SEASON PREVIEW

by Neil Reynolds

SEASON PREVIEW

by Neil Reynolds

The Jacksonville Jaguars enter the 2024 NFL season with a talented team that will be determined to put a frustrating end to 2023 firmly behind them.

The Jaguars opened last season with an 8-3 record and were the top-ranked squad in the AFC before suffering a rash of injuries and losing five of their last six to miss the playoffs. Rather than avoid dwelling on those difficult times, head coach Doug Pederson has been insisting his team use that slide as motivation ahead of this season.

Head coach Doug Pederson told me during training camp: “I try to keep it in the forefront of our minds. I want us to remember it and learn from it. You’ve got to keep pushing. So, I want to keep it in the front of our minds. I know it’s on the players’ minds – they want to erase that negativity from the end of last year.”

If the Jaguars are to book a return to the AFC playoffs for the second time in three seasons, they will need a strong showing from quarterback Trevor Lawrence in his fourth NFL campaign. Lawrence remains an elite talent who has everything you would want in a franchise quarterback and if he can avoid costly turnovers and play healthy and free, the Jags can score points for fun in 2024.

Speaking to me in Jacksonville last month, the Pro Bowl passer said: “This is a big season as I go into year four. With the pieces that we have, this is, for sure, the most talented team I’ve been on here in Jacksonville.

“When things are clicking and we’re healthy, we’re really good and we can beat anybody. But we have to maintain that through a whole season. You’re going to have injuries and you can’t just pack it up and say, ‘there goes our season’ just because some people get hurt. The stuff we’ve talked about this offseason has been really good in terms of the lessons we’ve learned moving forward and our intensity, focus and discipline throughout the week and throughout the season is going to kick up a notch this year, for sure.”

Lawrence will play with a chip on his shoulder and will be surrounded by game-breaking talent, starting with star running back Travis Etienne Jr., who has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of the last two seasons.

The Clemson product is not the only skill position player working alongside Lawrence, but he may be the most important. A season approaching 1,800 scrimmage yards is not out of the question.

Evan Engram is a smart and reliable target at tight end who has blossomed in Duval County as the all-star caught a career-high 114 passes a year ago. He will figure heavily again in 2024, creating mismatches as he continues to play like a big and athletic wide receiver.

Joining Engram in the passing attack will be an intriguing and exciting group of receivers in Christian Kirk, former Buffalo playmaker Gabe Davis and first-rounder Brian Thomas Jr. who has turned heads with some promising preseason showings.

Defensively, it all starts up front for the Jaguars where edge rushers Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker formed the most prolific partnership in the NFL last year with a combined 27 ½ sacks. Allen has served as a mentor for Walker, who was the first overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

With new defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen favouring an attacking scheme that gets after the quarterback, Hines-Allen and Walker should prove to be a weekly problem for opposing offensive lines.

When I asked the pairing about their sack total projections for 2024, Walker said: “We’re definitely going up more than last year. We’ve got to go more than last year.”

The pair are a motivating force for each other. Hines-Allen told me during the preseason: “My goal is to be NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Travon wants to be Defensive Player of the Year. We compete with each other every single day. I want to get every sack and he wants to get every sack.”

While Walker and Hines-Allen will dominate from the edges, the Jaguars have a formidable interior addition to their defensive line in the form of Arik Armstead – a 6-foot-7, 290-pound difference-maker who spent the first nine years of his career with the San Francsico 49ers.

Nielsen’s scheme calls for an equal amount of aggression on the back end and the team have put their faith in 2021 second-rounder Tyson Campbell who signed a contract extension this past offseason to become the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL. With Andre Cisco established as one of the best safeties in the league, the Jags should continue to forge a reputation as a defense capable of forcing a lot of takeaways.

Anchoring the area of the field between the defensive line and the secondary is one of the most prolific tacklers in the NFL in linebacker Foye Oluokun, who has made a stunning 549 stops over the past three seasons.

Despite those incredible numbers, Oluokun has yet to be voted to the Pro Bowl and he will be another Jaguars star playing with a chip on his shoulder in 2024.

The Yale product told me earlier this summer: “I like not getting respect because it makes me work harder. Every year, I want to get better. If they start saying I’m good, I might naturally fall off. So, I want to hear all the bad stuff. That’s why I put my hand to my ear when I make a big play – I want to hear all the bad stuff.”

The Jaguars will be challenged right out of the gate in 2024 as they open against four playoff teams from 2023 – at Miami, home to Cleveland, at Buffalo and at Houston. They also face postseason squads in Green Bay, Philadelphia and Detroit in the season’s first 11 weeks.

But this team has a Super Bowl-winning head coach in Pederson, a true franchise quarterback in Lawrence and star players who can change games on either side of the ball. Despite the tough tests that lie ahead, the Jaguars are going to be in the thick of the AFC race come December and enter the new campaign as a serious playoff contender in their conference.