Jacksonville Jaguars 2024 Preview

July 24, 2024 by CollegeFootballPoll.com Staff

There are some interesting takes from some of those closest to the Jacksonville Jaguars on what should be expected in 2024. The best bet is to flip a coin on whether the team will even finish above .500.

Among the Jacksonville insiders who weighed in with their assessment are the radio voice of the Jags, Frank Frangie, along with analyst and former defensive end Jeff Lageman.

Frangie sees "double-digit wins and a spot in the tournament" while Lageman cautions that the team will have "their hands full getting back to where they want to be." He specifically points to the collapse at the end of last season that saw the Jaguars drop five of their last six games to finish 9-8 and an 8-3 start. Jacksonville wound up surrendering a spot in the postseason altogether while Houston ended its season with 3 wins in the last 4 games to take the division title.

The Jacksonville Jaguars over/under win total at FanDuel.com was 8.5 on Wednesday morning, July 24.

Lageman notes that the division will be more challenging since "the Houston Texans have found a quarterback" (CJ Stroud), and the Tennessee Titans (Will Levis) and Indianapolis Colts (Anthony Richardson) think they might have as well.

We'll give Lageman his point on Stroud, but that's no surprise after his performance a year ago. Predicting huge success for Levis or Richardson is more of a stretch. Especially after Richardson left early in three of the four games he started because of injuries, and was lost for the season (shoulder) in week five when he was brought down from behind on a designed run against the Titans.

Meanwhile, Jacksonville resigned Trevor Lawrence to a five-year deal worth $275 million. But gone are Zay Jones and Calvin Ridley from the receiving corps after injury-shortened seasons in 2023. The pass-catching depth chart lists Brian Thomas Jr., along with the newly acquired Gabe Davis, and holdover Christian Kirk. Evan Engram returns as the top tight end.

Travis Etienne Jr. managed to play in all 18 games at running back and amassed 1008 yards with 11 TD's and no fumbles. But he only had two 100+ breakout performances as the Jags seemingly abandoned the run prematurely on multiple occasions.

If Lawrence and the new receivers can stay healthy and find chemistry, and if Etienne gets more opportunities to run the ball and take the pressure off of Lawrence, this could be a really good offense.

Defensively, Jacksonville has more question marks than answers. The team brought in Ryan Nielsen as defensive coordinator after he spent the 2023 with Atlanta. The Falcons forced the second-most fumbles in the NFL (18) and ranked ninth in total tackles across the league with 1,076. (source: jaguars.com).

It's the defensive shortcoming hold them back the most. Jacksonville's team odds of making the Super Bowl are just 18th-best, though they still have the second-best odds of winning the AFC South.

Sam Monson at Pro Football Focus (PFF.com) ranks the J'ville D-line 26th. "Jacksonville brought back Josh Allen, by far the team's best defensive lineman, this offseason. Allen has been the one high draft pick spent on the defensive line in recent years that has actually paid dividends, and he accounted for 90 quarterback pressures in 2023. Travon Walker may have managed double-digit sacks, but he earned just a 58.1 PFF pass-rushing grade and was worse against the run. Arik Armstead will add real production on the inside and may help in developing Walker, given his own rare physical traits."

Jacksonville's schedule for 2024 features games against the AFC East and the NFC Central, as well as a trip to Philadelphia and consecutive London games against the Bears and Patriots.

2024 Jacksonville Jaguars Schedule