Which of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offensive linemen should be considered the top contender for the NFL’s new Protector of the Year award?

It was reported last week that the NFL will be unveiling a new end-of-season award to go along with MVP and the other high-profile awards. The Protector of the Year will recognize the best offensive lineman each season and will be decided by a panel that features a number of former offensive linemen greats.

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Pro Football Network recently selected the top Protector of the Year candidate from each team and then ranked those players in terms of likelihood to win the inaugural award in 2025.

For the Jaguars, PFN selected Walker Little, who came in at No. 30 overall on these rankings.

“The Jacksonville Jaguars were active adding offensive line talent this offseason, signing Patrick Mekari and Robert Hainsey to boost their interior,” wrote PFN. “There’s a lack of star power on the unit which makes Little the best Protector Award candidate.”

Little appeared in 13 games on offense last season at left tackle, which included eight starts. Over 316 pass-blocking snaps, he allowed two sacks and 13 pressures. Compared to his position group league-wide, Little ranked 18th in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric and 27th out of 76 tackles in run-blocking grade.

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The difficulty in trying to predict which Jaguars’ offensive lineman could give Jacksonville the best chance to win this award is that there are a lot of new faces at this position group. While we can make educated guesses, we also don’t exactly know what the starting offensive line configuration will look like this season.

Between free agency and the NFL draft, GM James Gladstone made six additions to the offensive line, and with that, there is going to be a lot of competition for playing time, especially with all of the versatility that the Jaguars have up front, giving them numerous combinations when it comes to putting their best five on the field.

“From a communication standpoint, all five being on the same page, you can definitely see an intent behind what they’re trying to do,” Liam Coen said of the offensive line after Tuesday’s practice. “I think Shaun (Sarrett), and Keli’i (Kekuewa), and Trevor (Mendelson) have done a really nice job in that room, and I think the players have caught on in a lot of ways.”

This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Walker Little named Jaguars’ top contender for Protector of the Year award