Jaguars vs. Chiefs: Devin Lloyd Won’t Have To Do It All on His Own Against Travis Kelce
Jacksonville Jaguars rookie linebacker Devin Lloyd has already seen plenty of tests early in his NFL career, starting nine games and playing nearly 600 snaps in a crash course at linebacker.
But on Sunday vs. the Kansas City Chiefs, Lloyd and the rest of the Jaguars' defense will face a talent unlike any other they have matched up against this season: Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
“Well really, when you look at it, I really don’t talk about rankings, but he’s a guy that has changed the position," Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell said on Thursday.
"When you have a guy that is that talented and making that many plays for you from the tight end position, it is special."
Kelce, who has caught 57 passes for 659 yards and seven touchdowns this season, is just 335 yards away from hitting 10,000 for his career. He holds the NFL record for most consecutive seasons with 1,000 yards receiving by a tight end (six), and has seven Pro Bowls and three First-Team All-Pro honors to his name.
"You go back and talk about Tony Gonzalez, people like that who did it. He’s doing it but he’s a guy that is almost like a receiver, similar to the one we faced last week. A guy that you have to pay attention to the fact that the offense runs through him and it’s tough," Caldwell said.
In short, Kelce is the ultimate test for a young linebacker in coverage, especially in a scheme like Jacksonville's where Lloyd will likely frequently draw Kelce in man coverage.
The Jaguars are still seeing Lloyd grow and adjust each week, but that doesn't mean the No. 27 overall pick will be tasked with the challenge of a lifetime in his 10th career game.
Going back and talking about Devin, we’re not going to put Devin on him by himself, we’ll have multiple guys being able to cover him," Caldwell said.
"It’s going to be a team effort; it won’t just be one guy going out there and trying to stop one person. It’ll be a team effort and we will have multiple guys we’ll try to throw at him and try to slow him down.”
A team effort is exactly what it takes to play defense against the Chiefs. Even without Tyreek Hill taking the top off of defenses this year, the Chiefs' offense has still dominated and had its way with defenses week in and week out thanks to Kelce, Patrick Mahomes and a productive supporting cast.
"The thing you see is because you don’t have that one name, you have a bunch of names that are really, really performing well together," Caldwell said. "He’s spreading the ball around and it makes it that much more difficult on the defense, when you really have to focus on everybody that’s out there on the field.”
So far this year, no team effort has been able to slow Kelce down. He has recorded more than 50 receiving yards in every game but one this season. And in that one game, he scored four touchdowns anyway.
As for the Jaguars, they are the worst defense in the NFL at covering tight ends in terms of DVOA according to Football Outsiders. Tight ends made huge plays against the Jaguars seemingly weekly over their five-game losing streak. Now, the Jaguars get their toughest test yet in Kelce, with Lloyd and their secondary each expected to chip in.
“In certain situations, you can do that. We have bigger corners and we have safeties that can cover," Caldwell said.
"Again, as we talked about earlier, this offense is not just one person. This offense has a bunch of weapons. Those weapons will need to be handled also. We have different options to be able to use to try to cover Travis Kelce and we will do that.”
