Just as all teams, the Jacksonville Jaguars aren’t strangers to having players occasionally taken off their practice squad and they was the case Tuesday. They lost nose tackle Eli Ankou to the Cleveland Browns, who had a roster spot available after trading center Austin Corbett last week.
Ankou, 25, spent three seasons with the Jags (2017-19) and was able to accumulate a total of 19 tackles and 1.5 sacks while participating in 11 games with the team. Prior to that he spent the 2017 offseason with the Houston Texans, who cut him during final cuts. The Jags then pounced on him while looking for players to claim on the waiver wire for their final 53-man roster. In September of this year, he was waived and added back to the team’s practice squad as they seemingly wanted to coach him up as a developmental nose tackle.
With the Jags likely to move on from nose tackle Marcell Dareus next season, it’s possible some play time was in Ankou’s future this upcoming season. That said, heading forward it will be interesting to see what he can become with his new opportunity, as the Browns could seemingly use some beef in the defensive trenches.
