The Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to have a really good defense this season.

Last season, the Jaguars had the NFL's top defense against the run, but didn't have the same success against the pass. The pass rush recorded only 32 sacks, which was 27th in the league. The Jaguars ranked only 21st against the pass, allowing 218.1 yards per game.

Despite the pass defense being mediocre at best, one of its biggest strengths was cornerback Montaric Brown. His 72.7 overall grade from PFF ranked 20th out of 114 qualified CBs. His coverage grade of 75.5 was 14th.

Per PFF, Brown only allowed 34 receptions in coverage and held opposing quarterbacks to a meager 73.5 passer rating when he was targeted.

This season, Brown will be starting opposite Travis Hunter, who is switching to a full-time cornerback this year after the two-way star played the majority of his snaps at wide receiver during his rookie season.

Hunter has tremendous potential at CB. Depending on how quickly he acclimates to cornerback, Hunter and Brown could be one of the NFL's better duos.

Surprisingly, Seth Walder of ESPN believes Brown will suffer a major regression this season. In ESPN's preview of each NFL team, Walder's "bold prediction" for the Jaguars was that Brown will not come close to duplicating the success he enjoyed a year ago.

Walder believes that Brown's breakout 2025 campaign was benefitted by good fortune that he thinks will be unsustainable this season.

He takes his prediction of Brown's regression further, saying Brown's advanced metrics this season will be below league average for cornerbacks.

"Cornerback Montaric Brown will record a worse-than-average yards allowed per coverage snap (1.1 per Next Gen Stats). Brown is coming off a breakout season in which he allowed 0.8 yards per coverage snap, but that was fueled by a negative-5% completion percentage over expected. I'm betting that last year will look like the outlier when we zoom out. -- Walder"

It is surprising to see Walder think that not only will Brown take a step backwards this season, but that he believes Brown's 2025 campaign will be an "outlier" when his career is over.

The Jaguars believe that Brown will be able to continue his success, inking the 2022 seventh-round pick to a three-year, $33 million contract in March.

Brown has steadily improved over his four years in Jacksonville. Going from a seventh-round pick to a team's top outside cornerback before the end of his rookie contract is an impressive accomplishment.

With Hunter now a full-time CB, he will be taking a lot of pressure off of Brown this season. Defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile has done a great job putting his players in the best position to succeed. In his first year as Jacksonville's DC, Campanile was able to get breakout seasons both Brown and safety Antonio Johnson.

While Walder may be right about Brown receiving some good fortune last year, there is no reason to believe he can't take another step forward in 2026 and solidify himself as a quality, dependable starting CB.