Jacksonville Jaguars Futures 2019

The missing link

After 5 seasons, Jacksonville Jaguars decided to move on from Blake Bortles and replace him as their starting quarterback. Drafted as 3rd overall in the 2014 NFL Draft, he never managed to establish himself as the face of the franchise, mostly due to inconsistent and subpar performances. If we use a more simple terminology, he was a "bust". After letting Bortles walk, they had to be very aggressive in the free agency, considering the limited options on the market. They went all-out on Foles, signing him to a 4-year deal worth $88 million. Former Philadelphia Eagle was a backup for most of his career. But when he was thrown into the fire, he mostly delivered. Especially when we talk about the last couple of years in Philadelphia. In 2017, he led them to a Superbowl, after Carson Went suffered a season-ending injury in December. And last year, he strung together 3 wins to finish the regular season and get them into playoffs, where they eventually lost in divisonal round vs the Saints.

Not having a better QB was slowing this team down and not allowing them to take the next step. They were 5-11 last year, but this is pretty much the same team that lost a close game in the 2017 AFC championship game at the Patriots. Defense still has all the pieces in place to be a dominant force, like they were two years ago. Bunch of potential pro-bowlers upfront like Campbell, Ngakoue, and Dareus. Combined with a strong coverage unit in the secondary (Ramsay, Bouye, Hayden). Nick Foles and the healthier offensive line will take the offense to the next level. They are good at skill positions, but getting Cam Robinson, Andrew Norwell and Brandon Linder back from injuries will be huge. They also drafted RT Jawaan Taylor in the second round of the draft this year, to add some more talent to that position group.

division rivals

This division seems to be wide open at the moment. Indianapolis Colts were in pole position just a couple of days ago, but their odds were turned upside down after Luck's retirement announcement. Also, they were probably slightly overrated anyway. They improved quite a bit over the last couple of years, but this is still a very young roster with a lot of work in front of them. Jacoby Brissett is a solid QB, but I don't see them as the favorites to win the division anymore. Tennessee Titans are in a similar position. They have a decent roster, but they need a better QB to push them over the top. Marcus Mariota was drafted No.2 overall out of Oregon, where he was using his athleticism to make big plays. In Tennessee, they tried to mold him into a pocket passer, but that experiment failed. Titans are an 8-8 team and those usually don't win divisions. Last but not least, Houston Texans. According to the bookmakers, they are currently the favorites to win AFC South at the moment. They won the division last year but got stopped in the first round of playoffs by Indianapolis Colts. The problem with them is that we've already seen best from them. They have done very little in the offseason to address the issues on the offensive line, which is their weakness for a long time now. Signing Matt Kalil is probably not going to help them as much as they'd hope.