Jaguars trade Trevor Lawrence's 23-year-old DL teammate to Falcons for former second-round pick

Jaguars trade Trevor Lawrence's 23-year-old DL teammate to Falcons for former second-round pick originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are reportedly swapping defensive linemen this offseason in an intriguing deal.

According to the franchise’s official website, the Jaguars traded Trevor Lawrence’s 23-year-old DL teammate to the Atlanta Falcons for a former first-round pick DL.

"The Jacksonville Jaguars have made the following roster moves: Agreed to terms with the Atlanta Falcons to trade DL Maason Smith in exchange for DL Ruke Orhorhoro (Oh-row-row-row),” the organization stated. “Waived OL Cooper Hodges.”

After only appearing in eight games as a rookie in 2024-25, Orhorhoro competed in all 17 of the Falcons’ regular-season contests and recorded 25 total tackles (13 assisted and 12 solo) and 3.5 sacks on an Atlanta squad that narrowly missed the postseason.

Conversely, Smith appears to be moving backward after a somewhat respectable rookie campaign in Jacksonville (10 solo tackles and seven assisted tackles, and three tackles).

However, during his sophomore campaign, the LSU product was relatively ineffective in 13 contests. Smith recorded only 11 assisted tackles and four solo tackles while failing to log a sack.

As a result, the Jaguars sent Smith to the Falcons for Orhorhoro, clearly believing that the latter has a far higher upside and will be a more seamless fit with Jacksonville.

Of course, time will tell whether the Jaguars’ late-April trade pays dividends for the organization in the foreseeable future.