Jacksonville Jaguars: Taven Bryan faces tough road to 53-man roster

The Jacksonville Jaguars will soon have to start narrowing down their roster. Will defensive tackle Taven Bryan will be on the team in Week 1 of the 2021 regular season?

Training camp has several purposes. On one hand, teams can work out the kinks ahead of the preseason. Also, players on the fringe can make their case for a roster spot. However, they need to be available, and every day of practice they miss is one fewer chance to make an impression.  Defensive tackle Taven Bryan has yet to practice and he may run the risk of being cut before the start of the 2021 season.

The former first-round pick was already facing scrutiny ahead of training camp. He was first placed on the non-injury football list on July 28 because he was involved in an off-field accident. Later, the team announced that he landed on the COVID-19/Reserve list on August 3.

Bryan is entering his fourth season in the NFL but he has yet proven he’s the kind of difference-maker the Jags thought they were getting when they made him the 29th overall pick in 2018’s draft.

The Jacksonville Jaguars had choices back in the 2018 NFL Draft.

At the time of Bryan’s selection, defensive tackle wasn’t really a need for the Jaguars. As long as he became a key cog on Jacksonville’s defensive line, it wouldn’t have mattered. Nevertheless, the Florida product has been a non-factor over the last three years.

Ironically, Bryan hasn’t missed a single game in the past three years but he has logged a paltry 41 total tackles, 11 tackles for a loss, 3.5 sacks, and one forced fumble in 48 games. What makes this even more frustrating is the fact that the Jags chose the former Gator over 2019 NFL MVP Lamar Jackson and All-Pro linebacker Darius Leonard.

Heading into the 2021 season, Bryan is running out of chances to show he deserves a spot on the 53-man roster.

The Jacksonville Jaguars will soon need to make a decision.

Now, nobody will bat an eye if the Jaguars move on from Bryan. They declined the fifth-year option on his rookie deal this offseason, so parting ways with him would hardly qualify as a surprise. On the other hand, head coach Urban Meyer and defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi have praised the Wyoming native in the past. However, they can only vouch for him so much and he needs to ultimately be the one putting in the work.

It wasn’t Bryan’s fault that he got involved in an accident though and the fact that he landed on the COVID-19 list doesn’t do him any favors. After all, nobody consciously tests positive for the virus. If anything, he’s been a victim of plain bad luck. Nevertheless, this one is on him. He wouldn’t find himself in this situation if he had been more consistent in past years. It’s uncertain when he will make his training camp debut, but with every practice he misses, his chances to make the team decrease.

The Jaguars are building a stout defensive front. Although they are in the early stages of a rebuild, there is evidence of progress and their defense is in better shape than it was last year. Will Taven Bryan be part of the unit in Week 1?