The Jacksonville Jaguars secondary shakeup

The Jacksonville Jaguars have significantly altered the look of their secondary through free agency and we may see a much improved unit as a result.

Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union recently did an interesting post on whether James Sample will be the starting strong safety by the time the season rolls around. This would require Sample, a second-year player with limited experience due to injury, unseating a player who was considered a near lock for the position because he’s been there since 2013, his rookie season.

If that is the case (which is fun to think about) and the excitement over Sample really does result in Cyprien losing his job, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ secondary will be almost completely different from the year before.

With the additions of free safety Tashaun Gipson (replacing Sergio Brown), cornerback Prince Amukamara (replacing Aaron Colvin on the outside, who will then move to nickel), and the possible Sample-Cyprien swap, the only starting secondary player who will be returning to the same role will be Davon House. House, as many fans know, was arguably the best player on defense in 2015 and easily the biggest play maker the team had on that side of the ball.

That’s quite the shakeup!

It’s no secret that the Jacksonville Jaguars defense has to get better. It’s also no secret that much of the blame lays at the feet of the secondary, who were routinely beat by even the most mediocre of quarterbacks. A shakeup is exactly what this defense needs.

While I’m not particularly excited about Sample as much O’Halloran hints that the Jags’ coaching staff is, I’m all for competition. Bringing in better talent like House (signed away from the Green Bay Packers in 2015), Amukamara, and Gipson makes the unit as a whole even stronger. If that means a multi-year starter like Cyprien is (quality) depth, then so be it.

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• Former Jacksonville Jaguars S Johnathan Cyprien: “New Profession, Same Standards”

Either way, we’ll be seeing a different secondary in 2016 and that’s a good thing. They’d almost have to try to be bad in order to be worse than 2015’s unit.