This upcoming season will mark the 30th season for the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL, and it feels like a make or break year in a myriad of ways. The Jags have made the playoffs a total of eight times in their relatively short history in the league, most recently in 2022, where they did win a wild card matchup against the Chargers despite having a record number of turnovers, but then lost to the Super Bowl winning Chiefs in a close 27-20 game. They finished the 2023 season with the same regular season record as 2022 (9-8), but the season had a completely different feel to it. After starting last year 8-3, Jacksonville fell apart in the back half of the season, losing five out of their last six games (the one win coming against Carolina….ooof) and missing the playoffs yet again as they lost their last two games to divisional opponents Houston and Tennessee, disappointingly ceding the AFC South to the Texans. 2024-2025 will be GM Trent Baalke’s fourth season, Head Coach Doug Pederson’s third season and QB Trevor Lawrence’s (QB13 last season) fourth season, and while they have helped this franchise be more relevant than any other time since Blake Bortles was under center, all three of them have a lot to prove this year, or there will most certainly be some changes.  

Overall last season, this team felt stagnant and disorganized. There were a number of injuries forcing guys in and out of the lineup and Lawrence couldn’t seem to get on the same page with the receivers, which led to bad routes, poor timing and some terrible turnovers.  Trevor finished the year with fourteen interceptions and seven fumbles, tying Joshua Dobbs, Zach Wilson and Desmond Ridder for the most fumbles and they didn’t even play all seventeen games.  Needless to say, the turnovers are a huge issue, killing the Jags time and time again last season.  It felt like every time they would get a decent drive going they would cough up the ball in the red zone and then fall apart the rest of the game. They really are one of the more difficult teams to figure out going into this season. A lot of well-respected people in the league still believe that Trevor Lawrence is a good QB that can excel in this league, but at some point we need to see him lead this team to victories in spite of the team’s issues, not losing games because of his own.  

That said, given the circumstances, I do believe Lawrence has actually tried to make the most of the situation to start his NFL career, and I do believe there is still hope for the Jags this season, but it’s time to see real growth. I’m not, however, confident in Baalke’s ability to draft good players or Pederson’s ability to be a successful NFL head coach.  So what does this roster look like for the upcoming season?  They lost Calvin Ridley (WR18 last season) in free agency to their division rival Tennessee and Zay Jones (WR91 last season) to Arizona, then added Gabe Davis (WR41 last season) from Buffalo and moved up in the draft to 23rd overall to get one of this year’s top prospects in Brian Thomas, Jr. from LSU.  Christian Kirk (WR47 last season) and Evan Engram (TE2 last season) will serve as their top pass catchers. Engram was huge for the Jags in the second half of the year, having his best statistical season to date with 114 catches and 963 yards, both career highs. His previous season-high for receptions over his first five years was 41, so he will look to build on that 2023 production. The Jags top acquisition of the offseason was signing DT Arik Armstead to a 3-year, $51 million deal.  Armstead was actually drafted by Baalke in San Francisco back in 2015, so there is familiarity there.  Otherwise, this roster feels like it lost more than it added for this year.  

Writer’s Season Win Prediction: 7-10

The Jags biggest strength going into this season is their RB group, headlined by Travis Etienne, Jr. (RB3 last season).  Etienne had a huge season last year, despite the team struggles.  He finished with 1,008 yards on 267 rushes and 11 touchdowns, as well as 476 receiving yards on 58 catches with one more touchdown.  He averaged 3.8 yards per rush and 8.2 yards per catch, finishing the season with zero fumbles! That was a huge step for Etienne as he fumbled the ball eight times in 2022, losing three of them to the other team. He didn’t even drop the ball once in 2023.  Now we know Lawrence fumbled plenty to make up for that but Etienne really was the main stabilizing force for the Jags in 2023.  Jacksonville drafted Etienne in the 1st round of the 2021 draft, and he missed that entire first season after a brutal Lisfranc injury early in camp. Since then, he has played in all 17 games in 2022 and 2023, so he has shed most injury concerns after that injury.  

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