The Miami Dolphins welcome their in state foe Jacksonville Jaguars who will make the 332.8 mile trip down south this Sunday. The Jaguars had an eventful offseason where they made changes to the coaching staff and player personnel, and they made upgrades at nearly every position. Below I will give a rundown on the offseason the Jacksonville Jaguars had and a breakdown of their team.
The Jaguars are led by head coach Doug Pederson, who came over after being let go by the Philadelphia Eagles. Pederson arrived in Jacksonville in 2022 with multiple goals in mind. One of his goals being to get the Jaguars back to relevance after a disaster situation that Urban Meyer left them in. In Pederson’s first season he led the Jaguars to a playoff berth, and won a playoff game before pushing the eventual super bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs to the ropes. It’s safe to say that Pederson has done a solid job in his short time in Jacksonville, and he has implemented his offensive scheme which helped him win playoff games and a super bowl in the past.
The only major coaching change on his staff was bringing in new defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen, who is a very impressive defensive mind who did great work in Atlanta last year. Nielsen was one of the top defensive coordinator potential hires for teams this offseason, and he was only available due to new Falcons head coach Raheem Morris being a defensive mind himself. Morris was going to bring in his own staff, so that free’d Nielson to find work somewhere else.
When bringing up the Jaguars roster, it all starts with young Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence, entering his 4th year in the league, has 11,770 career passing yards, 58 touchdowns, 39 interceptions, and a 85.0 passer rating. It is worth noting all of those stats have risen since his rookie year, once Pederson came to town Lawrence started dealing. Lawrence earned himself a 5 year $275,000,000 contract, making him one of the highest paid football players in the national football league.
Lawrences supporting staff improved slightly from last year. The running back room stays fairly similar to last years, it includes stud back Travis Etienne, and solid backups Tanks Bigsby and D’Ernest Johnson. Etienne’s speed is real, and is something defenses need to account for every time they play Jacksonville.
The receiver room is really where the Jaguars saw a tremendous overhaul. While they lost talent, what they brought in could very possibly be even better. They lost Calvin RIdley, Zay Jones, and return specialist Jamal Agnew. What do they bring in however? Tons of talent, size, and athleticism. It starts with their first round pick Brian Thomas Jr out of LSU. Thomas Jr was considered a steal for the Jaguars at the pick they got him, and he might just be the perfect fit to be Lawrence’s number 1 receiver for years to come. Thomas Jr is the definition of an athletic outlier, he stands at 6’3 209 lbs and ran a 4.33 40 yard dash during his NFL combine. These athletic prototypes simply do not exist often, but when they do usually they struggle on the football end of it. For Thomas, this is not the case. He should be an issue right away for NFL teams. Alongside him joining the Jaguars is former Buffalo Bill Gabe Davis. Davis specialized in Buffalo with his consistent hands, size, blocking, and jump ball ability. Davis compliments the receiving core of Thomas Jr and stud slot wide receiver Christian Kirk as well. Lastly joining the Jags is return man specialist Devin Duvernay, who has been an electric return man since his time at the University of Texas.
The tight end room has a mismatch player in Evan Engram, who is typically too big for DBs and too fast for linebackers. He has been a breakout player for the Jaguars after having a very disappointing start to his career in New York for the Giants. Their backups are more blocking specialists in Luke Farrell and second year man Brenton Strange.
The Jaguars offensive line also improved considerably, and should be one of the league’s better offensive line units. Cam Robinson has been with the team for a long time at left tackle and has been as consistent as they come. They brought in former Minnesota Viking Ezra Cleveland to play left guard for them, if there is a weak spot on the offensive line it should be him. However, he is no slouch to the position. At center they also will have a new starter in former Buffalo Bill Mitch Morse. Morse is a veteran in the NFL and has had many good years for the Bills during his 9 seasons. His play may have dropped slightly but he is still a solid starter at the center position. Their best offensive lineman is Brandon Scherff who has been one of the league’s best in his time with Washington and Jacksonville, he was brought in during the 2022 offseason to solidify the offensive line. Anton Harrison is the Jaguars starting right tackle and he had a solid rookie campaign last year. The sky’s the limit for the 2nd year man out of Oklahoma.
The Jaguars defensive line should be a huge issue this year. It all starts with their best pound for pound player on the team, Josh Hines-Allen. He holds 45 career sacks in 74 career games, and he is starting to become the alpha #1 pass rusher that they hoped would be out of Kentucky. Along the defensive line they brought in pass rush interior specialist Arik Armstead who has wreaked havoc for the 49ers in the middle for a long time. He presents rare length and quickness for an interior defensive lineman that teams do not see. Some other notable players are Roy Robertson-Harris, DaVon Hamilton, and former #1 overall pick Travon Walker. Walker had 9 sacks this year and could be due for an even bigger breakout year with his new defensive coordinator. It is also worth noting Maason Smith was the Jaguars 2nd round pick this year, he plays on the interior.
The Jaguars linebacker unit is quietly their best unit, they have 2 great starters in Foyesade Oluokun and Devin Lloyd. Oluokun was brought over in free agency in 2022 and has been a playmaker in both run defense and coverage. Lloyd is a great complimentary number 2 linebacker, who is following in Oluokun’s footsteps. He was their first round pick in 2022 and could be the eventual number 1 linebacker on this team. In that same draft the Jaguars took Wyoming linebacker Chad Muma, who has served as a good third option and valuable depth. Muma still has not hit his ceiling in the NFL yet, in due time he could be a good starter. Former Gator Ventrell Miller, young Yasir Abdullah, and Caleb Johnson round out the depth.
The secondary for the Jaguars features superstar and newly paid Tyson Campbell. The former 33rd draft pick in the 2021 NFL draft has become one of the league’s top cornerbacks and is paid like it now. He is by far the best player in their secondary. On the other side of him is Ronald Darby, who isn’t a weakness but is not a star as a CB2. It gets interesting after those two. The starting safeties should be Andre Cisco and Darnell Savage Jr. Savage Jr has been a bust so far in his time in the NFL, he was a first round pick out of Maryland for the Packers. Cisco on the other hand has been a steal for the Jaguars. The former Syracuse product has been a playmaker against the run and pass. The Jaguars do not list a starting nickelback, but it should be Montaric Brown when they are in that package.
The Jaguars special teams unit is nothing extreme. Cam Little is a rookie kicker for them, while Logan Cooke is a league above average punter. Their return game should have juice for them, Duvernay will be the starter but look for Parker Washington and Tank Bigsby to get involved situationally as well.
All in all, the Jaguars had a solid offseason, where they were able to address needs and not lose too much. Their strength should be in their front 7 of their defense and their ability to do many things well offensively. They will be able to run and pass at a high level. Lawrence needs to clean up his play from last year a little bit but should be a good quarterback for them regardless. Their weakness should be their secondary, where besides Campbell they do not have the guys to fully keep up with the league’s best WR units.