Chad Muma gets encouraging praise after strong preseason showing for the Jaguars

After an underwhelming 2023 season, Chad Muma has become somewhat of an afterthought for the Jacksonville Jaguars in light of the success teammates Devin Lloyd and Foyesade Oluokun have enjoyed. On the bright side, the former Wyoming Cowboy is trending in the right direction. He looked significantly improved in the preseason. That wasn't lost on Bradley Locker of Pro Football Focus.

Locker made one observation for each NFL team's roster and said it was a bit surprising to see Muma listed as the starter for Jacksonville, pointing out that it may be a sign that the coaching staff may be planning to give him more playing time.

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The Jaguars’ defense seems to have most positions solidified, but one surprise was seeing Muma listed as a starter at both Will and Sam linebacker.

The 24-year-old played only 146 snaps last year compared to Foye Oluokun and Devin Lloyd, each of whom reached the 966-snap threshold. When he did play, too, Muma was subpar with a 38.1 PFF overall grade and a lowly 29.9 mark against the run.

Nevertheless, given that Muma’s name flashes on Jacksonville’s depth chart, it could foretell Doug Pederson wanting to give fewer snaps to his two workhorses at linebacker."

It's important to point out that the depth chart Locker is alluding to was unofficial, with defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen going as far as saying that it was etched in sand.

This is important because as improved as Muma has looked, Oluokun and Lloyd remain entrenched as the starters. The former signed a contract extension and the latter showed at offseason activities in the best shape of his career.

Having said that, Muma has played much better. He appeared on 58 defensive snaps this preseason, registering nine total tackles. While the linebacker gave up an 83.3 percent completion rate, he only gave up a reasonable 7.2 yards per reception. On top of that, his PPF overall grade of 74.8 in 2024 was the highest he's posted in a preseason.

Back in 2022, linebacker was one of the team's biggest needs, so they signed Oluokun in free agency and later traded back into the first round — after taking Travon Walker first overall — to select Lloyd. But the Jags decided that they weren't done bolstering the position and chose Muma in the third round.

At the time, the pick seemed unnecessary but Muma flashed as a rookie when the coaching staff benched Lloyd. However, he wasn't able to build off of his promising first NFL season and struggled in 2023. The good news is that he seems to have benefitted from the arrival of defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen, who runs a 4-3 scheme. Based on the early results, it looks like it better suits the third-year linebacker.

The Jaguars will find a way to give Chad Muma playing time in 2024

Barring injury, Chad Muma won't get more playing time than Foyesade Olukoun or Devin Lloyd. Even though the Jaguars will run a 4-3 defense, they'll use nickel formations most of the time. Last year, they ran such formation 63 percent of the time, and it's hard to see them deviating from that amount because of the challenges modern offenses present.

In layman's terms, this means that Muma might not have a featured role in 2024 but if he keeps making a strong impression, the coaching staff will look for ways to increase his snap count. After all, why wouldn't you want your best players to be on the field?

Next Chad Muma will need to build off of his fruitful preseason showing and make plays in the regular season. If he pulls it off, the Jacksonville Jaguars could have a top-10 linebacker corps in 2024.

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