The Jaguars have experienced an unusual stretch on their defensive line. They lost a player to retirement (Aaron Lynch), saw another step away from football for the time being (Rodney Gunter) and on Friday lost a recent signing to a lengthy suspension.
The NFL suspended Josh Mauro five games for a violation of its performance-enhancing drug policy, Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com tweets. While the public is learning about Mauro’s ban today, DiRocco notes the Jaguars were aware of the impending penalty when they signed him last week.
Mauro has played six seasons — for the Cardinals, Giants and Raiders — and has logged 37 starts in that time. Last season, the Raiders used him as a seven-game starter. The run-stopping D-lineman was set to compete for a supporting-cast role in Jacksonville. But the Jags’ defensive line looks quite different now than it did going into camp. And the team could well be on the verge of trading its highest-profile pass rusher, though Yannick Ngakoue remains a Jaguar — albeit one not at camp.
However, the Jags still have longtime nose tackle Abry Jones and have used first-round picks on defensive linemen — Taven Bryan, Josh Allen and K’Lavon Chaisson — in each of the past three drafts. But their depth has taken a hit this month.
The offense under Minshew better score a lot more points than they did last year because this defensive line is going to have a hard time stopping the run. Btw, the new offensive coordinator for those who don’t know is Jay Gruden. I’m just throwing that out there.
Unfortunately, the Jaguars just aren’t going to be very competitive it seems. Minshew flashed some promise and I like the receiving corps, but the offensive line is well below average
The defense has some talented individuals, such as Allen and Schobert, but the unit as a whole is flawed. As you mentioned, the run defense is a weakness and the secondary is very inexperienced. I wish Jacksonville would move on Marrone, as he’s clearly not the answer
I think that it’d be hard to blame the organization this year for the lack of run defense. Opt-outs, retirement, and injury completely wrecked the line before this suspension even happened. That said, they looked to be headed for a rebuild anyway, after shedding the Sacks-onville team from before. The Jags have a lot of good picks and cap positioning though, so I expect them to have an exciting team in a year or two. Unfortunately, there is a lot of uncertainty with the upcoming college season, and it may be a while before the Jags start seeing returns from their offseason capital.
The link to Josh Allen takes you to the Bills QB.
That guy loves his PEDs. He was also suspended when he was with the Giants for four games.
2018, I think. Seems odd that a second violation (and so quickly) resulted in “only” a five game suspension.
Yeah that seems wonky. I thought the new CBA had stiffer penalties for PEDs?