Jacksonville Jaguars 2022 Positional Review: Defensive line

As Jacksonville Jaguars fans start gearing up for the heart of the 2022 NFL offseason now that the NFL Draft has concluded and for the most part free agency is done, we can start taking a look at the team’s positional groups and what to keep an eye out for in training camp and the preseason. The Jaguars offseason OTA workouts took place May 23rd and 24th, May 26th, May 31st and June 1st, June 3rd and then end with a session from June 6th through Junes 9th. Now the team will have a mandatory mini-camp from June 13th through the 15th with the official start of training camp shortly after that, which will be taking place at Episcopal High School in Jacksonville, due to the construction at the team’s practice facility, which will not be completed until 2023.

Moving into looking at the position groups we will take a look at a potentially upgraded unit, defensive line.

Expected Starters: Foley Fatukasi, Malcolm Brown, Roy Robertson-Harris

The starting defensive line is a bit tough for me to think of, since the team is probably running a 3-4 base but they also are probably going to mix in some flexible fronts. I think clearly RRH and Fatu are going to be your two definite starters on the three man defensive line. Malcolm Brown is kind of the question mark and really depends on what they want at the defensive end spot.

Expected Backups: DaVon Hamilton, Dawuane Smoot, Adam Gotsis, Jay Tufele, Raequan Williams, Jeremiah Ledbetter, De’Shaan Dixon, Arden Key.

The backups here is a bit of a mixed bag, as I think some of these players are listed as “defensive end” on the Jaguars roster list, but clearly are going to be either a stand up pass rusher or a pure pass rush specialist such as Arden Key. Someone like Smoot however, is likely to play a bit of both linebacker and down end in packages.