JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars’ defense is in an interesting place entering their post-bye stretch.
After a dominant first month fueled by turnovers and big plays, the Jaguars’ defense ranked No. 29 in EPA/Play and success rate from Weeks 5-7 as they allowed explosive play after explosive play to the likes of the Kansas City Chiefs, Seattle Seahawks, and the Los Angeles Rams.
So, how can the Jaguars turn their defense around and get back on track in Week 9 vs. the Las Vegas Raiders? It will take improvement from several groups, but especially this key unit.
Amongst the position groups that need to see an uptick in production is the defensive tackle room. Through seven games, the Jaguars’ defensive tackle unit of Maason Smith, Arik Armstead, DaVon Hamilton, Austin Johnson, and Khalen Saunders have combined for 3.5 sacks, four tackles for loss, and seven quarterback hits.
Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile walks off the field to be interviewed by media members after an NFL training camp session at the Miller Electric Center, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025 in Jacksonville, Fla. / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
“We need to—we’ve looked at, okay, how do we help them on early downs create more of an edge and get some favorable matchups. We’ve looked at in the known passing situations where we put in these guys and how can we put them in better positions to be successful and get more ops on the quarterback,” Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said on Monday.
“And also, those guys have got to continue to do it on their own as well. If you’re going to rush with some four, well we’ve got to go win and so we’re going to make an emphasis of it and continue to coach the heck out of it. But we did do a little bit of think tanking as a staff over the week on how we can do that and creating our angles and matchups and also being able to, in base defense, how are we moving some of these pieces around in order to give us favorable matchups on who we think we can win on versus the O-line.”
Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile during an NFL scrimmage event at EverBank Stadium, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Armstead has collected the vast majority of the production amongst the interior group thus far. If the Jaguars are going to make noise over the next 10 weeks, he will need some help sooner than later.
Jacksonville Jaguars Defensive Coordinator Anthony Campanile answers questions after the Jaguars 14th NFL training camp session at Miller Electric Center Tuesday August 12, 2025 in Jacksonville, Fla. The Jaguars travel to New Orleans to play the Saints this Sunday in their second preseason game. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union] / Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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