Jacksonville Jaguars have the most talented young roster in the NFL
By Daniel Lago
After seeing some young players emerge as stars in 2015 and making several additions on defense this offseason, the Jaguars look like one of the more promising rosters in the league.
When the 2015 regular season wrapped up, there were a handful of reasons to be excited about the Jacksonville Jaguars despite a meager win total. Quarterback Blake Bortles took an enormous step forward in his second season and two receivers from his draft class (Allen Hurns and Allen Robinson) emerged as legitimate playmakers.
Defensively, the progress wasn’t nearly as encouraging but the front office used this offseason to remedy that side of the ball. The team continued their trend of signing ascending players heading into their prime (Malik Jackson, Tashaun Gipson) and they had perhaps the most impressive draft haul (Jalen Ramsey and Myles Jack).
After a busy offseason, it’s hard to argue against the Jaguars having one of the more intriguing rosters in the NFL.
In a recent “Insider” piece, a handful of ESPN analysts answered a few questions, including which team has the most talented “young” roster in the NFL. Surprisingly enough, two of them said the Jacksonville Jaguars. The first, Matt Bowen, noted the promise of finally having a quarterback and some solid guys around him.
"Matt Bowen, NFL writer: Jacksonville. A young, developing quarterback with a big arm, playmakers at wide receiver and a core of fast and explosive future studs on defense."
Aaron Schatz, a guru in the analytics community, also believes in Jacksonville but with a little bit more hesitation.
"Aaron Schatz, editor-in-chief of Football Outsiders: Jacksonville, although that answer may give a bit too much credit to players who haven’t yet taken a snap in the NFL (Jalen Ramsey, Myles Jack and Dante Fowler Jr.)."
The only other team chosen by the other analysts was the Seattle Seahawks, so the Jaguars are in good company. This distinction as a talented team doesn’t really jive with ESPN’s placement of the Jaguars at 22 in their “future power rankings,” but it’s still nice to see nonetheless. The talent is there, now it’s time to see if head coach Gus Bradley can finally put it together and get some wins.