Secondary depth has been a burning issue for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the front office wasn’t about to sit on its hands and do nothing. They needed a solution, and they brought it in on Tuesday.
The Jaguars signed former Texans defensive back Alijah Huzzie off Houston’s practice squad, according to Ian Rapoport, slotting him straight onto the 53-man roster as they prepare for a tough matchup against the Eagles.
Jaguars Signs Texans Alijah Huzzie
Houston kept Huzzie locked on the practice squad after grabbing him as an undrafted free agent in 2025, but Liam Coen saw the raw ball skills and pulled the trigger. He brought him straight to the 53-man roster.
Given how stretched Jacksonville’s secondary has been, the signing was wholly unsurprising. Expected, even.
Jacksonville’s CB depth has been stretched paper-thin, with multiple defensive backs fighting through injuries or landing on the injury report. Head coach Liam Coen and the staff have had to churn the bottom of the roster to find bodies who can play right away.
In Week 4, Travis Hunter had to shoulder the majority of the load and give up on playing offense for the entire game, logging all 76 defensive snaps.
Jaguars Needed Alijah Huzzie for CB Rotation
They simply didn’t have the health to run a normal cornerback rotation.
Hunter put on a clinic—one Tee Higgins won’t forget anytime soon—but asking him to play every single snap without relief isn’t sustainable.
Christian Braswell (knee) and Montaric “Buster” Brown have both been nicked up; the Jaguars were running dangerously thin at rotational corner and slot depth. Huzzie was available, and the Jaguars needed more bodies.
Huzzie isn’t a silver-bullet fix, but with Jarrian Jones working overtime next to Hunter. Asking Hunter and Jones to play 100% of defensive snaps with no relief isn’t a sustainable model.
Huzzie gives Coen a usable body in the slot—one that lets the Jaguars breathe on defense and hopefully get Hunter back to doing two-way damage.
Although he spent the majority of his rookie season buried on Houston’s practice squad outside of a few late emergency swaps, his collegiate track record shows why Coen made the call.
Across stops at ETSU and North Carolina, Huzzie was a certified ballhawk—logging 16 career interceptions, 48 pass breakups, and a pair of house-call punt returns.
Expecting a second-year player to suddenly transform Jacksonville’s secondary wouldn’t exactly be the decision Coen usually makes, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
Jaguars Sign Former Texans Defensive Back Directly to Active Roster Before Eagles Game