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With the addition of Kyle Love the Jaguars now have 17 defensive lineman on the roster, which is a unit the team needed to make upgrades on. Love will likely play the nose tackle role for the Jaguars defense, as head coach Gus Bradley liked to use something called the "one-shade" at one of the interior defensive line positions, a variation of a nose tackle or the one-technique.
The "one-shade", which is the one-technique playing the gap between the center and the guard, but shaded more towards the center. It's similar to what Brandon Mebane did in Seattle's defense, which essentially allowed him to two-gap from that position and soak up blockers.
"He does a nice job on tape, I thought, for what we're going to ask him to do," Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley told reporters. "We're going to try him out at some different spots but I think it's just another creating and adding competition to that whole group."
In New England, Love often lined up next to Vince Wilfork, arguably the best interior lineman in the game, and he would play a similar role. Lining up at times as the shaded nose, even with Wilfork lining up heads up on the opposing team's center, such as this third-and-one play against the San Francisco 49ers.
In the play above, you can see Love lined up at the one-shade with Wilfork at the zero-technique (right over the center) and new Jaguar Brandon Deaderick lined up at the five-technique. On the play, Love stands up No. 77 while Wilfork collapses the interior of the line and the run results in no gain, because Love holds his position and fills the gap the running back tries to go through.
Love should play the same type of role for the Jaguars going forward and should compete with Roy Miller for a starting position. If Love doesn't start, barring he's healthy, he should be in heavy rotation on the defense.
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