year marks the second time the former Georgia Bulldog has cleared 150 in a single season, and headlining the league’s best scoring defense doesn’t hurt either.
Ahead of week 15, Smith was ranked the fourth most valuable inside linebacker in the league by Pro Football Focus. His .27 wins above replacement, a measure of how much more impactful a player is than the average at their position, was cited as the deciding factor.
Oluokun ranked sixth on that list, adding .21 wins above replacement. Patrick Queen, the second Raven starting at inside linebacker for the AFC, didn’t even make the top ten.
When scanning the field for other significant snubs at the position, Jets linebacker Quincy Williams stands out. His numbers fall short of Oluokun’s, as does Las Vegas Raiders leading-tackler Robert Spillane; both of whom were named in the aforementioned PFF ranking.
Even after considering other deserving snubs, Oluokun’s case remains air-tight. Perhaps 200 tackles would’ve tipped the scales, but then again, Foyesade was snubbed following a 192-tackle season in 2021.
More of the same for one of the league’s top tacklers; an increasingly disrespected statistic.
As it pertains to Evan Engram, his absence from the initial roster appears understandable at face value. Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been penciled in as the top vote-getter since October, and Cleveland Browns tight end David Njoku had a breakout season with career-highs in catches, yards and touchdowns.
Engram also had a career-year, and joined an exclusive list of eight tight ends to record 100 catches in a single season. His 104 receptions through 16 games ranks seventh in league history, behind future Hall of Famers like Jason Witten, Travis Kelce and top-flight playmakers like Mark Andrews, Darren Waller and Zach Ertz.
In his second year in Duval county, Engram has caught 104 passes for 884 yards and three scores. Though he trails Njoku in yards per catch, his appearance on such a star-studded list should give him the edge.
In 2024, that unfortunately wasn’t the case. Compare it to his only other Pro Bowl campaign in 2020, the only other season in which Engram commanded 100 or more targets.
In his fourth season with the New York Giants Engram posted a statline of 63 catches for 654 yards and one touchdown, far from the heights of his most recent campaign. That year Engram ranked eighth in yards among tight ends, though his 654 was less than 100 yards short of third place.
This year, Engram ranks fourth. In a season that saw production at the tight end position plummet, Engram posted three games with at least 10 catches, four games with at least 80 yards, and five games in which he led the team in receiving yards.
Should one of the Chiefs or Browns make the Super Bowl, Engram will fill the void as an alternate and all will be right in the world. As it currently stands that seems unlikely–and that’s being generous.
As for impact, the Jaguars offense would be borderline unwatchable without Engram. Boasting a rushing attack that gained only 3.6 yards per carry and a wide receiver one securing a career-worst 55.6% of his targets, it’s hard to imagine this offense doing much of anything without its 6 '3”, 240-pound security blanket.
Compounding that notion is the fact that Engram was also Lawrence’s favorite target, commanding a 24.95% target share through 16 games. Of the six tight ends to garner more than 100 targets––those being Vikings star T.J. Hockenson, Arizona Cardinals second-year man Trey McBride, Detroit Lions rookie Sam LaPorta and a pair of Pro Bowlers in Kelce and Njoku– Engram paced the pack in target share by nearly a full four percent.
With such a significant percentage of the Jaguars' targets going in Engram’s direction, one would assume his catch percentage would shrink in correlation. As for that assumption, it’s safe to say Engram made a donkey of both you and me.
The former Ole Miss star posted the highest catch percentage of his career in 2023, securing 80% of his targets.
None of the other six 100-target tight ends posted a catch percentage better than 78%. As a matter of fact, Njoku’s 65.9% was the worst of the bunch.
So it isn’t a lack of volume, a lack of efficiency, nor a lack of productivity that led to Engram’s Pro Bowl snub. This leaves one reason, one that I imagine many Jaguars fans already know yet remain in denial of; a lack of team success.
Picture a 10-plus win Jaguars team that had already clinched the AFC South, one that could rest their starters as both the Browns and Chiefs are projected to this weekend. Picture a season in which Engram had Lawrence under center for an additional 53 attempts–the amount relief quarterback C.J. Beathard threw in six appearances.
That season is one in which both Engram and Oluokun make the Pro Bowl without question. Though that season wasn’t this one, the immediate future appears as bright as ever for two of the Jaguars most impactful veterans.
