Mike Thomas is one of the receivers who will have to battle it out for the slot position this season. While Thomas led the Jaguars in receptions this past season as well as accounting for 820 yards the year before, there is speculation from Mark Long of the Associated Press that Thomas’ days are numbered. Paul Kuharsky has mentioned that Thomas may have given up in frustration during last season’s demoralizing offensive campaign. I don’t believe the Jags will give up on Thomas, as his size and speed would better suit the slot position. He also has a much better receivers coach in Jerry Sullivan as well as more talent around him in Justin Blackmon and Laurent Robinson. Yet nipping at his heels will be second year receiver Cecil Shorts III and Veteran Lee Evans.

Shorts caught 2 balls this past season for 30 yards and a touchdown. Shorts will have to beat out Thomas and Evans for the slot position as Blackmon and Robinson are all but entrenched at the first and second positions. Shorts attended Mount Union, the same school as Pierre Garcon of the Redskins. He broke Garcon’s records, and was hyped to be a similar player. This season he will have a real battle on his hands to see the field. On one hand, the receiver who caught the Hail Mary pass who has shown he can be productive. On the other hand, he also has Lee Evans, a former Buffalo Bill, who played for new Head Coach Mike Mularkey.

Lee Evans was known for two things last season. First for being injured, and second (and perhaps more so) for having a potential touchdown winning grab being knocked loose by Patriots defensive back Sterling Moore. Evans has slipped in production since 2008, but hopes to rebound for the Jaguars. I’m not sure how much Evans can contribute, but i wouldn’t say he’s exactly limited due to age. I’d like to compare the Evans signing to the Torry Holt signing of years past. I think he’ll be a lead by example kind of guy, but I don’t think he’ll rack up any where near the 722 yards like Holt did in 2009.

Who do you think will take over the slot? One of these three players or someone else?

-Antonio Furgiuele

All the while, the media is desperate for a glimpse of who will make the roster, who will pull ahead in a position battle, who could make a push for the playoffs, who can return to dominance?  We’re creatures of habit, us humans, and Sunday football is a tough habit to break.  When it disappears, we scramble for the playoffs, then the Superbowl, and then….we wait.

Stop Jerking Us Around Gentlemen! Source: US-Presswire

And every team knows that we’re sitting here, anxiously reading line after line to see if the team we love can make some progress in the coming year.  They play us all like a fiddle.  They highlight players they know may not make the roster, hoping that if the player is cut some other team overpays for him.  They promote the year’s draft picks, inflating their value and the expectations placed on them.

I like to call this part of the offseason “Revving the Engine.”  Most of the pieces that will be around for the coming season are in place, but how does it all sound?  Is it a low purr like that of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers?  Quietly confident.

Is it the deep rumble of a bigger engine, turning over with powerful stroke after powerful stroke, like that of the New England Patriots? Big, powerful, and expressing it with pride.

Or is it the high pitched whine of a newly retrofitted turbo like that of the Washington Redskins?  Yearning to be noticed.

We know GM Gene Smith and Co. would very much like to emulate the low purr of the Steelers and Packers, built through the draft – confident in their approach.  But they aren’t the Steelers or the Packers.  The Jags did not make the playoffs last season.  The Jaguars don’t have a storied Superbowl history.  The Jaguars do not have any recent dominance to look back on.

Ok, one of those things is true...

And it is reflected in the high pitched whine and spooling of the retrofit the Jags are trying to accomplish.  Like the Redskins, the Jaguars must boast of what they have.  Robert Griffin III is the savior of a franchise, climbed Mt. Everest, gets Subway sandwiches made out of him, and can apparently outrun Usain Bolt.

While Jacksonville hasn’t gone as far as to make Subway sandwiches in the likeness of Justin Blackmon, if you believe the reports out of the front office, the team is pretty well tuned for the coming season.  Bryan Anger is going to be a hall of fame punter, every punt above 5.0 seconds of hangtime.  Andre Branch is the second coming of Demarcus Ware.  Justin Blackmon will humble the likes of Larry Fitzgerald.  Laurent Robinson is apparently the next Torry Holt (pre-Jags).  Jeremy Mincey looks like Reggie White.

But don’t be fooled.

Mincey could be something special, but will he be as good as the team and media reports? Source: Jim Brown-US PRESSWIRE

These offseason predictions aren’t accurate.  They aren’t even close.  The Jags are revving their engine, and they’re revving it loud.  They’re getting as much attention as they can milk from the offseason moves they’ve made.  Bryan Anger could be a great punter, but it’ll take some time, it’ll be a slow start. Andre Branch will grow into his body, probably over some years.  Justin Blackmon could be A.J. Green, but with Blaine Gabbert at the helm it will be a growing season.  Laurent Robinson will probably look more like Eddie Royal.  And Jeremy Mincey will never be Reggie White, but Jonathan Abraham could be possible.

The whine of the Jaguars engine will fill our ears through the offseason.  Parts of the team will be touted, bragged about, and cooly promoted.

But until the season starts, we won’t get to hear the true roar of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ finely tuned machine.

- Luke N. Sims

Someone please make these guys an elite group of pass catchers! Source: Jaguars.com

I don’t know if you have noticed, but the Jags’ receivers have been subpar as of late.  And by as of late, I mean the past three years.  Not only have the Jaguars failed to draft or sign an elite wide receiver, nobody on the roster seems eager to even step up and become that man.  Since Gene Smith’s arrival in Jacksonville three years ago, we’ve had three different receivers claim the title of “top receiver.” One, Mike Sims-Walker, somehow managed to get his way back onto the roster this past season despite him, rightly, being cut at the end of 2010.  Mike Thomas (2010) and Marcedes Lewis (2011) are the other two who have been top targets for the Jaguars quarterbacks.

Can it really be that hard to sign an elite, true #1 receiver that can actually catch the ball?  Maybe it’s that a lot of them have character issues…(yes, you Chad Ochocinco and Co.)

But why has Gene Smith been so absent minded when it comes to the wide receivers?  (Our tight ends are actually pretty solid, and Marcedes Lewis should return to dominance in 2012) (more…)