The Good

The 2022 NFL Draft featured two stud Defensive Ends, Travon Walker and Aidan Hutchinson. It was widely known that the Jacksonville Jaguars were going to take Walker with the 1st pick. With that meant Hutchinson would be on the board for Detroit and it was a perfect match. The Lions were in need of a elite pass rusher for their defense and drafting the local kid was a no brainier. Hutchinson exceeded all expectations in his rookie season and finished 2nd for the Defensive Rookie of the Year. Now, Hutchinson will look to take the next step by being the leader of the Lions defense.

When Jared Goff left the Los Angeles Rams many thought his good days were beyond him. Turns out that is not the case as Goff has revived his career in Detroit. Goff has thrived in OC Ben Johnson’s system and in 2022 was one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the NFL. Big things are now expected from Goff in his third year with Detroit. I expect Goff to thrive again for the Lions and continue to impress in 2023.

The Bad

Last year, the Detroit Lions defense finished at the bottom of the league in most categories. For as good as the offense was the defense was pretty poor. They had a hard time stopping anybody and it put extra pressure on the Lions offense. Have the Lions done enough to address this weakness? In short no.

The Lions were able to acquire C.J. Gardner-Johnson who impressed with the Eagles but they lost CB Jeff Okudah. Emmanuel Mosley was supposed to help fill the void left by Okudah but he is currently injured with no timetable on a return. Fellow cornerback Cameron Sutton has shown flashes but will need to be more consistent for the Lions. I fear we could be talking about a below-average defense again next year for the Lions.

The Prediction

In my eyes, this is the year the Detroit Lions finally breakthrough and win the NFC North. The defense will still have its struggles but the offense will be even better than last year. Rookie Jahmyr Gibbs will make his mark in the backfield and Amon-Ra St. Brown will continue to ascend. Keep an eye on Dan Campbell AP Coach of the Year.

2023 Record: 11-6 (1st in the Division)

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BACKGROUND

Myles Murphy is a football player from Powder Springs, Georgia. He was a highly-touted player coming out of high school. Rivals ranked him the #4 overall prospect in the country and the #1 overall defensive end. As a senior, he played in the All-American Bowl. He ended his final high school season with 10.5 sacks and a commitment to Clemson.

COLLEGE CAREER

Myles Murphy had a fast start to his college career where he had a couple of sacks and seven tackles in his first-ever game. For the season he had four sacks and three forced fumbles. He got even better in his second season where he was Second-Team All-ACC. Myles had seven sacks and 38 tackles.

2022-2023 COLLEGE CAREER

As a junior, Myles Murphy ended his college career strong. In over 13 games, he had 45 tackles, 11 for loss, 6.5 sacks, and a forced fumble. His performance garnered him a First-Team All-ACC Selection and Second-Team All-ACC honoree. Against multiple ranked teams, Murphy was always a disruptor and a positive contributor to the team. ESPN ranked him as college football’s 33rd-best player for 2022.

STRENGTHS: Athleticism

Looking at Myles Murphy’s tape shows how his athleticism will make NFL teams drool for him. One thing that looked NFL-ready from Day 1 is his spin move. His versatility makes him impressive in multiple facets of the game. He also has length that makes it difficult for offensive linemen to stop him. A lot of NFL scouts and analysts looked at Clelin Ferrell as his basis. The main difference is that they see a much better prospect than the one who went fourth in the 2019 NFL Draft.

WEAKNESSES: Finishing

For someone with all the gifts he has, one of the concerns is his finishing ability. He ended with just 6.5 sacks in his junior season and maybe it should be higher with everything. He does reach the backfield but he had trouble finishing plays. With the proper coaching, this issue can be addressed and Murphy can have more sacks in his NFL career.

PLAYER COMPARISON: Travon Walker

TEAMS WHO COULD DRAFT HIM

Mock drafts consider him a consensus top-10 player in the draft. His unique skill of talent, physical traits, and motor make him an impact EDGE to whoever drafts him. Myles Murphy is projected to be the 3rd EDGE taken in the draft. Look for Atlanta at 8th or Seattle at 9th to take the talented EDGE from Clemson.

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By: Jake Rajala

The Jacksonville Jaguars sincerely have one of the most underrated edge-rushing combinations in the league with Josh Allen and Travon Walker. The 2022 first-overall pick, Walker (who is 21 years old), showed his pro-ready ability in his pre-season debut with an impressive sack. In the Jags contest yesterday, he forced D’Ernest Johnson to cough up the football (despite not being credited with the FF). Of course, Walker has unearthly power via his 4.51 40-yard dash time and 6’5, 270 lb frame. He will certainly be able to make magic happen without the best knowledge of pass-rushing moves in his rookie campaign. It’s obvious that Walker is looking like a strong, DROY candidate thus far.

The Detroit Lions freak rookie, Aidan Hutchinson, had a TFL and he forced a holding penalty in his show-down yesterday. It will be exciting to see Walker compete with Hutch and certainly others throughout the 2022 campaign for DROY gold.

Walker will anticipate his underrated pal, Josh Allen (who sacked Josh Allen and made history as the only player to sack an opposing quarterback with the same name last season), to return to being a Pro Bowl-caliber player in 2022. Allen has notched 20.5 sacks, 48 QB hits, 25 TFLs, 3 FFs, and one interception in his three-year career. The Jags pass-rusher garnered a modest 78.5 grade by PFF last season. His fifth year was picked by the Jags, so they can still be a bit patient with his contract.

I really expect the Jags pass rush to make a big jump from last season, largely due to Walker and Allen. The Jags ranked 27th in sacks a season ago I surely expect them to sit in the Top-15 in sacks in the upcoming season. The Jags may have a sexy, new passing attack with T-Lawrence, Marvin Jones Jr, Christian Kirk, and Evan Engram, but don’t sleep on the Jags pass rush that will make life difficult for opposing signal-callers in 2022.

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By: Jake Rajala

The Jacksonville Jaguars nicely brought in a few unique profiles for their defense this off-season. It would be an understatement to say the Jaguars needed to improve a few areas on their defense. In particular, the Jags pass rush was below mediocre last season — as the Jags had 32 sacks (28th in the NFL).

The first overall pick, Travon Walker, will look to wreak havoc on the edge in a similar way as former DROY pass rusher winners: Nick Bosa (9 sacks, 16 QB hits, and 25 QB hits) and Chase Young (7.5 sacks, 12 QB hits, and 10 TFLs) made an impact in their first season. Walker has stated that his goal is to break Josh Allen’s rookie sack total: 10.5 sacks. Walker doesn’t only have confidence in himself, but the DC Mike Caldwell feels confident in the former first overall pick being a force in his rookie campaign.

I also honestly believe the Jags LB group upgraded this off-season. They lost Myles Jack, who recorded a dreadful 37.7 grade by PFF, but they should anticipate quality production from the rookie LB Devin Lloyd. The 6’3, 230-pound LB had a 6.38 draft grade and he also landed on Yardbarker’s pre-season all-rookie team.

The new-look Jags offense should have more success, particularly in their rushing attack. A healthy Travis Etienne and the sturdy James Robinson should untwine to be a terrific RB tandem. The Jags ranked 31st in Time of Possession last season, so it was clear their offense didn’t help their defense get close to enough rest. Assuming the Jags roll out an improved rushing attack w/ new muscle and swagger on defense, the Jags defense should make significant progress and make fans reminisce about the days of Sacksonville.

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By: Jake Rajala

The Jacksonville Jaguars broke away from the dark side with Urban Meyer and bolted to the light with Doug Pederson. I believe there’s a lot of reason for optimism with the Jags new HC-QB combination. In fact, I’m going to untwine three reasons why the Jags could surprise the football world and even make the playoffs next season.

Non-WR receiving weapons

The Jags will showcase Marvin Jones Jr and two new WRs: Christian Kirk and Zay Jones. T-Lawrence quietly has an impressive WR trio. Although, I also LOVE the receiving talent from the RB and TE positions. The former Eagles HC will be constantly dreaming up ways to get Travis Etienne and Evan Engram involved. Per CBS Sports, the dual-threat RB will be used in a “Deebo Samuel-like role”. Outside of the Jags second-year QB being a fantasy sleeper with his wide array of weapons, I also project he will have a fairly clean season in 2022 with excellent security blankets at RB and TE.

Travon Walker

The Jags first overall pick Travon Walker is certainly tired of hearing how Aidan Hutchinson is a favorite to win DROY. Walker may appear to have slightly less NFL-ready skills, but the freak athlete can surely grow as the season evolves. Walker has similar power as Khalil Mack and he can absolutely ruin opponents by himself. Chandler Jones The former Georgia Bulldog may be the next nightmare for Titans LT Taylor Lewan.

The Titans (who lost a couple of offensive pieces this off-season) have beaten the Jaguars in each of the past five games.

Pass protection

The Jags didn’t need to draft a tackle first overall to prove their love for T-Lawrence. They nicely brought back Cam Robinson on a three-year contract worth $54. Furthermore, they inked the elite guard Brandon Scherff to a three-year, $49.5 million dollar deal. The 2021 second-round pick Walker Little may also start over Jawann Taylor at RT and be an underrated long-term starter.

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By: Jake Rajala

The Jacksonville Jaguars selected the mighty pass rusher Travon Walker first overall and it’s clear JAX really aspires to return to being recognized as “Sacksonville”. The former Georgia defender that was prioritized over Aidan Hutchinson should help the Jags defense harass fellow AFC South quarterbacks for many years to come.

The soft-spoken, mammoth-like edge rusher has superb power. He has the size (6’5, 276 pounds) and he ran a 4.51 40-yard dash at the NFL combine. The 2022 DPOY candidate and Cleveland Browns gifted pass rusher Myles Garrett is 6’4, 271 and he ran a 4.64 40-time. Marcus Davenport, who was Pro Football Focus’s most effective pass rusher after a month of football last season, displayed a unique combination of speed (4.59) and size (6’6, 265 pounds) at his NFL combine.

The NFL gods handed defenders like Davenport and Clowney rare ability, but it’s clear that injuries have haunted these utterly explosive pass rushers. Davenport and Clowney both registered nine sacks in 2021, but each pass rusher has missed 11 games in the past two seasons combined.

Hopefully, Walker can be as productive as Garrett (All-Pro in 2020 and 2021) and remain as healthy as the Browns elite defender (two games missed in 2020 and 2021 combined). Walker proved to be a healthy force last season (0 missed games), as he was a key warrior in their win over Alabama in the National Championship. In the CFB grand contest, Walker had a sack, a very impressive seven QB hurries, and a potential touchdown-saving tackle.

The Jags understand that Walker realistically has a HOF ceiling and a quality floor. He will surely hit the ground running with a Jags DL that will help him succeed as soon as possible. The Jaguars carry a fierce edge player in Josh Allen and it’s safe to say that it will be hard for opposing teams to double-team each DE. The Los Angeles Rams really allowed Von Miller to capitalize off his matchups next to Aaron Donald, as he notched four sacks in the recent post-season gauntlet. The Jags ranked 28th in sacks a season ago, but they should feel comfortable in their new stout pass-rushing tandem turning the Jags defense into an opposing QB’s worst nightmare.

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