Devin Lloyd: Player Spotlight

Monday's Player Spotlight has to go to none other than LB Devin Lloyd who is having a ridiculous start to this season. Through 4 games Lloyd has 23 Total tackles, 2 TFLs, 3 Passes Defended, 3 INTs, and a fumble recovery. Not bad for a guy who was headed towards not getting a sizeable second contract probably anywhere. The issue now is going to be whether or not the Jaguars can afford to keep him. We'll worry about that in the offseason though because right now its time to talk about how awesome Lloyd was yesterday.

Lloyd made his impact felt on the very first drive of the day when it looked like the 49ers were going to take their first drive right up the field and set the tone early with a touchdown. The 49ers had 2nd and goal from the 5 and were trying to set up a swing/screen pass to McCaffery. McCaffery made the first guy miss before Lloyd stood him up 2 yards behind the line. He then had great coverage on McCaffery the very next play forcing Purdy to throw the ball too far into the sideline to be catchable. Lloyd made to great plays to stonewall the 49ers early and might have completely changed how this game played out.

He also had two huge INTs on the day that both came in critical moments of the game. His first came with about 13 minutes left in the 2nd quarter with the 49ers driving to try and take the lead or cut into it with a field goal. Purdy floated a ball to McCaffery that was bobbled and then tipped up to Lloyd who made the play on it. This INT led to maybe the best Jaguars offensive drive of the season and they were able to push the lead to 14-3.

His 2nd INT was the the more impressive of the two as Purdy was trying to hit a seam route that had been giving the Jaguars fits. Lloyd read the play and dropped right underneath the route. Maason Smith managed to get a paw on it at the line of scrimmage making the play easier but even if Smith doesn't get the tip, Lloyd is in perfect coverage and likely makes the play anyway. The Jaguars were able to end up with a field goal to push the lead to 20-14. Lloyd's takeaways directly led to 10 of Jacksonville's 26 points and probably won the Jaguars the football game.

He almost did have the game winning strip sack on Purdy but Armstead just barely swiped the ball out of his hand before Lloyd lit him up on the blindside. Armstead gets the credit for the sack as he should but Lloyd was about a tenth of a second from having an even bigger day. It was an impressive day for the Jaguars linebacking core that came into San Francisco and outplayed one of the best linebacker duos in football. Lloyd was a massive part of that and should be an all pro player at the end of the year if he keeps this up. He'll face another tough test this week against the Chiefs who love to attack LBs in coverage with their TE's an underneath routes.

Honorable Mentions

RB Travis Ettiene: He looks to have all of the explosiveness from his 2nd season back. Warning to all NFL defenses, if you leave this man an inch of space to run through he will sprint through and be at your safety by the time you even have time to blink. His 48 yard TD run was all the proof of that anyone should need. Walker Little didn't even get the edge blocked completely and it still didn't matter. The 49ers couldn't close of the edge in time and that was all Ettiene needed. He's averaging an absurd 6.1 yards per carry this year and has shut down any rumors of Tuten taking the RB1 spot.

LB Dennis Gardeck: Gardeck has quietly been a very important depth piece for the Jaguars defense. He's the Jags SAM linebacker so he comes off the field when the defense goes to a nickel or dime package which is a lot in the modern NFL. Even with his limited snaps he always seems to make an impact somewhere. He had a huge forced fumble on the 49ers 2nd drive that set up Ettiene's 48 yard TD run and shifted the momentum of the game. H also always seems to deliver a big hit on somebody every game. He wasn't talked about a lot when he came over as a FA this offseason but he's been essential in helping this Jaguars team become a lot more physical.

DT Arik Armstead: He got the game winning strip sack of Purdy this week in his return to San Francisco. With how awesome he has been this year moving back to the DT spot I have no idea why former DC Ryan Nielson tried to move him to backup DE. It would almost be comical if I wasn't mentally scarred from watching it all of last season. He now leads the Jaguars with 2.5 sacks through just 4 games. Armstead got talked about a lot as a guy who might be able to help as a backup until the Jags can move off his contract. Now I don't think the Jaguars defensive line can afford to lose him.