Josh Allen, A Two-Point Stance and the Jaguars' Best Chance for Improvement In 2020

As the Jacksonville Jaguars drafted and signed a flurry of defensive players this offseason, head coach Doug Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell both mentioned the new presence lending itself to more of a 3-4 defense.

Asked in June if the talk around the Jaguars switch to a 3-4 was being made into a bigger deal than it really was, defensive coordinator Todd Wash quickly answered, “That would be a correct statement.”

No matter what the system evolves into for the 2020 season though, star defensive end Josh Allen is ready to contribute.

“Just from game plan wise, 3-4 or 4-3 defense, that’s [Coach Wash’s] choice. I probably don’t have a say in what defense we get to run, so whatever he chooses to play or run then I’m strictly going to do that.”

It’s Allen’s versatility that will keep him on the field no matter what Wash decides to do though. That versatility, with the addition of K’Lavon Chaisson, could also be what gives Wash the option to shift looks.

“Coming off the edge is my biggest asset so any position,” says Allen, “stand-up or three-point, I’m looking to improve on this year and become a heck of a player.”

The three point stance means Allen is bent at the waist with a hand in the ground, versus lining up as a “stand-up” which is no hand on the ground.

As we wrote here back this spring when explaining the possible new 3-4 system:

“Until now, the Jags have run a 4-3 under front with a defensive end lining up on the weak side offensive line as a pass rusher and the other end anchored by a larger DE. Rush four, cover seven; it’s the framework for every defensive scheme the past couple of decades.

"Having Yannick Ngakoue and Josh Allen as the bookends of the front seven in 2019, Wash ventured outwards with a few modern twists such as allowing them to rush standing up. The majority of the time though, hands are in the ground. A three point stance can allow for a better get-off, meaning the rushers are much faster off the block. But it also tells the offense exactly what that player is doing. A two point stance—basically, coming to the line of scrimmage standing up—means he can flip his hips quicker and change his assignment. It’s crucial when facing an offense running any sort of RPO or read option.”

During OTA’s before the 2019 season, Wash maintained that Allen would be a prototypical defensive end in a 4-3 system, which meant a three-point stance.

This meant Allen had to come at his position from an entirely new perspective. By season’s end, he had figured it out, to the tune of 44 tackles, 10.5 sacks and two forced fumbles and made the Pro Bowl as a rookie—the first Jaguar to do so in franchise history.

A Pro Bowler in year one.

Happy birthday to @Jaguars DE @JoshAllen41_! 🎂 pic.twitter.com/1rtHE55hfV
— NFL (@NFL) July 13, 2020

“I’ve been getting more comfortable in my three-point, because I know the majority of the time I did that last year.”

While in college, Allen played what was listed as linebacker but was really a hybrid edge rusher. He could line up to rush the quarterback, go sideline-to-sideline in run support or even drop into coverage if needed. The position—known often as a BUCK in college or as a LEO in Wash’s defense—can shift the defense at any point. It earned Allen first team All-American honors, SEC Defensive Player of the Year, he won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy for National Defensive Player of the Year and won the 2018 Chuck Bednarik award for college football’s best defensive player.

And he did it standing up.

So while he spent much of last year in the three-point stance, if there comes a moment when Todd Wash looks at the only Jaguar in history to make the Pro-Bowl as a rookie and ask him to rush standing up, Allen will feel at his most comfortable. That spelled trouble for the rest of the SEC in 2018, which begs the question, could it do the same for the rest of the AFC South if Allen makes the switch this season?

"I was a 3-4 outside linebacker [at Kentucky], so I was strictly stand-up. The only time I did get in three-point was when it was third and long or something like that and I wanted to just put that on tape so I can do a three-point stance.

#WHOSNEXT?

@JoshAllen41_ x #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/CesQfOW03N
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) April 20, 2020

“This year I’m looking to play just strictly rush, so I get to do a little more stand up which I’m obviously more comfortable with. I know if anything goes wrong, where I have to move to big end, I can definitely switch, but stand-up defensive end is something I feel like I can improve on and I feel like I can bring a better asset for this team.”

Part of being a better asset for his team means become a bigger presence in stopping the run. The Jaguars were 31st in the NFL last season, allowing 5.1 yards per rush. The 23 rushing touchdowns they gave up was also second to last and the six rushes of 40+ yards given up was worst in the league.

Josh Allen doesn’t just want to be the best pass rusher in the NFL, he wants to be the best defensive player, as he told reporters during training camp last week; but doing either requires stopping the run.

“We have no choice. To be able to rush the passer, you have to stop the run and that’s something we’ve been emphasizing this year this offseason and talking to [Defensive Coordinator] Coach [Todd] Wash and talking to [Defensive Line Coach] Coach [Jason] Rebrovich.

“Stopping the run is priority number one to us right now. I feel like the guys we have brought in do a really good job with that. That is why I said, instead of just working on my pass rushing this year, I tried to work on more of the run and try to be more physical up front so I can do a better job at stopping the run. I know I didn’t do a good job or as good of a job as I could have done last year and I’m looking to improve on that. So stopping the run is our main key, and I feel like we have a good scheme and we have good players this year that can be able to do that for us.”

Whatever role Allen is asked to play this coming season, he’ll be on the field. How he approaches the line of scrimmage is semantics in the ground scheme of improving the team around him, which is his priority. And it’s why Marrone is confident Allen will affect the game and his teammates for the better, no matter how he lines up to wreck havoc.

“It didn’t start from when he reported here,” explained Marrone, “it started from conversations in the offseason. ‘How can I get on the field more, how can I be a better use for the team? I’ll do anything it takes.’

“All of the indications are he is exactly where he should be and that one of the things that you get excited about. Seeing when he gets on the field, it looks like he’s done a heck of a job between when the season was over to now. He looks like someone that is not satisfied, that’s on a mission, that’s has a lot of goals, that has team goals.”