JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Going into the 2025 season, many were skeptical of the Jaguars\u2019 cornerback group and rightfully so, especially considering it was unclear just how much Travis Hunter would play on the defensive side of the ball.<\/p>\n
Luckily, newcomer Jourdan Lewis made a statement early on, reassuring fans that he is indeed one of the better nickel defenders in the league. But Tyson Campbell\u2019s early struggles led to an in-season player trade for Browns\u2019 Greg Newsome II.<\/p>\n
It was the Jaguars\u2019 depth, however, that truly made the most of the midseason acquisition, proving themselves in Campbell\u2019s place.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s review the Jaguars\u2019 2025 cornerback room.<\/p>\n
Greg Newsome II<\/p>\n
Speaking of Greg Newsome II, let\u2019s start with the cornerback the Jaguars traded for. Like Campbell, Newsome kinda got picked on in Jacksonville. It wasn\u2019t that he played poorly, but the Jaguars\u2019 other corners forced offenses to look his way.<\/p>\n
On the season, Newsome allowed a 65.8% completion %, 582 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception, according to Pro Football Focus. That\u2019s good for a 107.2 NFL Rating on coverage. He only forced two pass-breakups on the season.<\/p>\n
Many hoped the new scheme would benefit his ball skills, but that didn\u2019t quite manifest, aside from his interception. He didn\u2019t necessarily play poorly, but I don\u2019t know that he was what the Jaguars were hoping for in the trade either.<\/p>\n
Jourdan Lewis<\/p>\n
To start the season, Lewis was exceptional. He immediately made an impact, collecting two interceptions and three PBUs through the first three games. He was making a difference as a tackler as well, with 10 defensive stops.<\/p>\n
His play slowed down a bit as Lewis allowed a total of four touchdowns in a three-game stretch against the Chiefs, Seahawks, and Rams before a Week 9 injury. He came back from injury somewhere in between his early-season stardom and midseason struggles.<\/p>\n
On the season, Lewis allowed a 67.2% completion %, 310 yards, five touchdowns, and two interceptions. Those figures calculate out to a solid 92.9 NFL Rating. It will be<\/p>\n
interesting to see just what the Jaguars do with their cornerback room, containing two excellent slot corners in 2026.<\/p>\n
Jarrian Jones<\/p>\n
And that other slot corner is Jarrian Jones, an excellent transition if I do say so myself. Jones started 2025 off in a tough way, being forced to play out of position on the outside after a stellar rookie campaign inside.<\/p>\n
When Lewis went down, Jones moved back inside and was lights out from then on. Among the Top-36 slot corners, Jones ranked second in NFL Rating (55.9) and first in yards allowed per snap (0.73). Statistically, no one was better in the nickel than Jarrian Jones. For reference, Lewis ranked sixth and seventh, respectively.<\/p>\n
Looking back on his season, Jones allowed a 58.5% completion %, 285 yards, two touchdowns, and recorded three interceptions for a total NFL Rating allowed of 62.2. His -19.1 EPA in coverage ranked 14th among all NFL defenders. What more can you ask out of your second-year player?<\/p>\n
Montaric Brown<\/p>\n
What a season for Montaric Brown. Brown had been a nice depth piece for the Jaguars for years, occasionally sneaking in some playing time due to injuries, but this season he earned his play and turned in one of the best seasons by a Jaguars\u2019 corner in years.<\/p>\n
Brown was a playmaker in the highest form, forcing nine PBUs (team best) and two interceptions on the season, despite being the least targeted cornerback on the team. His 54.5% completion rate ranked among the NFL\u2019s best as did his yards allowed per coverage snap.<\/p>\n
In total, Brown allowed just 360 yards and three touchdowns to two interceptions. His 73.5 NFL Rating in coverage ranked just behind Jarrian Jones. Much like Cole Van Lanen, Brown is a guy who should get rewarded for coming in and making the most of the opportunities given.<\/p>\n
He may be an upcoming free agent, but it\u2019s tough envisioning him with any other team in 2026.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION SPORTS JAX 24\/7 LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action Sports Jax 24\/7 live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Going into the 2025 season, many were skeptical of the Jaguars\u2019 cornerback group and rightfully…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":742699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2060],"tags":[8703,8706,380,7,8707,212,8710,125,2401,213,6,8708,8709,8705,8704],"class_list":["post-742698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-action-news-jax","tag-cbs47","tag-florida","tag-football","tag-fox30","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-fl","tag-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-jacksonvillejaguars","tag-jaguars","tag-nfl","tag-northeast-florida","tag-southeast-georgia","tag-wfox","tag-wjax"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116047023061056515","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=742698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/742699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}