JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Josh Hines-Allen was coming off the best season of his career and had a massive new contract to show for it.
The weight of that contract wasn’t the only thing weighing Hines-Allen down last year.
Recommended Videos
It was his weight.
Hines-Allen had a bit of a down season statistically last year. He set the single-season sack record in 2023 (17.5), then was asked to bulk up and play at the heaviest he’d ever been under new coordinator Ryan Nielsen.
The results were underwhelming. Jacksonville had one of the league’s worst defenses, struggling at all three levels. Hines-Allen ranked 10th in total pressures (63), a solid number but a slide from his 2023 season (96 pressures, pressure rate of 19.6%). By the numbers, Hines-Allen was still highly effective but he just wasn’t the same player.
Hines-Allen was just too heavy.
“I was much bigger. My mindset was always to be as dominant, but obviously, holding a little bit more weight kind of puts a little bit more wear and tear on the body. It was a lot. Too much,” Hines-Allen said. “Again, learn to adapt. Got to know what works best for you. Something that I tried, and something that I’m, like, alright, I probably don’t want to do that again.”
Hines-Allen was listed at 255 pounds entering last year but said that he played at 285 pounds. In theory, that should have meant Hines-Allen could have been able to bang with larger offensive linemen in Nielsen’s hockey-style defensive rotation, but it was a massive shift for the edge rusher.
Hines-Allen’s presence at OTAs has been a change, too. He’s spent the last few years of the voluntary program working out in Arizona before coming back to Jacksonville for the mandatory portion of camp.
“There’s a time for me to go work out there. I’m getting older, so things are going to probably change a little bit throughout the year,” Hines-Allen said. “Just have to find out what works best for me each and every year. Can’t try to recreate things I did last year. Got to create a year within itself and learn to adapt, which I’m learning. But being here has been awesome. I’ve enjoyed everything about it.”
‘Inaccurate’ reports on Etienne
There’s been a recurrent storyline this offseason about the team moving on from running back Travis Etienne this season. Etienne is playing on his fifth-year option, and has somewhat plateaued since a solid second season in the league. Head coach Liam Coen alluded to having seen some of those reports about Etienne being out with the team.
“Everyday, everything we have asked him to do he has done at a good click for us. The ability in the screen game, to hand him jet sweeps, his vision so far in the run game’s been good. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do and more,” Coen said.
“… He’s done a great job. I don’t really understand some of the stuff that I’ve seen out there. That’s absolutely inaccurate.”
Etienne has looked explosive early on in camp. He had back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons in 2022 and ‘23 and had 17 total touchdowns in that span. But his production bottomed out last year with just 558 rushing yards and a couple scores. The fumbling problems that affected Etienne in 2022 (three) have largely disappeared since then (just one lost fumble last two years). With what should be a better offensive line in front of him this year, Etienne could be a popular pick as a bounceback candidate for the Jaguars.
“Honestly, I just control the controllables,” Etienne said. “I feel like we all know it’s a business. it’s a production league. And I feel like I’m going to produce then it’s going to directly impact me. So I can’t let the outside world, the business aspect, affect my in-game performance because if I don’t perform then I’m not going to be in the business. I just feel like I control what I can control, go out there and do my job and I’ll be in a great position next year.”
Travis Hunter in demand on defense
First-round pick Travis Hunter has largely been on offense during the OTAs where media have been attendance. He spent the last few minutes of Monday’s session with a few receivers trying to see who could throw the ball the farthest. But Hunter’s work on defense has come on days where media haven’t been around.
“Milo [Secondary Coach Ron Milus] came up to me after practice and said, ‘can we have him more?’ That’s a good thing. We were in the red area on Friday, he didn’t end up making any plays on the ball but just the movement skills and some of the man coverages, the feel in zone you can definitely see how natural it is for him,” Coen said of Hunter. “He is still learning, still growing. He is trying to learn the calls as much as possible, but when you see him in the seven-on and team settings he does not look out of place by any means.”
Hunter said before the draft that he planned to continue playing both ways in the NFL like he did in Colorado.
Photo gallery
The Jaguars continued their organized team activities on Monday as the offseason marches closer to completion. News4JAX photographer Chris Smith captured the day in images. Click through the gallery above to see the day of practice.
Notes
- Good action in the red zone. Trevor Lawrence had a laser to Brenton Strange for a TD.
- Maybe Urban Meyer was ahead of his time. He said Joe Mixon was a Texan during his time as Jags head coach and he also said he wanted Etienne in the slot. Don’t look now, but don’t be surprised.
- Buster Brown with a good day of work out on the field got a nice PBU on Dyami Brown.
- Cam Camper and Eli Pancol just move differently than the rest of the UDFA receivers.
- Dyami Brown made a nice one-handed catch. He has been peppered with targets through OTA’s. It’s clear he is going to have a big role.
- Right tackle Anton Harrison had the day off, but it wasn’t injury-related. Coen said that Harrison wasn’t “feeling too well” and sat out the day. Safety Darnell Savage also didn’t practice Monday.
- Sheriff T.K. Waters of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office took in Monday’s OTAs. Church of Eleven22 lead pastor Joby Martin and Bishop Kenny head football coach Tim Krause were also at camp.
RELATED
UDFA Elia Pancol talks about how college injuries made him love the game more
Liam Coen says he loves what he’s seen from Travis Etienne
Josh Hines-Allen and plan to drop weight this season
Andrew Wingard on who he’d pick to be on his side in a bar fight
Full interview: Travis Etienne on playing on the option and his brother’s rookie season
Full interview: Rookie Eli Pancol looks to make the team, make his mark with Jaguars
Full interview: Andrew Wingard on new coaching staff, 2025 season
News4JAGs podcast: How many defensive snaps will Travis Hunter play?
