Last Year:

Record: 3-13

Offense: 19.9 ppg (25th)

Defense: 25.0 pa (25th)

Offseason: 

Key Acquisitions: LT. Branden Albert, DT. Calias Campbell, CB. A.J. Bouye, S. Barry Church

Key Losses: LT. Kelvin Beachum, LG. Luke Joeckel, CB. Prince Amukamara

 Breakdown

Offense:

It is a do or die year for fourth year QB Blake Bortles. He has had two bad years and one ok year which was mostly filled with a lot of empty stats in garbage time. If Bortles does not prove himself this year the Jags most likely will be looking for his replacement next offseason. All the tools are there for him to succeed in this league. He is a big strong prototype looking QB with mobility and good arm strength. But there are two major question marks about his game coming into this season that will determine his future. Can he be more accurate? Can he read defenses faster? He will have to do both if he wants to remain a starting QB in the NFL for much longer. Better play from an inconsistent but highly talented receiving corps would also help Bortles. Between Allen Robinson, Allen Hurns, and Marqise Lee the Jags have the potential to have the best trio of receivers in football. But those three have to go out and do it. Marcedes Lewis has been in Jacksonville forever and after being demoted when the team acquired Julius Thomas he has since been promoted back to the starting TE after the team traded away Thomas. Lewis has been playing plenty over the past few seasons anyway as Thomas was routinely hurt. He is an average at best tight end that brings value with his size in the redzone. The running game should be much improved with the addition of Leonard Fournette. He has been touted as one of the best running back prospects of the last decade in the realm of Adrian Peterson and Ezekiel Elliott. It remains to be seen if he can live up to those expectations but he is a big powerful back that should change the Jags rushing attack and help keep them on schedule. Not much will change on the offensive line besides the left side. The team brought in Brandon Albert from Miami to play LT who is looking to bounce back from an injury plagued season that really hurt his level of play causing him to have by far the worst year of his career. Technically Joeckel was the starting LG but he only played in four games. Patrick Omameh filled in and played better than he did and figures to be the team’s top guard this upcoming season. Brandon Linder is back to anchor the line from the center position where he was the best of the five a year ago and has established himself as the leader of this group. On the right side at guard is AJ Cann, the team’s third round pick in 2015, who has been highly inconsistent since entering the league. He is another guy that most likely will be playing for his future this season. And Jeremy Parnell will be at RT. He played well in his first season with the Jags after coming over from Dallas as a backup. Overall the Jags have the pieces in place to make some noise on offense IF Bortles can get his act together. I believe the receivers will play better, the running game will be more productive and the offensive line play should be solid. So it simply comes down to is Bortles the answer at QB or not? We will find out the answer to that question this season.

Defense:

Defensively the Jags have everything in place to be not just good but great. There just simply is no reason at the end of the season this should not be a top five defense in the NFL. They are loaded at all three levels. Lets start up front. Jacksonville has the best group of interior defensive lineman in football thanks to signing the best defensive tackles available in free agency two years in a row. Campbell and Jackson figure to make a dominant duo and both are versatile enough where they could play inside or out some. On the edges there is a lot of untapped potential in Fowler and Ngakoue. Fowler needs to improve as a pass rusher and Ngakoue has to improve vs the run or he simply will not be on the field outside of passing situations. Their linebacking group is even better and has the potential to be the best trio in football. After getting a year to get acclimated to the NFL the Jags are moving forward with Jack as the middle linebacker and moving Posluszny to strong side backer. Jack was one of the top prospects in his class but injury concerns pushed him into the second round. Well Jack made it through his entire rookie year without suffering a major injury and now figures to take off as the team’s mike backer for the foreseeable future. On the weakside will be Telvin Smith who is one of the most athletic linebackers in the league and could be primed for a breakout pro bowl caliber season. In the secondary the Jags have no holes after two major free agent signings. At corner Ramsey looks like the real deal and could be ready to take the step to pro bowl status in his second season. On the other side will be free agent pickup Bouye who had a breakout year for the Texans and earned the second highest grade among corners by pro football focus. He and Ramsey could be one of the top cornerback duos in the game on par with duos like Chris Harris Jr/Aquib Talib or Janoris Jenkins/Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie. They also have Aaron Colvin to play in the slot. He had the best year of his career last season in limited action and was the Jags best corner in 2016. At safety the team lost Cyprien which will hurt a little in the run game but replaced him with a better overall player in Barry Church who comes over from the Cowboys and is an all-around safety that plays well in coverage or vs the run. Gibson returns as the FS and though he has yet to produce for the Jags the way he did in his final year in Cleveland he is a reliable starting safety. Overall if the Jags can stay healthy their defense can be as good as any in the league.