With cutdown day looming, teams will be putting the finishing touches on their 53-man rosters in the upcoming days. In their case, the Jacksonville Jaguars could still be making up their mind about five to 10 roster spots, but they should be nearly done,
Sure, the team's brass is still sorting out the receiver corps and the safety room, but they should be set at other positions, including their linebacker corps, which appears to be a strength ahead of the 2025 season.
Foyesade Oluokun and Devin Lloyd will tentatively be the starters, while Ventrell Miller has a compelling case to be the primary backup. Veteran Dennis Gardeck should also make the cut, and there's no way rookie Jack Kiser will be left out. After all, he's been a stud in training camp and the preseason. That leaves a fourth-year veteran as the most likely candidate to get the boot, and analysts seem to agree.
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NFL analysts just named Chad Muma a potential Jaguars cut caniddate
Chad Muma is trending toward being the odd man out come cutdown day. Sure, the Jaguars could also kick rookie Jalen McLeod to the boot, but they probably won't for a couple reasons. For starters, the new regime didn't inherit him like his veteran counterpart and instead handpicked him.
On top of that, Lane has more upside at this stage of his career and may possess more versatility than Muma, as he was a tweener at Auburn.
Circling back to Muma, it looks like the writing is on the wall. Just recently, he popped up on NFL Media's list of cut candidates. Here's the skinny.
"The former third-round pick just hasn't found his footing on defense in the NFL after a few promising moments as a rookie," Eric Edholm of NFL Media wrote. "He's been relegated to more special teams duy than defense the past few seasons, playing fewer than a quarter of the defensive snaps in total. Rookie Jack Kiser also played well in last week's preseason game, potentially foreshadowing the end of Muma's road in Jacksonville."
As Edholm noted, Muma flashed as a rookie when he replaced fellow 2022 draft pick Devin Lloyd in the lineup. However, a knee injury would cut his season short. He had a chance to start the following year but came crashing down, and the only reason the former Iowa Hawkeye saw playing time in 2024 was because former defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen used a hockey-like rotation at linebacker.
Leaving aside the arrival of Jack Kiser and Dennis Gardeck, Chad Muma simply hasn't done enough to warrant a roster spot. Could he still stick around in 2025? You bet, but his odds don't look great, and nobody will bat an eye if the Jags move on from him after the preseason finale ends.