Jacksonville Jaguars have fixed the defense with draft additions

Everyone knew the Jacksonville Jaguars were going to focus on the defense offseason, but no one could have anticipated the enormous influx of talent on that side of the ball.

Six.

That’s the number of new starters the Jacksonville Jaguars will have on defense. That’s actually a conservative estimate, as I’m only including the surefire starters.

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They are

Malik Jackson

(defensive tackle), Dante Fowler Jr. (defensive end),

Tashaun Gipson

(free safety),

Prince Amukamara

(corner), Jalen Ramsey (corner/safety), and Myles Jack. I’m not even including guys who will play significant snaps in certain situations (Yannick Ngakoue, Sheldon Day) or win starting spots in training camp (

James Sample

Abry Jones

There is no other team in the NFL who changed the outlook of one side of the ball as much as the Jaguars have and it’s going to pay dividends immediately. Don Banks over at SI.com recently wrote about how the Jaguars were winners of the draft:

"A few months back, Jalen Ramsey and Myles Jack were very much in the discussion in terms of who would go first overall in this year’s NFL draft. At the very least, they were considered perhaps the two best defensive prospects available this year. As of Friday night, they’re rookie teammates, which is why the Jacksonville Jaguars have every right to believe they stand on the cusp of that long-awaited turnaround season."

The analysis of the Jaguars revamped defense starts here – the Jaguars added two premier talents in the draft thanks to what might be an overblown injury scare. If Myles Jack had never erroneously admitted he would probably need microfracture knee surgery someday, I doubt he would have fallen to the second round. That’s the kind of good fortune the Jaguars haven’t had in the last few years, especially in 2015 when first round pick Dante Fowler Jr. was lost for the season barely an hour into the first rookie minicamp practice.

The pressure is on and David Caldwell knows it. He said as much when he discussed selecting Myles Jack – it’s time to swing for the fences.

"“We want to be great… We’ve got to take chances. We’ve been pretty conservative in our time here and in our philosophy in drafting, and in some of our free-agent acquisitions. There comes a point in time where we’ve got to close the talent gap, and you’re not going to do that without taking risks.”– Jaguars general manager David Caldwell"

The time is now for the Jaguars to take the leap into contention and the defense sure looks ready to play their part.

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