Gene Frenette: With Urban Meyer gone, Jaguars defense has real shot to ascend

When Joe Cullen returned to Jacksonville last year from the Baltimore Ravens’ staff to become a defensive coordinator for the first time, he was stoked for a new adventure.

Unfortunately, Cullen had no idea the Urban Meyer regime would result in football chaos, forcing him to uproot his family after 11 months on the job.

Meyer’s failed tenure sabotaged any shot Cullen had of getting a second chance to redeem a defense that had limited playmakers and generated only nine turnovers last season. It showed only flashes of dominance in wins over the Buffalo Bills and the season-ending conquest of the Indianapolis Colts.

It was another reminder of one harsh truth about the turbulent NFL coaching world: timing is everything. Cullen was one of many on the Jaguars’ staff who were unfortunate victims of a Meyer fiasco.

“You do the best you can in the situation and whatever players you’re given, you make the best of it,” said Cullen, now the defensive line coach with the Kansas City Chiefs. “That’s all you can do.”

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For Cullen’s successor, Mike Caldwell, the timing of stepping into his first coordinator role with the Jaguars after 14 years in NFL coaching — the last three seasons as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers inside linebackers coach — figures to be more promising.

While there are no sure paths to success in this league, the circumstances for Caldwell after just 10 weeks in Jacksonville are shaping up a lot better. Starting with the fact his boss, Doug Pederson, is a Super Bowl-winning head coach, not some college lifer who was overwhelmed by the NFL transition.

Even better, the Jaguars have moved quickly to provide Caldwell’s defense with the pieces needed to significantly upgrade his unit.

Upgrading Caldwell's defense

After a free agency spending spree where GM Trent Baalke doled out $69 million in combined guaranteed money for linebacker Foye Oluokun, tackle Foley Fatukasi, cornerback and Creekside High product Darious Williams and pass-rusher Arden Key, the first round of the NFL draft Thursday night had to again make Caldwell feel like a kid on Christmas morning.

With the Jaguars signing offensive tackle Cam Robinson to a three-year contract this week, it opened the door to take Georgia edge rusher Travon Walker with the No. 1 overall pick over Michigan’s Aidan Hutchinson. Then Baalke used some draft capital to trade back up into the late first round, grabbing a potentially phenomenal impact linebacker in Utah’s Devin Lloyd instead of filling a wide receiver need.

As if that wasn't enough, the Jaguars pulled the trigger on another tackling matchine, Wyoming linebacker Chad Muma, early in the third round (No. 70 pick). So before Caldwell gets down to the business of coaching in Jacksonville, an infusion of talent offers him the opportunity to play with something close to a full deck.

Pederson said Caldwell was "fired up" about Walker's selection. By no means does the Jaguars’ defense resembles a reincarnation of the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, but nothing makes a coach look more ingenious than having better players to run his system.

“I mean, it’s exciting, the whole team, the whole staff, is excited,” Pederson said. “Adding talent and competition — I'm big about creating competition at every position and we’ve been able to do that now with Travon [Walker] and even Devin [Lloyd].

“Just adding more pieces to an already good defense, along with the free agents we added. Our current roster is solid, it’s good, it’s something that we’ve been excited as a staff about.”

Defensive improvement aside, it remains debatable how good the unit can be until we see how Caldwell brings it all together. But this talent upgrade enables the Jaguars to have something a lot better than the league’s second-worst pass rush the past two years (only 50 sacks). Plus, more than doubling their takeaways from 2021 shouldn’t be a problem.

Following Bowles blueprint

Caldwell will run a 3-4 scheme that has been a staple for his mentor, Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ coach Todd Bowles, in their decade of working together at three different NFL stops.

“Knowing Mike’s history and who he’s worked under and for, and the places he’s been, it was really a great fit for us to have a guy like Mike come in and just take what we currently have and make it even better,” Pederson said. “When I scheme defense, the 3-4 becomes a little bit of a challenge to go up against. It becomes a little bit harder to run the football, it becomes some protection issues [for an offense].”

It’s a system with an emphasis on rattling quarterbacks. Sometimes that happens by implementing heavy blitz packages, or in the case of Tampa’s 38-9 Super Bowl conquest of the Kansas City Chiefs last year, knowing they could dominate a suspect offensive line to make life miserable for Patrick Mahomes.

“That’s the thing, turnovers, it’s such an important part of the game,” Caldwell said in February. “Every defense is going to work it, but you have to work it a certain way. You work it and you have to stress getting the ball out, stress the different types of coverages you’re going to play.

“But speeding up the quarterback is key to [getting turnovers], and then flying around, understanding what you’re supposed to do, getting there, getting there nasty, turnovers happen.”

The Jaguars’ defense got slightly better under Cullen, but lacked the big-play consistency to compete week after week. An anemic offense certainly didn’t help matters.

By fortifying Caldwell’s defense, especially drafting Walker and Lloyd, it at least gives the Jaguars a chance to close the gap on AFC South co-favorites Tennessee and Indianapolis, both of whom have elite running backs in Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor, respectively.

“When I look at these guys. … to win this division, I know this: you have to play physical football and you have to win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball,” said Baalke. “These two young men have the ability to help us do that, so that certainly played into [drafting them].”

Getting right guidance

Both first-round rookies will have the benefit of being guided by coaches with a ton of NFL playing experience. Caldwell, a former linebacker, played 11 seasons for six different teams and began his career as a Cleveland Brown under then-head coach Bill Belichick. He was also instrumental in the development of Devin White, the Buccaneers’ Pro Bowl linebacker and a top-5 draft pick.

The Jaguars want Walker, who lined up at multiple spots on Georgia’s defense, to focus on being an edge rusher before loading his plate with too many responsibilities. He will be under the day-to-day tutelage of defensive line coach Brentson Buckner, a 12-year NFL veteran who played on two Super Bowl runner-up teams.

Part of restoring this Jaguars’ defense to an acceptable standard will revolve around the staff relationships that feel like a natural fit. Pederson, a former NFL quarterback, saw nearly his entire playing career (1993-2004) overlap with Caldwell’s, including the 1999 season together in Philly. When Pederson was putting together a staff, he felt comfortable enough with Caldwell’s approach to give him a long-awaited promotion.

“It’s an aggressive mindset, and those are the conversations that Mike and I have had is we want to maintain the aggressiveness,” said Pederson. “We want to be able to put our players in position to make plays.

“Moving a Josh Allen around, moving a [K’Lavon] Chaisson, moving these guys around, moving safeties around, other backers. Really presenting a picture to the offense where maybe you don’t know where the blitz is coming from.”

Thanks to the Jaguars’ first season under Meyer becoming a dumpster fire, Pederson is getting his second chance as a head coach and Caldwell his first shot at being a coordinator.

Back in Kansas City, there’s no lament for Cullen, now working for the winningest NFL franchise (60-21) over the last five years.

“I was grateful for the opportunity last year in Jacksonville,” said Cullen. “There were times when we played real well and other times we didn’t. I’m not dissatisfied. I have no regrets.”

Now, if the Jaguars want a mostly regret-free 2022 season, it’s up to Caldwell to build the kind of defense that can get the Jaguars back on a winning path. It seems like he picked a better time and situation to pull that off.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540

Gene Frenette Sports columnist at Florida Times-Union, follow him on Twitter @genefrenette

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars add 1st-round draft picks for defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell