Jaguar Report

Why Dawuane Smoot and Sidney Jones Deserve Increased Roles on Jaguars Defense

The Jaguars defense has struggled all season long, so they shouldn't hesitate to promote two stand-out performers from Week 5.
John Shipley|
Why Dawuane Smoot and Sidney Jones Deserve Increased Roles on Jaguars Defense
Why Dawuane Smoot and Sidney Jones Deserve Increased Roles on Jaguars Defense

Through five weeks, the Jacksonville Jaguars have a lot of work to do. The 1-4 team has to quickly improve in several areas, but the defensive side of the ball is likely the top priority within TIAA Bank Field. 

By this point in a season, most teams simply have to make do with who they entered the season with. There is always free agency, waivers and the trade deadline, each of which the Jaguars have utilized to this point to bolster a defense that ranks last in DVOA and 24th in points per game allowed (29.4 ).

But there is also the internal route of improving a team by the quarter-pole of the season. As the season progresses, teams often shift reps away from one or more players and dividing them to others who are deserving of the increased opportunities and could potentially provide a spark.

For the Jaguars, there are two such players who are deserving of more opportunities: fourth-year defensive lineman Dawuane Smoot and fourth-year cornerback Sidney Jones.

Despite the Jaguars giving up 30+ points for the fourth consecutive game in a 30-14 Week 5 loss to the Houston Texans, the Jaguars saw Smoot and Jones both have breakout performances while stepping in for injured starters. Coincidentally, each belongs to position groups that have struggled mightily to start the season.

Smoot has had a rollercoaster tenure with the Jaguars since he was drafted in the third round in 2017. He didn't register a sack through the first two seasons of his career but he had a strong season in 2019 by finishing fourth on the team with 6.0 sacks. 

Now through five Weeks, Smoot has the second-best disruption stats on the team thanks to the best game of his career taking place in Houston. Getting an increase in snaps due to a knee injury to Josh Allen, Smoot recorded six pressures, one sack and one tackle for loss against the Texans, setting a career-high in pressures according to Pro Football Focus. He also deflected a Deshaun Watson pass, resulting in an interception by Jones before halftime.

"I really think he did a nice job. I thought that he disrupted the quarterback. I think he did a good job in the run game," head coach Doug Marrone said about Smoot on Monday. "I think that the snap count has gone up. I’ve seen him working hard in practice. He’s always been a hard worker and all he’s done is really just push for opportunities, so that’s something that’s going to help us. I thought he did a good job.

"I think you see a lot of these guys that are going in there and they’re playing and they’re doing things that are going to earn them more playing time. But I agree, I thought that was one of [Dawuane] Smoot’s better games, if not maybe one of his best games.”

Through five games, Smoot is now second on the Jaguars' defense in sacks (1) and pressures (11) according to PFF, while also being tied for the lead in tackles for loss (2). Smoot has done all of this while playing just 147 snaps, which is 45% of Jacksonville's defensive snaps this year. 

For comparison, Smoot has played fewer snaps this year than Adam Gotsis, Taven Bryan, DaVon Hamilton, Abry Jones and K'Lavon Chaisson, but he has so far outproduced each one of them. 

When Allen does return to Jacksonville's lineup, there is no real reason for Smoot to not still have an increased role. He could start across from Allen as the big end, but frankly he has been better as even a third-down defensive end than Chaisson has been thus far. The Jaguars invested a first-round pick in Chaisson, but Smoot is the better player right now and should be given more reps as a result. 

Considering the Jaguars are tied for last in the NFL with five sacks through five games, it would almost be malpractice to not turn to Smoot in at least the next few weeks to inject some life into a dead pass-rush.

As for Jones, he got his first extended chance to show the Jaguars what he could do on the boundary as a result of an injury to CJ Henderson. Couple this with nickel cornerback D.J. Hayden on injured reserve, and the Jaguars had to turn to Jones and rookie cornerback Chris Claybrooks against the Texans. 

Claybrooks would go on to struggle mightily, but Jones had arguably the best performance a Jaguars cornerback has had since Jalen Ramsey vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2018. 

It was even better than a dominant showing by A.J. Bouye against the Tennessee Titans in Week 3 in 2019, with Jones recording four pass deflections and one interception. One of those pass deflections set up a Jarrod Wilson interception, making Jones responsible for both of the Jaguars turnovers in Week 5. 

Against a Texans offense that saw Deshaun Watson throw for 359 yards and Brandin Cooks recording 161 receiving yards, Jones was the only real resistance the Jaguars had to offer. Jones was targeted seven times in coverage, allowing just two completions for 32 yards. 

When Watson targeted Jones, he had a passer rating of just 12.5. For comparison, Watson had a passer rating of 150.9 when targeting Tre Herndon and 153.3 when targeting Claybrooks. Claybrooks and Herndon allowed a combined 11 receptions on 14 targets for 203 yards and one touchdown, while Jones allowed a measly 32 yards.

An afterthought entering the season after a rough three years with the Eagles, the former second-round selection out of Washington proved he is deserving of more reps on defense even when Henderson returns. Jones has a small sample size, but he is currently the only cornerback on the roster allowing a passer rating below 100 this season.

"I think that it’s unfortunate; coming out of college, we all really liked him, obviously a lot of teams liked him. He went high in the draft and then he had an injury and sometimes when you have those injuries, it just takes a while to get back," Marrone said about Jones on Wednesday. 

"Even when he first came here, I don’t know if he was completely [healthy]. I don’t want to say that he was still injured. I just think the confidence that you need when you come back from an injury, especially when you’re a young football player like Sidney is. Then all of a sudden you see him moving better, you see him break, and you see him doing things, and you’re like, ‘Wow, this is great. I’m excited for him,’ and then to see him go on the field. I remember talking to him telling him how excited I was for him to go out there and be able to show what he can do because I’m sure he’s probably disappointed with the injury situation that happened earlier that he wasn’t able to go out there and perform at his highest level."

Will Jones be the starter in place of Chris Claybrooks this weekend against the Detroit Lions? Much like with Smoot, only time will tell. But much like Smoot, Jones got a big opportunity in Week 5 and absolutely crushed it. When you hear about players taking advantage of opportunities and creating a new path for themselves, those are the kind of performances you think of.

It makes even more sense to expand the role of each when you consider Jacksonville's pass-rush and secondary have been the two weakest areas of the team this season. Reinforcements aren't coming from elsewhere, so why not turn to internal options? That looks like the question the Jaguars are going to at least be asking themselves. 

"I think you saw what he has the ability to do. When you see someone go out there and perform like that and do a lot of really good things, obviously you’re going to look to him and say, ‘Hey listen, is he going to play more? What are we going to do?’ So we’ll work on that during the week," Marrone said about Jones. 

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John Shipley
JOHN SHIPLEY

John Shipley has been covering the Jacksonville Jaguars as a beat reporter and publisher of Jaguar Report since 2019. Previously, he covered UCF's undefeated season as a beat reporter for NSM.Today, covered high school prep sports in Central Florida, and covered local sports and news for the Palatka Daily News. Follow John Shipley on Twitter at @_john_shipley.

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