One of the more critical decisions the Jaguars have to make during the preseason is the rotation in the defensive backfield.  The Jaguars have a curse of riches when it comes to their cornerbacks and safties, which is a nice change of pace from the injury riddled secondary of last season.  When the Jaguars acquired Drayton Florence in free agency, the team faced the issue of where exactly to play Brian Williams and how Gerald Sensabaugh would fit into the scheme.

Well, wonder no more, Jack Del Rio announced how it will work, and despite it's obviousness, still raises questions about who should really be the starter at Strong Safety. 

When the team is in the nickel defense, Del Rio said that Sensabaugh will play safety, and Brian Williams will be the nickel back. In the base defense, Williams will start at safety, and Sensabaugh will be on the sidelines.

I spoke with Charlie of JagNation last night on their Radio Show about the issue of having Sensabaugh as a situational player when he might be a better pure strong safety than Williams.  One concern is that we have Gerald who is a known quantity as a hard-hitting safety, especially against a running back.  Brian Williams, while not as a Safety, has been pushed aside and stiff armed away from the tackle quite a few times, especially against Willie Parker of the Steelers.  If a running back breaks past the linebackers and has one person between him and the end zone, who do you really want to square up and make the tackle?

For me, the answer is Gerald Sensabaugh.  I've seen so far in training camp and preseason that he's fully recovered from his surgeries and is ready to get out there and lay the wood, so to speak.  Brian Williams as a cover safety gives me no worries, but on an expected running play, as our base defense will cover, B-dub might be a liability.

On the flip side, I'm tremendously excited about what the Nickel package will look like.  That's a bunch of good cover guys, hopefully enough to give Manning and Brady fits.  Sure, Brian might be better on the outside rather than in the nickel corner position, but the trio of Florence, Mathis, and Williams is pretty stout.

Having Gerald at Strong Safety in the 3 CB defense helps reinforce against a play-action run, which is reassuring.  I do have questions about the decision though.  Is this a true "Brian Williams is a better Strong Safety than Gerald" arrangement, or is there the obvious factor that Williams is due to make significantly more money than Sensabaugh and the talent factor comes second.

I've got no doubt that Williams will be a good SS, I just wonder if Gerald is the better choice.

Your Thoughts?

-Chris

  VERSUS  

Williams and Sensabaugh: Two starters, one spot at safety

What happens when you have too many starters in the secondary?  Does a team choose to bump an up-and-coming safety because they have an extra cornerback that could make the position switch?  This is the problem the Jaguars face when they look at strong safety for the 2008 season.  The Jaguars, without a doubt, suffered from a troubling problem at pass defense.  Rashean Mathis struggled all season long, Brian Williams was the best cornerback on the team, despite not being able to cover Reggie Wayne to save his life, and the Jaguars were picked apart by Tom Brady and the Patriots in the playoffs.

To address this, the Jaguars signed Drayton Florence through free agency, and seemed to have handed him the starting job opposite Mathis.  Some speculated that Florence would be a nickel cornerback, considering that the Jaguars use nearly 50% three cornerback formations, but 12 million in guaranteed money for a situational player is impossible to justify.  No, the Jaguars decided then and there that Florence would be the starting cornerback unless there was a huge shake-up at the position.

Now, there's nothing wrong in having three starting cornerbacks in today's NFL. Passing is king and having guys who can cover the best in the league, which means guys in the AFC, are worth the contracts.  The problem comes in finding ways to put the best players on the field at the same time.  When you start having your better players on the sidelines but eating up contract space, you're bound to have trouble.

So what do the Jaguars do?  The obvious solution is to move Brian Williams to Strong Safety where he has some experience and can still be involved in the pass defense.  But then there's Gerald Sensabaugh who despite showing great toughness, missed most of last season with two torn labrums.  Now he's healthy and expecting to compete for the starting role.  It's a wealth of riches, but a situation that deserves a closer look.  Thankfully, once we get to training camp, it'll be a battle that's easy to watch.

Gerald Sensabaugh: The Best Fit

There's some misleading stuff being said about Brian Williams' ability to transition from cornerback to strong safety, particulary in the role of run-stuffing.  Vic Ketchman and others have compared Brian to Indianapolis Safety Bob Sanders, a comparison which is both misleading and dangerous.

Does Brian Williams' body type remind you of any other safety in the NFL right now?

Vic: He’s got the classic body type of a run-support safety. He’s a bigger version of Bob Sanders.

While their body type might match up, it's setting an unrealistic expectation to assume that Williams can come in and be anywhere near the player that Bob Sanders is to the Colts defense.  Brian is best in pass coverage, that's his bread and butter, and expecting him to come right in and put his shoulder down and stop a running back at fill speed with the lack of regard to his body like strong safety should is premature. 

Yes, Williams is solid, but that does not make him a safety, yet.

Now, there are plenty of reasons why Brian Williams will start at Safety, but none of them reflect the skills and toughness of Gerald Sensabaugh.  While he is less proven, Gerald can do the run stuffing that he's supposed to at the position.  His toughness is without question, and now he's facing the biggest challenge of his career.

Unfortunately for Gerald, he's competing against a rough situation.

I intended to write a defense for why Gerald should be the starter, but that's not terribly realistic.  Instead, here's what we should expect between the two players.  The Jaguars are going to run a whole lot of nickel packages.  When they use three cornerbacks, Mathis and Williams go on the outside, Florence covers the slot receiver. Gerald will play strong safety, and Reggie Nelson the free safety.  In situations that have the Jaguars in their base 4-3, it will be Mathis and Florence on the edges, with Williams at strong safety next to Nelson.

Now, the nickel defense will be awfully intimidating for quarterbacks in the AFC, especially when Gregg Williams turns players like Reggie Nelson into guided quarterback missiles, and you can do things like that when you have a fleet of cornerbacks.

Gerald Sensabaugh is a free agent next season.  This training camp is critical for him to prove that he deserves to be a big part of the Jaguars rotation.  The way he becomes the starting strong safety is to prove that he is a 100% of the time tackler in the run game and hope that Williams struggles. 

In a lot of ways, the term "starter" is silly to worry about.  Maurice Jones-Drew is not technically a starter, yet his importance to the offense is without question.  The same goes for Gerald.  The odds of him securing a starting spot in the secondary is slim, but he'll still play a huge role in the defense.  It feels unfair, of course, that a guy who's put his body on the line loses out on playing time because of something outside his control, but at the same time, this is what the Jaguars defense should be.  It's a group of hard working players that know their role and they execute it perfectly.  Gerald Sensabaugh will be one of those guys who will miss out on having his name called out during introductions but will play his way onto the field. 

The likelyhood of the Jaguars making it the entire season without an injury to a cornerback is very low.  Should we lose Drayton or Rashean for a game or two, having a secondary with this much flexiblity is fantastic.  Even if it means some players have to sit on the sidelines.

-Chris

Brian Williams: Best Athlete Available

Brian Williams was signed before the 2006 season from the Minnesota Vikings who drafted him in 2002 in the 4th round. He was their transition player in 2006, which means they received no additional compensation from the Jaguars. He got a $32 million contract with a $10 million signing bonus to be the #2 cornerback, a role he filled admirably for two years. In fact, he was more consistent than Mathis was last season, although Mathis was hampered by injuries most of the year.

Now, Williams is a 29-year old veteran who has had to change his role to suit a more pass-oriented defense. The Jaguars have clearly set their mind to stopping the pass, and moving Williams to SS will do just that. Williams is an excellent tackler, but he's a better corner. I think Sensabaugh has the edge in run stopping, but I'll have to see his two re-constructed shoulders in action first to be sure. I just don't see the comparisons to Bob Smith being accurate; Williams isn't anywhere close to Smith in skill at safety. Smith has been there his whole career, giving him a huge edge. Williams is going to act more like a 3rd DB or a blitzing SS, I just can't see him projected as a line stuffer.

Williams clearly improved from his first year with the Jags in 2006 by netting 3 interceptions and defending 8 passes in 2007. Williams is also known as a devastating hitter for a corner, forcing 8 fumbles in his career. However, it must be noted that tackling a WR is different from taking down a charging RB after shedding his lead blocker's attempt to relocate your head. I see Williams being a liability in the run game, but I must stress that I don't see him being used that way. He'll be on the line mainly when blitzing, or in press coverage, but I expect his main focus will be in the passing game. The Jags tipped their hand slightly when they said they were considering placing the defensive headset in the SS helmet because it would receive less contact. That shows that the SS will be used in pass coverage more than run stopping.

Brian has been seeking advice about his new position from an unlikely source, second year safety Reggie Nelson. Nelson has a strong grasp of the defense and the fact that a 7th year veteran is asking his opinion speaks volumes to how far Nelson has progressed.

Want another sign of Nelson's development?

He has become one of the go-to guys for veteran Brian Williams, who is making the switch from cornerback to safety.

"He's loving it back there," Nelson said. "It's kind of funny because last year, I was asking him questions. Now, he's asking me questions about safety. I'm enjoying it. It's going good."

Donnie Henderson has also provided a new level of insight. His shouting is accompanied by a vast pool of knowledge that he's been able to impart to many in the secondary.

Nelson is enjoying playing for Henderson, who is much more vocal than former defensive backs coach Dave Campo, and in Nelson's words, has been giving the defensive backs more keys to hone in on from opposing offenses than the players have gotten in the past.

Our secondary should be the class of the defense this year; the team clearly sees enough in Gerald Sensabaugh to have kept him around despite him needing multiple surgeries. If he can prove himself in pass coverage, he may eventually supplant Williams for the starting role at SS. I don't see it happening ever, and defiantly not this season. Brian is too skilled against the pass to sit on the bench; he's got a nose for the ball and could easily blanket a TE or slot WR in coverage. One thing's for sure, the days of Sammy Knight getting burned by 260 lb TE's are over.

Brian has only had one off the field issue since joining the Jaguars. He was arrested for a DUI and was accused of going all "George Jefferson" (Brian's words) on the cop. However, it is looking more and more like the cop who filed the report was lying about Williams' rant. During the trial there were numerous witnesses, both from the state and the defense, who corroborated Williams' testimony and destroyed the credibility of the arresting cop and his story.

"If Mr. Williams had been being loud and profane, Officer Thiem certainly would have seen that. I think that brings into question all of Officer Bridges' testimony," Greene said. "The breath test operator also testified that Mr. Williams was completely polite, cooperative."

A Jacksonville police officer who encountered Jaguars defensive back Brian Williams during his 2006 drunken driving arrest testified he heard Williams being loud but didn't hear a profane, sexually charged rant like the arresting officer reported.

A jail officer also described Williams as cooperative and "very polite," according to a transcript of a driver's license hearing a month after the arrest. A copy of the transcript was obtained  by the Times-Union.

Cheers to Brian Williams! He's cleared his name, made a position switch, and has entrenched himself as a proven NFL veteran. Look for Williams to make a big impact in 2008; he's got a better coach, no off the field distractions, and an amazing secondary to work with.

-Collin

We Debate, You decide:

Who wins the "starting battle"?  Who starts at cornerback?  Will this group do better than last season?  These are the questions we'd like you to answer in the comments.

Quick Bytes: The daily digest of everything you need to know about the Jacksonville Jaguars (and other things).

:  I participated in two podcasts this week.  First, the great guys at Football Guys had me on to talk about the Jaguars. (of course).  Thanks again to Cecil and Sigmund for having me on.  You can download the podcast here .

:  If you liked that, you'll love the full hour I did with JagNation last night on their weekly talk show.  Charlie Bernstein, Alfie, and myself debate and discuss just about everything you can think of about our Jaguars.  I won't toot my own horn here, but I think this is a pretty good show.  Download it here for your  listening pleasure!

: The Wide Receiver picture might have gotten a little more clear today.  Mike Walker was cleared by the medical staff to practice!  He even came back a day earlier than he planned.  Director of Scouting Gene Smith had this to say:

“He made a nice first-day impression. He looked both fast and quick. That’s a good sign for where he’s at. The one thing about Mike is he has a nice catching radius. Everything looks easy,” Smith said. “I think Mike can be as good as he decides to be, if he sustains his health.

OTA Report 6.3 and 6.4:

: David Garrard is getting ready to put on a show for the Jaguars fans this weekend.  Monday and Tuesday's OTA's were, according to Vic Ketchman, "fantastic".  He's "relaxed, throwing with ease" and most importantly, doing what star starting quarterbacks do.  He's going to show the fans and the media that he's worth every penny.

: D.D Terry had a day of ups and downs.  He's showing quickness and power in a third-down running back sort of way.  Unfortunately, there's not much of a chance he'd see any time in the regular season in that role, but there's nothing wrong with developing some future talent.  Terry put himself in a bad spot by missreading a blocking assignment and fumbling a ball.   Remember, the Jaguars have a tight competition for the final RB spot, so one fumble, one missed assignment, and it's game over.

: Gregg Williams is giving a variety of defensive looks on every single snap.  It's so intense that it's hard to measure the progress of Cleo Lemon and Paul Smith because of all the zone blitzing, safety blitzes, corner blitzes, etc.  Williams is going to make sure that our quarterbacks are never surprised by anything. 

: Reggie Williams, who I've heard very little about so far this OTA season, is looking "like a polished veteran receiver".  I want nothing more than to see Reggie prove to the world that 10 touchdowns was anything other than a fluke season.

: Safety Jammal Fudge is back from Clemson after finishing classes!

: Gerald Sensabaugh is not accepting that Brian Williams took his starting spot lightly.  Gerald deflected a few passes and looks completely recovered from his injured shoulders.

: Paul Smith is looking like a rookie quarterback, moments of brilliance, moments of frustration.  Pay attention to #12 at Minicamp.

That's all for now.  More exciting things coming down the pipeline!

-Chris

Contrary to other reports , the Jacksonville Jaguars have used the 2008 offseason to announce to the division that they are the team to beat in the AFC South.  While the Indianapolis Colts deserve the respect due to a six-time division winner, there is no reason to assume that the reigning champs have done enough to hold their position at the top of the South.

Yes, this article intended as a bit of Counter Battery fire toward my good friend and Indianapolis Colts writer over at Stampede Blue.  Big Blue Shoe, as he calls himself, delights in mocking our Jaguars whenever possible, in what can only be a defense mechanism to the pain and suffering that Jacksonville is going to give their team in 2008. 

And we can forgive him, it's merely one step in the Kubler-Ross "Stages of Grief ": In this case, our fellow Colts fans are deeply in denial of the changes and progress made by the Jaguars during this offseason.  Denial manifests itself in peculiar ways in a fanbase,  the Colts will find their evidence in attacking statistics from last season that make the Jaguars look like an Arena League team and hope that the trend continues.

Specifically:

Now before I get flamed, hear me out. The Jaguars are a very good team at shutting down an opponents running game. However, against the pass, the Jaguars flat out suck. They can't pressure the QB and their secondary is highly suspect. The Jaguars defense in 2007 allowed opposing playoff QBs to complete 78% of their passes for 599 yards, 5 TDs and 2 INTs.

In the modern NFL, that is a sucky defense.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is simply no way the Jacksonville Jaguars field anywhere close to that poor of a pass defense in 2008.  The Jaguars secondary in 2007 featured a rookie tossed into the starting role with Reggie Nelson,  a 33 year old Sammy Knight playing a fill-in role with Gerald Sensabaugh on Injured Reserve, an Injured Rashean Mathis, and a healthy but out-of-position Brian Williams rounding out the starters. 

Secondary Concerns:

There was a reason that Sammy Knight often led the team in tackles week in and week out, that's because he could not cover a tight end to save his life and would get targeted every single week.  That the Jaguars held together any sort of defense with his inability to cover is still remarkable.  Sammy Knight is now a New York Giant, and we won't have to worry about him again.

In his place the Jaguars will feature Brian Williams, a former Cornerback that is a natural at Safety.  In fact, he's a bigger version of the Colts safety Bob Sanders.  Williams is going to move to Strong Safety and be used all over the field by Gregg Williams, both in run support and in pass coverage.  Where tight ends ran right by Sammy and were wide open, they'll have a guy that shut down Randy Moss running side by side.

Let's not also forget that our Free Safety, Reggie Nelson, will have another year under his belt.  Gregg Williams and Donnie Henderson will demand that Reggie steps up the intellectual side of his game, especially considering that he'll be playing a lot more center field with the Jaguars likely emphasis on pressuring the quarterback.

Finally, add in a healthy Gerald Sensabaugh, who struggled in September because he was playing with a torn labrum, and went on injured reserve when he tore the other one, and Florence/Mathis on the outside, and you've got a recipe for a huge improvement in our secondary.

The Quarterback must go down, and he must go down hard:

Before we discuss our changes at defensive end, lets take a moment consider the messages sent from the front office about our defensive line.  The Jaguars, I will admit, have made mistakes with their draft picks.  Where they are batting .1000 are in resigning and extending their players. You simply do not hear about the Jaguars offering their players big extensions and then having the player fail to perform.  The Jaguars sent Marcus Stroud to Buffalo and extended the contracts of Rob Meier and Tony McDaniel, both of which will be critical in the new "Teal Curtain".  It's to be expected that the Colts disregard Tony McDaniel as a threat, they've never really seen him.  Let's just say that Peyton Manning will have a 6-7, 310lb beast in the middle, just like Stroud used to be.

The outside, of course, is going to be manned on occasion by the rookies, Derrek Harvey and Quentin Groves.  It's completely fair to assume that because they are first year players that their impact will be minimal.  The problem with that reasoning is that both of these players will be used as pass rushers, an area where physical gifts are more important than experience.  When Quentin Groves takes the field on 3rd and 7, it will not be terribly hard for him to figure out what he's supposed to do.  Harvey has it a little tougher, as you'll see him playing the run and the pass more frequently.

In either case, it's not as though they'll be all alone on the ends.  Reggie Hayward will be two years removed from his injury, Paul Spicer will eventually be extended, and the group will have a good shot at being this years New York Giants in regards to attacking the quarterback.

Absolute Nonsense:

I hate to nitpick, but this is the most deranged thing I've ever read:

There is not one single area where Jacksonville is "better" than Indy. Maybe their special teams coverage units. Maybe. Everything else is a clear advantage for the Colts. Indy's QB, WRs, o-line, d-line, TEs, CBs, safeties, LBers, kicker, and punter are all better than Jacksonville's. Even the running back position favors Indy.

I'll grant Quarterback, I'll even concede the offensive line and Tight Ends.  But to say that the Colts have better Linebackers, Defensive Line, and Secondary than the Jaguars is an ignorant statement.  The Jaguars use their linebackers a little differently than the Colts do in the "Dungy 2", and really can't be compared directly.  The combination of Durrant, Ingram, Peterson, and Smith give the Jaguars three guys who can play every combination of linebacker spots, the speed to play sideline to sideline, and a nasty hard hitting attitude.  I'd take our bench linebacker over any of the Colts starters.  Remember, the biggest knock on the Jaguars pass rushers is that they're young.  None of our guys are coming off of a Lis Franc, like Mr. Freeney.

And the Running Backs?  Are you serious?  I don't care who the third and fourth running backs are on the Colts roster, Fred and Maurice are enough to do the trick.  Call me crazy, but were something terrible to happen, Greg Jones would surprise a lot of people with his ability to run the ball. 

It is absolute absurdity to assume that a team is completely and utterly the master of another.  The Jacksonville Jaguars of 2008 will be unlike any the Colts have ever seen.  While it's easy to write the team off because they've not proved anything on the field yet, the Jaguars have made all the right moves to overtake the Colts in the AFC South.

Enjoy the Homerism for now Indy, in a few months we'll give you a reality check...

-Chris

Quick Bytes: The daily digest of everything you need to know about the Jacksonville Jaguars (and other things).

:  Monday's OTA:

• Key Injuries: DE Brian Smith and WR Mike Walker are were both sidelined.  Walker is clearly on an intentionally slow recovery.  Better to let him ease through the summer rather than send him to camp injured.
•  Brian Smith, on the other hand, will not be a Jaguar on September first.  His injury is simply too nagging and will not allow him a chance to even try out for the roster.  The Jaguars took a risk on Smith and missed.  With all the competition on our roster, it'd be foolish to deny someone who can prove themselves a spot on the team or practice squad for an unknown quantity in Smith.  He clearly wants to play, but his body won't let him.
• Defensive End Reggie Hayward was absent from both OTA's so far this week for reasons unknown.  He is expected to practice on Thursday (today), so I assume this a no-news equals good news event.
•  The Wide Receiver battle of Troy Williamson and John Broussard is proceding as predicted.  Both are competing for the same "fast deep threat" role in the offense, and both are making impressive catches.  Yes, Troy Williamson is catching the ball.
• QB Todd Bouman, according to Vic Ketchman, has the most impressive arm so far in camp.  Though Garrard looked his best so far on Monday.  Bouman is locked into an epic battle with UDFA Paul Smith for the "number three" QB spot.  I can tell you for a fact that this is a battle that the coaches want Paul Smith to win, but Bouman will not go down without a fight.
• Each observer of the OTA's has commented on how quick Quentin Groves is looking so far.  Certainly, everyone looks fast when they're in t-shirts and there is no real contact, but it's a very positive sign.  Quentin is very excited about being a defensive end, which is also uplifting.
• Matt Jones had a very bad practice on Thursday, which led to his lack of reps on Monday and Tuesday.  There is something afoot between the Jaguars and Matt Jones right now, and it isn't good for either one.  More on this later.
• Donnie Henderson is a very vocal coach.  If it makes our secondary stronger, yell away. 
  

: Tuesday's OTA

• The "starting DE's" with Hayward and Spicer absent are James Wyche and Kenny Pettway.  This is a good time for both of them to be impressive, as they're competing the fifth spot in the rotation, presuming of course that Hayward, Spicer, Harvey and Groves make the team. 
• Something to watch: DE/DPR Brent Hawkins took some reps at linebacker, as well as at DE.  Hawkins needs to prove himself as useful as possible, considering the crowd at both DE and LB
  
• Brian Williams, as usual, was the starting strong safety.  Shame on you Vic Ketchman for being all wishy washy about Williams move to safety, then mocking the fans for not seeing the obviousness of the move.  It was you, good sir, that put the doubt in our minds.  The Collective Fanbase saw the Florence Signing as the writing on the wall for the move, your resistance toward confirming that was silly and should not entitle you to mocking us. 
• Matt Jones caught a pass.  At this point, this is news

• Jerry Porter has some sort of Achilles strain that is having him iced up rather than on the field.  Nothing to worry about, he's probably working a little harder than he should to make an impression with the team. 
  
• Chauncey Washington and D.D. Terry are having a bit of a competition for a backup running back spot.  Word on the street is that the coaches are very happy with Terry. 
• Vince Manuwai has moved from left guard to right guard, putting him next to Tony Pashos on the line.  The Jaguars are going to have a whole lot of big runs to the right side with the two of them run blocking.
  

Hopefully we'll have more updates as the Thursday Morning OTA concludes!

-Chris