Jacksonville Jaguars Rookies Excelling On Offensive Line

The Jacksonville Jaguars are playing an unprecedented amount of rookies on both offense and defense, and it’s reflected in their 1-7 record. Despite the record, the Jaguars have been getting some very good play out of their young talent. Most notably, the rookies on the offensive line have been a significant upgrade over what the Jaguars have had in years past.

Ben Natan has been putting together an “All Rookie Team” for each week of the regular season over at With the First Pick, and the Jaguars had 2 representatives along the offensive line on the week 8 squad.

"Brandon LinderJacksonville Jaguars199th Overall Player, 16th Interior Offensive Lineman, 6th Round GradeOne of the best performances by any guard this year, Linder had himself a day against the Dolphins. He had a great day moving in the running game and was awesome in pass protection. This performance came against one of the best defensive lines in the league, too. The Jaguars looked to have gotten  steal in Linder.Luke BowankoJacksonville JaguarsUnrankedAnother good game for the rookie out of Virginia. Bowanko had a rough day in pass protection, but really stood out to me run blocking. He is a tenacious player and is very smart. He has been improving weekly this year. The Jaguars have a lot of youth up front and the strong performances from their rookie interior linemen has to be encouraging for them."

The Jaguars have managed to find a running game over the last 2 weeks, and a lot of the credit has to go to the play of the interior offensive line. Linder has been the best offensive lineman all season, and Bowanko has exceeded all expectations by starting and playing at an effective level. There are still a lot of games left in the season to evaluate them, but these two young lineman could be long-term pieces on the Jaguars offense.