Jaguars' Secondary Undergoing Overhaul Ahead of Greatest Test So Far

Through four games, it has been clear where the biggest issues have arisen for the Jacksonville Jaguars and their struggling defense: a secondary that still hasn't found its footing.

At the quarter-pole of the season, the Jaguars are 32nd in completion percentage allowed (77%), 29th in quarterback rating allowed (112.6), tied for 30th in yards per attempt allowed (8.4), and are 27th in adjusted yards per attempt (8.6). Simply put, the pass defense has been as porous as it possibly could be.

Now, the Jaguars will have to balance the struggling secondary with a game of musical chairs at cornerback and the toughest test the team has had to face yet.

The Jaguars have faced some solid quarterbacks through the first quarter of the season, but Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson is, by far, the best passer the Jaguars have faced this season. He also has the best weapons at his disposal with a wide receiver group that looks more like a track team than a group of skill players.

"You’re talking about a guy that’s one of the top quarterbacks in the league. He can beat you in so many different ways," Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said during a media conference on Wednesday.

"They put a lot of pressure. They have the read-option game. He can drop back. He can scramble. He can boot, he can naked. He can extend plays. Again, you see a lot of quarterbacks in this league and then when you see the ones who have the ability to run and throw the ball deep like he can and keep his eyes down the field, it creates a lot of challenges. So, he’s an outstanding football player, that’s obvious by what he’s done."

Compounding the challenge of Watson and his stable of speedy receivers is the fact that the Jaguars will have a much different looking group of cornerbacks this weekend. Nickel cornerback D.J. Hayden was placed on injured reserve this week with a hamstring injury, meaning the Jaguars will now have to make some massive adjustments.

Among those adjustments will be moving outsider cornerback Tre Herndon to nickel to take Hayden's spot, while rookie Chris Claybrooks and veteran Sidney Jones will take the outside cornerback spot across from C.J. Henderson (in the event Henderson plays Sunday).

Herndon has been Jacksonville's backup at nickel for the last three seasons, so it isn't too surprising to see the Jaguars move him over as opposed to utilizing fourth-round rookie Josiah Scott, who has been inactive for every game this year.

"Yeah, we think Tre is a very good nickel. Obviously, we had D.J. [Hayden] in there, so then obviously he plays outside. But we always knew that we had a quality, quality backup nickel with D.J," defensive coordinator Todd Wash said on Thursday.

"He matches well on slots, he’s tough, he’s very, very intelligent. He’s involved in the run game, all the different motion adjustments and stuff that he has. That’s one of his strengths is his intelligence and just his understanding of the game of football. So, we feel very comfortable with him playing inside.”

With Herndon on the inside and Jones and Claybrooks set to take his place on the outside for the foreseeable future, the Jaguars can expect some serious learning curves. The blunt truth is the cornerback group the Jaguars trotted out in the first four weeks is by far the team's most trio, even if it was a unit that had a bad last three games.

Claybrooks, a rookie seventh-round pick out of Memphis who was originally drafted to return kicks, has been Jacksonville's primary backup cornerback over the first month of the season. He has played 71 snaps thus far, though 54 of those came against the Bengals after Henderson left in the first quarter with a shoulder injury.

Through four games, Claybrooks has allowed completions on 4-of-6 targets (via Pro Football Reference) for 33 yards, giving opponents a 80.6 passer rating when targeting him, which is the best rating of all Jaguars cornerbacks who have been targeted more than once this season.

But Claybrooks is clearly still raw. The former collegiate wide receiver has gone through some early growing pains, including a poor outside fill on a long Joe Mixon touchdown run on the first drive of the second half last week.

“When we had the injury on Sunday, I walked over and I said, ‘Hey, it’s time for you to get your feet wet, bud.’ And I think he did a solid job," Wash said about Claybrooks on Thursday.

"Obviously, there’s stuff that we can clean up—and I’m not saying just players, it’s coaches, too. We’ve got to clean some stuff up, put them in better positions and when we execute, we play pretty well. If you look at the first 30 minutes of the game, we played pretty damn well in the first half last week and then we had some breakdowns in the second half and we’ve got to be able to play for a full 60."

Meanwhile, Sidney Jones is a former second-round pick with the Philadelphia Eagles who has spent this season with the Jaguars. The No. 43 pick of the 2017 NFL Draft, Jones struggled with injuries and inconsistency in three years with the Eagles before being waived this season.

Jones got his first action of the season against the Bengals, playing 12 snaps and recording a pass deflection in the end zone. He has made just eight starts in his four-year career to this point, but it is clear the Jaguars like what Jones can potentially bring to the table.

"He was a guy that played a lot of off-coverage there and a lot of that has to do with what [Jim] Schwartz likes to do. But we knew he had the skill set to get up on the line of scrimmage," Wash said Thursday.

"Same thing, he can run well and he feels comfortable at the line of scrimmage, which is very important in our package. So, we know he can go out there, he’ll challenge wide receivers. Once again, his demeanor, he’s very tough, he’s competitive and it’s going to be fun to watch those younger guys—if you call Sidney [Jones IV] a younger guy, he is in our package—but, it’s going to be fun to watch those guys compete this week versus some really quality wide receivers that Houston has.”

Whichever way Wash and head coach Doug Marrone configure the secondary this weekend, it will look dramatically different than it has in the past. With the best quarterback in the AFC South next on the docket, that just makes this week even more of a challenge for an already struggling defense.

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