Grading the Jaguars’ Free Agency: How New Additions Impact the Direction of the Team
Through the first wave of free agency, it appears the Jacksonville Jaguars have made the bulk of their big moves to add veterans to the roster for the 2020 season.
In the Jaguars' signings so far, the team has addressed every single level of the defense. They have a new middle linebacker, a versatile defensive lineman who can potentially fill the role Calais Campbell played in past years, and a tough and instinctive cornerback who has experience in the slot and on the boundary.
For the Jaguars to field a winning team in 2020, the Jaguars will likely have to get solid production from each of their new additions, making it key to determine how each defender fits in the team's plans for the 2020 season.
How do we think the new signings impact the direction of the team in 2020 and beyond? We evaluated each of the three to find an answer.
ILB Joe Schobert
Contract: Five-year, $57 million contract with $21.5 million guaranteed, per Spotrac.
2019 Stats: 133 tackles, seven tackles for loss, two sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, four interceptions, nine pass deflections. 16 games played (16 starts).
Outlook for 2020: After the Jaguars started Myles Jack at inside linebacker for most of the last two seasons, the team has ended the experiment with Jack as its Mike and is instead turning to the 26-year-old Schobert, who spent the first four years of his career in Cleveland.
Schobert is a rangy linebacker who excels in coverage thanks to his instincts, quickness, fluidity, and natural playmaking ability. He has recorded six interceptions and seven forced fumbles since becoming a full-time starter for Cleveland, making him one of the best linebackers in the league at creating takeaways for the defense.
Schobert's outlook for 2020 has him primed to be the Jaguars' most impactful free agency addition, and potentially their most impactful offseason addition overall. By slotting him into the role of middle linebacker, the Jaguars get more consistency at the position than Jack provided, and the team is also now able to move Jack to weakside linebacker for the first time in his career, a position his skill set suggests he is a better fit at. Schobert isn't a dominating inside prescence vs. the run, but he is a big upgrade for Jacksonville's defense.
While Schobert's contract looks large on the surface, it is actually a relatively team-friendly deal that the Jaguars are able to get out of after 2021 if they so choose to. Schobert doesn't have to be elite in 2020 to justify the deal the Jaguars gave him — he just has to be reliable.
Grade: A-
CB Darqueze Dennard
Contract: Three-year, $13.5 million contract with $6 million guaranteed, per Spotrac.
2019 Stats: 37 tackles, one tackle for loss, and five pass deflections. Nine games played (five starts).
Outlook for 2020: A former first-round selection from the 2014 NFL Draft, Dennard has been a solid, albeit unspectacular, player throughout his career. He is exactly the type of high-ceiling, gritty defensive back the Jaguars have targetted in free agency in the past, so it isn't surprising to see the Jaguars target him for Todd Wash's defense.
Dennard's fit with the Jaguars is still somewhat questionable, however. Dennard has unquestionably been a more effective player when lined up in the slot for the Cincinnati Bengals during his six seasons in the AFC North. He still got plenty of experience covering the boundary, but most pegged him as a candidate to over the slot for his next team. As of now, that doesn't look like it is the plan in Jacksonville.
“We feel really good about his skill level to play outside,” head coach Doug Marrone said following the signing. “He’s a press corner and wants to play outside. He wants to prove that he can do it, and we believe that he can, so it was a good fit for us. D.J. Hayden is our starting nickel corner. I talked to D.J., and we’re extremely happy with him in that spot.”
Dennard's contract is a team-friendly deal that is even cheaper than the deal Hayden signed in 2018, so the team doesn't have a ton of investments tied into him. But for Dennard to make an impact in 2020, he is going to have to prove he has more of an ability to thrive on the outside than he showed in Cincinnatti.
Dennard is a solid player, but he is one who is better at a different role than the one the Jaguars are set to utilize him in. Ultimately, that is why the grade of his addition is what it is.
Grade: C+
DL Rodney Gunter
Contract: Three-year, $18 million contract with $11.15 million guaranteed per Spotrac.
2019 Stats: 31 tackles, nine tackles for loss, three sacks, and 10 quarterback hits. 13 games (13 starts).
Outlook for 2020: For the second time in four years, the Jaguars are hoping an Arizona Cardinal defensive lineman will fill a void along their front seven. Rodney Gunter wasn't given the contract that Calais Campbell was in 2017, but it is clear the team still expects him to be a big contributor in 2020.
“We really like what Rodney brings to the team, both as a player and as a person, and we think he can play multiple positions for us,” Marrone said. “We know he’s a good player against the run, but we think we can get some three-down play out of him and get some pass-rush. We have high expectations for him, and we are excited about him. He is one of the pieces that we feel is going to help us defend the run and help us become a better defense.”
Gutner was primarily a defensive end in the Cardinals' 3-4 defensive scheme, but so far his role in the Jaguars' defense has yet to been disclosed. A logical assumption could be that the Jaguars intend to employ Gunter at the 'big end' spot that has been vacated by Campbell's departure via trade this offseason, but Gunter has the size and skill set to play inside as well.
Overall, Gunter will likely be asked to handle more responsibilities than he did in Arizona, and the Jaguars will have to hope that he can provide similar pass-rush production to what he has produced the last two seasons (7.5 sacks). Gunter's fit with the Jaguars make sense thanks to his ability to stop the run and versatility, which bumps up his grade.
Grade: B-
