3 positives from last year the Jacksonville Jaguars can take into in 2025

A 4-13 finish is hardly encouraging for a Jacksonville Jaguars that entered the 2024 season with high expectations. News of Trent Baalke remaining as the team’s general manager is also not all that reassuring given how poor many of his free agent signings from last offseason performed.

However, in the words of the late American author Joseph Campbell: “When everything is lost, and all seems darkness, then comes the new life and all that is needed.”

This is to say that there are some positives to look forward to in 2025. Here are three of them.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have plenty of offensive weapons

Trevor Lawrence had another disappointing campaign when he was healthy, but he’s got lots of help to count upon next season. For instance, they’ve got two superstar running backs in Tank Bigsby and Travis Etienne.

With Etienne missing some time through injury, Bigsby made a gigantic leap this season and showed he could be a dependable back in both short-yardage situations and the red zone.

Bigsby averaged 4.6 yards per carry in 2024 with seven touchdowns. He displayed not only breakaway speed but also great vision and power to break tackles and keep the chains moving.

Etienne has also been a workhorse in the past, and if he’s 100 percent, he’s still got plenty of flash and can make people miss while also being a strong pass-catcher.

The bottomline is that Etienne and Bigsby should be a handful for opposing defenses in 2025.

Additionally, Lawrence finally has a marquee wide receiver he can count on in Brian Thomas Jr. He was easily the best rookie at his position in the NFL in 2024, setting a franchise rookie record for receiving yards (1,282). His Pro Bowl snub should add more fuel to his fire next season.

Thomas went up against some great cornerbacks in 2024 and did a fantastic job, finishing third in receiving yards.

The Louisiana native did everything from spectacular catches to plenty of yards after the catch and found the end zone 10 times.

The Jacksonville Jaguars defensive line

On the D-line, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic in 2025. Josh Hines-Allen still had eight sacks in spite of missing the finale. Travon Walker led the way with 10.5, and Maason Smith showed that he was the real deal down the stretch of the campaign, with key run stops and getting through blockers.

If Arik Armstead manages to stay healthy and plays defensive tackle, those four should be a real force for opposing offensive linemen. As a foursome, you’d think those players should make it a little easier on the team’s secondary by putting other quarterbacks under duress or on the ground.

We know Hines-Allen can do the job, Walker has been solid over the past two campaigns, and Armstead’s capable of a big year if he’s 100 percent. Smith’s versatility was evident, and we should see another big leap from him in 2025.

There’s no reason not to believe we may see a new version of “Sacksonville” next season.

The Jacksonville Jaguars were right there in most of their 2024 games

In sports, you’re often judged only by wins and losses.

While there were plenty more L’s than W’s, it’s not as if this team was miles away from being a great team. Yes, there were the blowout defeats against the Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions, but most of Jacksonville’s games were there for the taking.

They suffered 10 defeats in 2024 by a single score, four of which were by a mere field goal. Clearly, they need to be better closers, and the defense needs to hold strong on those last-minute drives and Lawrence needs to manufacture comebacks like we saw in the AFC Wild Card Round against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Overall, though, many of those losses come down to a play or two, and simple tweaks and a few breaks can change those outcomes. Their next head coach will take care of that.