Five off-season fixes: Jacksonville Jaguars
With Super Bowl LI over, it’s time to turn our attention to the off-season. In this series, I’ll take a look at each of the teams who finished at the bottom of their division and prescribe five off-season fixes that should get them back in the mix next season. We travel to the AFC South to assess the Jacksonville Jaguars.
After spending big in free agency and having a strong draft last off-season, the Jaguars were a trendy pick to win the weak AFC South. However, Jacksonville regressed, going from 5–11 in 2015 to 3–13 this season. Gus Bradley was fired, Doug Marrone was promoted, and Tom Coughlin returned to take over Jacksonville’s football operations. In a division that is still weak, these five off-season fixes could make the difference for the Jaguars:
- Figure out Blake Bortles
Who is Blake Bortles? Is he the former 3rd overall pick who threw for 4428 yards and 35 touchdowns to 18 interceptions in 2015? Or is he the potential bust who regressed last season and looked mechanically inept? Simply put, the Jaguars need to figure out if Bortles is their franchise quarterback of the future. Coughlin is no stranger to winning with an inconsistent quarterback, having won two Super Bowl’s despite just five playoff appearances in 12 seasons with Eli Manning.
So what can he do with Bortles?
2. Maximise the defense’s potential
Despite an influx of talent last off-season, Gus Bradley struggled to make a promising young defense competitive. Not what Jacksonville had in mind when they hired the former Seattle defensive coordinator in 2013. With top young players like cornerback Jalen Ramsay, linebackers Telvin Smith and Myles Jack, and defensive ends Dante Fowler Jr. and Malik Jackson, the Jaguars have huge potential on defense and could even be a top five unit in the right hands. Can defensive coordinator Todd Walsh, Bradley’s understudy, make the unit competitive this season?
3. Upgrade in the trenches in the draft
In a division awash with talented young offenses and a dominant Houston defense, controlling the line of scrimmage is the key to winning the division. If the Jaguars want to see what Bortles’ true potential, he needs better protection. Drafting a top tackle like Alabama’s Cam Robinson or Wisconsin’s Ryan Ramczyk fourth overall would give the Jaguars a young bodyguard for Bortles, allowing the two to develop together for a few seasons. The disappointing Luke Joeckel will likely be allowed to walk having been a bust as the second overall pick in 2013.
4. Spend at the line of scrimmage
With over $60,000,000 in cap space this off-season (per Sportrac), the Jaguars are in a strong position to upgrade both lines in free agency. The run game struggled last season, ranking 22nd in the league and heaping additional pressure on Bortles. Pursuing Cowboys guard Ronald Leary could help fix that, assuming Dallas lets him hit the open market to free up cap space. Courting a defensive lineman like Denver’s Sylvester Williams (Malik Jackson’s colleague on the Broncos) or Kansas City’s Dontari Poe would give Jacksonville a dominant pairing with Jackson.
5. It’s Coughlin time
Coughlin has returned to Jacksonville to oversee their football operations. Coughlin was the Jaguars’ first head coach when they entered the NFL as an expansion team in 1995, leading them to the playoffs five times including the 1998 and 1999 AFC Championship games. Although Coughlin’s recent Giants teams have often struggled, he won two Super Bowls in New York and brings winning experience back to Jacksonville. How Coughlin approaches this off-season will give us an insight into his football philosophy for the Jaguars.
