Big Cat Country
Welcome to Big Cat Country’s staff roundtable!
Today, we’re previewing Week 5’s Monday Night Football matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Kansas City Chiefs at EverBank Stadium.
Who have you been most impressed by through the first month of the season?
Dillon Appleman: The perception of Devin Lloyd has completely changed just four games into the 2025 season. After an inconsistent first few years in the league, Lloyd entered a contract year with a lot of question marks surrounding his role and to say he’s answered the bell would be an understatement. His three interceptions lead the league and there is a real argument to be made that he’s been the best linebacker in football this season. If he continues on this trajectory he could go from being on the roster bubble to being in DPOY conversations.
Travis Holmes: For me, the answer is James Gladstone. As someone who’s often been a public fan of Brad Holmes (the Detroit Lions General Manager), seeing someone of a similar ilk in Jacksonville has been a refreshing observation, with multiple players showing obvious development early on in 2025. Are RT Anton Harrison, LB Devin Lloyd, RB Travis Etienne, or S Dewey Wingard playing at the level they are without the significant levels of competition brought in throughout the offseason, while also promoting true and open competition roster-wide? Most of those players haven’t had to fight for their NFL life to these levels before this offseason, and each is showing a major jump in production – partially due to coaching but also due to motivation.
Gus Logue: I’ve been most impressed by the interior offensive line. Though I’ve thought that Ezra Cleveland was slightly underrated since he arrived in Duval County, I was iffy on the additions of Robert Hainsey and Patrick Mekari this offseason. Each of those players rank top-12 among all IOL in ESPN’s pass block win rate, and Cleveland and Hainsey rank top-five in run block win rate. Wasn’t expecting that!
Henry Zimmer: I think Anthony Campanile deserves some praise at this point in the season. Who would have guessed the Jags would be on the sort of turnover tear that they are? The only real improvement is to start turning those pressures into sacks.
What’s a matchup you’re looking forward to watching?
Dillon: Xavier Worthy vs. Anthony Campanile. The Kansas City Chiefs’ offense looked night and day different when Xavier Worthy was on the field for them this past weekend as his speed completely changes what they can do. They look to get him the football in a ton of different ways, which forces defenses to be disciplined, or else he can turn what looks like a five-yard gain into a 20-yard gain. Coach Camp has done a tremendous job to this point but this is a huge test for his defense on Monday night. He’ll need to have the secondary playing disciplined, complementary football to keep Worthy from having an open runway to showcase his 4.2 speed.
Travis:...
