The Jacksonville Jaguars had high hopes for K’Lavon Chaisson when he was picked 20th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. The First Team All-SEC pass rusher had 13.5 tackles for loss in his sophomore season at LSU, helping the team to a national championship win before leaving for the NFL at age 20.
But near the end of his third professional season, Chaisson has just two sacks and has been relegated to backup duties in Jacksonville.
Now Chaisson has a chance — perhaps his last one — at proving he can be a productive part of the Jaguars defense. With Dawuane Smoot out for the year with an Achilles tear and Travon Walker nursing an ankle sprain, Chaisson is expected to see more opportunities in the final weeks of the 2022 season.
“You see the speed, you see the size, you see the ability — he can drop into coverage, he can rush the passer,” Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell said of Chaisson on Thursday. “There’s ability there. You can see why he was drafted there [in the first round]. It’s time for him to become the player that he was in college; he can become that player now.
“He’s a very intelligent player. He knows the system and he’s working on his craft daily. He had the setback with the injury, but now he’s back healthy, continuing to work. He’s just a guy that, given this opportunity, he has to take advantage of it. Hopefully, we’re looking forward to him doing it.”
Chaisson, 23, was on the field for only 31 defensive snaps in the first five weeks of the season before a meniscus injury landed him on injured reserve. He returned in Week 14 and has played 36 defensive snaps in the last three games.
In addition to Caldwell speaking highly of Chaisson on Thursday, Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson had good things to say about the pass rusher on Wednesday.
“He’s worked extremely hard,” Pederson said. “He knows and he understands that even with a healthy Smoot his role was kind of a four-core special teams player, and he came back ready to attack that and be the best teams player he could knowing he was going to have limited reps on defense.
“Now his focus can sort of shift a little bit toward the defense and really make an impact in Smoot’s absence. This will be big, this week and next week and if we continue on, but he’s put himself in a position to do that.”
The Jaguars rank 28th in the NFL in sacks with only 29 through 15 games.
