5 Jacksonville Jaguars who deserved a Super Bowl ring
By Jesse Overby
These Jacksonville Jaguars definitely deserved to have a championship ring as a member of the team.
You can make the argument there have been plenty of players on the Jacksonville Jaguars roster over the past 26 years of their existence who deserved not only to play in the Super Bowl but should be wearing a ring for their efforts.
It starts with Tony Boselli, the team’s first overall draft pick, and continues with Fred Taylor, Mark Brunell, Jimmy Smith, and Keenan McCardell.
And that’s just on the offensive side.
Big John Henderson, Marcus Stroud, Donovin Darius, and Tony Brackens. They deserve to be on that list as well. And we haven’t even discussed the team from 2017 who were robbed because as you know, Myles Jack wasn’t down.
Trying to reduce 1689 Jacksonville Jaguars players over 26 seasons to just five who are deserving of a Super Bowl ring is quite a task. At first glance, a Jags fan might believe that every player on the 1999 and 2017 teams deserve a ring.
But look a little deeper.
The 1999 team was beaten by Tennessee three times – their only three losses of the season. They had 14 wins, but none of the teams they beat had a winning record that season. So, was that team deserving of a Super Bowl? That’s debatable. As great as it would have been to see that team go to the Super Bowl and hoist the Lombardi Trophy, it’s not really certain that they were deserving.
Yes, the 2017 team was robbed, and everyone on that team deserved a Super Bowl ring. But did any of them make the top five most deserving? How do you determine who is most deserving? Position? Time with the team? Performance? Success? Talent?
It has to be a combination of all of these – and more. And after considering quite a few factors the list has been whittled down to these final five. Here they are, in descending order:
No. 5: Rashean Mathis
Rashean Mathis was a home-town hero who played ten years for the Jaguars, one of the longest-serving Jaguars ever. He’s also in the ten best players in Jaguars’ history, and holds for franchise records – most career interceptions, most career interception return yards, most career defensive touchdowns, and most career passes defended.
No.4: John Henderson
Big John. He played eight years for the Jaguars, anchoring once of the strongest defensive lines in the NFL during his time.
No. 3: Tony Boselli
The only member of the NFL Team of the 90’s, Tony’s career was cut short due to injury. Before he was injured, he shut down Hall of Fame players such as Bruce Smith and Jason Taylor. He’s been a finalist for the Hall of Fame the last three years and deserves to get the phone call.
No. 2: Jimmy Smith
Smith had 12,287 career receiving yards. You may think that isn’t very many, but it ranks him 23rd in NFL history. And he has more receiving yards than 15 Hall of Famers. He is also 24th in NFL history in receptions, which puts him ahead of 17 Hall of Famers. His 67 career receiving touchdowns put him ahead of 12 Hall of Famers.
Number 1 – Fred Taylor
Taylor played 11 years for the Jaguars and holds 13 franchise rushing records. He’s also 17th on the NFL’s all-time rushing list with 11,271 yards, more than 18 Hall of Famers.