There are a couple of different players I could have went with here as the Jacksonville Jaguars have signed some key defensive players. Including Calais Campbell, AJ Bouye but by far the one who is going to have to step up for the Jaguars is Barry Church.
He replaces Johnathan Cyprien a fellow free agent and Church, who is out of Toledo is coming off his best season as a safety where he had 85 tackles, 4 passes defended, 2 interceptions and a forced fumble last season in 12 games with the Cowboys.
He missed four games last season due to a broken forearm. While he is very good when it comes to being a sure tackler, he still needs to improve his aerial defense. Either way, the Jaguars are getting a very good safety at a great value.
The Jaguars pretty much ended up with an over haul on defense. This included their front seven with Myles Jack now moving to middle linebacker and Poszulunsky moving to Strong Side LB.
The Jags brought in Calais Campbell, which should help force QBs to make throws faster and possibly force more mistakes. What the Jaguars need are to force the turnovers and create short field opportunities for the offense. Church brings that, as he is by far one of the hardest hitting safeties in the league. This means as an opposing WR you will need to be aware of his presences and plan accordingly if you plan to come on his side of the field.
He will be starting alongside Tashuan Gipson and it will make the safety position for the Jacksonville Jaguars one of the best in the league in defending the run but they will need to be better against the pass.
Overall, the defense will be better than it was last year. The addition of Barry Church should help the Jags get to a playoff/division title.
Editor’s Note: This article can also be seen in our upcoming NFL Preview Edition.