Inconsistent Jacksonville Jaguars Still Working Out the Kinks

The Jacksonville Jaguars are off to another rough start to a season, going 2-5 to begin the Doug Pederson era. The team has two big wins and five tough losses that almost went the other way. These results indicate that the team is still learning how to play consistently enough to win tight contests.

When Pederson took the job, he announced that a turnaround in Jacksonville would not happen overnight. However, after two big wins early in the season, many people heightened their expectations for a team that has had the worst record in the league the last two years. This was a bit premature, as the team’s current four-game losing streak has revealed that the players and coaches are still figuring out how to perform well on a consistent basis.

The James Robinson trade shows the Jaguars are a work in progress

The biggest news this week was

the trade of running back James Robinson

to the New York Jets. More than anything else, the move reveals that Robinson was not in the team’s plans for the future. It could also indicate that the coaches and front office thought the backfield was too crowded for Travis Etienne to develop at the rate they would like him to. It now appears that he will be the feature back with JaMycal Hasty and Snoop Conner getting the occasional work in certain situations.

While Etienne has flashed some elite traits this season, his superiority to Robinson at the moment is highly debatable. The move to trade the third-year running back adds some draft capital to a team that still desperately needs it and ensures that Etienne gets all the opportunities he needs to flourish. The recent production of Hasty was also probably an important factor in the decision. The shuffling of the running backs pecking order in Duval demonstrates that the organization is still figuring out how it values the personnel on its current roster.