The Blockbuster Trade the Jaguars Just Missed Out On

Why a Deal Would Have Made Sense

The Jaguars were obviously never going to pay the price the Dallas Cowboys paid to land Williams, but it is not hard to think about why the Jaguars may have had some interest in the star defensive tackle. Williams has consistently been one of the NFL's best defensive tackles since the Jets made him the No. 3 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

Since then, Williams has 40 sacks, 59 tackles for loss, and 101 quarterback hits. Compare this to a Jaguars' defensive front that has struggled to make an impact over the course of the 2025 seasons, and Williams would have been a critical piece toward turning the unit's production around.

“Yeah, the flat-out bottom line is we’ve got to go affect the quarterback better. And whether that's with scheme or with people, we've got to affect," Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said on Wednesday.

"Now look, I'll say this out of all the attempts the other day, I think there was like 88 percent—I don't know what crazy percentage of the time the ball was coming out at about two point something [seconds]. They were running a ton of quick option routes, zone coverage, just kind of pick and dink, dink, dink, dink, dink. So, it does become hard to ultimately get to the quarterback when it's like almost quick game, but it's not.

It’s that in-between of drop back pass that I think Vegas did a pretty good job of attacking us that way. And some of those instances are some more opportunities to also get some of these [pass knock down motion]. Like when it's in between quicks and drop back if we can't get home, alright, how can we affect the pocket or affect the play by getting our hands up like we obviously did on the two-point play to end the game, but we've got to affect the quarterback better.”

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