Jaguars 2020 Midseason Awards: Who Earns Honors on Jacksonville’s Defense?
We are officially at the midway point of the 2020 season for the Jacksonville Jaguars. It has rarely been pretty, but the 1-7 Jaguars are now 50% of the way through with their season.
Before Jacksonville kicks off its ninth game, a Week 10 clash against the 6-2 Green Bay Packers, we are going to look at the offensive and defensive side of the balls to determine who deserves midseason superlatives -- whether positive or negative.
In this edition we turn to the defense, a unit that has struggled in historical fashion in 2020. Despite the defensive issues, however, there are still performances worth praising.
Defensive MVP: Myles Jack
There isn't really any debate on this one. The gap between Myles Jack and the runner-up for defensive MVP is miles-wide, a proclamation Jack has earned this season with his strong play after moving to outside linebacker. While he may not get the postseason recognition he deserves due to Jacksonville's record and overall poor defense, Jack has legitimately been one of the best linebackers in football this year.
In six games Jack has recorded 52 tackles, three tackles for loss, one forced fumble, one interception, one sack and three pass deflections. He has allowed just 90 yards in coverage on 22 targets according to Pro Football Reference and quarterbacks have a passer rating of 53.2 when throwing at him.
"Hopefully he gets the recognition he deserves, obviously he’s missed a couple games and the situation we’re in just in terms of our record. But when he’s in there and he’s healthy, he’s been playing hands-down some of the best football I’ve ever had the privilege of playing next to a guy with," Jaguars linebacker Joe Schobert said about his teammate.
Top Defensive Lineman: Josh Allen
We know this one will likely be met with some pushback due to Josh Allen's pedestrian production this season, but the numbers and tape both back it up: Josh Allen is still Jacksonville's best defensive lineman. The 2019 Pro Bowler is having a down season numbers-wise, having just 2.5 sacks and 11 total tackles in six games this season. But even despite this, he has still been Jacksonville's most disruptive player up front.
Pro Football Focus has Allen down for 20 pressures, the second-highest mark on the team. He is just one pressure behind Dawuane Smoot, but Smoot has played more pass-rush snaps than Allen due to Allen's injuries this year. Allen hasn't converted enough of his pressures into sacks, but it is clear each Sunday that he is the closest thing the Jaguars have to a player who can disrupt quarterbacks. He is, at the very least, moving quarterbacks off their spots and creating plays for his teammates, which led to a Taven Bryan sack in Week 7.
Top Defensive Rookie: DaVon Hamilton
Despite the Jaguars drafting a cornerback and a defensive end in the first round, their best rookie defender has been third-round nose tackle DaVon Hamilton. Right now, the debate likely isn't very close either. Hamilton had a slow start to the season but has turned in two consecutive dominant performances, earning PFF's highest rookie defender grade in Weeks 7 and 9. He has taken his play to another level since Abry Jones was injured, recording seven pressures and clogging up running lanes with ease in the last two weeks.
"I think the guy that’s probably getting lost, for how well he’s playing, is probably [DaVon] Hamilton. He gets lost in there because it’s hard to see it, even for me sometimes on the sideline," Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said this week.
"Talking about some of the younger guys, DaVon Hamilton, he’s going to be a good player. I think everyone sees that."
Top Concern: Lack of production from 2020 first-rounders
When it comes to concerns about Jacksonville's defense ... there are plenty. The defense is arguably the worst in the league and is on track to be one of the worst defenses in NFL history in terms of yards allowed per play. With that said, we are going to limit our selection of the top concern at the midseason to just one singular issue: the lack of strong play from the Jaguars' first-round duo.
Cornerback CJ Henderson (selected No. 9 overall) and defensive end K'Lavon Chaisson (selected No. 20 overall) were taken with Jacksonville's two first-round picks with the hopes they would become impact players and game-changers early on. This has yet to be the case, however, as Chaisson has just one sack and eight pressures in eight games and Henderson's level of play has slipped since a dominant Week 1 performance. Each player obviously deserves patience and much more time before any serious worries arise, but as of now the Jaguars would likely prefer to see their top picks begin to make plays.
Most Improved Defensive Player: Myles Jack
While Myles Jack has been far and away Jacksonville's best defender this season, the fifth-year pro is also their most improved player on that side of the ball. Jack has always had the talent and skill to be a dominant linebacker as he has been this season, but it wasn't until 2020 that he truly began to live up to his potential -- largely due to Jacksonville's misuse of him.
The Jaguars did Jack no favors by playing him at middle linebacker for two seasons, a role he was clearly never a fit for. At middle linebacker he was slow to diagnose plays, unsure about his reads, and simply looked as if he was overthinking everything and not just playing. That changed in a massive way this season, however, and Jack is on track for a likely Pro Bowl season.
Biggest Surprise: Sidney Jones
When the Jaguars kicked off the season against the Colts in Week 1, nobody would have believed that former Eagles cornerback Sidney Jones would establish himself as the team's top cornerback by Week 10, but that is just what Jones has done. While Henderson of course gets most of the attention due to his draft status, Jones has been the more consistent player and is the second-best player in the secondary this season after Jarrod Wilson.
Considered a second-round draft bust with the Eagles, Jones has excelled on the outside for the Jaguars in their man coverage scheme. The fourth-year cornerback has the team's best completion percentage allowed (54.2%) and best passer rating when targeted (83.0) among all cornerbacks on the team. For a player the Jaguars signed to their practice squad shortly before Week 1, this year has been a pleasant surprise in every way.
Biggest Disappointment: Taven Bryan
Three tackles for loss and 0.5 sacks is all Taven Bryan has to show for himself through the first half of the season. This looks even worse when you consider that through the first seven games of the year, no defensive lineman played more snaps than the 2018 first-round pick. 40 games into his career and he has been benched and outplayed by an undrafted rookie in Doug Costin, and his coaches are still talking publicly about his need to develop his technique. Considering both the expectations that were set out for Bryan and the fact the Jaguars badly needed him to step up in 2020, this season has been nothing short of a failure. Bryan has some talent, but it just hasn't come together and 2020 is a step back from his 2019 season.
Defensive Play of the Midseason: Myles Jack's Interception Vs. the Bengals
CJ Henderson's and Andrew Wingard's interceptions in Week 1 and Sidney Jones' interception in Week 5 were all considered here, but how can you pick any play other than Myles Jack's wildly improbable interception against the Bengals to prevent a touchdown? This is one of the best plays an NFL defender has made this year, let alone a Jaguars defender.
