Jaguars Mid-Season Report Card: Defensive Line

We're at the mid-way point through the season and the Jacksonville Jaguars bye week falls right in the middle of the season. That's a good spot for the bye in my opinion because I think you've got a really good gauge as to where the team is at and projected where they'll go in the final eight games. We'll look at some of the units and grade how they've done through the first eight games and we'll use ProFootballFocus for a frame of reference. Next, we'll look at the Jaguars defensive line.

The Jaguars pass rush has improved the last two seasons, but last year's improvement was more do to just being better than terrible. This seen the team does have some semblance of a pass rush thanks to guys like Mincey and Chick. Chick as been a great find and I'm still trying to figure out why the Colts expected him to be safe on their practice squad. According to PFF, Chick has rushed the passer just 96 times this season and he's second on the team in pressures. Chick will be someone to keep an eye on in the second half of the season.

Another player to keep an eye on is defensive lineman Tyson Alualu. According to PFF, he's the Jaguars worst defensive lineman by far. In my opinion, Alualu has played fine, but it's clear he's playing injured. He has a knee issues that he'll likely need to get cleaned up in the offseason, but I wouldn't categorize his play as bad.

Jeremy Mincey, who's in a contract year, has been graded out by PFF as the Jaguars best defensive lineman overall. It will be interesting to see if Mincey is re-signed mid-season and how much the Jaguars extend to him.