If the Jaguars are going to take a real step forward as a pass-rushing defense in 2026, Arik Armstead is the player who makes the whole thing go.
Jacksonville is planning to move him back to interior defensive tackle after using him mostly at defensive end in 2024, and the fit already looked better in 2025. Even with the switch inside, Armstead posted 48 pressures, a jump from his 36-pressure season in 2024, and he did it in one fewer game. He also pushed his sack total from two to 5.5, good for the third-best single-season mark of his career and his best since 2021.
The numbers got even more impressive before a Week 12 hand injury changed the way he could be used. Armstead had all five of his sacks before that late-November setback. In Weeks 9 through 12, he averaged 73.8 percent of the Jaguars’ defensive snaps and added two sacks, but after missing Week 13, his workload dipped to an average of 38.4 percent over the final five regular-season games.
There’s also a piece of context that matters here: before the injury, Armstead was right at the top of the interior line conversation across the league. He was tied for first among NFL interior defensive linemen with Tennessee Titans tackle Jeffrey Simmons at 5.5 sacks, and he was tied for sixth in quarterback pressures among interior defensive linemen. When he was healthy, he was doing exactly what Jacksonville needed him to do.
Armstead was open about how much the hand affected him late in the year. Speaking with Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union, he said: “I was playing with one hand for six games...
Couldn’t play as many snaps because it was hard to play the run with just one hand, so I was limited to pass-rush situations. As I got more comfortable with the cast, I was able to be somewhat effective, but couldn’t grab the blocker and couldn’t do certain moves.”
Even with that limitation, the final stretch hinted at what he might look like when fully healthy. In the Jaguars’ Wild Card loss to the Buffalo Bills, Armstead earned an 81.8 PFF grade and played 66 percent of the defensive snaps.
He finished with one quarterback pressure, two defensive stops and four total tackles. His 85.2 PFF run-defense grade led all Wild Card Round defensive linemen.
That kind of finish matters because Jacksonville is heading into 2026 with Armstead still positioned as the main interior pass-rush threat. The Jaguars did not bring in major outside competition for his three-technique role this offseason, and they largely reinforced the depth around him instead. They traded Maason Smith to the Atlanta Falcons to acquire Ruke Orhorhoro and used a third-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on Albert Regis.
That setup leaves Armstead in the same central role he held in 2025, and the Jaguars’ decision not to make a bigger move at the position says plenty. It also lines up with the cap picture, with the team potentially able to save $14-million in cap space.
The big question, as always with Armstead, is availability. Since 2021, he has played every regular-season game only once, in 2024.
In his three seasons as a primary defensive tackle, his game totals have been 9, 12 and 16 appearances. Now 32, he’ll be trying to get through all 17 games in 2026 and top last season’s 5.5 sacks.
If he can carry the pre-injury version of 2025 into a full season, plus what he showed against Buffalo, Jacksonville’s defense has a chance to become a real problem for the rest of the AFC. The catch is the same one that has followed him for years: staying on the field long enough to make it happen.
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ESPN Just Put The Jaguars Pass Rush Under A Bigger Spotlight
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James Gladstones Riskiest Jaguars Calls Suddenly Look A Lot Smarter
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The ripple effects have gone beyond just playing time. The Kirk move also brought back a 2026 seventh-round pick from Houston, and that asset eventually helped Jacksonville trade up for Baylor wide receiver Josh Cameron, another sign that the front office is trying to turn every roster decision into future flexibility. For a team trying to build something sustainable, the bigger question now is whether these early bets are the start of a smarter roster cycle or just the first layer of it. [Read more 🡒]