Jaguars’ CB Jarrian Jones wanted to make a position change and play on the boundary rather than at the nickel.
When the Jacksonville Jaguars signed Jourdan Lewis in free agency, presumably, that meant that Jarrian Jones was going to have to move from the nickel position to the boundary.
However, as Jones described recently, it’s a position change he’s looking forward to making.
Jones spent just about every one of his defensive snaps during his rookie season in 2024 lined up in the slot, and he performed well. Jones allowed just 10.2 yards per target with six pass breakups and an interception.
According to PFF, out of 42 eligible slot cornerbacks, Jones ranked 11th in passer rating, 13th in yards per snap, and ninth in snaps per target.
But even so, where he wanted to be playing and lining up was on the outside.
“Last season, when I was playing all 100% nickel, I was asking them like, can I go play corner? That’s what I play,” said Jones. “Obviously, I play nickel, but I guard people. Like that’s what I do. I play corner, I guard people, that’s what I do. I don’t know what all went into it, but just they wouldn’t let me do it.”
So when the Jaguars brought in a new coaching staff, Jones saw it as an opportunity to again ask about lining up on the boundary, an idea that Liam Coen and Anthony Campanile agreed with.
“So the coaching staff letting me be able to go do that, like that’s something when I first met with Coach Camp, when I first met with Liam, that’s something I asked them, can I please go play corner, and they was like, well actually, that’s what we were thinking,” Jones added. “And I was like, okay, we all look cool together.”
Lining up on the boundary won’t be new to Jones. In fact, he played nearly 1,300 snaps there while at Florida State. It wasn’t until his final season in 2023 that he moved to the nickel.
Cornerback is still a position that the Jaguars could add to fairly early on in this year’s draft. But the addition of Lewis, which then allows Jones to move to the boundary opposite of Tyson Campbell, provides a unit that struggled last season with some needed stability.
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