Jacksonville Jaguars: I love it when a plan comes together!

The pundits and talking TV commentators shook their collective heads as the Jacksonville Jaguars wallowed in the mud of football futility for the past few years. The Jaguars didn’t give up hope. They knew their plan would come together.

The plan to rebuild the Jacksonville Jaguars started four years ago.  Every part didn’t work out immediately but enough parts came together to create success.  Furthermore, the plan continued into this season and hopefully beyond.  As a result the Jaguars are headed to the postseason for the first time in ten years.  The pride came back.

The plan started with improved draft choices.  Before 2014, the Jaguars lived in draft choice disaster. But in 2014, Jacksonville drafted Blake Bortles, Telvin Smith, Brandon Linder, Aaron Colvin, and Allen Robinson.  As a result the new direction of the Jags was initiated. 2015 added Dante Fowler Jr. and T.J. Yeldon.  The 2016 draft added Jalen Ramsey, Myles Jack, and Yannick Ngakoue.  The 2017 draft produced Leonard Fournette, Cam Robinson and Dede Westbrook.  The undrafted rookies of 2017 included Keelan Cole and Jaydon Mickens.  Kudos to Dave Caldwell for this amazing achievement.

In addition, free agency played a critical role in team success.  To start, 2014 added UDFA Allen Hurns.  Next, 2015 brought in Jermy Parnell.  In addition, 2016 players added to the roster included Malik Jackson, Chris Ivory, and Tashaun Gipson.  The successful trend continued in 2017. The Jaguars signed Calais Campbell, A.J. Bouye, and Barry Church. The management added free agent Marcell Dareus to help the run defense, and signed Josh Lambo as kicker halfway through the season.

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Equally important was the search for a suitable coach.  The management made a great decision to hire Doug Marrone.  Marrone knew the players and didn’t need to start from scratch.  Additionally, the team hired Tom Coughlin as VP of Football Operations to add clout, name recognition and create positive fan reaction.

Although there were some bumps in the road along the way the plan worked.  A few disasters include Gus Bradley, Luke Joeckel, and we thought Blake Bortles.  Apparently there is still hope for Bortles with a system that uses his skill set.

In conclusion, thank you Shad Khan for not giving up.  Equally important, thank you to the draftees, free agents, coaches, and management for giving Jacksonville a team to be proud of once again. Go Jags!