Prior to the team’s first training camp practice on Wednesday, the Jacksonville Jaguars announced that they have placed second-year defensive tackle Maason Smith on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
Players who land on PUP are eligible to return to practice at any time, once they are medically cleared. The specific injury that Smith is working through hasn’t been reported.
After an offseason where the biggest move made along the interior defensive line was Arik Armstead sliding over from defensive end to tackle, a Year 2 leap from Smith will go a long ways in bolstering the play of this unit.
As a rookie in 2024, Smith would appear in 11 games, totaling 14 pressures and three sacks. By PFF’s pass rush win rate metric, Smith ranked 99th among defensive tackles, and in run-stop rate, he ranked 124th.
“He’s a big one for us,” said Liam Coen of Smith. “We need him to take a huge step this year. I think he’s done a great job when you talk about the offseason program, in the weight room, the conditioning, his mentality with the work ethic, and then coming out here and making it hard.”
The fact that GM James Gladstone didn’t make any big moves inside illustrates the confidence he has in Smith and the rest of that position group, along with Anthony Campanile’s defensive scheme.
In this system, we are expecting to see more movement up front and a more attacking play style. Within the front seven, blitzing and simulated pressures could be a part of the equation as well when it comes to causing disruption.
“I feel like we able to just play a lot more free instead of more laterally,” Smith said via News4JAX. “The coaches have told us from the first time they got here, they want to have more go, more getting off the ball, more penetration, whereas last year we were kind of playing more on the line of scrimmage.”
Along with Smith, Dennis Gardeck is beginning camp on the PUP list as well.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Jaguars place a second defender on PUP list to start training camp
Reporting by Paul Bretl, Jaguars Wire / Jaguars Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
