JACKSONVILLE – The challenge is significant and high profile.
That’s true for many positions for the Jaguars this week, perhaps nowhere as much as the offensive line – specifically offensive tackles Cam Robinson and Anton Harrison.
“We have our work cut out for us,” Robinson said as the AFC South-leading Jaguars (6-2) prepared to play the NFC West-leading San Francisco 49ers (5-3) at EverBank Stadium Sunday at 1 p.m.
The reasons are as simple as they are dangerous:
- Edge rushers Nick Bosa and Chase Young, two former No. 2 overall selections in the NFL Draft. The 49ers are considered one of the most talented teams in the NFL, with running back Christian McCaffrey and linebacker Fred Warner considered by some the league’s best players at their positions.
- The same is true of Bosa, a three-time Pro Bowl selection.
“They have great players,” Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor said Thursday. “That’s the first thing that jumps off the tape.”
Bosa, the No. 2 selection in 2019 and the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2022, has 43 career sacks in five seasons and led the NFL in the category with 18.5 last season. The 49ers last week traded a third-round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft for Young, the No. 2 selection in 2020 and the NFL’s Rookie of the Year that season.
“The difficult part of it is that they’re both just great players,” quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. “There are going to be things that you might have to adjust to in the game. You’re kind of guessing on where they’re going to play, what they’re going to do, which side they’re going to play on At the end of the day, you’ve got to win your matchups, you’ve got to be able to block and we’ve got to help our tackles.
“When it’s two ends, you kind of know what they’re going to do. They’ve got to pick a side and they’re going to rush. They’re going to play with instincts and those guys are good players.”
Young had five sacks in seven games with Washington this season and joins a 49ers defensive line that also includes Javon Hargrave, who had 11 sacks for the Philadelphia Eagles last season before signing with the 49ers as an unrestricted free agent this past offseason.
Warner, a sixth-year veteran, was a first-team All-Pro selection in 2020 and 2022.
“It’s one of those things where you see a group that’s played in a system for a long time and the way they communicate is really good – the way they feed off each other, the way they know people like to attack them and the way they respond to that,” Taylor said.
