Jacksonville Jaguars most underrated player in 2020 season

Who is the Jacksonville Jaguars’ most underrated player in 2020?

Leading up to the 2020 NFL season, the Jacksonville Jaguars certainly don’t have the most celebrated roster in the NFL.

As a matter of fact, Pro Football Focus said the Jaguars have the worst roster in the NFL in 2020.

I’m just not sure I agree with that.

The Jaguars were a very respectable 6-6 with sixth-round rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew in the lineup, and Minshew proved to be an absolute steal as a late-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, throwing 21 touchdowns and just six interceptions.

As tremendous as Minshew was considering his draft status and expectations going into the 2019 season, he’s not the most underrated player on Jacksonville’s young roster heading into the 2020 season.

A secret star emerges at cornerback…

In the last year, the Jaguars have traded both of their Pro Bowl cornerbacks in Jalen Ramsey (Rams) and AJ Bouye (Broncos).

After Ramsey was traded, someone from within had to step up and take his place. That player was the guy I think is the most underrated player on Jacksonville’s roster and perhaps one of the most underrated players in the entire NFL heading into the 2020 season.

That player is cornerback Tre Herndon.

Herndon is somewhat of a product of Tony Khan’s modern-day Gil Brandt analytics work, an undrafted free agent out of Vanderbilt who was a shot called more than two years ago by a very important piece of the Jaguars’ front office infrastructure.

A much better prospect than the pre-draft process dictated, Herndon played mostly special teams as a rookie before starting 14 games for the Jaguars in the 2019 season.

In 16 games with 14 starts, Herndon certainly had moments he’d like to have back (three touchdowns allowed, 16.6 yards per completion allowed) but the majority of his 2019 season was impressive.

Big-time.

Herndon shut it down in 2019

Among all defensive backs in the NFL, Herndon’s completion rate allowed of 46.3 percent ranked fifth.

Among full-time starters?

That figure was number one among all NFL cornerbacks.

Herndon racked up 55 total tackles and three interceptions to go along with his 46.3 percent completion rate allowed. How in the world did this guy slip through the cracks, no just in the 2018 NFL Draft but in terms of his recognition around the NFL world?

The 2019 season was somewhat of a trial by fire for Herndon, but the Jaguars quickly have revamped their cornerback position with not only Herndon’s emergence but the arrival of CJ Henderson as their top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Although the loss of a star like Jalen Ramsey hurts, the Jaguars could rebound quickly thanks to their first-round pick and this secret star Tre Herndon.