Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton is on the path back to full strength after his 2023 season was derailed by a non-football related back issue.
“All indications this offseason are that he’s trending in the right direction; he’s getting back,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson told reporters earlier this week. “I’m excited for that and I know he is too. We missed that piece last year and, even though he played late [in the season], he just wasn’t the same.”
Hamilton received a contract extension last year and appeared primed for a breakout season when an infection from a spinal abscess sidelined him in August.
“A lot of stuff was going on,” Hamilton told Jaguars.com in December. “A lot of side effects were going on. I was in a weird place. This isn’t really a normal illness, or a normal infection people get. It was very strange. I feel very fortunate. There was a lot of stuff that could have happened. I could be not playing football permanently.”
Hamilton returned in October, but only played 30 snaps in two games before he was scratched for the next two. By the season’s end, Hamilton appeared in eight games but earned a dismal 36.2 grade from PFF — less than half his 72.6 grade from 2022.
Without much help from the 335-pound defensive tackle, the Jaguars struggled to generate much pressure from the interior as Josh Allen and Travon Walker combined for more than two-thirds of the team’s sack total. Jacksonville also allowed three of its last six opponents to rack up more than 150 rushing yards.
The Jaguars opened up the pocketbooks to add Arik Armstead to their defensive line to help fix those issues. But getting a renewed version of Hamilton would go a long way too.
