A Deep Dive Into The 2025 Jacksonville Jaguars

A Deep Dive Into The 2025 Jacksonville Jaguars

i have no idea if Travis Hunter can become the show Otani of the NFL but god am I excited to find out [Music] Welcome in everybody to the reveal of the number 25 team in my power rankings as we head into the 2025 NFL season Today we’ll be taking a deep dive into the Jacksonville Jaguars Trevor Lawrence now his third head coach in five years in the NFL And here we are again wondering if it will be different this time around We are going to get into every aspect of this football team If this team can finally reach their potential But before we do get started if you could take just a second to hit that like button it really does help me out It tells YouTube that you enjoyed the video and to push this video out to other Jags fans and NFL dieards just like you Also make sure you do subscribe here on YouTube if you enjoy so that you do not miss any of our remaining deep dives But without further ado let’s get started as always recapping the Jaguars busy off season where they got better where they got worse And that will start with the coaching staff where I wrote down hopefully upgraded with this coaching staff There is plenty of reason to believe that Liam Cohen and Grant Udinsky and Anthony Campanelli are good hires Nothing wrong with the process there We will break those guys down But a very much unproven staff all in the same But the guys leaving Doug Peterson Press Taylor Ryan Neielen they obviously had their struggles here in Jacksonville And I don’t think too many Jags fans are going to miss that that group So I said hopefully upgraded with the coaching staff At quarterback got to say upgraded just due to health Trevor Lawrence only played half of last season They are anticipating him to be healthy throughout the course of the year Getting a full year of Trevor Lawrence would be an upgrade over having to play M Jones for half a year M Jones no longer with the team He leaves for San Francisco Finally united with Kyle Shanahan after all these years And filling in the role of that backup quarterback will be Nick Mullins At running back I said slightly upgraded They do lose Dearest Johnson Not much of a loss And they spent a couple of day three draft picks on Bishel Tutin in the fourth round and Lint Allen out of Syracuse in the seventh round at tight end I do say slightly downgraded Nothing too much to worry about here But Evan Ingram who had a lot of success here in Jacksonville did miss a lot of time last year but he leaves for Denver And Luke Frell also um one of their blocking specialists he goes to San Francisco and they bring in some kind of veteran depth Johnny Munt Hunter Long Quentyn Morris nothing too notable there So uh really the loss of Evan Ingram uh especially saying slightly downgraded as they will see if Brenton Strange can step up and fill those shoes here in year three At wide receiver definitely upgraded You go get Travis Hunter with that number two pick in the draft He is obviously expected to play quite a bit of wide receiver here the twoposition specialist superstar A lot to talk about with Travis Hunter in this video obviously but they also signed Diami Brown for a one-year $10 million contract One of my players that I’ve been waiting to see get an opportunity Unfortunately he’s going to be roadblocked by Travis Hunter coming in here but still a nice addition to fill in the depth of that wide receiver room nonetheless Uh they do lose Christian Kirk who played just a third of their team’s snaps last year and Gabe Davis who I know Jags fans will not be missing He was one of the worst wide receivers in the league last year when he did play for this team Then on the offensive line a lot of shakeup here This is a group that I think only time will tell really On paper I think it’s pretty close to a push They do lose Brandon Sheriff who still managed to play 98% of their snaps last year next to another veteran there Mitch Morse a combined about 70 years of age just about between the two of those guys Um but a lot of snaps to replace there obviously and those guys were not liabilities even at their older age and even a third of the season from Cam Robinson there at left tackle who they traded to the Vikings midseason Um but their additions are Patrick Mccari and Robert Hany on some kind of mid-ranging veteran starter contracts A third round pick on Wyatt Milm and a seventh round pick in Jonah Mannheim at center So they did make some moves I don’t think it’s a guarantee that that group is upgraded I think there is an off chance they could be worse but there’s an equal chance they could be better or just the same So to be determined with the offensive line but then you go to the defensive side of things A little bit of shakeup but not too much considering this was the 31st ranked defense last year and you have a regime change where you do tend to see a lot of moving pieces Um certainly some you know a pretty hefty list of smaller additions here but really nothing major moving with this defense So you start with the interior of the defensive line I said neutral They’re losing some guys that played some snaps last year Jeremiah Led Better played okay We just talked about him filling in his depth for the Giants in our last deep dive Also Roy Robertson Harris ends up with the Giants ironically by way of Seattle after Jacksonville did let him go pretty early into last season So some losses there but nothing major Uh really no additions though on the interior of the defensive line So I did say neutral You could argue slightly downgraded but I don’t think they’re going to have too much of a hard time replacing those names On the edge I say slightly upgraded just cuz they’re filling in some much needed depth They obviously have their two core starters on the edge there but they do bring in Dennis Gardic Emanuel Agba and Dwayane Smoot A familiar name there in Smoot for Jags fans Um but yeah nice depth additions all on the cheap I will say slightly upgraded for that rotation Then at linebacker I do say neutral They did make some day three picks there in Jack Kaiser and Jaylen Mloud I don’t anticipate those guys really getting on the field and making too much of an impact especially here in 2025 So leaving linebacker as neutral Upgraded in the cornerback room of course with the addition of Travis Hunter alone uh they’re expecting him to play some corner of course And then Jordan Lewis too uh at the time of his signing in free agency was the highest paid slot corner coming in here to Jacksonville So a couple of hopeful starters coming in there Uh but Ronald Darby is leaving It is a noteworthy uh name to mention is no longer with this team He played okay in about half of the team’s available snaps last year but still again upgraded at cornerback And then at safety I will say neutral Uh Andre Cisco is a loss here Uh 82% of their snaps last year He he had a down year last year He’s looking to bounce back with the Jets on a one-year deal this year And then they bring in Eric Murray a veteran safety from the Texans They also draft Caleb Ransaw and Rayon Lane the mid rounds of the draft there Third round for Ransaw and sixth round for Lane out of Navy Um that’s all pretty damn close to a push for me especially given that Cisco didn’t play great last year Uh and then with the special teams neutral as well Uh they do lose Devin Duivere but they’ve got Parker Washington uh set to be their return man So that concludes the Jaguars off season Was kind of an interesting off season for this new regime kind of coming in It’s always uh you know tough to kind of manage a draft in a free agency as you have all these moving pieces And I think the Jags process here outside of the big aggressive move to go get Travis Hunter of course um for the most part they were looking to kind of um raise the floor with a lot of these moves add some depth and put themselves in a position where they can kind of evaluate their core players not just the star players of course but your you know your backup receivers and your rotational dellinemen and that sort of stuff the special teamers Um figure out who’s going to be around for a few years here with this new regime getting things started And for our next segment we will break down this coaching staff But I do first want to thank the sponsor for today’s video against the rest of the league as they begin their jobs here and perhaps more importantly what the Jags could look like schematically speaking on both sides of the ball with this new regime here And for those following the rankings closely for this series the reality is this is just a very unproven staff We have not seen any of these guys in their respective roles whether it’s Cohen at head coach Udinsky as his offensive coordinator or Campanelli as a defensive coordinator So if you want to talk about the rankings the Jags are going to come in lower for the coaching rankings really across the board And it will just be up to these guys to show us what they can do to climb these rankings And because of that this coaching staff is one of the biggest wildcard X factors for this team this season and of course beyond If these guys prove to be good coaches as early as this year I fully expect that the Jags will shatter this 25th power ranking as we head into the season But as you guys know any unproven commodity is going to come in with a lower floor just like a young player would These coaches very much line up with that So just to rattle off the rankings here and then we’ll get into kind of where these guys came from and what things are going to look like schematically here because I think that’s much more important for this conversation than the rankings themselves But because there’s a fascination with the rankings let’s just break these down real quick So for the overall coaching culture grade that I give these teams essentially the benefit of the doubt slider uh for all of these squads obviously the Jags have not earned a ton of benefit of the doubt and Liam Cohen is going to have to come in improve his leadership qualities and establish a winning locker room here with the Jags So they come in 26 to 30th for that ranking Uh with the offensive coach rankings it’s not bad for Liam Cohen right uh we’re going to be praising him and and his background and and what he means as a head coach hire for this Jags team Um but as an unproven commodity here ranking 14th to 22nd for pass game coaching which B minus grade very respectable there uh to start with for Cohen Run game coaching a little bit lower 19th to 27th with a C plus grade And then the defensive coaching really just kind of getting a placeholder ranking for a defensive head co uh defensive coordinator here C-grades across the board tying four last in pass defense coaching um and being just higher than Brandon Staley for run defense coaching who we know is horrible as a run defense coach And then by the way I do have Liam Cohen coming in ranked as the 27th best head coach in the league which puts him ahead of some other rookie hires and even some existing head coaches in the league that I’m not a huge fan of Um but with those rankings out of the way like I said I think it is much more important that we discuss these coaches background and what sort of schemes this team is going to run offensively and defensively So we start with Liam Cohen coming in as the head coach as the offensive overseer of this entire Jags offense with Grant Udinsky coming down from Minnesota to be his left-hand man But make no mistake about it Liam Cohen is going to design this offense in his vision and likely I would imagine will be calling plays that may or may not have been announced yet but I would imagine he will at least begin with the play sheet in his hands Regardless Cohen definitely lines up with the modern thinking of what I tend to praise these teams for going after which is the kind of ascending younger offensive-minded head coach Liam Cohen at 39 years old uh just stepped into Tampa Bay and was able to continue their success There was a lot of questions with Dave Canales leaving Tampa for the Carolina job if they were going to get similarly good play calling And in many regards uh they got even better offensively and Baker played even better And Cohen absolutely proved that with that Shanahan more so McVey background having worked so much with Shawn McVey that he can press a lot of those similar buttons to get receivers open to make the offense quarterback friendly and to really run that style of offense at a high level in Tampa Bay with the the root of play action being at the core of your offense a lot of wide zone running Um but you know Liam Cohen isn’t dead set on just running outside zone as as a part of their run game but it certainly is built into the core of what they do So this hire really is right in line with so many of the head coach hires that have had success around the league Whether it’s Matt Laflur or Kevin O’Connell or Dave Canales last year for the Panthers there is plenty of reason to believe that Liam Cohen is going to be next in line with those names shatter these rankings as we discussed and be a great hire for the Jags He was absolutely near the top of I would say everybody’s head coach candidates list and frankly it was a pleasant surprise that the Jags were able to ultimately lure him out of Tampa Bay where for about 12 hours or so I think there was a report uh that he wanted to stay in Tampa Bay but the Jags finally wake up and fire Trent Balky uh much to the celebration of Jags fans who have been waiting for that moment for years I I would say quite clearly the worst GM in the league no longer here And you know we don’t really make time for the GM as a discussion with this series Maybe one of these years I’ll find a way to mix that into the conversation because I know so many people request it Um but let’s be honest the entire video is a reflection of the front office and the job that they’ve done and an analysis of that Uh but anyway when it comes to Trent Balky we at least have to bring it up that hey hell yeah he’s gone Like that is a huge plus for this Jags organization at large Um but his firing opened the door for Liam Cohen to say you know what I will come in I will work with Trevor Lawrence I will take this job and get a new general manager in here And it is the young very enthusiastic James Gladstone stepping in as their GM A lot of Rams connections there by the way They certainly spent time together um in the Shawn McVey wing out in California Um but yeah a lot of optimism for this hire and schematically very much that Shanahan style offense Um and then the the offensive coordinator that he picked comes from that same coaching tree but has different influences Grant Udinski who he himself is certainly a name to keep an eye on the entire league is always going to kind of circle a few of these offensive coordinators that are under the wings of these Shanahan style offenses And now Udinsky steps into the highlight the spotlight there um under that description So he was for the last three years under Kevin Oonnell another Shawn McVey guy with the Rams Likewise a wide zone run game a lot of play action attacking the middle of the field all of that good stuff that we know about these McVey Shanahan style offenses Um but Udinsky was very recently coaching in college and under Matt Rule at Baylor and for a couple years in Carolina So not just the Shanahan influences there but certainly in recent seasons that has been what we’ve seen So we have a pretty strong understanding of kind of what sort of concepts are going to make up the base of this Jags offense being very much a Shawn McVey inspired offense And as we’ve seen around the league plenty of reason to believe these guys can come in and do a better job than the previous couple of head coaches have done uh over Trevor Lawrence And then you go over to the defensive hire here with Anthony Campanelli coming over from Green Bay And you know despite the low rankings coming in we we assess that you know he’s got to prove what he can do here But there’s plenty of reason to believe that this is a good hire as well Had a lot of success in Green Bay last year where especially in the second half of last season they really were able to get that defense going in Green Bay Anthony Campanelli as the linebackers coach there was able to have one of the the rare like young rookie linebackers come in and play at a really high level out the gate That’s quite the accomplishment Uh Edin Cooper was breaking down the run game and and was much more of a complete linebacker uh than he certainly was coming out of of college And I think Campanelli deserves a lot of credit there But it’s not just the job he did last season under Jeff Halfley He actually has a pretty impressive resume here that I think you can get excited about He coached under Vic Fangio in 2023 in what was kind of a weird season in Miami but a year under Vic is a year under Vic and surely he learned a thing or two from him there And then man he was under Brian Flores in Miami several years prior to Vic Fangio coming in there So between Jeff Hafley who has a Robert Salah background um and Vic Fangio he has spent a lot of time in recent seasons coaching these sort of quarters heavy Vic Fangio inspired defenses with the split safety pre-nap looks um where you’re going to show a two shell pre- snap and then can really have disguise and rotations into any sort of coverage you really want to run um he he’s had that background the last couple of years but having spent time you know right there with Brian Flores like that’s a very different defense That’s more of a cover one blitz happy multiple defense and Flores just being one of the just best most adaptable multiple defensive minds in the league that we have today Who knows what sort of influences Campanelli wants to take from his time with Brian Flores and apply to his defense This very well could be a really kind of exotic multiple defense and he kind of picks from all these different styles You know in in Green Bay Halfley ran the solid system which like a Fangio defense is a lot of quarters and offzone match type of stuff um but more from a fourman front a 4-2 style front Vic Fangio uh again runs a lot of quarters and and pre- snap disguise and two shell and stuff but Fangio’s always been more of the 34 uh side of things And then Brian Flores really just all over the map um in more of that Bellichian system So very excited to see what type of defense campelli wants to put together He’s I think 42 years old and has earned this opportunity should be a good hire and will be a interesting name to keep an eye on and especially for the scheme nerds out there It’ll be fun to see I mean he’s coming from three of the premium coaching trees in the game today and it’ll be fun to see where he wants to kind of land with with the style of defense he wants to run So a fun fun staff all in all and certainly one of the bigger wild cards overall for this team you can slap that big wildcard icon on this entire graphic I I I think because um you know we got to see what they can do But if this staff is really good this team should exceed this ranking certainly and they obviously have the potential to do that Um but let’s now get into this Jaguars roster Starting with the quarterback breakdown where we will talk about Trevor Lawrence here And I think we’ve really reached an interesting point in the Trevor Lawrence career arc here if you will in that I just don’t know that that development is coming that he’s going to take that leap um and reach his potential and be this kind of like top eight tier 2 like great quarterback Certainly in previous deep dives I’ve made excuses for him I’ve talked about the coaching changes and playing injured and all this stuff and man it’s reached a kind of frustration point where it’s like when’s that growth going to come we have seen a really inconsistent player here that I think outside of from year 1 to year two leaving that Trevor uh uh uh Urban Meyer disaster class season outside of that we just haven’t really seen him evolve his game I think his processing and decision- making has really stagnated where I I see a guy who’s got you know an average ability to go through reads and make the right decisions but someone that does often times get tunnel vision and frankly make really stupid questionable decisions with the football forcing balls into double coverage We haven’t seen an evolution in his mental processing And the accuracy man like that needed to get better at some point And now we head into year five and it just has not happened Look at young Jaylen Herz Josh Allen Lamar Jackson Look at the growth in consistency with their accuracy that they took to put in the time to improve their mechanics to figure out why they couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn at times and get make that better And unfortunately Trevor Lawrence here as we head into year five I would not place him in the top half of starters in terms of accuracy He misses way too many throws for a guy with the traits and the tools that he has with the arm talent that he has And it’s frustrating It is extremely frustrating Leads to so much inconsistency in his game And I you know going back can’t remember if it was last year’s deep dive or two years deep dives ago where I talked about all the near misses and how he’s so close on so many of these targets There was the kind of infamous highlight reel of wow look how close Trevor Lawrence was to completing all these passes that were you know almost dimes And yeah well it turns out he’s just missing his target Even if he’s close he’s not on target And he hasn’t been able to fix that That was a problem last year even before the injury And I really hate to go here with Trevor Lawrence and I’ve avoided this dialogue for the entirety of his career and as a prospect coming out but there was that infamous article right around draft time where Trevor Lawrence basically announced to us all like “Look I enjoy time on the beach There are other things in my life that are more important to me than football and I don’t feel the pressure to be this golden child next Andrew Luck you know the the prince that was promised if you will Uh because if things don’t work out I I’ll live is basically what that article was about And I can’t not think about as a young Timberwolves fan my frustrations with Andrew Wiggins who basically was the Trevor Lawrence of the NBA for a long time the number one high school prospect you know all this and and likewise was never a bad player was always a good player but got his money because he was a good player that had all this promise off of physical potential but someone that never really put in that extra mile went you know above and beyond to become a great player which certainly is a quarterback in the NFL you have to have that gamer gym rat mentality to to just be constantly evaluating your game evaluating tape and getting better And I am unfortunately at the point where I just don’t know that Trevor Lawrence I I don’t think he’s got a bad work ethic I don’t think he’s lazy I think he kind of does the bare minimum in many situations Maybe that’s harsh of me to say but that is the sense I get here And that is why I’m done putting the up arrow on Trevor Lawrence I think he is a good quarterback He comes in ranked as the 14th overall quarterback for me in tier three which in that tier it’s kind of like yeah you get that sort of 50 plus million dollar franchise quarterback money If everything goes great around you he’s probably a good enough player to win a Super Bowl But I don’t think he’s taken that step up to consistently elevate his team Not yet and I’m done kind of betting on that to happen But at the end of the day his tools do again make him a good passer He still has one of the best arms in the league He can still make 30 yard deep outs and launch deep balls to a Brian Thomas and scramble when he decides to scramble I wish his pocket presence was better He has a lot of frustrations not using his legs enough in my opinion but when he does it’s great It’s just again inconsistency in that phase too But those traits those tools and again not a horrible work ethic doing the kind of you know raising the floor with with solid okayish processing Like it’s all pretty good across the board It’s just not great And I think that’s become a point of frustration um for a lot of kind of Trevor Lawrence denouncers And even myself I I get frustrated by it I’m not a Trevor Lawrence hater I think this is a realistic ranking for where he is and what he means for this football team He’s not going anywhere The Steelers trade rumors were ridiculous Um I don’t think he’s a bad presence in the locker room or anything like that It’s just the ceiling isn’t really getting lifted too much by Trevor Lawrence at this point in time until proven otherwise But I think I’m comfortable leaving the Trevor Lawrence conversation at that And I’m really excited to get you guys feedback on that uh take I suppose uh though I know I’m not the only one that kind of feels that way about Trevor Lawrence but Jags fans let me know Am I off base am I on to something uh would love to hear from you Um but as far as the backup room is concerned Nick Mullins is going to follow coach Grant Udinsky down from Minnesota as the backup there Always have to always good to have a backup in the room that knows the offense And then John Wolfford coming from uh Shawn McVey and the Rams So um similar caliber backups um not going to do too much if they step in I think if anything they are there to be kind of additional coaches to Trevor Lawrence Not guys that you have high hopes for or that are going to save your season if Trevor goes down but an adequate backup run nonetheless Um let’s move on Let’s talk about the weapons in Jacksonville And like we said with a tier three quarterback you want a premium group of weapons to elevate the quarterback The quarterback can’t elevate the weapons necessarily at least not every single week You’re hoping that you can apply vice versa to that and have a great group of weapons So I think there’s potential here in Jacksonville for that to be the case And just starting as we head into the beginning of the 2025 season I do have a B+ grade on this group of weapons and they do rank 11th to 13th for me So this is one of the best parts of this Jags team here You obviously have Brian Thomas who broke out as a rookie superstar last season with the arrow pointing up on him to add more to his game and prove more about his game And then Travis Hunter with so much excitement and honestly a lot of kind of questions around just how big his role is going to be being a two-way player How often is he on the field and how much development can he show in his game as he learns two different positions here So Travis Hunter especially I do put that wildcard icon on there that we teased with the coaching staff being really the biggest factor on this team I think in terms of where they can go um this season and beyond as they gave up effectively three first round picks to go get Travis Hunter But let’s break these guys down a little more individually here So Brian Thomas the sky is the limit for him He is a true builtin a lab wide receiver 6 foot3 can run like a deer but has rare movement skills for a bigger faster wide receiver This isn’t maybe like a DK Metaf for example who yeah he does kind of struggle to throttle down and change directions at times Brian Thomas can do that while also giving you the vertical threat ability And with that said like if he can continue to improve his route running technique where I do think on certain routes like there’s just a lack of nuance at times because he hasn’t always needed it So you know all the little attention to detail things if he can get better at using shoulder fakes and uh eliminating wasted steps in his routes improve his release package where I think it’s already good but if he can have a great release package like a Justin Jefferson or Devonte Adams has he easily has the potential to continue getting better and emerge as like a true alpha tier one type of guy that rare territory of you know Jamar Chase’s and Justin Jeffersons like he’s got the tools to do it but there is still some growth to round out his game to be that complete package of a wide receiver But what he does well right now he does at a damn near elite level And that is take the top off of the defense He can catch the go ball He can run a dig route and pull away from guys on intermediate routes He’s really good after the catch All of those things make him already kind of a 1B even 1A type of wide receiver coming out of his rookie season And that sets things up for the Travis Hunter conversation in a really fun way because I think in some ways okay Travis Hunter can maybe be a little bit of an insurance Like I think if the idea is you want to have one of the best groups of weapons in the league for a tier three quarterback if that’s what Trevor Lawrence is going to be let’s just say Brian Thomas doesn’t get too much better He’s a 1A or a 1B Well okay great Travis Hunter can very easily have you know the potential to be a 1A or a 1B And then you put those two guys together and you could absolutely have even if neither become let’s say a tier one elite alpha type of guy you could still have one of the best group of weapons in the league and one of the more explosive offenses and absolutely start to put things together to have a Super Bowl type of team with that being your wide receiver duo That’s something close to the floor with this duo in time here Um but also fun to think like wait a minute what if Travis Hunter does reach his upside comparison which for me was CD Lamb which I think CD’s kind of on the on the you know fringe of that tier one elite alpha type of wide receiver Um okay let’s say Travis Hunter does become that and Brian Thomas does become something like a Jamar Chase Uh okay Now you start to get into unbelievably rare territory Like there is nothing like that in the NFL None of those tier one guys have other elite guys next to him The closest thing would be Jamar Chase I think who has T Higgins next to him who’s kind of a 1B type of guy Likewise AJ Brown and Dvont Smith But you’re in a you’re in a realm that’s even better than that in terms of weaponry which is in all time wide receiver duo territory So the potential for that to be the case is obviously exciting for Jags fans Now Travis Hunter has a lot to kind of prove before we talk about him in that type of category Like I said I think the traits and the potential are there I I think just to rattle off the draft analysis on him of course you can go back and revisit my wide receiver rankings if you want uh even deeper discussion on how I felt about Travis Hunter as a wide receiver coming out but um I compared him to CD Lamb Elite run after catch traits coming out just such a natural with the ball in his hands Talk about stop start fluid athleticism easy acceleration His top speed isn’t quite what Brian Thomas has Um but it’s he has damn enough top speed And then ball skills just truly generational ball skills in the sense of the ball is in the air He’s not the biggest guy He’s actually a little slender Um but just his ability to elevate contort his body find ways to get his feet in the sticky hands the it’s just all there in that sense where he needs to get better is going to be in the route running department beating press Um proving that you know at his size he can play through contact consistently He’s going to face way more physical strong technically sound DBs in the NFL that aren’t afraid to get grabby You know there are aspects of his route running and separation that lead you to believe he just is going to have to get better in that department at the next level Um so that’s really where you’re looking at like quote unquote weaknesses on Travis Hunter And then there’s the whole two position player side of things Number one how often is he just playing wide receiver is he able to be durable playing both sides of the ball and does the fact that he’s focused on two positions take away from some of the technical aspects that he does need to improve so that’s all just stuff like he’s going to have to show us I said it in the intro like I genuinely have no idea if he can make this happen at the NFL level I’m certainly not betting against him I’ll tell you that much I think this is a truly generational athlete Um maybe not a generational wide receiver prospect or a generational corner prospect but a generational athlete in that sense And a and a generational dude like he is um a high character guy work ethic galore I loved the answer that he had I don’t remember what the interview was but they were like “How are you going to learn how to play both positions at the next level?” And he’s like “Well we got 24 hours in a day Uh I sleep about eight of those which leaves 16 hours a day for football.” And it’s like “Okay yeah that’s the mentality you got to have if you’re going to make this happen on both sides of the ball.” So I just can’t wait to see what this is going to look like at this point I don’t think anybody can say with certainty how you would rank Travis Hunter for this rookie season and beyond both at wide receiver or corner but I really am stoked I think it is one of the three most exciting narratives in the entire NFL this year for sure So that sets up your wide receiver duo that there’s still room to go for this group but elite elite of the elite potential for this duo But then after that duo you have some pieces here It’s I would say it’s not the deepest group but there’s some other guys to throw the ball to here for for Trevor for sure So Diami Brown was originally brought in to be potentially a starter like a full-time starter Um I think that ship has sailed now that they went to get Travis Hunter because I think Brown’s skill set is frankly a little redundant with Hunter in the ways that they win uh winning down the sideline winning after the catch winning in the intermediate game Um I think Brown will still play here as Hunter maybe can’t play every single snap at wide receiver and I think he can play from the slot running slot fades and bubble screens and doing some stuff in that sense Um but he I think is going to rotate with Parker Washington So I I but I I want to I want to just circle back to Brown for a second because I have believed in Dame Brown for a long time Uh viewers of this deep dive have heard me year after year after year saying this is the Dame Brown breakout year It just hasn’t really happened and and it it did finally in the last maybe six weeks of the season really look like it was happening in Washington And this is obviously a guy that was liked by many coming out of the draft coming out of UNCC as a vertical threat that moves really well checks a lot of boxes but just hasn’t maybe had that opportunity in Washington with really bad wide receiver play And he’s had some inconsistency in his game Make no mistake about it But did feel like something clicked at the end of last season Jacksonville gave him a one-year $10 million deal And had they not gotten Travis Hunter I again would be saying yes the Dame Brown breakout is going to happen this year and I would absolutely have him as a fantasy sleeper and all that Um not so much anymore I just I think he’s a backup to those top two wide receivers at this point Now if there were an injury there I love how he would be able to step in in either Brian Thomas or Travis Hunter’s role there and then the breakout would be back on Um but at this point he’s kind of just a wide receiver 3B that can do a little bit of everything for this team act as a really nice backup Um I do think he will split reps Um but it might even be Parker Washington that gets more snaps We’ll see how that all plays out They’re obviously paying Brown more and it was this regime that wanted him whereas Parker Washington is the old regime’s guy But Washington would technically make more sense out there with Thomas and Hunter because he’s more of that slot type And if you are talking about this being a Shawn McVey offense and you want that sort of 11 and a half personnel where you have that kind of bigger thumping wide receiver your Puka Nua role your Cooper Cup role Obviously Parker Washington hasn’t shown to be much of a run blocker but he would be the thickest theoretically best uh player for that role from a physical standpoint So if they could coach some extra physicality into him in that run blocking aspect that would really get him on the field as this team’s maybe full-time wide receiver three Only time’s going to tell how exactly they want to use this split between these two guys I do think they’re both good wide receiver fours I don’t know if either of them are certified starters as a part of a threeman group of starters But if Thomas and Hunter become elite guys you don’t need a a high-end number three wide receiver You just need a capable one And they got a couple of them there with two different skill sets Brown’s the one with the upside Washington is the one I feel like you kind of know what you’re getting there just not a ton of juice in my opinion with Parker Washington to really emerge as a stud from the slot But I think you get the point there They run four deep and then they have one of the thinnest groups after that Um which is fine You can run four deep and feel pretty good about it but like they don’t have a whole lot of interesting names after that in terms of fun competition for the wide receiver five or six spot here Austin Traml kind of a low-end slot option Trenton Irwin who played with Joe Burrow kind of a biggerbodied possession wide receiver Josh Sephus size speed kind of Brian Thomas mold if you will and then seven other undrafted free agent types all kind of vying for spots This is an opportunity for someone to stand out and take a wide receiver five spot here So it could be any number of names and they might even be eyeing other training camps to see who gets cut to add some more depth here But yeah not not much after that top four But then the tight end room you have Brentton Strange heading into year three And I’m just going to be honest I have not been a fan of Brentton Strange I was hard on the Jags for that draft pick I’ve kind of dismissed him as sort of a nothing ber for this team Kind of this team’s do Josiah Duara if you will as kind of an overdrafted blocking specialist on day two Uh but I’m not going to lie watching film for this team as I do for all these teams in this series I was impressed by Brenton Strange and his receiving chops For for what it’s worth I I I saw a little bit more snap in his routes I saw a little bit more juice in his acceleration and and ability after the catch I saw some toughness after the catch I really liked I saw some tough strong-handed catches on out routes and stuff and late in the season I mean they were really peppering him with targets and he showed some potential man to really emerge as a capable starting tight end I’m actually excited to see what he can do here after revisiting the tape So I’m I’m happy to admit where I was wrong and he has shown certainly a lot more potential in the receiving game than I ever thought It’s actually the blocking that I want to see more improvements from him Year two I I still saw him falling off a ton of blocks and the effort is there but and the size is there frankly but he’s got to improve that technique to stay square as a blocker Um but he’s he’s got potential to to get better there too He always did So I’m higher on Brentton Strange now than I was a few days ago even So that’s good news for Jags fans I suppose And then they just filled in a bunch of just kind of cliche veteran depth Johnny Munt who’s a nice tight end too for 12 personnel Always has been for the Vikes Um Hunter Long was with the Rams He I believe was actually acquired in the Jaylen Ramsey trade for the Rams but he never really emerged Uh Quinton Morris has been a backup for Buffalo You know we kind of feel like we know what those guys are as veteran tight end depth That room’s going to be all about what types of strides Brentton Strange can take in his consistency Um and then you have a fun group of running backs as well Travis ETN is not heading in the right direction with his career in general right now I do still think he is quite the threat catching the ball out of the back field Now he brings some frustrations to this team because he he just has not been able to figure out the pass blocking element He has busted protections all the time gets Trevor killed at times and I know previous regimes have gotten sick of that So that holds him back from being a premium receiving threat but he does have smooth hands out of the back field He can do some real wide receiver stuff and run routes He’s explosive and makes a lot of people miss after the catch He’s a great screen threat Um I still anticipate that he’s going to be their leading target getter in terms of running back receptions and all that Um but they do draft Belle Tutin who has some explosiveness out of the back field wasn’t used much at Virginia Tech in the receiving game but if he can prove that he’s got the hands and maybe some pass protection chops which he didn’t have at Virginia Tech either really um you know he could start to take some of those third down roll reps away from a Travis ETN You do have Tank Bsby there as well who’s definitely going to be in the mix but he has had drop issues galore and I think he’s probably going to be mostly out of the picture for receiving downs work And then Lee Allen is a backup running back here as a seventh round pick that I mean outside of Trayvon Henderson who was a uniquely gifted passing downs running back Lee Allen might have been the most complete receiving back in this draft Awesome hands smooth transitions after the catch I mean again without Tayvon Henderson Lee Allen was the best pass blocking back in this class I think made some really impressive tough catches at Syracuse And I would definitely keep an eye on Lee Allen if if you’re asking who’s the best pass blocker in this group He’s going to have a path to get on the field as a rookie for his pass protection I do believe that and that can turn into opportunities to show what you can do catching dump downs and in the screen game and all that stuff And I I think he’s got talent and was underdis discussed in a crazy deep running back class Um but I would even go as far as saying that there is an off chance and we’re about to transition to the back field as runners in just a second We’ll talk more about how these guys stack up uh as you know the running side of this position but there’s a chance that Lee Allen actually ends up the better draft pick than Bashelle Tutin who’s got the explosiveness but um a lot of the technique aspects fumbling pass protection was a huge question with him Keem Allen has all of the tech like technical aspects of the running back position down pat So don’t just dismiss him But let’s tie a ribbon on this weapons discussion and then we will circle right back to the backfield conversation for the run game Um but this is a really exciting group of weapons now with Travis Hunter coming in and even if this is a younger and in some ways new look group I do still think the floor is pretty damn high here Again I have them ranked 11th to 13th if that’s all they are Like that’s not going to be the problem with the 2025 Jags if that’s all they are But if Travis Hunter can really break through in his rookie season if Brian Thomas can continue to get even a little bit better like man this could be at some point in time like the best group of weapons in the NFL And that’s saying a lot in a league that is loaded with weaponry So this is your highlight of excitement for the Jags They have got not just you know high-end talent but they have explosiveness They have big play potential and they’ve got like a couple other guys to throw the ball to here to kind of annoy you as well So I really like this group But let’s go ahead and move forward and circle back a little bit to these running backs and this backfield conversation as it relates to the run game here Um so the the Jaguars ranked 22nd to 27th for me at running back with a C+ grade There’s a lot of great groups of running backs in the league Uh I don’t think this is a bad group by any stretch of the imagination but is it is a bit of a polarizing group and really three running backs that I would almost describe as kind of boom bust runners in their own ways and it does create kind of an interesting backfield that is a bit of a headache Um because I think the week- toeek consistency from these guys is going to be a little bit all over the place you don’t really know who’s going to be getting the ball any given week And some weeks it’s going to look great some weeks it’s not going to look so great Um but needless to say from a fantasy football angle because I do like to mention fantasy especially with the running backs I’m probably staying away from all of these guys I don’t know that I have any shares of any of these backs in any of my 10,000 leagues that I’m in just cuz I’ve not really wanted to touch this group But let’s break these three guys down really with Bsby and ETN as the core starters and then Bshell Tutin who they did spend a high fourth round draft pick on that I do do think is going to get his touches here Um but my bet is that Tank Bsby actually leads this team in carries It might not be by a wide margin but I think he’s going to be the first and second down back more often than not I think he put on film last year a a very determined running style pretty good power and honestly good explosiveness as well He had multiple big breakaway runs that kind of made you nod and say “All right Tank Bsby I didn’t quite know that you were that big play threat.” Um I think he’s just maybe a little bit more the hot hand right now and fresher legs And I think in Travis ETN’s case because he’s so much better on passing downs they’re going to reserve him for more later down work And I also think they are a little more conscious about his body breaking down a little bit And this is another thing I would love to get Jags fans opinions on But I did feel like Travis ETN he was still explosive but I did feel like he maybe la lost excuse me a quarter of a step He didn’t quite have the burst and top speed that I was always used to with Travis ETN And he has he’s had some injuries He’s had foot injuries He’s taken a lot of a beating He was you know four years at Clemson got a lot of carries there He’s had 800 touches as a Jaguar he’s now approaching that sort of 2,000 career touch mark Um going back to college that for many backs that aren’t the biggest backs which ETN’s not small but he’s not Derrick Henry Um you know for a lot of backs around that 2,000 touch mark you start to see some wear and tear pile up And it really does feel that way with Travis ETN So I think that’s in their mind as well and is going to again play into maybe a split that does slightly prefer Tank Bigsby in the carries department But I will say like stylistically these guys are extremely similar size-wise they’re both about you know 510 215ish right in that same ballpark Both of these guys have good burst good top speed can run through arm tackles um break a lot of tackles but likewise both guys frankly have poor vision and have had poor vision for a while now They love to bounce runs outside You’re going to see a lot of runs on tape from these guys that you get push on a double team a combo block works up to the second level and you could get six or seven yards on the play And you see these backs both Bsby and ETN just pass up on it bounce it outside Occasionally they will make a slot corner or a safety miss an outside backer whatever it might be put that stiff arm on and get to the edge and have an explosive run But there’s a lot of dead runs and wasted runs and wasted um reps of good run blocking from the offensive linemen That frustrates not just coaches but linemen as well Um there are points of contention and frustration with these two backs and that does obviously attribute to me not giving the highest ranking on this backfield But there are weeks where they might guess the right hole or they might be seeing it a little bit better one week than the next And either of these guys are capable of massive performances especially Tank Bsby with with a lot of the burst and long speed he showed last year You know I think ETN still has good speed to be an explosive back We’ll see how healthy he is though right he ETN gets that yellow up and down arrow for me I don’t quite know what to think about Travis ETN at this point in his career A 79 rating He could get back into the 80s where I think he was a couple years ago or it could be the case where he is getting beaten up and he’s losing um the physical talent kind of by the touch if you will and he is regressing which the last couple years he has really regressed So you know I I think for 2025 it’s going to be mostly these two guys but they did draft Belle Tutin with a fairly high you know fourth round draft pick They had they had other needs certainly they could have gone in other directions and they choose to address RB3 here which is fascinating to me I think it’s probably more of a long-term play Uh they got two years of cheap control on Bsby They did pick up Travis ETN’s fifth year option because it’s pretty cheap It’s like $6 million for an extra year which is kind of like a why not money Um but I think you know probably future planning for Belle Tutin here is probably the majority of that pick as a fourthrounder But I do think he is the fastest back in this backfield now I know for sure he is I mean he’s got legit 43 speed When he gets into space he will change ball games And I think this is in many ways just a bet on upside too because I I don’t know if you look at Bigsby and ETN as having a ton of upside because of some of those vision questions that have been kind of proven out at the NFL level Toutin he has more upside because of the top speed but he also had vision problems at Virginia Tech I think that’s big reason why he falls to the fourth round Um but talk about someone that loved to bounce runs outside that wouldn’t always press the hole and see it on time Uh a lot of wasted runs uh running opportunities at Virginia Tech there And then just crazy fumbling issues and he had nine fumbles on the ground in his last two years at Virginia Tech So very much a polarizing running back just like Tank Bsby and Travis ETN So the Jaguars at large no matter who’s been picking or bringing guys in and who’s coaching they’ve kind of had a type with these running backs So Tutin kind of falls in line with that a little bit different stylistically speaking because he is he is just speed speed for days but it does definitely make this a bit of a mess and doesn’t really give you that kind of trustworthy um get me four yards I don’t care about the explosive runs you know let’s make sure we convert a goal line situation or let’s ground out a game and get what’s blocked up and don’t fumble the football You don’t really have that aspect here It’s really just a combination of explosive big play threats in my opinion Um and that is what makes Lee Allen also interesting here And I alluded to this uh with the the receiving back breakdown but look Lee Allen I think his best traits were his high floor as a receiving back but he was not a bad running back I thought his vision was exceptional He did not fumble the football He runs with power in goal line and short yardage situations And because he gives you that aspect that these other three guys don’t again he might just see some opportunities if some of these vision problems um start to stack up for these three backs ahead of him So Allen is absolutely a wild card in this running back room I think there’s a lot more talent on this roster ahead of them so it’s tough to really bet on them But do not be surprised if in time the coaches lean towards the more reliable option in Lee Allen And I do think in a less deep running back class we would be talking about Allen as more of a fascinating fourth or fifth round back but he did kind of slip through the cracks in a crazy deep class Uh so there is your backfield A fascinating one to say the least Um we do have to mention the quarterback run multiplier where the Jags do get a pretty solid boost here from not just Trevor Lawrence but Liam Cohen who actually did some creative stuff with Baker Mayfield as a designed runner There were some moments where they were running like QB power and read option with Baker and you know it was it was making an impact on the run game So I think that’s absolutely something you can do with Trevor Lawrence It’s something the Jags have done in the past with Trevor Lawrence He had 22 design rushes last year I think that number comes up and Trevor is a very capable design rushing threat You just don’t want to do it too much and expose him to too many hits because he is a guy that has been banged up in recent seasons but I definitely expect that to be a factor here And that concludes our backfield breakdown So let’s now talk about the offensive line And this is the worst group for this offense certainly with the most questions And there’s some potential here to be better but not a ton of potential It was really just a handful of veteran signings to try and raise the floor of this group Um but they come in ranking 28th for overall offensive line a little bit better with pass protection 23rd to 26th but damn near at the bottom of the league for run blocking ranking 29th to 31st there Uh so this group does hold this offense back a little bit uh for sure But I do think with the tackles there is some upside there for this to be maybe closer to the 20th best offensive line but even that might be a little bit of a stretch So at left tackle we have Walker Little who I put the wildcard icon on here uh which means after the coaching staff and Travis Hunter Walker Little now is now one of the biggest X factors for the success of this team this season hard to know exactly not just what we’re going to get from him but um if he can be out there full-time and play through a whole season something he’s never done before His career has just been all over the place really going back to like 2019 So he was a he was a big prospect big recruit uh played at Stanford was in your way too early first round mock drafts but he suffered a significant knee injury in his junior season comes back for his his senior year after the injury maybe not 100% Um but he ends up going in the second round 45th pick in the draft And ever since he got to Jacksonville they’ve had other tackles ahead of him whether it was Cam Robinson or Joan Taylor who went to the Chiefs or Anton Harrison here So for really like his five years here because he he had the opt out in 2020 as well which I believe just kicks his contract into the next year So he would have had five years on the rookie contract Is that right Jags fans um but anyway he’s kind of like gotten some playing time here and there He’s he’s been up and down but mostly good Just been kind of hanging around waiting on that opportunity There’s certainly been previous deep dives where I’m like “Hey Walker Little is like a tradey guy with the recruiting background He’s played pretty well when he’s gotten in there but we’ve never really gotten that shot to see what he can do.” Well let’s go to the 2024 Last year uh right around week six they finally decide Cam Robinson We’ve seen enough They trade Cam Robinson to Minnesota cuz they they had a tackle go down There was a trade opportunity there They felt good about Walker Little and him coming up on a contract year They wanted to see what he would look like as their left tackle And he comes in and starts playing pretty damn well Um probably the best he had looked in his career Very steady in pass pro Honestly moving guys in the run game like looking like a franchise tackle So they give him a nice contract extension three years $40 million Reminded me a lot of the Jordan Myelada contract that the Eagles gave MyAada where they paid him like right at the point where it felt like he might be trending towards playing better than the what would that be $14 million a year or something um that they gave Walker a little and hoping that okay if he keeps playing like this like that’s going to become a bargain And then of course in typical Jacksonville Jaguars luck he gets injured again um missing the final three weeks of the season So now that I just gave you the long story on Walker Little the long story short is this is a guy that has had sporadic play has never played a full season He’s had a pretty long list of injuries the big one in college but he missed time in 2023 He misses the end of this season He’s just been all over the map I think we have plenty of reason to believe that he can be a franchise left tackle that once he really settles in if he can stay healthy get the time on task to to prove himself really Yeah this this guy could be you know something like a top 20 left tackle in football which is better than it sounds There’s a lot of great left tackles in the game today Um and and you like this the stuff he showed as a run blocker too like the placed ranked like I think he’s got he’s bulked up even and and can move NFL athletes off the D line Like there’s really nothing in his game not to like It’s just we haven’t seen enough of him So he is a true wild card as you can tell based on everything we’ve seen from him so far But for good reason they’re willing to roll the dice with him as their left tackle this year And then I want to talk about Anton Harrison next because like I said these tackles do have potential to be like a cornerstone franchise tackle duo And Anton Harrison has that in his own right He’s just been streaky That’s been the bill on him really since he got into the league When things click for him I think his feet are fantastic He can anchor He’s good with his hands Um he has games where like he’s locked down and doesn’t give up pressure sometimes against like good pass rushers too but he just hasn’t put the entire package together Whether he’s missing with his outside hand on one snap or forgets to step inside to cut off an inside move or forgets to keep that extra kick slide step going Like there’s just these little glitches that lead to pass block losses for example he was 29th among NFL tackles last year in pressure rate allowed So like he’s a starting caliber He’s you know top 30 for pass protection is useful He gets a good grade for pass protection but it certainly isn’t great Um and really he’s got his shortcomings as a run blocker man He just doesn’t have a lot of force moving forward He’s got kind of a weird build at times when you look at him like I don’t know that he just has the right play strength aspect in the right spots um to move guys off the ball uh in the run game Uh I don’t know but he’s just he’s missing a little something in in that phase So you really want to see him become a great pass protector to feel good about him as a franchise right tackle You know they spent a late first round pick on him and he’s he’s been an above average first round tackle He’s certainly not a problem Um and he’s got potential again to be one of the better pass blocking right tackles in the game It’s just all about consistency for him So potential in that phase there especially in the pass pro department And then the the interior trio like there’s just not a ton of time to spend on these guys We know who they are You got Ezar Cleveland at left guard uh who’s a better run blocker than a pass blocker He he is not the strongest guard but he’s a really good athlete and has good technique So he can um you know handle stunts and quicker interior rushers but if he gets matched up with a good bowl rusher you you just don’t want him one-on-one in in that part of the game But the one nice thing about Cleveland is he’s now going back to a wide zonebased run game presumably here with with this coaching staff coming in That’s what he did in Minnesota and he was much better opening up you know riding the wave and and getting into that bucket step leaning into his athleticism as a run blocker as opposed to Doug Peterson which was a little bit more of a gap north and south oriented run game where he’s asking you to drive guys off the ball So I do think Jags fans will see a better version of Ezu Cleveland as a run blocker than they’ve seen Um but he’s a solid steady player And then at center they bring in Robert Hany who I actually thought might have started last year in Tampa Bay instead of Ben Bredesen but Bredesen ends up winning the guard job Um so he was actually a backup for Liam Cohen in Tampa last year but Cohen saw enough to want to bring him over with him and I think that means something They give him like a threeyear $21 million deal which is certainly not nothing He did start back in 2022 2023 So he was Tom Brady’s center of the year Ryan Jensen missed the year and then uh the year after that So he’s got a couple years of starting experience and he was all right Uh especially for Tom Brady You know Tom Brady is known for elevating his lineman because he gets rid of the ball so quickly But after that with Baker Mayfield holds the ball a little bit longer You saw some more issues in Pass Pro Um he’s just not the strongest guy 6’4 305 pounds That’s always kind of been the bill on him just not much of a people mover not the best anchor but a heady player a decent athlete So you know a floor raiser on the offensive line In time they will want to find some more upside at this center position I think uh especially for you know the wide zone run scheme You know that center can be a really nice pivot point for a high-end run game And I mean we saw him running this system in 2023 under Dave Canales And he he wasn’t very good as a run blocker just he’s an okay athlete but he’s not a great athlete and he struggles uh to really latch and drive in the run game So he’s okay And then they get Patrick McCari Talk about a floor raiser I mean he has been the sixman of the year for the Ravens for multiple years now Whenever someone goes down whether it’s Ronnie Stanley or whoever it might be on that offensive line they’ve been able to just plug in Patrick Mccari at four spots on that offensive line Um smart talk dude not a good athlete Um but he’s strong knows what he’s doing They give him a decent chunk of change and he is presumably going to be their right guard But if Walker Little does get hurt I do think Mccari offers some potential to go play left tackle as well So I think that’s baked into his contract as some of the versatility that he brings an offensive line that has some questions like this Um but I I’m never going to complain about signing a Patrick Mccari but you’re also not going to get too excited But he is a guy that like he will take his losses Um much more efficient than any typical backup but he’s he’s going to take his losses for a starter and he’s just not the most traitsy player But a nice signing nonetheless to round out the floor of this offensive line And then you do have some depth pieces that are fascinating to me I actually want to start with Wyatt Milm even if he’s going to have to kind of climb up the depth chart and earn that that opportunity Um but let’s say Walker Little does miss some time and Mari steps in at left tackle which is not a guarantee that either of those two things happen but I I would love to see Wyatt Milm get an opportunity to play some guard because I I thought as a third rounder that was a great pick I had a true second round grade on him an ass kicker in the run game I think he can block the wide zone system I think you block power I think you block really any run system Uh I saw a lot of uh Wyatt Teller in in his game Um but he played tackle at West Virginia so he’s going to have to learn that transition inside and that’s kind of why he’s stashed down on the depth chart a little bit right now But I think that transition is going to come pretty easy for him and I would definitely have him pegged to at some point break through as a starter You know Cleveland and Mari are in those spots for the medium time being Um but Milm’s going to be kind of breathing down their neck because he’s got he’s got the traits and really the play the you know he has the play strength aspect that Cleveland doesn’t have and he has the athletic athleticism aspect that Mari doesn’t have So he’s the the depth piece that I’m most excited about if I’m a Jags fan There are some other names here Um so you got I guess Javon Foster would be the other guy I’d be excited to see To be fair he was a healthy scratch from the previous regime Sometimes regimes just don’t like rookie linemen So it could be as simple as that or there could be more to it Um but I do think Foster has a lot of talent I liked his game at Missouri I thought he moved really well I thought he had really good high-end reps in both phases So I think there’s potential there He was a fourth round pick So another guy that okay if Walker Little goes down I would at least be fascinated to see Foster get that opportunity but he’s got to climb the depth chart and be that guy that gets that nod because last year it didn’t happen They actually went with Cole Van Lannon the previous staff did over Javon Foster And Van Lannon played okay for the former Wisconsin Badger You know I always say if if you’re looking at a late round draft pick or a waiver pickup or a priority free agent it never hurts to find an offensive lineman from Iowa Wisconsin Michigan Notre Dame And yeah I mean like Robert Hany Cole Van Lannon kind of right in line with that right just tough dudes The floor is usually pretty solid We saw that last year Not a perfect guy that stepped in but he held his own for a backup Um obviously not perfect but he was a sixth round pick by the Packers not too long ago So capable depth there at least from a pass protection standpoint Um beyond that you know Luke Forner played a lot of time at center for this team I think Jags fans have seen enough of him at this point but he’s still hanging around Chuma Adogga they gave a decent amount of money as another swing offensive lineman in here Uh he realistically is going to be at the top of their pecking order to start things both as a guard and as a backup tackle He’s played a lot of both Uh good athlete but technique’s been all over the map for him Uh he’s been on the Jets and the Cowboys Fred Johnson gets brought in here from Philly Big dude And then that seventh round pick on Jonah Manheim as well He’s a tough guy that’s going to come in and compete as well So they they do actually have some pretty good depth as well which does help the floor uh all things considered But is the upside all that high with this group especially when you factor in like the run blocking skill players are not an asset to this team Brian Thomas has potential there but hasn’t really brought it as a run blocker Travis Hunter I mean it it’s a lot to ask of him to run block like it’s almost rational to say “Hey it’s okay if you take some reps off as a run blocker because you can’t go 100% on a 100 snaps in an 18 18 game NFL season.” Uh so you understand why he doesn’t always run block when he wants to He he can do a decent enough job with it Um even Parker Washington’s had his struggles Brenton Strange needs to get better Like they are one of four teams in this series that actually get a negative contribution from the skill player blockers Um so that doesn’t help the run blocking grade ultimately Like they’re gonna have more work to do with this offensive line There’s a chance that they can at least feel good about their tackle duo but they’re going to need more uh out of this group and hopefully Wyatt Milm can eventually emerge as a part of the future core of this offensive line Um but that does conclude this Jags offense It’s not a bad unit They come in 17th for passing game overall Uh and 30th for run game with many more questions there especially with the run blocking but inconsistency at running back as well contributes to that Um and then of course just the coaching overall They don’t have bad rankings for the coaching staff but they don’t have great rankings yet but there is a chance that that could change if Liam Cohen uh really comes in hot out the gate That leaves the Jags as the 23rd overall offense So inside the top twothirds of the league and especially as it relates to the coaching staff and the weapons there is a chance for this to be at least a top half offense and something like a top 10 passing game I I think this season the run game I I think could have some explosive moments but it’s probably not going to be a consistent top run game uh right away But with that let’s flip over to the defensive side of things and start with this defensive line And it’s a good defensive line I think this is the best part of this Jags defense Though they still have some question marks and room to go here but they do come in basically just sniffing the top 10 for pass rush They rank uh 7th to 11th with a B+ grade for pass rush Uh for the Dline run defense though they are more middle of the pack 17th to 21st and that leaves them 10th to 11th for overall Dline But let’s start with the edge group and Josh Hines Allen who for the first time in his career really did not get better And this was something we talked about him last year where in 2023 he did have kind of a defensive player of the year candidate type of season and he had gotten better every single year where I was begging the question of is he going to break through into that sort of you know elite tier the the Max Crosby Nick Bosa quadrant of truly elite gamewrecking edge rushers because I think in that one 2023 season he really play at that level But that is why we want to see multiple years of that type of production before we put guys into that category And in the case of Josh Allen he just he didn’t live up to that He had about a 33% drop in pressures pressure rate his sacks cut in half And a part of that I think was he played more with his hand in the dirt and in a 4-2 style system So we’ll see like maybe they get him back to more twopoint style rushing Um with Anthony Campanelli having a bunch of different backgrounds with with the systems he could run Um and maybe we get back to the conversation of what we had in 2023 where he’s a 90 pressure 18 sack defensive player of the year type of candidate Um which would be great But I think it’s fairly safe to say at 28 years old now he turns 28 in a month that you’re probably you can probably expect something between 2023 and 2024 um as like a you know a a number one just not in that elite alpha category So you’re more than happy to have him if you put the right pieces around him with which the Jags are trying to do and are are relatively close to having the quote unquote right pieces around him Um you can be more than happy with Josh Hines Allen as your best pass rusher from a skill set perspective incredibly athletic I love that he’s added the power element to his game Um that just wasn’t always consistently there as a younger player but that bull rush is a real threat He’s got speed to bend He’s awesome off of stunts which I think Anthony Campanelli is going to run a lot of with him He’s awesome when they kind of jolt him in inside on an ET stunt Um so there’s there’s a lot of different ways he can win and and be utilized He’s a good run defender as well So it’s just not really a bad word to say about Josh Hines Allen other than he didn’t take that final step into that top tier last season And I I probably wouldn’t expect that to happen though If if he can repeat those numbers from 2023 we can revisit the conversation after this year Maybe playing a little bit more standup edge as he’s done throughout the course of his season We’ll we’ll see We’ll see how what they want to do with him there right um but then we get to have the Trayvon Walker conversation or we have to have the Trayvon Walker conversation I have certainly gone at it with Jags fans about Trayvon Walker over the years and I don’t think that that’s going to change I just think there’s a big gap between what Jags fans think about Trayvon Walker and how I view Trayvon Walker Now I do want to get this out of the way and say something very nice about Trayvon Walker He did take a massive leap getting to put his hand in the dirt more often He benefited from the the switch to a 4-2 in a way that Josh Hines Allen necessarily didn’t But Trayvon Walker getting to play that hard defensive end five tech a lot of the times and just set that hard edge fire off the ball hands inside stack peak shed Like he was always supposed to be an elite run defender coming out of Georgia and frankly he wasn’t able to tap into that as much from a two-point stance in the first couple years of his career We saw that much more often in this last season So I do want to give him credit like he had my my opinion on him has improved because I did see it much more often from a run defense standpoint last year So he’s at least up into that stud tier there and he brings a lot more value to the team in that sense Um so again I just want to start with a positive note there on Trayvon Walker But with that said man I just do not see him as the pass rusher that Jags fans think he is and the lack of growth from him for the former number one overall pick with you know the the book on him was raw toolsy player has got to improve his technique the growth has been marginal to non-existent and outside of one Colts game week five this season where I watched the tape and finally I’m like Hey there he is There’s the number one overall pick with the crazy traits that can take over a game He has by far the best game of his career this last season against the Colts week five But then he goes he just disappears again really the rest of the season So like the only thing I really feel better about Trayvon Walker is that I’ve at least seen it for a game But why can’t you replicate that even once throughout the course of the season if I even saw that twice I would feel better about him But you still look back on the season even with that Colts game and I mean how often do I say for a starting edge rusher just someone that you want getting after the quarterback on the field in the NFL you want to see a 10% pressure rate well Trayvon Walker had exactly a 10% pressure rate He had 56 pressures on 555 pass rush snaps That is smack dab like adequate his pass rush win percentage actually went down He went from about 14% in 2023 which put him 41st to just under 14% in 2024 which made him 45th in the NFL this year Yes he’s able to get a couple cleanup sacks that get him just over the double-digit tally um to get him you know double- digit sacks for back-to-back seasons And that’s really what Jags fans are hanging their hat on And I will give him credit He because he’s got the length and the athleticism and he’s got rare bend at his size He is better at finishing sacks than some other edge rushers in the league And I think that contributes to him getting the ultimate double-digit sack total Even if it a lot of it is cleanup work he’s able to finish some sacks that some guys can’t So I’ll give him some credit there but they are still cleanup sacks And we are now heading into year four They obviously are gonna pick up his fifthear option or have picked up his fifth year option but I don’t know man I just I think he’s a good player I think if you could put another guy into this defensive line um like they were hoping Eric Armstead would be if Mason Smith can maybe take that step up Um if you could have more of a real number two and make Trayvon Walker just this awesome run defender and kind of a cleanup artist and your and your third best pass rusher that could be a good player for this defensive line But unless we see more growth I do think we’re actually trending towards him becoming by far the most overpaid player in the league because he’s got the leverage He’s the former number one overall pick As we know agents will bring those sack numbers to the table And Jags fans love him Jags fans will defend him to the death because he’s their guy and they don’t want to hear all of these you know peripheral stats that maybe tell you that he’s not as good of a pass rusher as the total sack numbers tell you Jags fans don’t care and they’re not listening right now It’s everybody else watching this video that wants to hear this stuff Um but I’m worried if I’m a Jags fan that the Jags are going to give him a f like fiveyear you know $120 million contract Could be even more than that frankly Um I don’t think he’s worth that I think he’s probably a 12 to$13 million a year player The fifth year options fine um for one more year of of control but I had a take like I would shop Trayvon Walker right now someone would bet on him Um you could get a lot for him You could recoup some of those picks that you gave up to go get Travis Hunter That’s my take Jags fans are going to hate me for it And hey I hope he takes that step forward this year and can more consistently impact games Doesn’t need to be exactly like he did in that Colts game because that was one of the more impressive you know edge rush performances of the season Um but get you at least more moments like that they just don’t really exist man You you can very easily go through three Trayvon Walker games and not be moved by what he’s doing as a pass rusher Uh it really is just a matter of if he connects on the bull rush or not because when he does connect it’s beautiful Um but beyond that there’s just there’s just not enough pass rushing skill set being brought to the table from him right now So that is where I’m at with Trayvon Walker take it or leave it we will continue to evaluate him as we rose him up uh with the run defense side of things this this year and uh yeah we’ll we’ll see where this goes I certainly am not really putting the up arrow on him at this point though because I think that jump really needed to come this year and I just didn’t see it personally not as a pass rusher Um but I want to slide inside and keep the conversation with our starting players here There is some interesting dep edge depth that we will circle back to but there are a couple of interesting pieces on this defensive line still on the interior to talk about And Eric Armstead is our next wild card um kind of pivotal factor for this team You know a lot of people would look at the age He will turn 32 this season They’ll look at the dip in production where his pressures and sacks were basically cut in half from what they were the year before in San Francisco and just write it off as age regression and that’s going to continue and he’s kind of getting phased out in Jacksonville I don’t know that that’s a guarantee In fact I would say it’s just as likely that he actually plays much better this season even though he is getting older It’s not a guarantee and that age is a risk here and that’s why this is a pivotal factor This could go in either direction but he is sliding back into an interior more defensive tackle role where he has by far played his best football for the 49ers In fact just in 2023 there in that role for the ners he had arguably his most efficient pass rushing season at 30 years old So again I could see them getting a much better version of Eric Armstead moving back inside where with his length and you know he does win with a lot of power thanks to that length and his quick first step But his ability to cross guys face with a rip move and uses athleticism against guards is a big part of why he wins But the combination of that the length and the quickness is why he matches up much better against guards than he does against tackles tackles on average have much longer arms and are better athletes Eric Armstead going against guards seeing shorter arms quicker inside hands advantage more pop from the bull rush and oftentimes quicker feet than those guards he’s going up against Now it’s not that he never rushed from the interior for the Jags last year but it was a lot of work from the edge And he’s just he’s not an edge rusher He’s shown that in time So he was miscast by Ryan Nielsen in the previous regime They viewed him as their Cam Jordan and they didn’t need him to be Cam Jordan They needed an interior presence They already had Josh Allen and Trayvon Walker So the the everything we’ve heard is that he’s going back inside and that’s a good thing for the Jags So I do think there is a chance that you get something closer to the 2023 season which was a real differencemaking number two pass rusher the type of guy that you can say “All right if Allen’s your one you’ve got Armstead as your your number two and then Walker can be the number three.” That’s a healthy setup in terms of team construction if Armstead can be that again So truly a wild card that they could have decided to move on from him new regime all that they would take a lot of dead money but it wouldn’t have been the most surprising thing ever with you know with with his age but they did bring him back and I I think they are somewhat excited about him making this move back to his natural position So that’s a big one Uh and then another big one is Mason Smith We still got to talk about Devon Hamilton as part of this starting rotation but Mason Smith is also a very fascinating um in many ways a wild card in his own right for this this Dline Now I don’t think the stakes are quite as high with him as Armstead but this is a player with a ton of potential second round pick last year a highly recruited guy coming out of high school goes to LSU really just I mean traits for days the length the size the first step it’s all there but missed a ton of time at LSU Um missed some time in his freshman season his 2022 sophomore season He tears his ACL celebrating a play not his fault Um and then he ends up playing in 2023 effectively his many ways his rookie season and outside of a nice swim move um you know just not a lot of technique high pad level against the run and just a very raw prospect coming out that really probably could have benefited from another year in school but decided to come out and the Jags as Trent Balky likes to do bet on the traits and to be honest it was about what you would expect for the first twothirds of the season he played a decent amount but couldn’t keep his pads down against the run Didn’t get you too much of a pass rush But in the final month of the year especially that Raiders game he showed you some real flashes And I’ve always had an interesting gut feeling on Mason Smith that kind of like uh my brain tells me no but my gut tells me yes on him And it did certainly peique my interest to see him come alive at the end of last season and he’s absolutely going to be a part of this rotation He’s going to have all of that opportunity to do that Uh I love having Eric Armstead there to kind of pick his brain because I think he can win in very similar ways I think he flashed a little power down the stretch like Eric Armstead likes to win with Um so they don’t need to get anything from Mason Smith but if they do that would also really get into the equation to be a difference maker there Um so we’ll see Uh and then you also have Devon Hamilton who I think those three guys are kind of your ro rotating three starters uh at at defensive tackle And Devon Hamilton has not lived up to the contract that they gave him Uh he just he hasn’t I think been fully healthy He hasn’t been as stout against the run but he’s still a big body He still plays the run with good technique And uh he is going to be their best interior run defender though it is That’s where that C++ grade for the Dline run defense comes in is he’s just on the very bottom end of getting the grade of being a good run defender He’s not a great run defender but he’s he’s stable Um but for example the 76 rating gets him that green code uh for the run defense If it was 75 it would have been yellow So that’s kind of the line he’s at as their best interior run defender And then you have Eric Armstead who while his pass rushing should benefit moving inside his run defense does take a dip because guys will get under his pads and he is lighter for a defensive tackle as opposed to being kind kind of an oversized edge So that’s a trade-off that they’re going to live with Mason Smith has been brutal against the run and I certainly wouldn’t expect big gains there from him Uh and then you got Jordan Jefferson who’s kind of a tryhard late round pick that is decent rotation rotational depth Tyler Lacy’s kind of a tweener Um drafted for a previous regime and then undrafted types So while you have one of the best rundefending edge duos in Josh Hines Allen and Trayvon Walker um that is part of where some questions about the run defense come in for the Dline but Hamilton is at least a nice piece there Um and then you have that edge depth we mentioned So three new additions here all kind of do different things So you have Emanuel Agba Dwayne Smoot and Dennis Gard So Agba is kind of this big thumper tweener type I imagine he will play a lot of defensive end here Uh eat up some good early down work defending the run He played pretty well doing that for the Dolphins last season he could technically step inside and and you know give it his all in in a interior defensive role You know it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if we see more odd fronts with Hamilton as the nose and Armstead and Ogba as kind of defensive end types That would be more of a natural run defense setup for both Armstead and Agba So at least you know that’s an area where the coaching staff can prove that they can kind of elevate and and put these guys in advantageous positions to succeed in different you know situations um for the def the defense Dwayne Smoot more of a balanced edge four type Uh he’s not what Jags fans remember from him years ago where he was kind of a sneaky quiet like good number three edge rusher that could impact some games It’s been a while since he’s made his presence felt but uh still kind of can win occasionally with that awkward build of his Can throw his size around against the run And then Dennis Gard is kind of an undersized chess piece of a pass rusher You can line him up um off the edge obviously but maybe a little you know pass rushing linebacker you know mugged up over a center maybe do some creative stuff getting him on the field but uh he’s got a little bit of juice He’s got speed and bend around the corner for sure and uh he’s had some good games for the Cardinals So that’s a nice little pickup to get a little more juice in that edge group You do still have Yasir Abdullah as well Uh he’s been kind of a you know oversized uh linebacker type that you know he’s just fallen into that tweener role and hasn’t really carved out too much to get excited about uh with his time at the Jags so far But we’ll see He’s a good athlete We’ll see kind of where they want to use him He he damn well might just be a part of the linebacking group Um and then Miles Cole I don’t know if he’ll make this team I mean that was a Trent Balky project that was drafted literally just off of length He’s genuinely one of the worst football players I’ve ever seen And he’s frustrating to watch because you look at him and you say you should be good but he just he’s not a football player man Six years in college and no development to speak of So I’m not a big big believer in Miles Cold Air and he struggled when he did get on the field last year too Um but yeah there’s your defensive line There’s a lot of potential here man Um it’s a good pass rush no matter what They have pieces I think it flirting like just on the cusp of that top 10 makes a lot of sense Uh and it could it could reach their their potential as a top five or so pass rush too You know I I don’t know that I’m betting on Trayvon Walker to take a leap but especially with those interior guys um if they can really elevate and be more of a presence here with Armstead and maybe even Mason Smith this could become a much more fearsome group although it’s already going to be it’s going to going to be a handful They got a mult multitude of dudes that are tough to block Run defense however maybe a little bit more of an undersized group on the inside But let’s go to the second level of the defense with this familiar linebacking duo This will be year four of Foyer Aluakan and Devin Lloyd together Uh and now what in their third system in as many years uh but it’s a good duo man They rank inside the top 10 So for overall linebacker rankings they rank 10th with a B-grade Uh and then for linebacker coverage they rank eighth to ninth in the league with a B minus grade Uh just not a lot of great linebacker coverage duos in the league today Um but for run defense they actually get a higher grade of a B but they rank a little bit lower overall ninth to 14th compared to the rest of the league So a good duo I think we feel pretty damn good about what we’re getting from this group Not a ton of like extra upside to speak of I think and really not much of a floor below this to speak of Aluakkan heads into his age 30 season I think he’s still got plenty of juice to say that we’re not really seeing regression I I think he going from a 3-4 system to a 4-3 system was different for him We did see a drop in his total you know run stops and efficiency against the run He actually missed more tackles last season than we’re used to Nothing brutal but you know he’s been kind of a 8 and a half% miss tackle guy which is above average Uh last year he missed about 12% So a little bit of an uptick Um just a a slight down year I think for a Luakon in what is generally speaking a really hard position that’s bound for some volatility from year to year especially when you’re changing schemes like this But you know for a guy that is a little bit smaller he’s to his credit he has bulked up I mean when he was playing for the Falcons he was like 215 pounds He’s a good like 230 now So I don’t really want to call him undersized Like he’s about the same size as like Rocoan Smith Um but he’s not a big linebacker necessarily but he’s he’s physical to take on blocks but he’s because he’s got experience playing as an unders sized guy He’s good at navigating blocks Um flies to the ball a lot of speed a lot of aggressiveness So he’s a good run defender Uh and then the coverage side of things has always been a strength for him You know he played more of a safety role at Yale He’s got the speed He can turn and run with tight ends He’s got good zone IQ I mean he’s he’s pretty consistently gotten between four to six passes defended every year which is really damn good Um so just a really good balanced kind of top 10 linebacker in a Luakun And then next to him you have Devin Lloyd who’s one of the better LB2s in the league I I think he’s probably kind of stalled out for what he is um which is just a nice stable hand in your linebacker room I I don’t think he’s the most dynamic player Um he’s not to me like a differencemaking linebacker but he’s a very steady tackler He doesn’t like blow gap discipline or anything He’s honestly I’ve soured on him a just a little bit I still like him but I’ve soured on him a little bit because I’m realizing that he’s got a lot of kind of Blake Martinez tendencies Blake Martinez would always rack up tackles and really didn’t miss a lot of tackles Um but a big part of that is he just wasn’t much of a risk taker against the run and kind of let the play come to him Found himself in advantageous situations to not miss tackles um and to not have negatively graded plays And Devin Lloyd doesn’t have a lot of negatively graded plays but like for example he he was 70th out of 91 eligible linebackers in average depth of tackle And I think that works when you have an Aluan next to him as the aggressive go-getter head hunter mentality To have more of a conservative body next to him I think works um as a duo being a nice compliment to each other Um if he was all on his own doing that you would have some more problems Um and then from a coverage perspective I’ve just seen enough tape of him just getting torched at this point where I think he’s he is a a limited athlete Like he does struggle to turn and run He doesn’t get the most range in coverage He does have good zone IQ and he can make some good plays when he’s close enough to do so Um but he is you know he has been pretty consistently over the years towards the top in yards allowed at linebacker So I I do think he’s got his deficiencies as a player Um but he is a nice LB2 and you may have noticed the Jags actually declined his fifthear option Um you know I think maybe a small part of that is his game has kind of stalled out a little bit as we’ve described as just a nice overall player Um but I think they’re also trying to get ahead of the linebacker market there and being smart about it There’s going to be a spike in the linebacker market here soon But right now I mean a nice player of Deon Lloyd’s caliber costs teams about somewhere between 9 and $12 million a year And by declining that fifth year option they can get that done quicker before the contract spikes I think that’s probably what was going on there Or there’s a chance that they just don’t like the tape and they don’t like his play style with this new regime That’s also possible I mean Campanelli is a linebacker guy he might want to bet on more athleticism there But I I think it’s the the former where they’re being smart about the contract Um but if he had emerged as like some superstar Rocoan Smith type of player yeah they probably would have picked up the fifth year uh because it would have been more budget responsible But anyway a really nice linebacker duo No complaints Um they have some depth as well I liked what we saw from Ventro Miller He he is the opposite of Devin Lloyd Misses a lot of tackles not a ton of zone IQ to write home about Um he you know he’s not a great athlete like Deon Lloyd isn’t but he is a heat seeking missile go-getter mentality Uh and I love it He he plays linebacker like it’s 1960 and it’s just fun to watch So you’re going to get a lot of high-end plays even some high-end games from Ventrell Miller I think he’s a nice backup to have because you can get some of those high-end outings from him and he’s you know he’s going to ball out on special teams I mean some of the good stuff he does gets you really excited to the point where I’m like maybe if he leaves here in a year or two whenever that rookie contract’s up like maybe someone could view him as kind of like a Denzel Pamman type of starter I think there’s a little bit of that in his game Um so I do put the eyeball emoji on him just cuz he does fascinate me Um if nothing else he gets the eyeballs cuz when he’s in you should enjoy watching him because he is a throwback But they do still have Chad Muma They drafted him with Devin Lloyd and he really has not developed Uh so he’s just kind of a backup at this point Not really expecting much from him at this stage especially because they did draft a pair of rookie linebackers Uh so Jack Kaiser he’s a floor raiser Smart guy He he plays with some aggressiveness and and instincts He could surprise but I just I didn’t see the difference making traits I don’t even fully understand why they really drafted him because they have enough depth here But yeah he’s another nice depth piece for a rookie He should be able to step in and not get lost I think Uh and then Jaylen Mloud was an interesting guy He played a lot of edge at Auburn and he is fascinating to me Like I know we list Yir Abdullah on the Dline and Jaylen Mloud as a linebacker but those two guys are kind of two P’s in a pod guys that played edge in college but you know are you a linebacker are you an onball linebacker are you an edge rusher straight up um we we’ll have to just kind of wait and see what they want to do with him you know his he didn’t really have the run diagnostics to project as you you know to at least have a a fair to good projection as an offball linebacker but when he was on the ball as kind of an edge rusher he was good at getting off of blocks So like the raw block shedding ability is pretty good for him So there’s there’s something to work with there for Anthony Campanelli you know good linebackers coach to maybe mold into something But I would just say it is it is one of the more balanced and and even deeper linebacker rooms that we will see I don’t really have anything bad to say about it other than yeah you just you maybe don’t have that like true differencemaking ability from this group to get you up in the top five but yeah still top 10 and a good unit for this defense And then we have this Jags secondary which is really all over the map This is a hard unit to kind of project um for a variety of reasons Number one of course is how much does Travis Hunter play here and how good is Travis Hunter when he does play and let’s actually let’s just start with Travis Hunter because that’s the fun um conversation to have here And by the way the Jags rank I think this is our third straight deep dive in a row with the secondary in this same tier that ranks 14th to 20th with a B minus grade all units that like if things go right you might sneak into the top 10 but if a thing or two goes wrong you’re probably more of a bottom third uh secondary And I think that’s right on par for for this unit But yeah Travis Hunter I I will I will say this I I like his cornerback tape I really do I’m I’m certainly not as sure that he’s going to step in and be an impact player at that position as I kind of am with him as a wide receiver I think his wide receiver tape he he graded out higher for me as a wide receiver than he would as a corner Now he’s still very fascinating as a corner and still has tremendous upside there Um but I do think his tape showed a corner that got beat probably more than he got credit for Um not to make this a negative conversation but he because of that ball hawk mentality he loved to kind of cheat up and there was a lot of times on tape where receivers would just run over his head and you know quarterbacks at the college level weren’t either looking or looked off of him too quickly because he’s Travis Hunter and he’s scary Um but he got away with that a lot and uh NFL quarterbacks will make him pay if he’s doing that So you got to make sure you’re not just letting NFL wide receivers run over the top of you because you’re looking to ball hawk Um and he was able to get by off his athleticism as a corner I think in terms of the press technique um anticipating things with his footwork and really staying on top of receivers breaks Even at the level of competition he faced you would see a lot of times receivers would create early separation on him because he wasn’t really up to snuff on all of the footwork and he had the great recovery ability to make up for it a lot of times But if if the opposing offense was playing with proper NFL level timing and anticipation you would be able to attack Travis Hunter So I those are the downsides Those are what leads me to say like he’s probably got a little bit more to clean up as a corner than he does as a wide receiver and he might he might not be this great corner out the gate I think that’s fair but like I said there’s tremendous upside here if you can clean up some of that technique and be a little bit more sticky in coverage He’s got all the physical tools to be more of a lock down cover corner Uh he’s got the speed he has really fluid hips he does have great foot speed when he deploys it appropriately I think we see that much more often Um the agility side of things when he’s able to dictate as a wide receiver um dictate the action as opposed to reacting But again that’s all technique to access that foot speed through anticipation Um the traits are there And then dude the ball skills I mean we praised him as having elite ball skills for a wide receiver You literally just take that and apply it to a corner That’s a conversation we we probably will never have for a corner ever again So to have a corner that not just will consistently catch the football but can legit like moss receivers like he’s going to be the better ball winner than half of the guys he’s going up against And that’s a huge advantage He also is a really smart player I think his zone IQ is pretty damn good I do And I think um he has the understanding of routes and what receivers are trying to do to him He is a guy that is in the lab like watching film like he will anticipate uh play calls and jump stuff and know the quarterback’s tendencies and like as a zone corner who is going to get to play a lot of cover four in this system He’s got like just crazy crazy ability there So if he can clean up some of the technical aspects of the position the sky is the absolute limit and he of course gets that wildcard icon on this side of the ball as well because if he can be an impact out the gate as a like number one corner and if it turns out like we were underelling what it means to take a corner with these ball skills and drop him onto an NFL field if it turns out he’s legit going to be like a 10 interception a year player which I don’t think is impossible for him um that’s like like think of the year Trayvon Dig had where he was I don’t remember if he won defensive player of the year but that individual year he he transformed that Cowboys defense because turnovers are king So if he’s a guy that’s just going to get you more turnovers than everybody else like I’m not going to say it doesn’t matter how good of a cover player you are but you’re at least bringing gamechanging plays to the table every other week Like there’s a chance that’s just what Travis Hunter is So the sky’s is the limit for him on the defensive side of the ball but there are some things to clean up And kind of like we talked about with his run blocking that applies to the run defense side of things too Now I don’t want to just straight up call him a bad run defender and a bad tackler because when it was critical situations and they needed him to defend the run he showed that he would and he has the size to do it But it’s very clear like he and I honestly I I would say rightfully so and I’m okay with it with Travis Hunter but it is part of the evaluation with him being out there Like he’s going to take plays off when he sees it’s a run and there are plays too where someone else catches the football and he’s maybe in an area where he could go get himself in a position have those hustle plays as a corner to seal plays up There are times in that Colorado secondary where okay maybe a receiver catches an inbreaker breaks off a tackle from the safety Travis Hunter is the closest defender and the receiver either gets an extra 15 yards out of the play because Travis Hunter has to react and eventually can chase him down or he just waits till someone else does it Um so there there there is a downside to him on a run defense side of things but like I said when he wants to defend the run he will but I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect him to do that every single snap And then the last question to mark again what like we said with wide receivers is you know just how much do they use him how much is he a starting corner to impact this secondary only time will tell on that So very fascinating conversation with him Very excited to see how it goes there But fortunately you know they do have some other corners here They don’t have to just depend on him um to be a superstar right away They do still have Tyson Campbell who at the time of his contract I think became the highest paid corner in the NFL Not anymore Um I think his contract is now more appropriate for the type of player he is whereas at the time it was it was more sticker shock uh you know now we’ve got Patertan I think makes 30 and JC Horn makes like 25 mil like they’re in a tier now above Tyson Campbell and it makes a lot more sense I think um they were more getting ahead of the market there you know Campbell is I think a low-end number one and maybe should even realistically be a number two which there’s a chance that now he can fall into that role with Travis Hunter he’s a very technically sound corner he’s not the craziest athlete he doesn’t have the spectacular ball skills necessarily He’s physical against the run Um and unfortunately he’s missed a lot of time Again last year he missed the first third of the season Came back played pretty solid football Um but he’s only played a full season once and that was 2022 He missed about half the year last year as well and missed some time in his in his rookie season So he just he is an injury-prone corner There’s a lot of the guy there’s a lot of injuryprone corners in the league Unfortunately Tyson Campbell is one of them So counting on him to be there every single game is a bit of a tough ask So between him and Travis Hunter the Jags I would say have a higher likelihood of having to get into their depth than other teams So that’s where Jiren Jones comes in Um Jones this is fascinating because he played really well in his rookie season as a slot corner but they they obviously brought in Jordan Lewis to be their slot corner We we’ll get to Jordan Lewis but I’m more focused on the outside corner group because there that’s where there’s more of these I don’t know if I want to call them question marks but opportunities for guys to have to play uh at the outside corner spot So Jiren Jones I think will be the de facto CB3 or the first guy to get the outside corner opportunity whether it’s Travis Hunter gets a drive off or Tyson Campbell is coming off the field for injury Um and it’s hard to know exactly how he’s going to play as an outside corner I I would love to just put the up arrow on him Um but I think his game is much more effective from the slot where he’s a quick twitch guy He’s a little bit smaller Uh he played some outside corner at Florida State It wasn’t amazing Think he was much better when he played in the slot and he got to play in the slot in his rookie season for the Jags and and he made a lot of plays for them He had some coverage gaffs as most young corners will have But um showed a lot of promise as a slot corner and if they would have rolled with him as that slot corner I think you would feel pretty damn good about him emerging as a stable force there But kicking him outside more just a lot of question marks If he can handle it he’s played it Going back to Florida State I don’t know that he necessarily fits that role Maybe he is just tough and instinctive enough to make it work Um but that is the reason for the up and down yellow arrow There’s a chance he steps outside and you aren’t as excited about him compared to what he did in his rookie season Um I will say one more thing on Jerian Jones he can be a benefit to this defense with Hunter and Campbell healthy given his his instinctive ball skills that he has He really stands out in that way to kind of read the quarterback’s eyes and make a beline for the ball and and change the game with a with a big pick him in that kind of dime back lurking role I love to call it the PJ Williams role uh in those old Saints defenses where he played a bunch as that just six defensive back where it’s not so much about coverage stickiness as it is just coming in playing a hook zone and trying to make a play That that role is kind of screams Jerry and Jones So if everybody’s if everybody’s healthy they could find a way to get him out there in dime packages and he could also provide some unique you know ball hawking abilities So between between Hunter and Jones like you got to be careful with that football Those guys are going to be looking for those interception opportunities for sure Um but they do have one more guy that can play Montic Brown It’s nothing special He’s not a great athlete He’s going to have his good games He’s going to have his his okay games I don’t think he’s ever had like a great game um probably some better than others but he’s a physical corner I think he’s fine as a CB4 If you have to play him for a game you could do much worse um than him as depth for someone that has has got a lot of experience at this point So um they do have some options for sure if they’re going to have to count on those guys So that counts for something for sure Um and we’ll just rip through the rest of the quarterback depth DeAndre Prince was a a day three gamble in last year’s draft on you know size speed out of the SEC There’s worse ways to spend your fifth round draft pick uh many times and he played 100 snaps last year The numbers on him actually aren’t bad So you never know with with these types of players Uh you also got Christian Brazwell was a sixth round pick in 2023 Hasn’t shown this team too much Zack McFerson who started with the Eagles Uh I want to say couple of undrafted players So you know that’s it’s NFL quarterback depth at that point But we do have to talk about Jordan Lewis who’s going to be pencileled in as the slot corner here Um he’s he’s had some experience playing outside too So you know there’s there’s still some flexibility Maybe if there’s injuries you know maybe they do think Jerry Jones is the slot and Lewis can play outside Um but Lewis has certainly had his best tape as a slot corner Uh quietly had an eight-year career in Dallas already Uh I remember when he came out third round pick out of Michigan Like I liked him So time flies man But uh he has been a very streaky player for Dallas but you do kind of know what you’re getting from him Maybe not necessarily week to week You’re going to get some hot games and some cold games Uh he’s a he’s a twitchy player He’s a risk taker Uh and he can find himself out of position at times no doubt But uh usually you’re going to look back on the season and he had a pretty nice season for a slot corner and makes some plays against the run He he loves to play physical but like there are games where he misses tackles blows coverages Like get get ready for some bit of a roller coaster on Jordan Lewis I think Cowboys fans will tell you that He did have his best year last year though so maybe he’s cleaning up some of those inconsistency issues at at his age He can still move for sure So I like the signing overall Um it was definitely at least fascinating though that you know kind of felt like they could have just rolled with Jerry and Jones as a slot and used that money elsewhere But you know you need you need corner depth and gives you a little flexibility So I I don’t hate it but it it you know $10 million it was it that’s good money for Jordan Lewis I I I will say that like that’s at the very high end of what I would pay Jordan Lewis He’s he’s a nice player Um but nothing special Then you go to the safety group and look you can you can shelter your safeties It doesn’t decimate this secondary ranking but it is a little bit nerve-wracking to look at probably the worst safety duo in the league here in Jacksonville I mean Darnell Savage just straight up should not be starting anymore And if he continues to play like he did last year this new regime very well might make the change to maybe like Caleb Branson third round pick if they like what he shows Um we’ll talk a little bit more about him but maybe Andrew Wingard who’s still hanging around here definitely a higher floor player than Darnell Savage So they do have some other options but it right now it does look like it’s Darnell Savage’s job Um yeah I mean he’s just he’s a former first round bust There’s no way around it He I mean talk about bust like he bust coverages constantly Um doesn’t make as many plays as he should for his athleticism He’s a really bad run defender bad tackler inconsistent across the board Like like I said I would anticipate he loses this job at some point but right now he is slated as the starter after Trent Balky paid him last year for some godforsaken reason Um but then you have Eric Murray who they did bring in on a somewhat similar contract to what Savage got last year So starter money and uh he’s he’s more of a high floor player Uh he’s had a nice year for Houston last year had to play a good bit cuz uh Jimmy Ward was getting banged up but he’s got that kind of slot corner former cornerback experience that plays well on the back end because he kind of knows everybody’s job and you know he’s not the most instinctive playmaking coverage safety or anything like that He’s not the best athlete to have a ton of range and stickiness um on on the coverage side of things but he’s fine He’s consistent He is the definition of the word safety And he’s an okay tackler He he is built like a corner So he’s not really built for the run defense demands of of playing safety but he’s an okay enough signing He was one of those sort of raise the floor so that you can evaluate the roster type of signings But you’re not expecting some breakout season from Eric Murray at 30 years old 31 actually I I don’t think that’s crazy to say Um but yeah I mean we talked about some of this depth but Antonio Johnson is still fascinating to me He really struggled from a coverage angle last year Um but he was really good in run defense and as a tackler So he could be someone they turn to to give another opportunity to see if um you know someone that played a lot of slot corner in college Uh and even in his first year in Jacksonville he spent a lot of time as kind of a slot Um so still kind of learning the safety position might be worth giving another go if you bench Savage Um but it he was getting burnt a lot so maybe not Um you know you know what you have in Andrew Wingard He might not even make the team because they drafted a couple guys here Caleb Bransaw crazy athlete Pretty poor tape in my opinion Not the kind of guy I would have loved in the third round I get betting on traits uh but certainly lacked the anticipation side of things and you just didn’t see him tap into his athleticism uh on his college tape other than like when he was playing keep up You did see the speed um and the way he can kind of move like you see the agility and stuff but he tested really really well He earned himself some money with his testing numbers and the Jags wanted to bet on it So we’ll see I don’t know I I just wanted to see something on tape that got me excited about him given the the testing and it it’s it just didn’t flash for me Um and then Rayon Lane um he you know player out of Navy He he plays hard He’ll he’ll probably just be a special teamer frankly Um but he’s got some length and some hits on tape that get you excited And then Daniel Thomas is still here too I don’t know if I’d fully dismiss Daniel Thomas They never really gave him an opportunity He’s not a great athlete and coverage player but he loves to hit So you know there’s going to be opportunities to compete in this safety room So really any of these guys could technically break through but that’s a safety room that I imagine outside of Caleb Brandsaw surprising And maybe Antonio Johnson breaks through But for the most part that’s a safety group that’s probably a problem for James Gladstone in future drafts to try to get a little bit more juice and talent on the back end there So I I would say the safeties drag this coverage group down a little bit on top of some of those questions with corner that we discussed and probably limit their upside from being crazy high Like I I think I think it could be a top 10 secondary if Campbell could stay healthy and Hunter is a complete monster Uh but probably not much more than like ninth or 10th right but that is the last group for this defense that we can wrap up Uh so Jags fans you were the 31st defense last year I’ve got you 26th heading into the year this year So it’s a good starting point Uh they came out 20th for pass defense So a little bit better there 26th for run defense Ultimately it’s a it’s a group that maybe can be good enough if the coaching surprises us and some of these question marks go in the right direction It’s it’s a group that maybe could be good enough if this offense takes a step forward for this overall Jags team to surprise this year I think this team does have that potential It’s a it’s a volatile team right there’s a there’s a lot of different holes and and areas of this team that are going to need to be addressed in future seasons one way or another But there are some some serious upside aspects of this team And we’ll review some of those strengths and weaknesses in just a second but we do got to talk special teams first real quick Uh so the Jags come out fantastic on special teams seventh overall Uh I mean Cam Little was awesome as a rookie kicker outside of a shocking like falloff which it does happen at times You know we remember uh what Evan McFerson for the Bengals looked like the next um Justin Tucker at least on the field uh and then just fell off the next year So you never know Kickers are bizarre That’s why special teams in general just doesn’t carry a ton of weight in these rankings because it can go in the complete opposite direction at any moment But Logan Cook has been a phenomenal punter He’s one of the best punters in the league So um they came out third ranking for punter ninth for kicker Uh they have a good punt returner in Parker Washington He hasn’t shown nearly as much as a kick returner but he’s expected to do both I think this year Uh so they came out with a good grade for the returner 7th to 13th there Uh Washington had I think a 96yard punt return last year That’s uh it’s not nothing And then they are maybe dinged just a little bit because of that benefit of the doubt coach and culture slider that we have where as we said at the top of the show uh they do rank a little bit lower there But yeah seventh for special teams So just to recap here 23rd on offense 26th on defense um and seventh on special teams Uh for those looking at the graphic here there is uh a simplistic beauty about this Jags team They actually have a 79.3 final rating both on offense defense and for the overall team rating So pretty to look at there Um but let’s recap uh the strengths weaknesses and most importantly those pivotal factors that could lead to this Jags team transcending this 25th ranking or maybe finishing a little bit lower But for the strengths I have explosive weaponry This is what stands out the most to me about this Jags team I mean we obviously talked about the overall upside between Brian Thomas and Travis Hunter but um they got some big play threats not just those two although those two are a big part of it You know I think Trevor Lawrence being able to access the vertical passing game despite some of his frustrations as a quarterback He does have a big arm and will let it fly to those those guys Uh and then even the running backs despite their deficiencies they have explosiveness as well So this team does have speed and big playability Um and then the rest of their strengths come with the defense and special teams So pass rush is a strength for me for this team Linebacker is a strength Um and then special teams is a strength So this team does have legitimate strengths I think that’s a stronger list of strengths than any of the teams we’ve previewed so far Um and then the weakness is you know overall like I do think this front office did a good job making sure they don’t have like damning weaknesses with some of these low-end veteran signings I do still think the offensive line is in general a weakness There’s some aspects of it Just to look ahead to the wild cards like the offensive tackles have upside that we discussed like if those guys hit their upside maybe the offensive line won’t be a full-on weakness But certainly relative to the rest of the league like we had them ranked as the 28th offensive line and I don’t see too much upside to be better than that So I’m I feel pretty comfortable saying the offensive line is going to lead to some shortcomings for the offense Um and that also ties into the run game Like even if things do go well with the offensive line it’s probably from a pass blocking standpoint you know like Anton Harrison’s not much of a run blocker for example Um so like you know they’re going to they’re going to have to be a pretty pass forward offense I think And the last weakness there that’s safety tandem that just might be the worst group of safeties in the league even if the secondary at large is in decent shape Let’s hit on those remaining wild cards for this team So Travis Hunter is the biggest of which how much does he play on both sides of the ball and how good is he at doing that there’s an upside of things that can transform this this team There’s a world where they got a superstar corner and a superstar wide receiver ready to go in year one There’s a low end of things where they traded three first round picks for a guy that turns out he maybe can’t do what you know has never been done before and be a two-way player Like there is a big spectrum on the Travis Hunter side of things Um both good and bad Uh the coaching is a huge wild card for this team They obviously come in with pretty low rankings and how can they not like none of these guys have really proven anything from a coaching standpoint but they’re going to have an opportunity to do that this year And if they are better schemers on the offensive and defensive side of of the ball they will end up performing better than I had them ranking this year It’s just the math of it all And then I put in Eric Armstead as well as a is a big wild card getting back to more defensive tackle stuff Can they get more of a real number two pass rushing impact on that defensive line um to be to round that whole group out from where it’s a good pass rush to being like a a a great pass rush that can take over games and help everything uh on that defense in a way that they fell short of doing that last year in large part because Armstead wasn’t the guy we are used to seeing him playing at a mostly a different position Um but at his age there’s no guarantee they get that from him But let’s go ahead and conclude with the schedule and my win total projection on the Jaguars Vegas has their overunder at 7 and a half wins They are uh 24th to 27th in Super Bowl odds at 100 to1 So that’s kind of smack dab for our power rankings so to speak We have them 25th They’re right in that cluster I always like to say Super Bowl odds are Vegas’s power rankings Um and then their division odds they’re actually second in this division ahead of the Colts We have not ranked yet uh at 3 to one I think the Colts are 3 and a half to one so pretty close there But as far as the Jags schedule is concerned I I would say it’s it’s like average to maybe even slightly favorable Like their own division is obviously I’ll just leave it at in the conversation for the worst division in football I don’t think that’s controversial to say but then they drew the NFC West and the AFC West which are good divisions for sure but at least have some winnable opponents in there between like the Raiders the Seahawks the Cardinals None of those teams have been ranked yet but I don’t think any of those teams are out of reach for the Jags to beat Uh and they do have the Seahawks there at home out of that group instead of having to go out to Seattle on a long road trip to the um one of the hardest stadiums if not the hardest to play in Um but most notable is they drew both Carolina and the Giants as home games So that is probably where it leans towards being slightly favorable for them to get those two opponents there uh at home And then the Rams do have to go to London which is a very long road trip for the Rams where the Jags are um used to playing So that’s not horrible If you got to play the Rams you might as well play them in London I think Uh to just make things weird Uh that’s a game where they probably would be a big underdog if it had to be in LA but they have a chance at least at beating them in London I think that’s fair to say So ultimately I still had them coming out under seven and a half wins That’s a pretty large overunder total for uh the 25th ranked team here right but with maybe a slightly favorable schedule I think Vegas sees that as well And that probably gets them from a six and a half win total to a seven and a half which like I I’ve got them projecting at seven wins As our 25th ranked team I think seven and a half is probably a little bit rich to bet Um I would lean towards the under Like gun to my head I would I would go under I think there’s too many questions Um a little bit too loose in some position groups Gun to my head I would go under but I I would I would stay away from this with my own money and they certainly have the upside to not just get more than seven and a half wins but if things go really right for this team they could create some of that magic from like 2022 and and maybe be more of a playoff contender Um I I don’t think that’s crazy to be in their realm of possible outcomes but certainly not the most likely I think So there is your Jags breakdown I really hope you guys enjoyed I want to hear from you guys where you agree where you disagree Who do you think comes with the 24th spot in this series really looking forward to hearing from you guys Please do hit that like button on the way out as well Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss our next deep dives But thank you so much for watching I really appreciate you guys The excitement for this series has been off the charts I want to say every episode is over 40,000 views right now which is certainly a record for us So love you guys Thank you much Uh thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you for the next one Peace out [Music]

A comprehensive preview of the 2025 Jacksonville Jaguars! In this video, we’ll review Offseason Changes, the Coaching Staff, what the Offensive & Defensive Schemes will look like, how each position group stacks up against the rest of the League, and finally take a look at their schedule and win total expectations!

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Audio Versions of this show are posted on the “Fully Inflated Football Podcast” 24 Hours after the video is posted!

My QB Tiers

Tier 1 – Elite
QBs who give you a shot at a Super Bowl every year almost regardless of roster talent.

Tier 2 – Great
QBs who elevate their team who you would expect to win a Super Bowl in a 10-year window at their current level of play.

Tier 3 – Good
QBs who can get the most out of a great team and give you a shot at a Super Bowl as long kolas the team stays great around him.

Tier 4 – Fine (Split into Developing & Capped)
Clearly a starting caliber QB but are either in their growth stages as a prospect or have reached a ceiling that suggests you will have a very hard time winning a championship with this player.

Tier 5 – Fringe Starter (Split into Developing & Capped)
A QB flirting with the line of being one of the Top 32 QBs in the league. Is either a capped, bridge Quarterback for a team, or a talented, young QB with upside and at least a 1 year runway to show development on his current team.

Tier 6 – Backup (Split into Developing & Capped)
Either a veteran backup who has reached his ceiling, or an intriguing young backup who could surprise someday if given an opportunity.

QB Run Multiplier is for the Designed Run Game Only! Scheme & usage is heavily considered. The QBs
Scrambling ability is a part of my Passing grade and evaluation.

Team Formulas
Team Overall)
64% Offense | 35% Defense | 1% Special Teams

Team Offense)
64% Passing Game | 36% Run Game

Passing Game)
40% QB Passing | 30% Weapons | 21% Pass Blocking | 8% Pass Game Coaching | 1% Coach & Culture

Run Game)
45% Run Blocking | 32% Runningback | 20% Run Game Coaching | 3% Coach & Culture | QB Run applied as a Multiplier

Team Defense)
65% Pass Defense
35% Run Defense

Pass Defense
45% Pass Rush | 30% DB Coverage | 6% LB Coverage | 17% Pass Defense Coaching | 2% Coach & Culture

Run Defense
41% DL Run Defense | 30% LB Run Defense | 25% Run Defense Coaching | 4% Coach & Culture | DB Run Support applied as Multiplier

Chapters
Intro 0:00
Offseason Changes 1:03
Coach & Scheme 8:16
Quarterback 21:26
Weapons 28:22
Backfield 47:35
O-Line 57:12
Offensive Summary 1:12:11
Defensive Line 1:13:13
Linebackers 1:34:07
Secondary 1:42:50
Defensive Summary 2:02:13
Special Teams 2:02:56
Team Summary 2:04:19
Schedule & Win Total Projections 2:08:31