Welcome to Big Cat Country’s staff roundtable!
Today, we’re previewing Week 5’s Monday Night Football matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Kansas City Chiefs at EverBank Stadium.
Who have you been most impressed by through the first month of the season?
Dillon Appleman: The perception of Devin Lloyd has completely changed just four games into the 2025 season. After an inconsistent first few years in the league, Lloyd entered a contract year with a lot of question marks surrounding his role
and to say he’s answered the bell would be an understatement. His three interceptions lead the league and there is a real argument to be made that he’s been the best linebacker in football this season. If he continues on this trajectory he could go from being on the roster bubble to being in DPOY conversations.
Travis Holmes: For me, the answer is James Gladstone. As someone who’s often been a public fan of Brad Holmes (the Detroit Lions General Manager), seeing someone of a similar ilk in Jacksonville has been a refreshing observation, with multiple players showing obvious development early on in 2025. Are RT Anton Harrison, LB Devin Lloyd, RB Travis Etienne, or S Dewey Wingard playing at the level they are without the significant levels of competition brought in throughout the offseason, while also promoting true and open competition roster-wide? Most of those players haven’t had to fight for their NFL life to these levels before this offseason, and each is showing a major jump in production – partially due to coaching but also due to motivation.
Gus Logue: I’ve been most impressed by the interior offensive line. Though I’ve thought that Ezra Cleveland was slightly underrated since he arrived in Duval County, I was iffy on the additions of Robert Hainsey and Patrick Mekari this offseason. Each of those players rank top-12 among all IOL in ESPN’s pass block win rate, and Cleveland and Hainsey rank top-five in run block win rate. Wasn’t expecting that!
Henry Zimmer: I think Anthony Campanile deserves some praise at this point in the season. Who would have guessed the Jags would be on the sort of turnover tear that they are? The only real improvement is to start turning those pressures into sacks.
What’s a matchup you’re looking forward to watching?
Dillon: Xavier Worthy vs. Anthony Campanile. The Kansas City Chiefs’ offense looked night and day different when Xavier Worthy was on the field for them this past weekend as his speed completely changes what they can do. They look to get him the football in a ton of different ways, which forces defenses to be disciplined, or else he can turn what looks like a five-yard gain into a 20-yard gain. Coach Camp has done a tremendous job to this point but this is a huge test for his defense on Monday night. He’ll need to have the secondary playing disciplined, complementary football to keep Worthy from having an open runway to showcase his 4.2 speed.
Travis: The matchup of DE Josh Hines-Allen versus Chiefs’ RT (and former Jacksonville Jaguar) Jawaan Taylor, in Duval, on Trevor Lawrence’s birthday, may result in an untenable number of July 2026 babies named Josh. While Hines-Allen normally mans the right side of the line, if Travon Walker is unable to go, he will likely flip sides, facing off against Taylor. With Walker out for the final three quarters against the 49ers, 19.4% of Hines-Allen’s rushes came from the left edge. Get your false start flags warmed up, referees.
Gus: Trevor Lawrence against Steve Spagnuolo. The former has been playing more and more like a game manager as the season has progressed, which has helped the offense to keep the chains moving. But Lawrence has only completed 1 of 9 attempts on throws 20+ yards downfield. Meanwhile, the Chiefs deploy two-high safety structures to limit explosive plays and disguise coverages to confuse opposing quarterbacks. Can Lawrence create explosive plays against Spags?
Henry: I will be excited to see what type of defense Campanile rolls out for Patrick Mahomes. This version of the Chiefs is not the Chiefs of old, but Mahomes is still playing at a good level himself. He only has one pick this year. Hopefully, Camp and Co. can change that.
Who will be the biggest X-factor?
Dillon: Chris Jones. The Jaguars’ rushing attack has been key to their 3-1 start but they have yet to play against a defense with an elite interior presence like Chris Jones. Even so, the Chiefs have had three straight games where they’ve allowed over 100 yards rushing to their opposition which just makes it even more likely that their emphasis will be on stopping the run on Monday night. If the team can win consistently on first down with the rushing attack, it would go a long way in earning their first win on Monday night since 2011.
Travis: Chiefs’ rookie running back Brashard Smith will be my X-factor for Monday. With the Chiefs’ notably struggling to find a running back spark with Isaiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt, they have week by week been increasing Smith’s snap rate with the converted wide receiver turned running back playing 25.7% of snaps in their week four win over Baltimore. As the Jaguars recently surrendered 92 receiving yards to 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, in what was essentially an extension of the run game, I’d expect Smith’s snaps to continue to increase as Kansas City looks to spark production from their RB room in a similar fashion where San Francisco had recent success. Smith had four first-half targets in week four, when the game outcome was still in question against the Giants (9 to 6 at halftime).
Gus: Travis Hunter. I’m extremely interested to see what his usage on both sides of the ball looks like after he only played one quarter of defense in Week 4. Given his lack of playmaking so far this season, maybe the team is thinking about having him stick to one position in the short term. Jacksonville could really use him on offense and defense on Monday night, though, as they need more big plays from their receivers and cornerbacks alike.
Henry: Chris Jones is my pick for X-Factor of the week. His matchup with the front five for Jacksonville could dictate how this game goes. If Jones and someone like George Karlaftis can disrupt the run game or the O-Line overall, that makes an already anemic Jags offense even more one-dimensional.
Final score prediction?
Dillon: Jaguars 16, Chiefs 24
Travis: Jaguars 24, Chiefs 17
Gus: Jaguars 17, Chiefs 23
Henry: Jaguars 17, Chiefs 24
What are your Week 5 predictions, Jaguars fans? Let us know in the comments!
