Jacksonville Jaguars: Urban Meyer discusses RB depth, safety position

The Jacksonville Jaguars have to make a decision at safety.

One of the Jaguars’ biggest priorities this past offseason was bolstering the safety room. Thus, they didn’t hesitate to allocate a vast amount of resources to the position. Besides bringing back Josh Jones, they signed Rayshawn Jenkins and Rudy Ford in free agency. To round out the group, they selected Andre Cisco in Round 3 of the draft.

Jarrod Wilson and Jones were the Jaguars’ starting safeties in Week 1 of the 2020 season. The former is no longer with the team after being released in the last round of roster cuts and the latter is currently on the Injured/Reserve list.

The Jags didn’t give Jenkins a four-year deal worth $35 million to ride the bench, so his spot in the starting lineup was earmarked from the outset. On the other hand, it was uncertain who would line up next to. Urban Meyer brought some clarity to the situation.

The Jaguars head coach told the local media either Cisco or Andrew Wingard will start next to Jenkins. It seems inevitable that Cisco will start at some point in 2021. It’s not a matter of “when” but “if”. On the other hand, it looked like Wingard was the least likely candidate and possibly the last in line to start in Week 1.

Keep in mind that Daniel Thomas showed flashes as a rookie, Jarrod Wilson started 28 games over the last two seasons, and Jones was a favorite of the coaching staff. Nevertheless, it’s encouraging to see the Wyoming product work his way up the depth chart. After playing mainly on special teams as a rookie, Wingard appeared in 41 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in 2020. If he plays well against the Texans, the Jags may need to put on hold their plans to make Cisco the starter.