Will The Jags Get to 5 Wins this Season?
By Space Coast Daily // September 8, 2020
jacksonville finished last season with 6-10 record
The Jacksonville Jaguars were one of the most surprising teams in the NFL in 2018, as a stout defensive unit and competent play from quarterback Blake Bortles put the Florida-based franchise minutes away from reaching the first Super Bowl in the organization’s history.
Fast forward to 2020 and the Jags once again find themselves in a rebuilding process with no clear path to go forward.
With that in mind, it’s increasingly difficult to imagine Jacksonville winning five games during the upcoming 2020 NFL season. Finishing with five wins would still put the Jags as a consensus worst team in the league, but there is a strong chance that they’re not good enough to even reach the five-win plateau.
The Jaguars’ identity over the last few years was their defense, anchored by players like Calais Campbell, Myles Jack, Jalen Ramsey, and Yannick Ngakoue, just to name a few.
Jack is still there and is one of the upcoming linebackers in the league, but most of that star-studded defense is long gone.
The Jaguars drafted C.J. Henderson with the ninth overall pick in the first round, but he is far from a sure thing as a rookie and, even if he has a good season, he’s not going to be a shutdown corner — not in his first pro year.
Plus, the recent results aren’t exactly encouraging for the Jaguars.
The Jags allowed 375.4 yards per game in 2019 — the ninth-worst mark in the league and fourth-worst figure in the AFC. They also allowed 24.8 points per game (12th-worst) and 139.3 rushing yards per contest (fifth-worst).
The passing defense finished in the middle of the pack with “only” 236.1 yards allowed per game, but the Jags were a below-average defensive unit according to most metrics.
That wouldn’t be much of a problem if they had a strong offense to counter their defensive woes, but that’s far from being a reality. As things stand now, the have some of the best NFL odds to be the worst team in the NFL.
They had some surprises on offense last season but will surely need a miracle to find diamonds in the rough again.
Second-year quarterback Gardner Minshew II showed flashes of brilliance during his rookie year, but he is quite raw to lead an offense over the course of a full season.
The offensive line is suspect at best, and there is a glaring hole at depth in the wide receiver position behind DJ Chark, who surpassed the 1,000-yard mark in 2019.
The Jaguars are not even close to fielding a competent offense that can mask their defensive problems.
If there’s one positive aspect heading into the 2020 season, is that the Jags will have the 22nd easiest schedule in the league based on the 2019 records — their opponents had a combined .494 winning percentage one year ago.
However, the Jags have not improved enough to believe they could best their 6-10 record.
Considering Jacksonville notched six wins in 2019 after a career-year from Chark, brilliant comebacks from Minshew and an almost full season of Fournette health-wise, it isn’t crazy to imagine the Jags could be bound for another regression in 2020, especially if the defense takes a step back or two.
With that in mind, Jacksonville is quite unlikely to secure five wins over the course of the upcoming 2020 NFL season, and you can see which way the NFL experts are picking the Jags week to week on BetQL.com.
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