JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS 2022 WIN PREDICTION

BY ADAM GREENE

In a move that set the team back significantly, the Jacksonville Jaguars made not only the worst hire in the NFL last season by bringing in former Ohio State and Florida coach Urban Meyer, but probably one of the worst in modern league history.

Meyer brought his lazy coaching, his lack of preparation and downright ignorance of the game to new levels in his short time with Jacksonville. It’s usually hyperbole to say that a guy like Meyer did everything wrong, but, honestly, I have a hard time finding anything he did right.

Let’s start at the beginning, with a couple of inexplicable assistant coaching hires led by offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. Bevell’s claim to fame was being the guy that Russell Wilson single-handedly kept employed with the Seattle Seahawks from 2012 to 2017. Once that divorce happened, the Seahawks hired his replacement to once again force Wilson to waste two downs on handoffs on every new set of downs. That guy — Brian Schottenheimer, was famous for his inability to run a competent passing offense at any point as a college or pro playcaller so he was the obvious choice for the Meyer Mind Trust to create a Jaguars passing attack that as passing game coordinator. Team Schotty with Bevell’s play design, the Jaguars offense was a laughingstock of the league.

At some point in the preseason, Meyer physically kicked Josh Lambo and said a bunch of stupidly racist stuff about his own players and all this was before he called all of his coaches losers. That would come later in the regular season.

There was a moment where Meyer, after his fourth consecutive loss to open the season, decided to forgo the flight home from Cincinnati with his team, something no one involved in the NFL at any level had even heard of, to remain in Ohio and get a lapdance at his sports bar. That was, literally, in the first month of the season.

It got no better from there on as the cracks began to publicly show because Mayer is too stupid to just be bad at his job in private. At one point, prior to the Jags’ 37-7 beat down by the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, he revealed to his own coaches that he had no clue who Aaron Donald, the best defensive player on the planet for the last eight seasons, was. He stumbled into the office and asked, “Who is this 99 guy on the Rams? I’m hearing he might be a problem for us.”

And hey, he was right about that. So, you know, lesson learned.

On Dec. 16 Jaguars fans got an early Christmas present when team owner Shad Khan, faced with pretty much everything I detailed here, a roster in revolt and a 2-7 record, hit the ejector button and fired Meyer into the sun.

Ironically, beyond firing Meyer before Santa came down the chimney, there were other legitimate highlights for the Jaguars. Their three wins were all huge upsets, with a 23-20 victory over the Miami Dolphins that ultimately kept them out of the playoffs and got Brian Flores fired, a 9-6 win over the Buffalo Bills that still feels impossible and the coup de grace, a 26-11 beat down of the Indianapolis Colts that shocked the world, ended Carson Wentz’s Indy tenure, and made sure the Colts watched the postseason from their Barcaloungers.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS

Last season: 3-14

Odds: Over 6 wins (-140), Under 6 wins (+110)

2022 NFL Draft: Travon Walker, Edge, Georgia (Round 1), Devin Lloyd, LB, Utah (Round 1), Luke Fortner, Center, Kentucky (Round 3), Chad Muma, LB, Wyoming (Round 3), Snoop Conner, RB, Mississippi (Round 5), Gregory Junio, CB, Ouachita Baptist (Round 6), Montaric Brown, CB, Arkansas (Round 7)

2022 Additions: Christian Kirk, WR (free agent), Brandon Scherff, OG (free agent), Foyesade Oluokun, LB (free agent), Darious Williams (free agent), Foley Fatukasi, DT (free agent), Zay Jones, WR (free agent), Evan Engram, TE (free agent), Arden Key, DE (free agent), Wyatt Ray, DE (free agent)

Projected Starters

Offense

QB: Trevor Lawrence

RB: Travis Etienne, Jr.

WR: Christian Kirk

WR: Marvin Jones, Jr.

WR: Zay Jones

TE: Evan Engram

LT: Cam Robinson

LG: Tyler Shatley

C:  Luke Fortner

RG: Brandon Scherff

RT: Jawann Taylor

Defense

LDE: Folorunso Fatukasi

NT: DaVon Hamilton

RDE: Roy Robertson-Harris

WLB: Josh Allen

LILB: Devin Lloyd

RILB: Royesade Olukun

SLB: Travon Walker

CB: Tyson Campbell

CB: Shaquill Griffin

SS: Rayshawn Jenkins

FS: Andre Cisco

Special Teams

PK: Ryan Santoso

P: Logan Cooke

PR: Jamal Agnew

KR: Jamal Agnew

PREVIEW

In what might turn out to be the most significant head coaching upgrade since Jeff Fisher was replaced by Sean McVay, the Jaguars upgraded from Urban Meyer with former Super Bowl champion Doug Pederson. After what will hopefully amount to a redshirt year for Trevor Lawrence, the “generationally talented” quarterback will actually get legitimate NFL coaching. Let’s just hope too much damage wasn’t already done.

The Jags went their own way in the draft, which I’m always very against. With the No. 1 pick they selected workout warrior Travon Walker when I thought Evan Neal was definitely the way to go with Lawrence in his second season. Sometimes that works out, I guess, but even if I was targeting a pass rusher., Walker wouldn’t have been in my Top Three.

Looking at the schedule, Jacksonville never gets a break for more than a week. I think the opener at the Washington Commanders is a winnable game, but they follow that up with the Colts, the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles. And while Pederson might want a little revenge against his former team, the Eagles are three seasons ahead of the Jags at least. A 1-4 start is probably the best they could hope for. They get the Texans finally on Oct. 9 before another beat down from Indianapolis. A probable win over the New York Giants is followed by a curb stomp at the hooves of the Denver Broncos.

Then it’s hosting the Las Vegas Raiders, at the Kansas City Chiefs followed by a home game against the Baltimore Ravens. That looks like four losses in a row to me. I’m not sold on them beating the Lions in Detroit. With Pederson and hopefully Lawrence’s development, this team should get better and more competitive after the bye and Jacksonville can probably steal one against a better team like the Titans or Dallas Cowboys to end the season on a solid note.

If you’re a Jags fan, any improvement should be celebrated, but this year is all about building momentum and a culture for 2023.

Final record prediction: 7-10

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter @TheFirstMan.

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