Doug Marrone on K’Lavon Chaisson: ‘He’s Probably Faster Than I Thought When I Watched the Film’
While K'Lavon Chaisson didn't participate in athletic testing drills during the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine, all one has to do to get a feel for the defensive end's athleticism was to flip on a few minutes of LSU tape from 2019. Just a few plays in and it becomes glaringly obvious that Chaisson simply moves differently than most players.
But even breaking down Chaisson's impressive 2019 season at LSU doesn't quite do his speed and explosion justice. At least it doesn't in the eyes of Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone, who had lofty praise for the No. 20 overall pick during a video press conference on Monday.
"And it’s pretty impressive now, I mean again, we’ve got a long way to go, but you’re talking about strength, speed," Marrone said about the rookie pass rusher.
"He’s probably faster than I thought when I watched the film. He’s definitely—it’s been impressive."
Chaisson was limited at the start of Jacksonville's training camp due to a hamstring issue, but he has participated in the last several practices. So far, Chaisson has displayed the natural rushing skills off of the edge that made the Jaguars invest a first-round selection in him in April, notably winning several one-on-ones against Will Richardson thanks to effective spin moves.
But even with his obvious talent, Chaisson still has a ways to go in his development until he becomes a force for the Jaguars. But is the traits the Jaguars have seen both on tape and on the practice field that has them convinced that he can eventually get to the level of an impact defender.
"So, I don’t want to jump the gun and anoint someone already, I think there’s still a lot of work to do, but as far as the physical tools, you get a good sense of what you’ve seen and this happens sometimes and it happens in a lot of different ways," Marrone said.
"Now you get the player and you see him live and you see him every day. I’m probably, I would say that I’m more impressed with him now and his ability and his talent than I was when we actually took him."
For Marrone to say he is more impressed with Chaisson than even when the team turned in the selection in April is high praise. To select Chaisson, the Jaguars used one of the draft picks they got from the Los Angeles Rams for Jalen Ramsey. Chaisson has always been expected to either replace or serve as insurance for disgruntled defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, so expectations were always high.
But so far, Marrone has been impressed enough that his expectations have progressed as quickly as Chaisson has.
"And even though we took him in the first round, I know you guys are probably going ‘Oh I mean gosh, obviously you knew what you were getting.’ But a little bit different now, I mean, the guy is extremely fast and he covers a lot of ground in a short period of time," Marrone said.
"He takes these strides, these long strides and just closes quickly. So, I’m excited about where he is as far as his talent. We’ve still got a lot of technical work to get done.”
Due to a number of questions along the defensive line, the Jaguars need a big season out of Chaisson in his rookie year. To this point, he has met the challenge head-on. He will need to show the same tenacity and effectiveness on Sunday's starting in a few weeks, but he has at least made a positive impression in his head coach's eyes.
