Myles Jack Is Lone Jaguars Player Named in Top-100 Players List
Six months after the Jacksonville Jaguars finished the 2020 season with the league's worst record at 1-15, it isn't overly surprising to see the team get little preseason recognition or respect.
As a result, it isn't a shock to see the Jaguars have just one player land on CBS Sports' Pete Priscos' top-100 players list. It is even less surprising to see the player selected is linebacker Myles Jack, who was arguably one of the best linebackers in the AFC and the Jaguars' top player in 2020.
Prisco ranked Jack at No. 73 overall following his stellar season, which makes him the seventh-highest ranked off-ball linebacker on the list. The only linebackers ranked ahead of him were San Francisco 49ers' Fred Warner (No. 31), Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Devin White (No. 33), Seattle Seahawks' Bobby Wagner (No. 41), Tampa Bay's Lavonte David (No. 44), Indianapolis Colts' (No. 53), and New Orleans' Demario Davis (No. 61).
"He had his best season in 2020 after moving to the weak-side linebacker spot. He was one of the best off-the-ball linebackers in the league last season, but it was lost because he played on a bad team," Prisco wrote.
Even though Jack missed two games with injuries in 2020, he still put up easily the best numbers of his career. He recorded a career-high 118 tackles, a career-high six tackles for loss, and a career-high five pass deflections. According to Pro Football Reference, he also recorded the best yards allowed per completion (7.8) and yards per target allowed (6.0) of his career, to go along with one interception, a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries.
Before his injury, Jack led the NFL in total tackles and still managed to finish tied for 15th. With that total, Jack posted his best “missed tackles” ratio of his career, only missing a tackle every 13.1 tackles. According to Pro Football Focus, he had 53 “stops” which according to PFF accounts for a negative play for the offense.
Now, Jack is expected to lead the Jaguars' front seven alongside Joe Schobert as they transition to a new defensive scheme under first-year defensive coordinator Joe Cullen and a new position coach.
"I look at Myles Jack, he’s a guy that’s very fluid. A guy that can get downhill, very athletic and a guy who’s really good at open space," Jaguars assistant head coach and inside linebacker coach Charlie Strong said in February when he was hired.
"You’re looking at two ‘backers that are kind of in the prime of their career because the length of time that they have been in the NFL, but guys that can make plays and guys that will become the staple of our defense. If you’re not good at linebacker, then you really don’t have much of a chance to play really good defense. [I’m] really, really looking forward to coaching both of them because they want to learn. You can tell they’re learners, they want to learn, and they want to get better. It’s all about creating value and those guys want to create value for themselves and they want to become the best.”
Jack's placement on the list comes a year after edge defender Josh Allen was ranked No. 88 and wide receiver DJ Chark was ranked No. 98 by Prisco, though each saw their production take a step backward in 2020. Prisco did note that Jaguars' center Brandon Linder was an honorable mention.
