Over the course of the next few weeks I'm going to look at the Jaguars with contracts expiring at the end of the 2011 league year in March.
Leger Douzable came to the Jaguars at the beginning of the 2010 training camp after being released by the Lions. Prior to his short time with the Lions he spent the majority of the 2009 season on the Rams practice squad and the majority of the 2008 season on the Giants practice squad.
After coming into the league as a defensive tackle and even spending most of his two seasons with the Jaguars at tackle, he was recently moved to defensive end to start in the place of the injured Matt Roth. During his six starts at defensive end, Douzable did relatively well and may have earned a new contract with the Jaguars.
While Douzable wasn't the best pass rusher recording one sack in his six games, as a coverted defensive tackle that's not particularly surprising. While Douzable is 11 pounds lighter than he was at his UCF pro day back in 2008, he's still a heavy 284 pounds on a 6'4 frame. For comparison's sake, Jeremy Mincey is 270 pounds at 6'3 and John Chick is just 248 at 6'3.
As a run stopper, Douzable was a very solid piece on the Jaguars defensive line at the end of the season after serving as a strong rotational player earlier in the year.
Perhaps with a new role at defensive end, Douzable will continue to slim down and shape himself into an every down defensive end. Regardless whether he does or not, he has been an ascending player and he could be a player that the Jaguars could consider signing to another contract to keep on a defensive line that was decimated by injuries in 2011.