BR projects Jaguars will improve in 2022 but win only 6 games

The Jacksonville Jaguars underwent a makeover in the offseason after winning just three games last year. This leads Blent Sobleski of Bleacher Report to think that they will improve in 2022 but not nearly enough to win more than six games.

Sobleski recently weighed in every NFL team’s under/over win total this upcoming season and he projects Jacksonville to win six games. Sobleski actually likes the moves the Jags made this offseason and believes that Doug Pederson is a significant upgrade over Urban Meyer. Nevertheless, he’d rather take the under on this one.

"Pederson should put Trevor Lawrence in a better position to succeed. Second-year running back Travis Etienne is ready to play his first NFL snaps. Christian Kirk brings dynamic traits to the wide receiver room. Brandon Scherff is an elite interior blocker. The defense should be better at the point of attack after adding Folorunso Fatukasi. This year’s No. 1 overall pick, Travon Walker, is a ball of clay with the physical tools to eventually develop into an elite edge-rusher. The Jaguars will undoubtedly be better this season, but a two- or three-game improvement would still put them below their over/under."

For comparison, Sobleski chose the under for the Houston Texans (4.5 wins), and the over for both the Indianapolis Colts (10 wins) and the Tennesee Titans (9 wins). This means that he projects the Jaguars to finish third in the AFC South this year.

The Jaguars are an intriguing team ahead of the 2022 season

There’s no doubt the Jaguars will improve in 2022. Simply dumping Urban Meyer should be enough to double their win totals from last year. The consensus sees them racking up seven or eight victories, so Sobleski isn’t really that harsh when projecting them to win six games.

Jim Trotter of NFL Media thinks Jacksonville will be good enough to win eight games while Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders believes there might be a chance they will win the division. Both predictions are reasonable but so is Sobleski’s. After all, the Jags did improve in the offseason but they need to take the field to show how much better they really got.

The fact that the Jaguars have been so bad for so long makes it hard to believe in them. They’ve won a combined 16 games over the last four years and have lost 10 games or more in 10 of the last 11 seasons. Then again, the team’s brass did make an effort to right the ship over the last few months.

Hiring Doug Pederson as their head coach was huge and so was getting him plenty of playmakers in free agency. Although it’s a bit early, you can tell that players are buying into Pederson’s approach, which will be huge down the road.

The Jaguars are a promising team ahead of the 2022 season. They may or may not be enough to win six games but they are seemingly headed in the right direction, and that’s encouraging when you take into account that they’ve spent the last two years in the NFL cellar.