Why Devin Lloyd's Rookie Season Left Doug Pederson Feeling Optimistic

The first-round pick is expected to be only better in his second year in the Jaguars' system in 2023.

The offseason is meant to serve as a reset for all players, but especially rookies.

NFL rookies go directly from their final college seasons to preparing for the draft, then right into offseason programs, then training camp, then at least a 17-game season. 

In the Jaguars' case, it was a 19-game season that saw rookie linebacker Devin Lloyd log 17 starts and 80% of the defensive snaps. It was rookie life 101, with Lloyd learning quickly how fast the NFL operates.

But through the bumps, the highs and the lows, Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson left the season feeling optimistic about the future of Lloyd, who the Jaguars traded back into the first to select at No. 27 in the 2022 NFL Draft.

"Devin is the same way, you saw flashes of it early. Had a little bit of a low there. It’s different, in college he was an outside backer type, on the ball linebacker, where we’re asking him to play off the ball, it’s a different game," Pederson said on Monday.

After a tough Week 10 loss to the Chiefs that saw Lloyd in the wrong spot too often, the Jaguars and Pederson opted to give Lloyd a chance to slow down. To get a new perspective on the fast and changing game in front of him -- a game the Pac-12 did little to prepare him for.

"There’s some communication there. I thought the time there midseason where Chad [LB Chad Muma] went in and played a couple of games there. I thought that really helped him, because when he came back, things began to slow down," Pederson said. "He started to understand things a little bit more. 

Lloyd still finished 2022 as one of the most productive rookie defenders and specifically linebackers, recording 115 tackles (59 solo), three interceptions, two fumble recoveries, and eight pass deflections. He had his rookie moments, but they were moments he needed to have.

Now, Lloyd can enter 2023 with a chance to finally rest and reflect. And when next year's offseason program kicks off, he will be that better for it all.

"He’s only going to improve," Pederson said. "Again, having an offseason to rest and heal and then come back understanding his role and what we’re asking him to do, the scheme on defense, I just see nothing but brighter skies for him.”

Pederson isn't the only one who sees it, either. Outside linebacker Josh Allen remembers the jump that players must take from year one to year two, and it is a jump he expects to see quickly from Lloyd and the rest of the Jaguars' young core.

"I remember coming into my first year, winning six games, and just being like, ‘Man, this isn’t, it’s not a good season.’ Then going into the next year, we can get better, we can get better," Allen said. 

"So for them, to come into their first year and go to the second round of the playoffs is a tremendous feat because there’s guys that have been in the league so long that have never been to the playoffs. So to be in their first year, I think that should be motivation enough to, ‘I got to get better,’ self-reflecting on themselves to get better. We all have to, but I know those three are going to come back something special.”