What will the Jaguars’ defense look like under Ryan Nielsen in 2024?

Jacksonville’s newly appointed defensive coordinator may have provided some insight into what Jaguars’ fans could expect from next year’s defense.

On Thursday, your Jacksonville Jaguars introduced Ryan Nielsen as its new defensive coordinator. Our Gus Logue broke down the most telling quotes from the afternoon presser.

With this media availability being Jacksonville’s introduction to Coach Neilsen, this seemed an opportune moment to dive into a few key comments that may provide a few additional takeaways, as the team enters into team-building season.

Coaching to player strengths:

“We have to be multiple, the first thing we have to do is affect the quarterback in that we can’t allow the ball to come out of his hand quickly, then the rush doesn’t get there. If the coverage has holes in it or give an easy throw, it doesn’t matter who we’ve got coming off the edge. We’ve got a couple of good edge guys here. We have to get the quarterback to hold it, disguise as big, we’ve got multiple packages on third downs so we change week to week or maybe we don’t, so keep them guessing. Really big early in the game, we try to go out there and they’re trying to identify what we’re doing on third down, then go from there. Not, ‘Hey, we’re going to be in this look and every single time we’re going to be able to make this throw.’ We’ve got to be multiple and keep changing. They’re just too good on offense, the quarterbacks are too good, offensive coordinators, there’s so many guys over there that can identify. That’s what we’ve got to keep it multiple and keep changing up the looks.”

With Neilsen’s coaching history of running a “normal” 4-3 base at Northern Illinois University and with the New Orleans Saints, his decision to lean towards utilizing a few alternative fronts in Atlanta may have been based on Neilsen having two-time Pro Bowl DT Grady Jarrett, who previously thrived in Dan Quinn’s 4-3 under scheme on the roster. Playing your fronts and coverages to the comfort and strengths of the current personnel would have created a much simpler transition from the prior defense, and an easier learning curve for his players, producing quicker results.

Pass Rush:

“Here’s our philosophy with the players, we’re going to put the player in a position that he can have success first, over the scheme. We’re going to evaluate everything that he does well, then if he can rush inside, we’ll put him inside. If he’s a better outside rusher, we’ll keep him outside.”

An extremely important cornerstone in Neilsen’s 2023 Atlanta Falcons’ defense was arguably the presence of the previously mentioned Pro Bowl DT Grady Jarrett and the surrounding impact he wrought on the offensive blocking schemes. It will be interesting to see if either DT DaVon Hamilton or OLB Dawuane Smoot see bounce-back seasons in that role or if someone else may be brought in to provide inside pressure. Additionally, with that Falcons’ defensive roster, Atlanta would occasionally move DT Calais Campbell inside in certain packages, which Jacksonville may choose to intermittently do with OLB Travon Walker in time.

In 2023, the Falcons ran a multitude of varying fronts and coverages but primarily seemed to lean toward playing a moderate amount of Cover 1 man or Cover 3 press match. Atlanta’s front would seem to normally be a 3-3 under or 4-2 over on base downs. These fronts are run with each lineman solely having the responsibility for shooting one gap, creating clarity and simplicity toward effectiveness up front. In these fronts, the alignment leads towards stopping the running game by filling the gaps. Additionally, these defenses often feature one OLB with his hand in the dirt.

With his hiring, Neilsen’s 2023 Falcons defense transitioned from a 3-4 defense towards more of a 4-3, multiple front. This could mirror a similar transition for this upcoming season’s Jaguars defense, who may also be adjusting from a 3-4. If a similar adjustment is made in Jacksonville, towards more of a multiple-front defense this could result in either Walker or Josh Allen having their hand in the ground with the other rushing more from a stand-up role more often, based on where each has excelled on tape or which role either shows promise at early in training camp.

Coverage:

“We like to, as one of our coaches would like to say, ‘Nothing cheap and nothing deep.’ When you’re press, you take away the quick game and we like to play shell which when you look at us, we take away the deep throws. It may look man or man-ish at times, but sometimes there’s press bail and sometimes nuances in the coverage of… that’s actually a zone with tighter coverage on the outside. It’s actually good that you see it like that because if we’re viewed like that, then we drop into zone and it could be advantageous for us on defense. We’re going to be mixing and matching, we’re going to be playing different coverages and mix and match our coverages. Again, that’s what we did then and it may be different now. That’s what the process of what we’re going through with the players. We definitely have everything in there, we know what we’re starting with, what’s it going to look like in the end. The new coaches and the new players together, we want to do what’s best for everybody.”

Based on Neilsen’s introductory presser, the defensive staff will lean toward doing whatever works for this individual group of players, just as they did in Atlanta. If the staff chooses to play a defense similar to Atlanta and New Orleans under Nielsen, this schematic adjustment could result in a net positive for CB Tyson Campbell. Being placed in more press alignments, yet with an ability to have eyes back on the quarterback will allow him to use his range in slowing down and running with receivers while minimizing opportunities for losing the ball in-flight. This change would also allow Darious Williams to play more press coverage as he did for the Los Angeles Rams before joining Jacksonville as a free agent defensive back. But, most importantly, this change could place S Andre Cisco into another stratosphere of NFL safeties, as Nelson’s coaching did in 2023 for Falcons’ safety Jessie Bates III.

What fronts and coverages will work best for this group of players? Will Neilsen bring in a few familiar faces, as he did in Atlanta? What dish would be best with the current cupboard of ingredients? Only time and a full offseason of acquisitions and acclimation will truly tell which defensive scheme and alignments will work best with the Jaguars’ opening-day defensive roster.

Grab your popcorn, and stay tuned everyone. Welcome to Duval, Coach.