JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For much of the season, the Jaguars’ interior pressure was very much just the presence of Arik Armstead and very little help otherwise. Masson Smith, DaVon Hamilton, Austin Johnson, and Matt Dickerson would pitch in here and there, but it was very much Armstead along the interior.
When Armstead suffered a hand injury, it would impact the Jaguars far more than most realized. At the time, Armstead was near the top at his position and sacks. The Jaguars would go from having one of the top-performing DTs to having the worst pass-rushing unit seemingly overnight.
To provide some background, prior to Armstead’s injury, Armstead ranked third among DTs with 41 pressures through the first 12 weeks of the season. His sacks ranked near the top of the board as well. Truthfully, he was having one of the better seasons of his career, at age 32 no less.
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Sadly, a Week 12 hand injury would be the nail in the coffin for Armstead and thus the Jaguars’ interior pass-rush.
Armstead would go from averaging nearly four pressures per game (3.73) and 5.5 sacks across the first 12 weeks to just an average of 1.33 pressures per game and zero sacks to close out the season.
It wasn’t pretty around him either. As steep of a fall as Armstead had, he still led the Jaguars by a fair margin in pressures over that time. Armstead racked up seven pressures, while Matt Dickerson generated three, and Maason Smith and DaVon Hamilton posted one apiece.
The Jaguars’ 12 pressures and zero sacks across the last five weeks both ranked dead last in the NFL. There were hopes that Smith would develop after a promising end to his rookie season, but those hopes would not come to fruition.
Smith would only generate 11 pressures without a sack in 2025, ultimately being a healthy scratch in the Jaguars’ wildcard matchup against the Buffalo Bills. Those 11 pressures actually were second-most among the Jaguars DTs, tied with Hamilton.
With Armstead’s best years likely behind him, the Jaguars will have to look for some help inside sooner rather than later. It’s no doubt one of the Jaguars biggest needs heading into the 2026 offseason.
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