Jan. 16, 2026, 3:09 p.m. ET
During his end-of-season press conference, Jacksonville Jaguars general manager James Gladstone addressed the defensive front’s ability to generate pressure.
Through the first half of the season, the Jaguars did struggle to get after the quarterback with any consistency. But in the second half of the year, particularly after that road game in Houston, the pass rush was able to pick up.
“Sacks in particular are never a true indicator. Pressures are probably a better indicator of whether or not you’re impacting the QB,” Gladstone said. “I think the way in which our scheme will evolve will have a role in how we address it from a personnel standpoint. But Clearly I think we saw by season’s end that there was an uptick. What may have not necessarily been a superpower of our defense on the front end of the season became more impactful by season’s end.”
While generating a sack is the ultimate goal for a pass rusher, a quarterback pressure can still cause chaos as it disrupts the timing and rhythm of the play, which can lead to inaccurate passes and mistakes.
In that regard, the Jaguars were one of the best in football, generating the seventh-most pressures in the NFL.
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When it came to sacks, however, Jacksonville was near the bottom of the NFL. Even by pressure rate, the Jaguars were in the bottom half of the NFL, ranking 18th.
The difference between the Jaguars’ pressure totals and pressure rate could be attributed to opponents playing from behind over the final eight games of the season, forcing them to pass more. This then creates more pressure opportunities, but also shows that more consistency is still needed.
Josh Hines-Allen would have a huge season, totaling 95 pressures during the regular season — the second-most among defensive ends. The second-most on the pressures recorded by a Jaguars defender was Arik Armstead with 48.
Travon Walker missed time this season with injuries, and not helping the Jaguars’ overall numbers was that the defensive tackle position struggled to get after the quarterback down the stretch.
ESPN recently listed adding to the defensive line as one of the Jaguars’ top offseason priorities.
“I think we saw evolution of usage, and I do expect that our scheme itself will evolve and not necessarily be the exact same,” Gladstone added. “But there’s going to be some preliminary discussions that take place over the course of the latter weeks in January.”