It wasn’t a secret that the Jacksonville Jaguars needed offensive line help when they entered this offseason after the unit ranked 26th last season, according to Pro Football Focus. That led to a decent amount of change taking place to the starting lineup as guards A.J. Cann, and Andrew Norwell weren’t re-signed, and Brandon Linder retired.
The most notable signing they made to revamp the unit was signing a former All-Pro and Pro Bowler in Brandon Scherff, who had previously spent seven seasons with the Washington Commanders. Of course, acquiring his services wasn’t cheap, though, as the Jags added him through a three-year deal worth $49.5 million, with $30 million guaranteed.
The deal is one where some wondered if the Jags overpaid as Scherff is over the age of 30. Additionally, he hasn’t played in more than 13 games in the last four seasons.
However, when healthy, the Jags are getting an elite player in Scherff, and ESPN’s latest interior offensive lineman rankings confirm it. They ranked Scherff third on their list, which is where he was ranked last season, too.
3. Brandon Scherff, G, Jacksonville Jaguars
Highest ranking: 1 | Lowest ranking: 9
Age: 30 | Last year’s ranking: 3Scherff is elite when he’s healthy and available, as the Jaguars highlighted with a three-year, $49.5 million free-agent deal with $30 million guaranteed. He led all guards with a 76.7% run block win rate last season, winning on 211 of 275 opportunities. The problem is Scherff has averaged 11.4 games played over the past five seasons. He started 11 games in 2021, and the last time he played in every game was 2016.
Still, multiple execs picked him No. 1 here.
“Very quick off the ball to engage and stay locked into defenders,” an NFC coordinator said. “In pass protection, [he] has strength to stop power rushes at the line of scrimmage. That’s a good trait [versus] big defensive tackles. Good puller, too.”
Scherff’s pass block win rate dipped from 94.4% in 2020 to 93.0% in 2021, but that’s nitpicky. He still ranked 27th among guards.
The good thing about Scherff is that even if he only plays around 13 games for the Jags, he’s a massive upgrade over the player they had playing there previously in A.J. Cann. According to Pro Football Focus, Cann only registered a grade over 70 once, and that was in 2016. Scherff, on the other hand, has never had a grade lower than 72.5 throughout his entire career.
That’s the type of consistency a quarterback like Trevor Lawrence needs in front of him. Scherff also should offer the Jags a consistent presence as a run blocker, where he has a career figure of 73.7. That would be huge for Travis Etienne and James Robinson, who both figure to be a big part of the Jags’ plans on offense.
As for the rest of ESPN’s rankings, the only two interior linemen who were ranked ahead of Scherff were Quenton Nelson of the Indianapolis Colts and Zack Martin of the Dallas Cowboys.
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