The Jacksonville Jaguars flamed out at the end of the 2023 regular season with a horrific loss to the Tennessee Titans that cost them both the AFC South title and a playoff berth.
While there were many causes for the Jaguars’ collapse, the team’s defense was perhaps the biggest issue during Jacksonville’s 1-5 finish to the season.
The team fired defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell soon after the season ended and has already found a replacement in former Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Jaguars are set to hire former Falcons’ defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen as their new defensive coordinator, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 22, 2024
Nielsen coached the Falcons defense for a year this past season after he spent his previous six with the New Orleans Saints in a variety of roles.
He coached the defensive line from 2017 to 2020 before being promoted to assistant coach and then co-defensive coordinator.
The Falcons’ defense wasn’t much better than the Jaguars’ this past season, especially after Atlanta gave up 37 points and 48 points to the Chicago Bears and the Saints in back-to-back games to end the year.
So when the Falcons fired head coach Arthur Smith, his staff was free to join other clubs.
Nielsen will get the chance to re-vitalize a Jaguars squad that wasn’t awful overall but just couldn’t put together a complete defensive game.
Jacksonville has two solid edge rushers in Josh Allen and Travon Walker and a couple of quality inside linebackers in Foyesade Oluokun and Devin Lloyd.
If the Jaguars want to keep pace with the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts, they’ll need to find a way to upgrade the defense – and Nielsen appears to be the team’s first step.
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