Jacksonville Jaguars: Can Jay Gruden turn this offense around?

Can the Jacksonville Jaguars turn their offense around now that Jay Gruden has been hired to run the show?

The future of the Jacksonville Jaguars has been the topic of recent discussion. The draft has been analyzed and every choice has been dissected but no one has mentioned Jay Gruden the team’s offensive coordinator (in case you forgot.)

The offense must improve for the Jaguars to be competitive in 2020.

The Jaguars have been at the bottom of the NFL rankings for many years. The team is still ranked 32nd in the league by most websites or publications. There was great hope after 2017 but the same old team returned to the field in 2018 and 2019. The defense was usually rated somewhere in the middle of the NFL, however, the offense has been really bad for many years. Can Jay Gruden improve the team’s offense enough to make Jacksonville competitive?

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Gruden brings a good resume to Jacksonville. He is well known personally in Florida for his success as coach of the offensive-minded UFL and AFL teams in Tampa and Orlando. He spent time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an offensive assistant for his brother Jon Gruden, who is now in Las Vegas. Those successful years gave him the opportunity to become the offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals and head coach of the Washington Redskins.

Florida Times-Union sportswriter John Reid discussed Gruden and the comments made by Doug Marrone following his official hire as Jaguars offensive coordinator (subscription, only).

"“Coach Gruden is one of the brightest offensive minds in football,” Marrone said. “It was important to me and our staff to identify a candidate who had a clear and concise vision for how to lead our offense and how to get the most out of our players and assistant coaches.”"

In addition, Marrone commented that his staff was heavily involved in deciding on Gruden as the new O.C. Marrone loves the fact that Gruden is an experienced play-caller and is more than happy to leave play calling in his competent hands.

Gruden is known for his ability to work with young quarterbacks. He had success with Andy Dalton in Cincinnati and Kirk Cousins in Washington. He is a proponent of the west coast offense which is designed around quick reads, play-action passing, end-around plays, and downfield passing.

"Per liveabout.com, “The West Coast Offense employs a variety of formations and pre-snap motions designed to confuse defenders. It also relies heavily on an ability to flood a defense with more receivers than they can handle. The quarterback often moves around more than in a conventional offense with designed rollouts and bootlegs that are tied in with the patterns being run by the receivers.”"

The short passing attack is an extension of the running game.

This type offense is made for quarterback Gardner Minshew and with our addition of speedy wide receiver, rookie Laviska Shenault, and second-tear star DJ Chark, a more consistent passing game could become a reality.

Also, running back Leonard Fournette has proven to be a very good receiver out of the backfield. The Jacksonville Jaguars will need a reliable tight end who can catch the ball over the middle. The offensive linemen will need to be quicker and able to move on rollouts.

Gruden has prior experience in Cincinnati and Washington, so dysfunctional organizations don’t scare him. He has head coach experience and knows the production of a successful running game. There are some who have said that he may be the new head coach of the Jaguars, replacing Marone at some point. Personally, I would just like to see if he can put a good offense on the field.

Right now I just don’t want him to be the forgotten man on this coaching staff.

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