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Jacksonville Jaguar player profiles: Sen’Derrick Marks

By Justin Moore

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The next feature in our Jacksonville Jaguars player profile series is a defender that put up impressive numbers his second season with team, defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks.

Sen’Derrick Marks spent all four years of his college career at Auburn University, he decided between several schools before choosing Auburn over Louisville, West Virginia  and South Carolina. In his first year at Auburn Sen’Derrick Marks was red shirted and he spent the majority of the season on the sideline. His second year at Auburn was a very successful one, he posted a career high in sacks with 3.5 and a career best in tackles for a loss with 11. He added two pass deflections, a forced fumble and three fumble recoveries to his freshman year totals. Marks’ impressive stats earned him a selection to the freshman All American third team. 

Marks saw an increase in tackles in his third season finishing with 44 but saw a drop off in sack numbers at two and tackles for a loss at nine. However, he was able to add three pass deflections and his first career interception to his 2007 totals as well. Marks entered his fourth season at Auburn with high expectations being named to the preseason All SEC team but injuries slowed his production. Marks only played in 11 games but he was still able to register 10 tackles for a loss and two sacks. In a relatively surprising move, Marks elected to skip his senior season and enter the NFL draft. His injury problems continued up to the draft as he unable to participate in agility test at the NFL combine because of a hamstring strain.

The Tennessee Titans selected the Auburn defensive tackle at the end of the second round at pick 30. He spent four years with the Titans but he struggled to produce. In his four seasons with Tennessee he only put up 66 tackles and 3.5 sacks, this lead the Titans to let Marks enter free agency in 2012. The Jaguars decided to give Marks a chance by signing him to a one year 1.5 million dollar deal.  He seized his opportunity in his first season with the Jaguars, posting a career high in sacks with four and a career best in pass deflections with eight. Marks showed a significant increase in production from his years with the Titans to his first year in Jacksonville and this lead to him signing a four year contract extension with the Jaguars.

Dec 1, 2013; Cleveland, OH, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Sen

After signing a four year 22 million dollar contract, Sen’Derrick Marks proved that he was worthy of the deal by putting together the best season of his career in 2014. He posted career highs in tackles with 44, sacks with 8.5 and tackles for a loss with 15. His sack numbers proved he was among the elites of his position as he finished with the third most sacks among all defensive tackles. The hard work that Marks put together did not go unnoticed as he was named a pro bowl alternate and the 76th best player in the league by NFL.com. Bleacher Report also ranked the top 55 defensive tackles from last season and Marks was ranked 10th.  Last season was a successful one for Marks but it came crashing down at the end of the season when he tore his ACL in the last game of the season against the Houston Texans.

Sen’Derrick Marks enters his third season with the Jaguars facing many questions, will he be able to stay healthy, will his production numbers increase, and can he take a leadership role on the Jaguars defense? The Jaguars are optimistic that Marks will be able to return at the start of the season but he is currently still on the Jaguars PUP list.  With the preseason quickly approaching fans are roughly a month away from finding out if Marks will play in the first regular season game, for the sake of the defensive line lets hope the star defensive tackle has a speedy recovery.

Be sure to look out for our next player profile featuring Jaguars tight end Julius Thomas, coming soon!

Next: Will the Jaguars regret letting Cecil Shorts go?

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