They turn their pass rush over to first round picks Josh Allen, K'lavon Chiasson, with Duwane Smoot, Cassius Marsh, Lerentee McCray, and Adam Gotsis. Their LB group will be led by Joe Schobert the longtime Browns starter who was solid in coverage, in 3-4 fronts I expect Allen and Chiasson at OLB, with Myles Jack kicking inside. They're clearly looking to be scheme versatile with Schobert, McCray, Gotsis, all having played in a 3-4, along with bringing in versatile players like Allen, Chiasson, and Marsh.
All together the defense added draft picks:
2019: 3 overall picks
1st round 7th overall LB/DE Josh Allen
3rd round 98th overall LB Quincy William's
7th round 235th overall DT Dontavius Russell
2020: 7 overall picks on defense
1st round pick 9th overall CB Cj Henderson-
1st round pick 20th overall DE/LB Klavon Chiasson
3rd round 73rd overall DT Davon Hamilton
4th round 137th overall CB Josiah Scott
4th round 140th overall LB Shaq Quarterman
5th round 157th overall Safety Daniel Thomas
7th round 223rd overall CB Chris Claybrooks
Free agent pickups over past two seasons still with team:
LB Joe Schobert
DE/LB Cassius Marsh
LB Dakota Allen
LB Joe Harris-Giles
DE Caraun Reed
DE Josh Maura
CB Rashaan Melvin
CB Brandon Watson
CB Parry Nickerson
DT Al Woods
DT Tim Jernigan
DT Carl Davis
As well as undrafted free agents:
DE Doug Costin
LB Nate Evans
CB Amari Henderson
CB Luq Barcoo
FS JR Reed
An unbelievable amount of turnover in just two seasons. A few starters remain on the roster but at this rate for how long? I am a fan of the roster they have built so quickly, I still think there are key weaknesses that will rear their ugly head this season, like their depth at CB, and starting strong safety, but we will see. I believe in Doug Marronne and think he is a good coach. Todd Wash is also an up and coming coordinator.
I also feel the roster they have built fits perfectly into their system. Primarily a 4-3 front, Wash comes from that Seattle scheme where they use what's called a LEO position. They also use a unique version of defense rather than moving players from position to position, each player plays a specific role. If you are the strong side defensive end or LB you will always react to the offense's formation and line up on the strong side and vice versa for the weak side defenders. Their LEO position is essentially a stand up defensive end, in the Jaguars case I believe that player to be Josh Allen. Allen is primarily a defensive end but his speed, and bend allow him to stand up and rush the passer when asked. With that being said I expect K'Lavon Chiasson to play strong side linebacker nearly fulltime with some time at defensive end as well but primarily in obvious passing situations. Adam Gotsis is the strong side defensive end tasked with trying to penetrate the o-line while keeping the tackle busy, I wouldnt be shocked to see Taven Bryan or Tim Jernigan play this role at times as well. This allows Myles Jack to play weak side backer, while Schobert lines up in the middle. The LB positions in this defense are key to its success but depend on their defensive tackles to hold up blocks, and for their 5 technique to take on double teams eating up 3 blockers on the line leaving their ends in 1 on 1 situations which tends to create more pressure. Their 5 techniques or nose tackles in this defense are Abry Jones, Davon Hamilton, and Doug Costin. These guys are very similar in play style, all of them stand 6'2 or so and 300+ pounds to help them eat up blockers on a play by play basis. In the 1 technique they have 2018 first round pick Taven Bryan, and former first round pick Tim Jernigan. Both of these players are faster and a bit smaller than their 5 tech counterparts are. This allows them to keep a tackle occupied if needed allowing their LEO rusher to get into the backfield nearly untouched. As you can begin to see this defense truly relies on its interior Linemen to create mismatches for their exterior players. This is a rather new defense that has begun to spread through the league but I expect Jacksonville to add some wrinkles you simply don't see elsewhere.
I expect to see a lot of 3-4 formations which actually is a fitting alignment for a team running a LEO defense in which their LEO is already essentially playing as an extra LB. With the players they have in the front 7 they are built to run either formation at a whim. This line brought in a few guys with prior 3-4 experience in Jernigan and Adam Gotsis. Gotsis played end in a 3-4 defense at 6'4 287 lbs closer to the size of a traditional defensive tackle in a 4-3. He is used to playing end in a 3-4 defense from his time in Denver, which aids this transition. If I had to guess Taven Bryan would kick out to end in the 3-4 alignment as well. This allows the Jags to kick both Jack and Schobert to ILB, while using Allen, Chiasson, Marsh, or Smoot at OLB depending on the situation. If it's a running situation I would expect them to trot out Smoot at one OLB spot, while Chiasson or Allen man the other. They could use Abry Jones, Taven Bryan, and Adam Gotsis asthe 3 down linemen in this formation.
Unfortunately the guy who kind of got put on the back burner after being a starter to this point is Dawuane Smoot. Smoot is a smaller defensive end, at 6'2 255 lbs he is either going to play in the LEO position despite a lack of top end speed, or bulk up and play strong side end behind Gotsis. In 2019 Smoot finally became a starter after being drafted in the 3rd round just a couple years before. He responded with 6 sacks. He could be an extremely valuable depth player at either of these positions but I would lean toward making him a strong side end behind Gotsis so bigger tackles aren't sliding over to play this role too often.
I honestly think this defense will be vastly improved in 2020, but still have pieces they need to add in order to push them into the top 10 in the league.
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