Countdown to Jaguars Football: No. 92 and Who Has Donned it Best
In less than 100 days, Jacksonville Jaguars will return ... at least as things stand today.
While there is still some uncertainty surrounding the start to the NFL season, the league office has made it clear that they are planning to kick the season off on Sept. 10 and then have every other team play on Sept. 13.
By going off that timeline, we are now just 92 days from watching the Jaguars take the field against the Indianapolis Colts for the first regular season game of 2020.
In an effort to countdown to the start of the season, we will now be going from 95 through 1 to determine the best players to don the teal, black, and white for the Jaguars at each specific number. Yesterday, we tabbed Calais Campbell as the best to wear No. 93 in Jacksonville, but what about the next number?
So when considering each player has worn the No. 92 since Jacksonville's first season in 1995, who has been the most impactful? Since the team's inception, here are the players who have worn the jersey number:
- Lyndon Johnson: 2018
- Sheldon Day: 2016
- Don Davey: 1995-98
- James Roberson: 1999
- Rob Meier: 2000-09
- Austen Lane: 2010-12
- Brandon Deaderick: 2013
- Ziggy Hood: 2014
Among this group are just a few long-term Jaguars, but there are still enough contributors to make a top-three ranking of each of the 92s in Jaguars' history.
No. 3: Austen Lane
While presently a host of Action Sports Jax on ESPN 690, Austen Lane first made his name in Jacksonville as a solid contributor at defensive end from 2010-2012. Lane, selected out of Murray State in the fifth-round (No. 153 overall) in the 2010 NFL Draft, spent three of his five accumulated NFL seasons in Jacksonville.
In three years as a Jaguar, Lane appeared in 28 games, starting 17 of those games. During his tenure in Jacksonville, the veteran pass-rusher recorded 66 tackles, three sacks, four tackles for loss, 12 quarterback hits, and one forced fumble. After spending three seasons in Jacksonville, Lane then played for Detroit and Chicago for a season.
No. 2: Don Davey
Another player who spent three seasons in the teal, white, and black, Don Davey was a solid contributor inside at defensive tackle from 1995-1997. A member of the inaugural Jaguars team, Davey started all 16 games of Jacksonville's first-ever NFL season, becoming a key part of the defensive line rotation in the following years moving forward.
In three seasons in Jacksonville, Davey appeared in 42 games, starting 38. In that period, Davey recorded 107 tackles, 6.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery. While never recording more than three sacks in a season for the upstart Jaguars, Davey brought a veteran presence to Jacksonville's front seven, going on to appear in three playoff games for the team in 1996, and even recording a sack in the 1996 AFC Championship.
No. 1: Rob Meier
When you come in 11th all-time on the Jaguars franchise list of sack leaders, it is hard to not earn the top spot. Rob Meier was one of the most consistently productive members of Jacksonville's defense during the final years of the Tom Coughlin era and the most successful era of the Jack Del Rio era, providing Jacksonville with a dependable and hard-working presence upfront.
In nine seasons in Jacksonville, Meier appeared in 138 games, starting 49 games in the process. During his lengthy tenure in Jacksonville, Meier recorded 21.5 sacks, 232 tackles, 48 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries. During Meier's best run from 2005-2007, he recorded 15 sacks and 23 tackles for loss, proving to be on of Del Rio's most impactful defensive linemen.
