The Jacksonville Jaguars have a lot of reasons for renewed hope. The Jags drafted local legend Blake Bortles of UCF to spearhead the offense as the quarterback of the future. The team parted ways with Maurice Jones-Drew, and could eventually have as many as a dozen new starters on the team.
The Jags are at least a season away from reaching competitiveness, but the new direction taken by the team is reason to give fans some hope.
Odds to win Superbowl: 250/1
Odds to win AFC: 100/1
Odds to win AFC South: +1400
Odds courtesy of Bovada
The Jags have a new offensive coordinator in Jedd Fisch. He’ll work extensively with No. 3 overall pick Blake Bortles, whose strong arm and intelligence on the field make him a near lock to eventually be a star in the NFL. Following his selection, Jax added Marquise Lee and Allen Robinson in the 2nd round to be his receivers of the future.
Bortles may not enter the starting lineup until later in the season, but given that Jacksonville has no chance at competing heavily this year, it could happen sooner than many expect. The Jags want to be patient with Bortles, but if he proves himself ready, there’s no reason not to inject him into the lineup to help its development.
Chad Henne will start the season off as the starting QB, and he’s a good mentor for Bortles. Henne is inadequate to lead a team, but he’s a backup quality QB with enough experience to help this young team.
The Jags set franchise records for the fewest rushing yards in a season last year, and it only made sense to let Jones-Drew walk. Toby Gerhart will be his replacement. Gerhart has only 276 carries in the NFL, but has shown the aptitude since his days at Stanford to be a strong RB. He’ll likely see 300-plus carries this season in Jax. The Jags also took UCF’s star running back, Bortles’ teammate, Storm Johnson. If he improves his blocking, he could easily be the No. 2 back on the team this season. Jordan Todman and Denard Robinson will also compete for the role.
Robinson should give an added dimension as a receiver given his size and outstanding athleticism (see: 42 inch vertical leap). The receivers will be much improved, because it isn’t possible to be any worse than last year’s group.
The Jags were 29th against the run last season on defense, and they added a lot of size up front to help shore that up. The secondary is also entirely rebuilt and the pass rushing has to get better as well, after recording just 31 sacks last season (lowest in the NFL). With so many major facets of the defense needing an overhaul, it’s unreasonable to expect the Jags to be very formidable on this end of the ball.
The Jaguars are solid in the special teams area, if nothing else. The punt returning last year was awful (4.7 yards per return), but the addition of Robinson will help that. The Jags had excellent punt coverage of their own, however. The kick game is pretty good with Todman and Bryan Anger. Anger has the best net punt average in NFL history over the last two seasons (40.8 net). Josh Scobee has converted 90 percent of his FGs in the last three seasons.
The Jags have a lot of reasons for hope, but Bovada gives them the worst odds at a Superbowl victory for many obvious reasons. The first and foremost of those reasons is the rampant inexperience running through the lineup. The team will be better, but not enough to warrant any kind of bets for these futures props. The +1400 odds to win the division are also wildly stacked against Jax, and it may be a few more seasons before those odds turn into anything favorable for fans. Bettors already know better.
