Texans Can No Longer Ignore The Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars? Seriously Richard? Yeah…ok I get the fact that you’re probably bursting out into uncontrollable laughter after reading the tag line of this article. The Jacksonville Jaguars have been an absolute a joke of a franchise since their last playoff appearance in 2007. They compiled a record of 34-78 during that stretch. But all jokes aside, besides the obvious division hurdle known as the Indianapolis Colts, the Jaguars are quietly building a roster that may create some problems for opposing teams and they are going to be better than advertised.
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The fact that they sit at the number three position in the draft is also something that should not be overlooked. The price for a top five draft pick this year is actually pretty high and the Jags are sitting pretty with basically the entire draft board at their disposal perhaps with the exception of the obvious top 2 picks, Quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota. Many reports indicate that the Jaguars are very high on the possibility of drafting Defensive End Leonard Williams from University of Southern California (USC), which is exactly what they need, a dominant pass rusher.
Former Jaguars Wide Receiver Cecil Shorts is now a Texan, however the Jags are not hurting for talent in that department. Receivers Allen Hurns and Allen Robinson (or the “Allen Brothers” as I call them) are two of the best kept secrets in the league. Now that franchise quarterback Blake Bortles has a season under his belt, he can focus on how to fully utilize the weapons that he has at receiver as well as multiple threat offensive weapon Denard Robinson. Wide Receiver Justin Blackmon has been identified as a cancer and will likely see the end of his days as a Jaguar will be coming to an end soon, and possibly as trade bait in this year’s draft.
The Jaguars were also aggressive in pursuing some additional offensive line help to help protect Bortles, by signing free agent Tackle Jermey Parnell to accompany 2013 second overall pick Luke Joeckel.
Lets be clear here, I do not expect the Jaguars to finish the season with a better record than the Texans (barring major injuries), but this year’s division race is going to be tighter than ever, and the division title may be decided by the division record tie-breaker. More so than ever these division games are going to be critical for the Texans to win. As we get closer to the season and see the Texans gaining ground on Indianapolis, don’t take your eye off of the Jaguars because they are getting closer to being competitive in this division.