With the Jacksonville Jaguars' initial 53-man roster set, what might the depth chart on defense look like heading into Week 1 of the regular season?
Here is our latest projection.
Defensive end
- Josh Hines-Allen
- Travon Walker
- BJ Green
- Danny Striggow
- Wesley Williams
- Bryan Thomas Jr.
I'm confident in projecting the top three players at this position, but less sure about whether we will see more of Striggow or Williams early on. Thomas Jr. could have a similar trajectory as Green and Striggow did last year, where his role early on is more special teams.
Defensive tackle
- Arik Armstead
- DaVon Hamilton
- Matt Dickerson
- Albert Regis
- Ruke Orhorhoro
Dickerson will back up Armstead, and Regis will back up Hamilton. We will see how Orhorhoro is rotated in, but he likely sees the field on passing downs.
Linebacker
- Foye Oluokun
- Ventrell Miller or Branson Combs
- Dennis Gardeck
- Jahlani Tavai
My early guess is we see Miller on the field during running downs and Combs on the field during passing downs. Gardeck will be the third linebacker
in base defense and also rush the passer. Tavai will be a heavy special teams contributor.
Cornerback
- Travis Hunter
- Montaric Brown
- Jourdan Lewis
- Jarrian Jones
- Christian Braswell
Hunter and Brown will be the outside cornerbacks with Lewis at the nickel. Jones can play both inside and out, and I imagine that Anthony Campanile will find some ways to get him on the field. Braswell provides outside cornerback depth.
Safety
- Antonio Johnson
- Eric Murray
- Caleb Ransaw
- Jalen Huskey
- Rayuan Lane
The third safety will see his share of snaps in Campanile's defense. Huskey impressed this summer and could still be in the mix with Ransaw for those reps. Lane will be a key special teams contributor again.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Projecting Jaguars defensive depth chart after roster cutdowns
