5 Jacksonville Jaguars looking for redemption in 2024
Jaguars TE Brenton Strange will be on a redemption tour in 2024
Tank Bigsby isn't the only member from the Jaguars' 2023 draft class who was underwhelming last year. Tight end Brenton Strange was also expected to earn a role on offense but failed to do much of note. You could make a case that he barely got playing time because was stuck behind Evan Engram but the truth is that Luke Farrell moved ahead of Strange on the depth chart.
If the former Penn State Nittany Lion had made a strong impression in practice, the coaching staff would've looked for a way to give him playing time. They wouldn't have gone out of their way to bench Engram, but Strange would've gotten more targets.
In his defense, tight ends take time to find their footing in the NFL, so Strange still has time to make an impact. That said, he'd better hurry up. John Shipley says that the West Virginia native hasn't performed poorly in the offseason but hasn't been great either. If he doesn't want to get buried on the depth chart, he'd better show out in training camp.
Jaguars DT DaVon Hamilton will be on a redemption tour in 2024
The 2020 NFL Draft is one the Jags would surely want to forget. They had three picks in the top 50. Two of them (C.J. Henderson, and Laviska Shenault) lasted just two seasons in Jacksonville and the other one had an unremarkable four-year stint. The silver lining is that the Jaguars found defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton in the third round.
Hamilton was thrust into action as a rookie and by the end of 2020, he had become a key cog on the defensive front. He kept improving in his second season and was expected to break out in 2023. However, the former Ohio State Buckeye suffered a non-football injury that held him back for most of the year. He's now 100 percent healthy and ready to go.
Last year, Hamilton made the switch to defensive end. He'll return to defensive tackle in Ryan Nielsen's 3-4 scheme. But regardless of where he plays, he'll be looking to prove last year was an outlier and not a sign of things to come.