The Jacksonville Jaguars have been struck by the injury bug this season. But that's not the only reason they're 5-4 and have lost four of their last five games. Penalties have most definitely played a bigger role. It hasn't helped either that many of the Jags' most prominent players have failed to come through.
Josh Hines-Allen, in particular, has been unremarkable this year, and a local report didn't mince words about the pass rusher's underwhelming production thus far.
Jaguars DE Josh Hines-Allen left much to be desired in the meltdown vs. the Texans
Ryan O'Callahan made an appearance on 1010 XL's Duval Rundown and told host Hays Carlyon that the Jaguars lacked fire during the loss to the Texans, noting that prominent players were in the locker room after the meltdown.
"The locker room was sort of just numb, and there wasn't that, there wasn't that kind of fire. So that concerned me a little bit," O'Callahan told Carlyon. "You know, a couple of the team leaders weren't even in there. I mean, they dashed to the bus. Who knows if they even showered, but yeah, and I mean, to me, that's just a total system."
Specifically, O'Callahan singled Hines-Allen out, noting that he's been underwhelming throughout the year and wouldn't mind seeing him get benched in favor of rookies Danny Striggow or B.J. Green. Here's the rest of the chat.
"Yeah, a guy like him should be sitting at his locker, right? Is this? There's like four of us there from Jacksonville. This is not like in Denver, we had 20. In Buffalo, we had 20 people, but I'll digress. But stick, I want to stick with Hines-Allen, because one thing Liam Cohen did say in the postgame presser was, I liked four-man pass rush stinks," O'Callahan said.
"And, yeah, he said it, and I doubled down on it. He went back to it, says it hasn't been around all year. You mentioned that Hinen-Allen and Travon Walker, they've combined for four sacks. They have a combined cap number of nearly $22 million, help's not on the way. I'm at the point now where I'd want to see more of Danny Striggow. I want to give B.J. Green a shot. What's the downside?"
Regarding Coen's about the lack of pressure with a front-man four, here's what he had to say after the loss to the Texans.
"Yeah, that's something we definitely need to talk about as a staff and as a group that hasn't been good enough all season and wasn't good enough today," Coen said when he was asked if he thought the pass rush was beyond fixable (3:34 mark). "So there's a combination. It's never one group's fault when you lose a game. That's not what we're going to do here, but it definitely is a challenge for us at the moment."
That certainly doesn't sound like a coach that believes the defensive line is doing its job, and the truth is that Hines-Allen has been the most underwhelming of the bunch, especially when you take into account that he's the ninth-highest paid pass rusher but isn't playing like one of the best 10. Simply, his salary doesn't match his production.
Circling back to O'Hallaran's exchange with Carlyon, both of them make compelling points. For starters, Hines-Allen is a team captain, so he needs to lead the way when things are not going well. On top of that, the two-time Pro Bowl nod is one of the highest-paid players on the team, so the least he can do is talk to the local media after the game. So far, that hasn't been the case.
At this point, the Jaguars must consider benching Josh Hines-Allen
As Liam Coen stated, the lack of pass rush is something the team needs to address in hopes of fixing the issue. But if even that doesn't work, benching Josh Hines-Allen is the best course of action. You could make the case that he logged 17.5 sacks in 2023, but that was two years ago. Since then, he's logged a measly 10 sacks.
Sure, Hines-Allenthem racks up pressures at a high level, but the best pass rushers in the NFL routinely disrupt the quarterback, tally more than 10 sacks a season, and make everyone around them better. If the former Kentucky Wildcat truly needs the players around him, and not the other way around, to make an impact, maybe he's not nearly as good as some may suggest.
The truth is that it's hard to tell just what's wrong with Hines-Allen, but he's previously shown that he can play at a high level. That's why the bar is set so high for him, and he will need to put it all together if the Jaguars want to turn things around in the second half of the season.