Jacksonville Jaguars: Looking forward to the 2020 season

Why would any Jacksonville Jaguars fan look forward to the 2020 season?

I am looking forward to the 2020 football season.  People may ask why.  The Jacksonville Jaguars, according to the experts, are the worst team in the NFL, have a very minimal talent level, poor coaching, and no quarterback.

I don’t believe things are as desperate as they think. Call me Pollyanna, but I think there is some hope. First, our talent level has been improved through free agency and the NFL Draft. Next, our coaching staff, led by Doug Marrone, is not operating with tied hands and the team has an offensive coordinator in Jay Gruden who knows what he’s doing.

Finally, I believe quarterback Gardner Minshew will surprise the experts. \So let’s take a positive but not unrealistic look at the team.

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The talent is new and better. When the team signed Joe Schobert this offseason, it meant the Jacksonville Jaguars had two new starters on defense. Schobert, who came over from Cleveland, will be an immediate upgrade at middle linebacker and our former middle linebacker, Myles Jack, can return to his high-level play as an outside backer.

The team added Rodney Gunter a run stopping defensive tackle to shore up the very porous middle of the defensive line. Tyler Eifert will be a huge plus at tight and. Chris Thompson adds some speed at running back.

The draft added C.J. Henderson at cornerback to help us forget the loss of Jalen Ramsey.  The combination of our brand new edge rusher, K’Lavon Chaisson with Josh Allen from the 2019 Draft, will give our pass rush a boost. The Jaguars added wide receiver Laviska Shenault a speedy playmaker with a huge upside. DaVon Hamilton will help shore up the middle of our defensive line and Ben Bartch will add depth and a possible new starter at guard on the offensive line.

Like everyone else, I am expecting much better coaching this season. The offense for the Jacksonville Jaguars has been really bad for a few years and it’s my opinion the lack of creative coaching, not the players, was the problem.  The “run Leonard Fournette into an eight-man front” should be a thing of the past. Gruden is experienced at play calling and known for the development of quarterbacks.

Todd Wash, the defensive coordinator, has the opportunity to become more creative and expand his defense to fit the opposing team. He will use more of a 3-4 defense this season. Marrone has been overshadowed by Tom Coughlin in the past. This is his chance to prove he can lead this team without distractions and we will be pleasantly surprised at what we see from him.

Finally I think Minshew will surprise his critics and continue to improve with the help of Gruden, additional talent at receiver, and a diverse running back combo with Fournette and Thompson. He had a more than surprising regular season in 2019 despite the underlying issues the team was experiencing all year.

The issues of the past should be gone once the Yannick Ngakoue situation is resolved.  A team can’t function with constant problems like thunderclouds always overhead.  As I have said before, that an 8-8 record is probably the team’s hope this season and not out of reach if everything I stated above comes to fruition.