Jacksonville Jaguars place Dylan Moses on NFI list, LB unit in good shape

Undrafted free agents have a steep hill to climb in the NFL. No team believed they were worth a pick and their chances of making the pros are slim. However, the Jacksonville Jaguars have a good track record finding hidden gems after the selection meeting is over. One of those players is running back James Robinson, who had a surprisingly productive rookie campaign. Fourth-year cornerback Tre Herndon is another example.

This season, the Jags signed Alabama linebacker Dylan Moses after going undrafted. He’s been placed on the Non-Football Injury list, per Field Yates of ESPN. The move doesn’t come as a surprise as the Lousiana native has been dealing with injuries the last two years.

Moses played most of the 2020 season with a knee injury and tore in ACL in 2019. Had he been healthy, he might have been drafted in the second or third round of this year’s draft. He was a playmaker at Alabama and even though he wasn’t 100 percent, he still managed to record six total tackles and two tackles for a loss in the CFP National Championship game. He will now have to spend his rookie season rehabbing.

Dylan Moses is a long-term project for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

For every James Robinson, there are 50 undrafted free agents that couldn’t cut it in the NFL. If the Jaguars get something out of Moses, it will be a plus but there’s a chance they might not. As many as six teams took him off their draft boards, as they deemed him an injury risk. Now, the draft is a crapshoot and the linebacker may fully recover from all the injuries he sustained in college but it doesn’t bode well for him when the consensus believes he wasn’t worth a shot. Still, the Jags believe he could eventually become a solid player.

On the bright side, the Jaguars are stacked at linebacker, so there is really no need for Moses at the moment. The team has a pair of studs in Myles Jack and Joe Schobert. Moreover, 2020 first-round pick K’Lavon Chaisson will be switching to strong linebacker in defensive coordinator Joe Cullen’s system. Without Moses out of the picture, it will be interesting to see who makes the team.

Leon Jacobs started three games last season before suffering a knee injury. If he’s fully recovered, he could make some noise in training camp. Shaquill Quarterman, a fourth-round pick in last year’s draft will need to convince the coaching staff he deserves a roster spot in 2021. There’s also Damien Wilson, who was part of the Kansas City Chiefs that played in the last two Super Bowls and won one. Keep in mind that Cullen will run a hybrid defense with 3-4 and 4-3 looks, so not everyone may be a fit in his scheme.

Last year, linebacker was one of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ few bright spots and it looks like it will be a strength this season. The defense as a whole ranked near the bottom of the NFL and struggled to pressure opposing passers. Under Cullen, the unit should see an improvement in 2021. The team expects Moses to eventually join the defense.