Friday afternoon, the Jacksonville Jaguars agreed to trade defensive tackle Maason Smith to the Atlanta Falcons for defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro.
ESPN first reported on the news of the player-for-player trade that saw the two teams swap DTs who had fallen out of favor with their respective new front offices. While trade details have yet to be fully finalized, both teams now have fresh tackles at their disposal. For the Jags, it seems like the team got the better end of the trade.
Smith and Orhorhoro
(Oh-row-row-row) were both taken in the 2024 draft, with the Falcons trading up to get Orhorhoro with the 34th pick in the second round while the Jags took Smith just 13 picks behind. Neither team got the best defensive tackles available though, as sandwiched between the two picks were draft selections of T’Vondre Sweat and Braden Fiske.
A Trent Baalke draft pick, Smith was lauded as a project player that had the size to be a difference maker. In practice, he was often a non-factor and was even a healthy scratch for the end of last season including the home playoff game against the Buffalo Bills. Smith fell out of favor with the new coaching staff and the writing was on the wall for him to be finding a new home. And for what it’s worth, all three defensive linemen taken by Baalke in 2024 are now off the roster. Nice.
The same is true about Orhorhoro. He was drafted a whole an entire front office and staff ago for Atlanta and despite his 3.5 sacks last season, he too seemed to be on the outs.
As draft mates, Orhorhoro has played 25 games in his career to Smith’s 24. Orhorhoro played all 17 games last season to Smith’s 11, which was down from Smith’s rookie year 13 appearances. The sack numbers are about the same, 3.5 for Orhorhoro all last year and 3.0 for Smith in his rookie year, and Smith is just an inch and 10 pounds heavier than the former Clemson Tiger. Orhorhoro holds a 50 snap edge in total snaps played over Smith, 706 to 656.
Despite the numbers being basically the same, Orhorhoro seemingly has more upside as a disruptive 3-technique. He’s kind of a similar player to Travon Walker in the way that when paired with another solid player, having this guy one-on-one can spell danger for opposing quarterbacks. At just 24 years old, Orhorhoro also gives the Jags an Arik Armstead replacement when the time comes.
Now obviously any NFL defensive lineman should be good in man on man situations, but when have the Jags ever seen something comparable to any of these clips from Smith outside of some preseason games?
Orhorhoro’s “best game” of sorts arguably came in a 24-14 Atlanta victory over the Buffalo Bills last year. In that game, the Falcons sacked quarterback Josh Allen four times with Orhorhoro picking up one. As Allen was given nothing up front, he also tossed two picks and was held to just 180 yards passing. Imagine doing that!
As for what this means for this week’s NFL Draft, it probably says the Jags aren’t going to go after a defensive tackle early. This addition certainly doesn’t move the needle impressively towards the Jags having a Sacksonville-style defensive, but it does give the front office room to add in other areas, starting with the team’s second-round selection.
For your fun fact of the day: the Jaguars now have two defensive linemen born in Lagos, Nigeria, as Orhorhoro joins Emmanuel Ogbah.
Let us know your thoughts on the Jaguars move to add a fresh defensive end in the comments.
