The Jaguars’ latest moves at defensive tackle only made one thing clearer: Atlanta was right to move on from Ruke Orhorhoro.
Atlanta shipped Orhorhoro to Jacksonville this offseason in a deal aimed at getting bigger and more athletic up front, and the Falcons came away with Maason Smith in return. Smith has fit better in DL coach Nate Ollie’s system and has been more productive this season, while Orhorhoro’s fresh start has not produced the kind of jump Jacksonville hoped for.
That’s a sharp reversal from the way the trade was viewed at the time. Back then, Atlanta was widely thought to have come out on the wrong side of it.
Now, that take looks a lot shakier. Even Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile, who is regarded as one of the best defensive minds in football, hasn’t been able to unlock Orhorhoro’s versatility, and the buzz around him has dropped to a new low.
Jacksonville’s trade deadline activity made the picture even clearer. The Jaguars’ biggest need was at defensive tackle, and general manager James Gladstone attacked it hard, sending a 2027 first-round pick and a 2029 second-rounder to the Philadelphia Eagles for star DT Jordan Davis, while also landing Davon Godchaux and a 2028 sixth-round pick. That kind of aggression says plenty about how the team feels about its current interior line options.
It also says plenty about Orhorhoro’s standing. After Davon Hamilton’s injury, he was supposed to get a chance to show more, but that opportunity didn’t last long.
With Davis, Godchaux, and Arik Armstead now in the mix, the 25-year-old is set to slide deep down the depth chart. The 30-40 snaps he had been seeing are likely gone, and he looks more like a rotational piece than anything else.
That’s a rough spot for a player Atlanta once invested heavily in. Terry Fontenot used a second-round pick on Orhorhoro because of his tools and upside, and the Falcons even traded up to get him, passing on players like Braden Fiske and Cooper DeJean in the process. Two teams later, he’s now being phased out of the game plan, which puts him squarely in bust territory.
The production hasn’t matched the promise. Orhorhoro was supposed to develop into an elite run defender, but that never really happened.
Pro Football Focus has his 43.2 run defense grade ranked 98th among 125 qualified interior defenders. He has shown some pass-rush upside this season, but that hasn’t been enough to change the overall picture.
Smith, meanwhile, has given Atlanta exactly what it wanted. ESPN research says his 27% pass-rush win rate is second among all defensive tackles, trailing only Alim McNeil. That number is even better than Jeffery Simmons, the player the Bears just traded two first-round picks for.
For Atlanta, the deal keeps looking smarter by the week. For Jacksonville, the decision to chase more defensive tackle help now reads like another reminder that the Orhorhoro move never really worked out.
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