Jacksonville’s second-round selection in the 2024 NFL draft, defensive tackle Maason Smith., signed his rookie contract with the Jaguars on Thursday, according to ESPN’s NFL transaction wire.
The Jaguars took Smith with the No. 48 overall selection in April’s draft, coveting the defensive lineman’s high upside after his inconsistent but promising college career,
From Houma (La.) Terrebonne, Smith was a consensus five-star prospect in the 2021 recruiting class, peaking as the No. 19 overall player by the 247Sports composite rankings.
He collected 31 scholarship offers from across the country but committed to his home state’s blue-blood program, LSU, on Early Signing Day in Dec. 2020.
Smith was the prize of Ed Orgeron’s last recruiting haul as the Tigers’ head coach. Accordingly, Smith appeared in nine games and made four starts as a freshman, producing 19 tackles including five for loss and four sacks, en route to Freshman All-American and Freshman All-SEC honors.
However, the momentum Smith quickly generated at LSU was halted at the beginning of the 2022 campaign.
He tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee against Florida State in Week 1 after jumping to celebrate a tackle by his teammate, forcing him to miss the rest of the year.
Following a one-game suspension to begin the 2023 season, related to a pre-Name, Image and Likeness autograph session, Smith returned to start 12 games at defensive tackle for LSU as a junior. He posted 28 tackles with 4.5 for loss, 2.5 sacks and two defended passes before entering the 2024 NFL draft.
Over three seasons with the Tigers, Smith compiled 47 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss, 39 quarterback pressures (per Pro Football Focus) and two defended passes.
He primarily aligned at defensive tackle but earned playing time at defensive end and nose tackle, too.
Although there were mixed reactions to Jacksonville selecting Smith in the second round, considering his need for further development and Jacksonville’s positional needs elsewhere, the Jaguars believe they secured a potential long-term difference-maker for their defensive line based on the impact Smith made on the gridiron at full health.
“I think there are a couple of things. The first one being his tape as a freshman, as an 18-year-old freshman in the SEC and how his physical traits really exploded off there. The sophomore year obviously he had the injury, then he was kind of working back to health,” Jaguars assistant general manager Ethan Waugh said about Smith on May 10.
“If you look at the very beginning of his tape, the very end of his college tape, and then the health and the performance at the private workout we held with him, I think you can see the progression of how he’s kind of getting back to himself and getting back healthy. I think the sky’s the limit.”
With Smith reportedly under contract, only first-round wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. remains unsigned among Jacksonville’s 2024 draft class.
