Jacksonville Jaguars: Grading defensive free agent additions

The Jacksonville Jaguars found a starting safety in free agency.

The Jaguars have one starting safety in Jarrod Wilson. However, they needed to add talent to the position this offseason. Although Daniel Thomas showed promise as a rookie, an arm injury forced him to miss the second half of the 2020 season and it would short-sighted for Jacksonville to expect him to become an All-Pro in 2021.

Thomas could ultimately become a fine player down the road but the Jaguars’ brass did the right thing when they signed former Chargers safety Rayshaw Jenkins. The Miami product said in a recent sit-down with the local media that joining the Jags was an “easy decision in his books” and cited head coach Urban Meyer’s vision and the presence of defensive coordinator Joe Cullen as two of the reasons why he opted for Jacksonville.

Jenkins is versatile enough to line up in the box or drop back in coverage. In fact, he says that as a rookie, he was surprised to find out others didn’t play many positions because he had to play everywhere where he came from.

Over the last two years, Jenkins started 31 games for the Bolts and logged 174 tackles (nine for a loss), eight passes defensed, and five interceptions. He’s the players the Jaguars wanted to line up next to Wilson in the back end. Cullen should be able to make the most out of his versatility and deploy him everywhere all over the field.

Grade: B