'I see a leader': Jaguars OLB Josh Allen sees plenty of growth from K'Lavon Chaisson

As Jacksonville Jaguars outside linebacker Josh Allen enters his fifth season with the team, he's helped mentor fellow former first-round pick and OLB K'Lavon Chaisson since he joined the team a year after Allen's arrival.

Now, he's seen the latter take the next step, too, offering his own words of wisdom to up-and-coming players.

"I'm seeing K'Lavon [Chaisson] be a leader in this defense," Allen said Tuesday.

"I've seen him take [on] a lot of the young guys since I wasn't here really in OTAs [Organized Team Activities] ... he's a guy that the young guys, the rookies go to. For him, they get all that knowledge back because K'Lavon's a really smart player. He knows the defense in and out. He puts himself in a better position to be successful. "

Jacksonville selected outside linebacker Yasir Abdullah in the fifth round of this year's draft. The team expects Abdullah to be brought along, a player that can potentially fit within the team's rotation as a pass rusher.

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Allen said Chaisson knew the defense inside and out, a player that anyone can go up to and talk about formations or other parts of the team's scheme and rush plan.

That gives a lot of credit to Chaisson, but also allows the younger players to learn from someone who's been in the league since being drafted in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

"I just think he's playing a little bit faster, being comfortable, working his moves, going throughout the whole process like, get-off, steps, knowing who you're going against in the rushes," he said.

Tuesday marked the first day that the team sported full pads, giving an opportunity for the offensive and defensive lines to go up against each other one-on-one.

Allen recalled one repetition that Chaisson had against veteran left tackle Cam Robinson, noting that the fourth-year pass rusher did well today.

"That was a thought-out plan and he executed it really well," he said.

Chaisson is entering perhaps his final season in Jacksonville after the team declined to pick up his fifth-year option, an opportunity all first-round picks have.

In his career, the veteran pass rusher has played in 40 games, starting 11. He has accounted for 60 total tackles, three sacks and seven tackles for loss. Last season, Chaisson got hurt during the team's Week 5 loss to the Houston Texans.

Chaisson missed the next seven games after being placed on the team's reserve/injured list before coming back to play in the remaining seven games, including the playoffs.

Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell was asked about Chaisson during the first week of camp, noting that the pass rusher has the tools and smarts to be a talented outside linebacker. Now, the team is just waiting for him to stay healthy.

"He has [the] ability to rush, he’s shown it, and we’re just waiting for him to be healthy and get his opportunity to get out there and show what he can do," Caldwell said.

Chaisson is slated to be the team's third pass rusher off the bench behind Allen and last year's first-overall pick Travon Walker. The trio will be relied upon from a pass rush standpoint this year, with the team's defense expected to make a bigger jump going into Year 2 under Caldwell.

Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on Twitter at @Demetrius82.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars' Josh Allen sees K'Lavon Chaisson taking on leadership role