The Jacksonville Jaguars know they have many more starts in the future for rookie linebacker Chad Muma.
But for his first-ever start, coming against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens in last week's 28=27 win, Muma made quite the impression for a previously struggling Jaguars' front.
"I thought Chad did a good job. He went out there and played with a lot of energy, made some plays for us. I think he calmed everything down at times," Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell said on Thursday.
"He helped Foye (LB Foye Oluokun) out a bunch, so he did a good job. Going forward, just continue to get better and find his niche in this defense.”
Muma, selected No. 70 overall out of Wyoming in April, made his first start on Sunday in place of former starter Devin Lloyd, who the Jaguars selected before Muma in the first-round. Lloyd had struggled in recent weeks, with film showing at times frustration from other Jaguars defenders pre- and post-snap with the first-round rookie.
Muma, though, didn't have that problem. Unlike Lloyd, Muma missed no practice time during training camp, giving him a step on Lloyd in terms of knowing the defense.
“It’s really a good job by him just going back to training camp. In training camp, he got the reps at the middle linebacker, then he played the Mike, and he’s able to adapt to whatever position just like we talked earlier," Caldwell said. "There’s certain techniques at one spot that you don’t get much at another spot, but you still understand that technique, and he was able to go out there and do a nice job for us.”
As a result, Muma played 100% of the offensive snaps in Sunday's victory. Lloyd still played 38% of the snaps (27 snaps), playing in three linebacker sets, but Muma never came off the field. Playing 100% of the snaps for the first time in his career, Muma turned those snaps into nine tackles and a sense of steadiness in the defense.
“Chad did well, for the first time, I didn’t think the game was too big for him and he really settled in. You could see the communication getting lined up and all of that," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said this week. "When Devin came in for the three-backer look, Devin was good. Devin was fine. I think right now it’s something that we can continue to build upon with both of those players.”
"I think moving forward, I think Chad did enough in that game to give him another opportunity. Still making sure that Devin’s ready and prepared and still having the rotation available if need be. I think both players are in a really good place, especially headspace right now. They’re young players, long season, six games left, and we’ve got to make sure that both of them are well-prepared as we make these next six games.”
Other than having a solid game himself, there is also reason to believe Muma's presence made an impact on fellow linebacker Foyesade Oluokun. Oluokun had his best game as a Jaguar against Baltimore, recording 18 total tackles, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble, along with another forced fumble that was questionablly overturned.
“I don’t know if it freed him up, I think it just settled everything down. Not saying that Devin (LB Devin Lloyd) didn’t settle it down, but Chad out there, Chad was able to, because Chad has played the Mike position, so when he’s a Mike position, he has to line guys up, so he’s able to line guys up, and I think it helped him out," Caldwell said.
"But I think just overall really condensing the game plan because against Baltimore, there were so many calls that you really didn’t want to make. You wanted to go with our base stuff, so guys are familiar, being able to play fast. We were able to go out there and got the victory.”
Photo: Via Alex Shepherd
More must-reads: