New name and new contract, but Josh Hines-Allen hasn‘t been the same player, so far. What’s going on?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – If Josh Hines-Allen were ever asked to list the days in his life he remembers the most, it’s almost a guarantee that April 10, 2024, would be high on that list.

While the day he was drafted into the NFL may be up there along with some of the great games he strung together at Montclair High School and the University of Kentucky, April 10 may be memorable because it was the day he officially inked a five-year, $150 million contract with $88 million guaranteed, becoming the highest-paid defensive player in Jaguars history.

July 9 may have a high placement on that list as well since it was the day that the player formerly known as Josh Allen became Josh Hines-Allen, a tribute to his mother’s side of the family and other relatives who have donned the name on the backs of their jerseys.

There‘s just one issue: Through seven weeks of the NFL season, the new name and new contract seem to have created a new player. And in terms of production on the field, the new guy hasn’t been nearly as good as the old one.

Now, to be fair, the entire Jaguars team has gotten off to a rocky start, dropping four straight games before picking up their first win of the season. But after becoming the highest-paid defensive player in Jaguars history, it’s also fair to say that Hines-Allen hasn’t come close to replicating the franchise-record-setting numbers that earned him the lofty contract.

Look no further for evidence of his struggles than this play in the first quarter of the team’s Week 7 win over the New England Patriots.

About seven minutes into the first quarter, the Pats lined up around 16 yards away from the end zone. Once the ball was snapped, former Jacksonville running back JaMycal Hasty ran a flat route and caught the ball behind the line of scrimmage.

As Hasty ran toward the end zone, Hines-Allen closed the gap between himself and Hasty.

There was just one problem.

Hines-Allen did a poor job of forcing Hasty toward the sideline boundary and gave the running back an easy lane to cut back to the middle of the field, which led to a touchdown for New England.

“Josh Hines-Allen obviously isn‘t good in coverage, but you can’t tell me this is full effort here,” former Jaguars player Clay Harbour posted on social media site, X.

When asked about that specific play, News4JAX sports anchor Jamal St. Cyr explained that it isn‘t all Hines-Allen’s fault.

“Part of the reason why they brought in [defensive coordinator] Ryan Nielsen was the expectation that the team would stop putting Josh in those situations,” St. Cyr said. “Josh is not a coverage guy, that’s self-admitted.”

“On that particular play, Josh got dropped back a little bit into coverage and got caught in ‘no man’s land’... It wasn‘t pretty, but that‘s not where he’s going to excel.”

OK, so it wasn‘t Hines-Allen’s most shining moment. But, according to PFF, that game ended up being one of his best performances of the season, with a 31.4% pass rush win rate, the third-highest rating of Week 7.

Still, the production on the field hasn’t matched the contract Hines-Allen signed in April. Through seven games, he has just 2.5 sacks. In comparison, through seven games of the 2023 season, he had already posted seven sacks.

But St. Cyr says the sack number can be a little misleading when evaluating Hines-Allen’s performance on the field because “defenses work in layers” and the Jaguars pass rushers have come close to adding to their sack total on numerous occasions.

“With a defense, the secondary can support the pass rush and vice versa ...right now the [Jaguars] secondary has been a little exposed, and the opposing quarterback has had options ... the pass rush has been very close,” he said.

St. Cyr added that despite Hines-Allen’s struggles, he believes the former first-round pick can still amass a double-digit sack total and turn his season around.

“Josh has a ton of talent. He‘s one of the hardest-working guys on that team,” he said. “Once the team gets rolling, there will be more opportunities to rush the passer, and that’s always good for numbers.”

Hines-Allen currently sits second on the all-time sack leaders list for the Jaguars, just 7.5 sacks behind Tony Brackens.

If he were to accrue a double-digit sack total this season, he would become the franchise’s all-time sack leader.

Hines-Allen spoke to the media on Thursday ahead of the game against the Green Bay Packers and talked about the differences between this year and last year.

“When you look at, you know, last year, I feel like last year they were, you know, sliding to [Travon Walker] and I had a lot of one on one‘s backside, and I was taking advantage of all those. And I had a lot of free plays as well. I think in the beginning season, I was getting a lot of looks to my side, and [Walker] was taking advantage of his one-on-ones. So, you know, [Walker] got six sacks and I only got two and a half, so he’s the better end so let’s start focusing more on him, you know, respectfully,” Hines-Allen said with a sly smile and a laugh.