JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars entered the 2024 season with high hopes for their defensive front, headlined by Josh Hines-Allen, Travon Walker and the newly acquired Arik Amstead.
Unfortunately, those hopes would fail to be realized as the Jaguars’ defense and its pass-rush ranked near the bottom of the league in just about every category, according to NextGenStats.
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Throughout the duration of the season, the Jaguars collected just 186 pressures (28th) and 34 sacks (28th), a massive downgrade from the 251 pressures (10th) and 40 sacks (25th) of 2023.
Disappointingly, the 2024 Jaguars’ 28.3% pressure rate and 5.2% sack rate were even worse, both ranking 30th in the NFL. So what gives?
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In 2023, Josh-Hines-Allen and Travon Walker led the NFL with 27.5 sacks as both collected double-digit sacks. Hines-Allen even broke the single-season franchise record with 17.5 sacks.
Did Hines-Allen and Travon Walker regress? Well, not exactly. Hines-Allen might not have put up the same 17.5 sacks he did the year prior, but the star edge-rusher still collected 67 (9th) pressures, despite missing the season finale.
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Walker outperformed his sophomore season, putting up career highs in pressures (60) and sacks (10.5). The Jags were the only team with two defensive linemen inside the top 15 in pressures.
This is where it all starts to fall apart. Hines-Allen and Walker accounted for 68.3% of team pressures and 54.4% of team sacks, the most and second most of any duo. Simply put, they had no help from the interior or rotational players.
The Jaguars’ defensive scheme did them no favors either as the Jaguars ranked dead last in blitz % and 30th in stunt %. It was up to the Jaguars’ front to create their own pressure, without any help or creativity.
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The group just wasn’t good enough around Hines-Allen and Walker as the Jaguars’ defensive tackles ranked dead last in pressure %, according to Pro Football Focus.
Oh yeah, to make things even more difficult for a four-man rush, Walker was among the top 10 most chipped players of 2024, per Pro Football Focus.
Effectively, the defense was sending only four rushers, no stunts, the league’s worst interior pressure %, and a top-10 chipped edge-rusher in the NFL. Teams would have all day. It was a recipe for disaster and that is exactly what it turned out to be.
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