If the Jacksonville Jaguars are still going to add to their roster via a free agent addition, who should they bring in?
Pro Football Network recently highlighted one available free agent that each NFL team should sign. For the Jaguars, PFN chose defensive tackle Folorunso Fatukasi, who spent two years with the team from 2022 through 2023.
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Fatukasi was a sixth-round pick in 2018 by the New York Jets and has been a steady rotational defender during his career. This includes four seasons with the Jets, two with the Jaguars, and last season with Houston.
Fatukasi has been utilized as a run defender throughout his career, eating up space and taking on blocks to clog up the middle. So his numbers on the stat sheet, particularly as a pass rusher, aren’t going to leap off the page; that just comes with the territory sometimes when filling this role.
Last season, however, he did rank 25th among all defensive tackles in PFF’s run-stop rate metric.
“One solution could be bringing back old friend Folorunso Fatukasi,” wrote PFN. “A one-trick pony, Fatukasi is a 0- or 1-technique who won’t bring passing down value. However, his teams have largely excelled in run defense wherever he goes, giving him a defined role that has allowed him to survive despite only 5.5 sacks in seven seasons.”
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The Jaguars’ defensive front ranked 27th in ESPN’s run stop rate last season and were in the middle of the pack in yards per carry allowed with 4.4. The defensive line was thought to be a unit that we would see the Jaguars address heavily this offseason, specifically in the NFL draft, but things didn’t play out that way.
Adding Fatukasi back to the mix would be to bolster the depth of this unit, versus expecting him to step in and play a prominent role.
“When Fatukasi was on the Jaguars from 2022-23, Jacksonville ranked eighth in both yards per carry allowed and run stuff rate (percentage of runs for zero or negative yards),” PFN added. “They dipped to 15th in both categories in 2024. Bringing Fatukasi back could rectify that regression, and he wouldn’t block any potential development from second-year pro Maason Smith on passing downs.”
The logic behind the addition does make sense. However, after making their UDFA signings official, not that another move can’t be made, but right now the Jaguars roster is at max capacity, which tells us that they are content with where things currently stand.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: NFL free agency: Jaguars urged to sign IDL Folorunso Fatukasi