There’s
a lot of negative surrounding the Jacksonville Jaguar’s latest 2-14 season-- two
wins in four months will do that to you-- so we’re going to start off with some
positives that came out of 2012:
1.
The Jaguars ranked 22nd in pass defense. That’s
not too bad… right?
2.
They almost beat the Texans, who won a playoff game AND we
had some fun Chad Henne moments that neither you nor I will ever forget.3. The Jaguars own the second pick in the NFL draft… there’s always April!
The Jaguars stink. You know it, I know it, we all know it. The quarterback situation is terrible. We could be looking at a Blaine Gabbert v Chad Henne camp showdown this coming August. Their best player, Maurice Jones-Drew, played in six games and still led the team in rushing with an outstanding 414 yards. Did I mention he might not really want to play there? Fixing the Jaguars isn’t going to be a one year reclamation project, heck, even the great savior Timothy Richard Tebow can’t save them. You won’t get a lot of Tebow nonsense here*, instead, here are some practical ways to make Jacksonville better.
Change
needs to come from the top down and that starts with former Atlanta Falcons
director of player personnel David Caldwell, who is now the new general
manager. Not that long ago, Atlanta was in the same position Jacksonville is-- plain
bad. Five years later, Atlanta is the one-seed in the NFC playoffs. The guy
clearly knows what he’s doing, GREAT start to the off-season.
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Can Greg Roman (left) fix the Jaguars?
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Next,
you have to let Caldwell pick his guy as coach. The future of current coach
Mike Mularkey is understandably bleak, and it sounds like current San Francisco
49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman might get his shot as head coach. I’m
hardly qualified to say what coordinators will and won’t be good head coaches--
it’s nearly impossible to say-- but Roman has used all of his tools effectively
in San Fran and has more pieces on the offensive side of the football in
Jacksonville than one would think.
I really do like Jacksonville’s young receiving core. Justin
Blackmon was flat out dominant at times but needs to show that more
consistently. The Jags may have found a nice catch with Cecil Shorts, who had 55 receptions for 979 yards (a ridiculous 17.8
yards per catch) and 7 touchdowns. Mercedes Lewis is a serviceable tight end
and the combination of Jordan Shipley and Laurent Robinson in the slot could be
worse. It’s hard to get a true idea of what the running game is like without
Maurice Jones-Drew, but I’m not sure how effective he would have been (in MJD
terms) with the pathetic group of guys up front the Jaguars called their
offensive line.
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The Jaguars should do the right thing and let Blaine
Gabbert develop, not bring in Tim Tebow.
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Much like what I said with Tampa Bay, it still all comes down to
the quarterback play. If you want to work on improving your football team,
forget Tim Tebow, that’s a waste of money. You took Blaine Gabbert tenth
overall two freaking years ago, and
while I didn’t agree with the pick, see what you have in him. By all accounts,
Gabbert had a really strong offseason last year and year three is an important
year for struggling quarterbacks. Not everyone is Cam Newton or Russell Wilson,
sometimes it takes quarterbacks years to develop. If not, Henne will be back
for one more year and played surprisingly well in some games this year (354
yards in an overtime loss at Houston!). If Roman does come in and wants to run
a Colin Kaepernick-like attack, keep an eye out for Tarvaris Jackson who should
come for about three million per year.
The good pretty much ends right around there. The defense was
pitiful: it failed to get to the quarterback with a league low 20 sacks, couldn’t stop the run, and opposing
quarterbacks generally threw at will on them. Jacksonville would most likely
rank at the bottom part of the league in pass defense if teams weren’t running
out the clock all second half.
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Damontre Moore could provide a huge boost to a
lacking Jaguars pass rush.
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Jacksonville figures to have a solid $22.3 million dollars in
cap space, but if I’m Caldwell, I focus more on the draft and let that number
grow. Take either Texas A&M defensive end Damontre Moore, Utah defensive
tackle Star Lotulelei, or Florida State defensive end Bjoern Werner with the
second pick. All-of-the-sudden, a Jason Babin-Damontre Moore combo becomes scary. In the second round go offensive tackle, someone like Tennessee’s
Dallas Thomas or North Carolina’s Brennann Williams, both of which would be
your opening day right tackle. Alabama’s Barrett Jones is also an interesting
name. Jones is solid but probably a little overhyped at this point. He can play
both center and guard, and I think Jones’ stock is going to fall into the late
second round.
Free agent wise, Rashean Mathis posted a -3.6 this season according
to ProFootballFocus.com. Let him walk and look at someone cost-effective like
Kennan Lewis or Darius Butler, both of which would be upgrades. You could bring back Drew Coleman for probably half the price you did this year after injuries, and I think that would be a wise move. Dwight Lowery
and Dawan Landry aren’t a bad safety combination and provide some excitement
for the future in the secondary. On offense, let guard Eben Britton walk and
bring in someone, anyone, else. Guys like St. Louis’ Robert Turner and Oakland’s
Cooper Carlisle would be immediate upgrades, and that’s saying something.
Unfortunately for Jacksonville, the quarterback situation is bad
and the draft class is worse. Just a year earlier, Jacksonville would be
looking at Robert Griffin III and a bright future. Now? I think Los Angeles
seems sunny enough.
*This
is all I’ll say about Tebow: If Jacksonville wants him, call up New York and
offer a 7th round pick and offer to pay the $1.03 million of
deferred money to Denver and that’s it. Either make the Jets cut him or keep
him and the circus he brings. Could Tebow help the team? Maybe… but don’t
overspend to do it. Fans will come with winning, and winning comes with
football savvy moves.
-Chris Cappella
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