Jaguars rookie rundown: Week 5 review

DUUUVVAAAAL!

Coming off a win against the Atlanta Falcons, the Jacksonville Jaguars stayed overseas to take on the Buffalo Bills in London. Entering the game, the Jags were generally expected to lose to what has been a top-3 team in the NFL this season. However, Trevor Lawrence, Calvin Ridley, Travis Etienne, and the Jags Defense put the team on their back to pull out the W. Still, though both the offense and defense had bright spots throughout the day, the Jags rookies were not a part of that.

Notable Performers:

Anton Harrison: After a solid game against the Falcons, during which Harrison logged zero official pressures, he had a rough game against the Bills, highlighted by two first-half penalties that cost the Jags 41 yards (including penalty yards) and killed two promising starts to Jags drives. He was similarly abysmal in pass protection, logging four pressures and a sack allowed. He lost an additional four pass-rushing reps, saved only by Trevor Lawrence’s quick release. He was little better in the run game with eight negatively graded run blocks. He finished the day with a meager 46.5 PFF grade, good for second lowest on the team.

Grade: F

Tank Bigsby:

Grade: Who logged the lowest PFF grade, you ask? That honor belongs to Tank Bigsby, whose role has continued to diminish week after week. While Etienne’s excellent performance is certainly a part of this, Bigsby’s 3 carries for 8 yards in Week 5 and struggles in blocking, good for a 40.1 PFF grade, certainly don’t help. It’d be nice to see some of that juice he demonstrated in the preseason.

Grade: D

Other Rookie Performances:

Brenton Strange: Brenton Strange continues to establish himself as the lowest TE on the totem pole and bolster his status as a huge reach in the 2nd round. He made a quick impact, albeit a negative one, with a false start that moved the Jags from 3rd and 1 to 3rd and 6, early in the game. He redeemed what would otherwise be a pitiful performance with a key block on Travis Etienne’s 4th quarter TD scamper. Still, the Jags need to see more from him, plain and simple.

Grade: C-

Yasir Abdullah: Abdullah logged only 4 snaps on the day, however he made the most of it with 1 pressure with a QB hit. Abdullah continues to see a decrease in snap count despite logging multiple pressures on limited snaps this year. It will be interesting to see if he takes over snaps from less effective rushers *cough* Chaisson *cough* as the season unfolds.

Grade: B

Tyler Lacy: Lacy had 1 tackle on 8 snaps on Sunday. Not much else to say other than DaVon Hamilton will be a welcome addition.

Grade: C

The Rest:

Parker Washington was placed on IR, and Antonio Johnson was completely absent from the stat sheet despite being active for the first time this year. Christian Braswell and Elijah Cooks were both healthy but didn’t receive any playing time.

Summary:

On the bright side, GO JAGS!! In the battle of the Josh Allens, the Jags asserted their dominance to go 2-0 against the Bills during the last couple of years. On the flip side, the Jaguars rookies are not particularly contributing much to these wins (though one could make a moderate case for Anton Harrison in Week 4). If anything, the lack of consistent positive impact from any of our 13 (!) draft picks is holding this team back. Though Jags are now above .500, we will need our rookies to show up if we hope to play and compete in the postseason.

Duval, what are your thoughts on this year’s rookie class? Let us know in the comments!