When the Jacksonville Jaguars opted not to bring back defensive ends Dawuane Smoot and Emmanuel Ogbah, it signaled a sign of things to come for the team’s top pass-rush unit — it’ll be led by youth.
While Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker are the clear top DEs on the roster, the four players behind them are rookies and second-year players. The team welcomes back former undrafted free agent signees B.J. Green and Danny Striggow, while they drafted linemen Wesley Williams and Zach Durfee in the fourth and seventh rounds, respectively.
Last year, the team needed to raise the floor. Signing veterans allowed them to do that while the younger players got up to speed with their responsibilities. After a full season of work, it appears both Green and Striggow are ready to take the mantle, but not without competition.
“I told these guys last week in the meetings, I said, if you all are looking around worrying about a rookie taking your job, you’re probably in the wrong room,” Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said at the start of the offseason program when asked about the team’s pass rush depth. “And that’s specific to those two because they were undrafted and worked their asses off to earn every snap that they got.”
Green played in 14 games for Jacksonville last year during the regular season, totaling 15 tackles (six solos), two tackles for loss, one quarterback hit, a fumble recovery and two sacks.
Striggow played in 10 games (two starts), totalling 16 tackles (six solos), three quarterback hits, a half-sack and a fumble recovery.
Without veterans to take snaps away, both players ought to have a leg up on making the roster, and it appears the team could be satisfied entering the season with a youth movement on the defensive line rather than relying on experienced legs at the position.
Jaguars moves point to faith in Hines-Allen, Walker
The Jaguars did not play it safe with Walker this spring. The franchise locked up the talented pass rusher to a four-year, $110 million contract extension ahead of his fifth and final contract season with the franchise.
Walker is coming off a down year derailed by injuries, but still showed enough to inspire confidence in the team’s front office. Now nearly at full health, the team feels he is set for an impactful season.
The team’s conviction in his ability is strong, and it points to the direction the team wants to head. They aren’t looking for front-line players at the position. Walker is locked in for several years, as is his counterpart Hines-Allen.
The two have plenty of motivation this year to accomplish both individual and team goals. For Hines-Allen, one of those is simple — to be known as the best pass rush duo in the league, a growing category led by Houston Texans defensive ends Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter.
“He wants to be the best and I want to be the best. Let’s become the best duo. When you talk about duos in the National Football League, that’s the new thing now. What’s the duo? Duo this, duo that. So, if that’s what they’re talking about, let’s be a part of that conversation. Let’s solidify ourselves as the best duo,” Hines-Allen said during mandatory minicamp in June.
Before last year, Coen had only a surface-level understanding of what Hines-Allen could be. After 2025, Coen’s understanding of Hines-Allen’s game has evolved, just as he has throughout his career.
“I’ve been very pleased with him a year in so far, and hopefully we continue to build on that,” Coen said before giving an open invitation for others to stack wins against offensive linemen.
“It can’t just be him, and I don’t think it is; it’s a group effort to stop the run and sack the quarterback. It’s not just ever going to be one guy and I think he’s done a nice job of playing his role and doing a good job doing that. So, yeah, very pleased with Josh so far.”
Jacksonville’s deep faith in Hines-Allen and Walker led to them, in part, moving on from Smoot and Ogbah, opting to bring in young guys to replace them.
Wesley Williams, Zach Durfee represent future at position
Jacksonville selected Williams with the 119th-overall pick before taking Durfee with the 233rd-overall pick in this year’s draft. The former is set to go to law school, but will finish out his NFL career well before doing so. Williams is excited to start this chapter of his life, learning from Hines-Allen and Walker, two of the best at their position in the league.
“Being able to watch their habits over the past month or so… I’m not the biggest question asker, but just paying attention to how they carry themselves day-in, day-out, how they build a routine, the level of professionalism that they have and being able to have that as my example is outstanding,” Williams told the Times-Union during OTAs this spring.
Williams jokingly said he’s forgotten more football in the last two weeks than he’s learned in the previous 21 years of his life. He’s soaking up all that he can to figure out where he’d best fit in Jacksonville’s defense.
“Starting off playing big end, moving anywhere from inside, outside, just finding my fit. I still think at this level, it’s important, so I just want to be super flexible. I’m learning every position, learning to play through and through because I want to be able to play every spot on the line,” Williams added.
Williams sees his role in a similar vein to the one Smoot played last year, allowing his versatility to land him in an ideal spot.
Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile lauded Williams for his motor, an ability to run around all day.
“He’s not a guy that you’re going to find a clip of him taking a play off. He’s just a high character, tough kid. He’s been pretty quick on the uptake, so that’s been exciting about him. But I think Wes has some rush ability and is really an every-down player,” Campanile said this offseason.
“He’s not just a specific, ‘Hey, this guy’s a pass rusher, this guy’s a plugger in the run game.’ To me, he’s an every-down player and he’s a young guy relative to a lot of the guys who were in this draft, so I really feel like he’s only going to get better.”
Playing in three seasons (41 games, 29 starts) at Duke, Williams totaled 131 tackles, 11 sacks, 29 tackles for loss and five blocked kicks. He earned All-ACC honors in 2024 and 2025.
As for Durfee, the former Washington Huskies pass rusher has similar fire to Williams. Campanile noted that Durfee’s versatility sets him apart.
“He practices super hard. He plays hard all the time. I think Zach’s a really good pass rusher, but he’s stout at the point of attack so he can set a firm edge in the run game. And he’s just a big guy that’s really athletic. He’s got some hybrid qualities in terms of being a defensive lineman that can do some linebacker jobs, so we’re always looking for guys with position flexibility and versatility,” said Campanile.
“And he was one of those guys that we thought had those qualities and when you watched him play, he just played hard as hell. So that’s something I certainly haven’t been surprised by, his effort in practice. That’s what we expected.”
Durfee appears to be a similar player to that of LB Dennis Gardeck due to his versatility to line up in multiple spots on the front-seven. While he isn’t necessarily being cross trained, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see some of that moving forward.
In two years at Washington, Durfee totaled 53 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. As a freshman at Sioux Falls in 2022, Durfee totaled 11.5 sacks, earning First-Team All-Conference honors.
Josh Hines-Allen gives far-too-early evaluation
For Hines-Allen, the veteran edge is waiting for training camp to make a proper evaluation of the newcomers.
So far, so good, but Hines-Allen believes it’ll take seeing the newcomers with pads on going up against the team’s offensive line to really be a judge.
“Are you going to set the edge? Are you going to be able to set the edge, get off, make a play? Are you going to be able to have your mindset knowing what you’re going to do in the rush plan and execute it?” he asked. “If he gives you something, are you going to go power? Are you going to go speed edge? Are you going to take it inside?
“But instinctually they’re playing really fast, which is a good sign right now… But outside of that, man, they’re great men and they’re very responsive for themselves and for the team.”
Jacksonville is beginning a new era on its defensive line, making changes little by little until they reach their full potential.
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @Demetrius82 or on Bluesky at Demetrius.
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars defensive ends: Why team appears satisfied with youth movement
Reporting by Demetrius Harvey, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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By Demetrius Harvey, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union | USA TODAY Network
