The Jacksonville Jaguars haven’t been good in a long time. A lot of that can be traced back to the fact they haven’t found a reliable quarterback since the Mark Brunell days, but don’t discount the fact the Jags have for years failed to find somebody who can consistently produce as a pass-rusher.
Some facts:
- With 196 total sacks since 2008, the Jags are the only team in football below the 200 mark in that category. The top team — Minnesota — has 300 sacks in that span, and the league median is 259. The Jaguars are within 20 sacks of just two other teams (Atlanta and Tampa Bay).
- They’re one of four teams with 35 or fewer three-sack performances since ’08. And they’re one of three teams with more than 20 zero-sack performances in that span.
- The Jags, Buccaneers and Raiders are the only teams in football without a 10-sack performance from a player in the last eight years.
- Their team sack leader has had five or fewer sacks four times in the last eight years. During that span, the rest of the league has had an average of 16 players record more than five sacks. Jacksonville has had just seven.
It’s not as though Jacksonville hasn’t tried. We’ve seen them swing the early-round bat with guys like Derrick Harvey, Quentin Groves and Tyson Alualu, as well as free agents such as Chris Clemons, Matt Roth and Aaron Kampman. But they’ve swung and missed time again.
Now, with a potential franchise quarterback already on the roster, they swung for the fences with Fowler — the top defensive player in this year’s draft — third overall. And of course, he suffered a torn ACL almost immediately.
And all five Super Bowl winners between 2007 and 2011 had at least one player with 13 or more sacks, which says a lot considering only 28 players in total were able to hit that mark during that half-decade span. Point being, an elite pass-rusher is close to being an essential piece of the Super Bowl puzzle.
The Jags just can’t seem to find one. And now they’ll have even longer to wait.
