Will Todd Wash make a difference for Jaguars defense?

One of the most talked about stories of the offseason was what the Jacksonville Jaguars would be doing at the defensive coordinator position. When the Jaguars fired Bob Babich, there was some hope the Jaguars could make a real marquee hire at the coordinator position, but as the search went on it seemed clear that the intention all along was to promote defensive line coach Todd Wash from within. That’s not meant at a slight to Wash either, because he is highly thought of.

The real question is however, how much of a difference is it going to make?

A big issue for the Jaguars defense the past two seasons was the seemed to lack the ability to adjust their scheme to fit what they had and instead insisted on trying to do the same thing over and over with no avail. That includes things like sending pressure with blitzes and extra bodies, but when the team finally decided to do that more consistently later in the season, it was clear that guys weren’t accustomed to it and it often didn’t work and left the defense more exposed.

A lot of that seemed to fall at former defensive coordinator Bob Babich, especially if you read between the lines at Todd Wash’s introductory press conference as defensive coordinator.

Wash is thought to be more aggressive as a play caller and in his ideas/plans for the defense. He was given more responsibility this past season as the run game coordinator and seemed to excel in that role, so the hope is there that given an expanded role he can bring some new ideas that may have not been utilized previously under Babich. I don’t know that that was the case, but there had to be a reason the Jaguars previously didn’t try to adapt their scheme to the players they had on the roster.

If Wash does plan to me more aggressive bringing pressure with the defense, he should have quite a few new toys to play with, so to speak, thanks to free agency and the NFL Draft. The talent focus is clearly going to be on the defensive side and some fresh ideas from Wash could be just what the defense needed.