I had Malik Jefferson as preseason DPOY last year based on what I knew about how they were going to deploy him in the Texas defense. Then it turned out that they hadn’t mastered simple stuff that offseason like “how do we play these basic run concepts in our defense?” or “who covers that guy in this coverage?”
So the DPOY deal didn’t materialize and I ended up giving it to Rasul Douglas (though Jordan Willis had a comparable case). Malik had an interesting year where he continued to flash some outrageous potential here and there but largely failed to generate consistent and sound performances.
In Todd Orlando’s 3-4 defense he’s moving to a new role that’s designed to feature his pass-rushing ability, which should be a boon to his upcoming season. Read about for free at Inside Texas.