

They say it's good to start with a joke, so here's a screenshot from @Chr15t14n904 on Twitter.





BAHAHAHAHAHAHA

No, but seriously folks, the Jaguars let disappointing safety Johnathan Cyprien go in free agency without offering him a contract and replaced him with Barry Church, a multi-year starter at safety and team captain for the Cowboys. Church and Cyprien signed very similar contracts (Church: 4/26/12 GTD, Cyprien: 4/25/7) so I feel confident in saying the team thinks Church is a significantly better option than Cyprien.

The rationale given for the signing is that Church, like Cyprien, is a strong run stuffer but he brings more to the team in pass coverage. While Cyprien's efforts in coverage were often.. adventurous... limiting him to a box safety role, the Jaguars believe Church can be effective dropping back in coverage in multiple looks.

The expectations for Church are quite simple: be as strong as Cyprien as a run-stuffing safety but be better in coverage. Pro Football Focus suggests these are reasonable expectations; they have Church ranked 13th among safeties against the run and 20th against the pass, but only a handful of safeties ranked above him in coverage play a similar strong safety role. Also they had Cyprien ranked as the #1 safety against the run so I'd take their grades with a pinch of salt.

Athletically, Cyprien and Church are quite similar except Church had a large edge in agility drills:

Cyprien: 6002 217 4.64 40, 38.5" vert, 9'11" broad, 4.44 20yd shuttle, 7.01 3-cone

Church: 6014 222 4.64 40, 36" vert, 10'1" broad, 4.17 20yd shuttle, 6.65 3-cone

So what does this look like on film? I took a look at his week 6 game on the road against the Packers and his week 14 game at home against the Giants.

Week 6 @ Green Bay - 51 snaps, 36 passing, 15 rushing (W 30-16)

In this play Jeff Janis draws triple (?!?) coverage deep, including Church, leaving Jordy Nelson wide open in the middle of the field. However, Church closes quickly with a good hit that actually forces a fumble recovered by the Cowboys. I'm not sure if Church should be given a ton of credit for forcing this fumble as it seems like a fairly standard tackle, but a nice result nonetheless. He also provided good coverage over the top and in my opinion takes no fault for the coverage breakdown on Nelson.

Here we see Church looking quite comfortable in zone coverage. First he undercuts the hook route by Jordy Nelson forcing Rodgers to look elsewhere. He continues the play by maintaining coverage on a half-hearted wheel route by the Packers tight end who from his lack of effort I assume was Jared Cook. Eventually Rodgers goes down for a coverage sack.

I didn't get a lot of chances to see Church in man coverage. Here he does a solid job of covering Jeff Janis, who's an underwhelming receiver but an athletic freak, on a long deep crossing route. Rodgers had a lot of time to throw but Janis was never a viable option on this play.

This play is probably more a mistake by Rodgers than anything special by Church. Rodgers quite clearly doesn't see Church lurking underneath and throws it right into his belly button. However Church does a nice job of reading Rodgers' eyes and putting himself in a position to make the play. I'm not going to chalk this one up to just luck; Church had as many INTs last year (2) as Cyprien has in his career. If it was just luck we would've seen Cyprien do this, um, ever.

Ty Montgomery comes open out of the backfield for a big gain. Church's reaction at the end of this play suggests he doesn't think Montgomery was his responsibility but from my untrained eyes it's hard to see how it could be otherwise. I'm open to corrections here but it looks to me like the CBs are playing man coverage leaving Montgomery as Church's responsibility. Am I wrong here?

Week 14 vs. New York Giants - 66 snaps, 32 passing, 34 rushing (L 7-10)

It doesn't have a real effect on the play but Church allows himself to be taken out of the play by a nice open field block from Odell Beckham.

When the Jaguars talk about Church bringing more in the pass game than Cyprien this is what they're talking about. Church is in cover 2 and puts himself in a perfect position to break up a deep pass intended for Odell Beckham. He could've come away with an interception but loses the ball going to the ground. Did Cyprien make a single comparable play in four years here?

Church has no receivers anywhere near his zone responsibility so I guess this allows him to freelance a bit. Eli makes an absolutely tragic decision, throwing it right to Church who undercut the comeback route by Beckham. Another should've-been INT that gets broken up by the ground.

Yes, Church is still solid against the run. Here he comes up nicely and plugs the hole, stuffing Paul Perkins for little to no gain.

This play was the only serious negative I saw from Church in two games. He gets caught taking a bad angle on the play in front of him and badly misses a tackle, allowing Beckham to run free for a long touchdown. This was the only poor angle and only missed tackle I saw from him in two games and it's against one of the best players in football so I'm not overly concerned, but it's something to look out for.

One more solid stop against the run. Perkins tries to cut the play outside but Church is in perfect position and sticks him for no gain.

Church was not the player I expected to see. I thought he'd be primarily a box safety who brings a little something more in pass coverage than Cyprien. Instead I saw an athletic, versatile, and instinctive safety.

His versatility is especially apparent. He and Byron Jones, the Cowboys' other starting safety, were largely interchangeable in their roles. Church frequently played both safety spots in both cover 2 and cover 3 - he quite often was a single high safety, which you would NEVER see the Jaguars ask Cyprien to do. He could still play in the box and he also played linebacker on obvious passing downs.

While it is quite clear what Church brings to the table over Cyprien, I'm also excited to see how his arrival benefits Tashaun Gipson. While Cyprien played primarily in the box that left Gipson playing mostly single-high safety and I was disappointed in his first year. After the season, Gipson was vocally unhappy with how he was used in the defense.

Now that Gipson is matched with a safety who can share deep coverage responsibilities he doesn't just have to play single high safety. The Jaguars can move both safeties around the field and perhaps the versatility could allow Gipson to return to his 2014 form which saw him collect six interceptions.

Regardless, Church brings a different dimension to the strong safety position than Cyprien did and I am excited to see how Todd Wash uses the safeties this year.