When NFL teams clean house, change is inevitable, and the new regime will try to distance itself from the previous one as much as possible. In the case of the Jacksonville Jaguars, they're making one tweak on defense, one that could increase their performance down the stretch in 2025.
Defensive end Travon Walker showed up leaner to Organized Team Activities after being asked to bulk up last year. He told the local media that it hindered his performance down the stretch.
Not going to use it as an excuse, but I mean, it definitely played a little, I felt like it played a little bit of toll on me close to the end of the season, as we kind of got on," Walker responded when asked if playing heavy affected him last year. "But it has its pros and cons."
Later in his exchange with the media, Walker said that he doesn't really feel a change in Anthony Campanile's scheme, pointing out that playing at a high level is now more of a mental kind of thing for him.
"I'm just gonna say I really don't feel like anything's really changing. I just feel like we were getting out the ball, we rolling. And like I say, we run a lot of things on this defense that I feel like we can take advantage of," Walker said.
Head coach Liam Coen also talked to reporters and said the team asked some defensive players to lose weight.
"Yeah, just kind of getting some of those guys back to, you know, the natural playing weight, just kind of where that maybe been in years past of having success, and kind of getting back to that is really what it came down to."
The Jaguars' head coach then added that the team made an evaluation and talked to players when making a decision.
Expected to turn the defense around, Ryan Nielsen instead led a unit that ranked 27th in points allowed and 31st in total yards. Looking back, asking players to gain weight was counterproductive, but that wasn't the only reason he failed. Right off the bat, he rubbed players the wrong way with his arrogant demeanor, which in turn hampered the team's performance. Similarly, his system was unimaginative and one-dimensional.
Travon Walker is one of many Jaguars defenders who'll benefit from Liam Coen's approach
All things considered, Liam Coen's directive makes sense. If the Jacksonville Jaguars didn't see results when they asked players to gain weight, why would they try to keep doing the same and expect different results?
Walker has already shown that he can thrive at his natural weight in 2023. That year, Josh Hines-Allen set a personal best and a franchise record with 17.5 sacks. Meanwhile, he only logged 7.5 under Ryan Nielsen last year. Of course, weight wasn't the sole reason for his dip in production, but as Coen said, if they had previously had success with that formula, why not go back to it?
Now, it's too early to tell whether defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile will be able to get his unit going, but at least he and Liam Coen are doing things his way. And if the Jags end up having success on that side of the ball, you can circle back to their decision to have players play at their natural weight.
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