The Jacksonville Jaguars 2022 outlook is a much better that last season. Urban Meyer is no longer calling the shots. Last season was never going to be successful with all the off the field story lines. They brought in Tim Tebow to play Tight End. Urban Meyer allegedly kicked his kicker. The photo of Urban getting handsy at his bar in Columbus after getting blasted on Thursday night and not flying home with the team. Coaches being berated by they guy who hired them. The racist strength coach brought in from Iowa. Jacksonville was a toxic culture, and the players had no shot at making up for the shortcomings of Urban Meyer.
The Jacksonville Jaguars 2022 outlook is much better than 2021. They bring in Doug Pederson for 2022, but GM Trent Baalke is still there. Baalke led a very chaotic coaching search that saw Byron Leftwich turn down the job because he didn't want to work with Baalke. But, there is reason for optimism in Jacksonville this season. Doug Pederson is an NFL coach that should provide some stability for the organization. The skill position players look decent; Christian Kirk, Marvin jones Jr., Travis Etienne Jr., and James Robinson. Trevor Lawrence entering his second season. And they had some huge upsets last year; beating the Bills and Colts at home with the latter knocking Indy out of the playoffs.
Las Vegas has their win total set at 6.5. If they're going to hit the over they will need to have 4 more wins than they had last season. Let's get into the Jacksonville Jaguars 2022 outlook.
1. Schedule Breakdown
The Jags have a tough start to their 2022 campaign. They start on the road against Washington, then are at home for the Colts before back to back road games against the Chargers and Eagles. I'm willing to give them a split against Washington and Indy, but that's a tough back to back road spot in weeks 3 and 4. Their next 3 games see them have 2 potential wins. Week 5 the Jags host the Texans, week 6 they're at Indy, and week 7 they're back home hosting the Giants. They haven't won in Indy since 2017, but I could see them splitting the Texans and Giants at home. Weeks 8-15 has 1 potential win. Starting in week 8 they host the Broncos (in London) then hose the Raiders in week 9 before traveling to Arrowhead in week 10; 0-3. They have a bye in week 11 before hosting the Ravens, traveling to Detroit and Tennessee and host the Cowboys. They have to get the Detroit win, if not they'll go winless in this stretch. Closing out the season they have road games against the Jets and Texans and host the Titans in week 18.
Record prediction: 3-14 (wins against Washington, Houston, and the Jets)
Key Additions
WR Christian Kirk (from Arizona); 4-year/ $72 million
G Brandon Scherff (from Washington): 3-year/ $49.5 million
LB Foyesade Oluokun (Atlanta); 3-year/ $45 million
CB Darious Williams (Los Angeles Rams); 3-year/ $30 million
WR Zay Jones (Las Vegas); 3-year/ $24 million
TE Evan Engram (New York Giants); 1-year/$9 million
Fantasy Players
The Jags don't have a week in, week out starter in fantasy. James Robinson had been a fantasy starter, but with a healthy Travis Etienne Jr., Robinson won't get the number of touches needed to be an RB2. In fact Travis Etienne Jr. is the back to target in your fantasy draft. He should be heavily featured in the passing game, and has some real value in a PPR format. In a traditional scoring league you should stay away from both backs. The Jags have some interesting options at wide receiver. They paid Christian Kirk stupid money to come over from Arizona, so you'd have to think there is a plan to utilize him. Laviska Shenault Jr. has the explosion that provides some upside, but he hasn't scored a touchdown since week 17 of 2020, and has never had 100 yards in a game. Marvin Jones seems to have a game or two every year where he reels in multiple touchdowns, but he also has games where he's invisible. If you're in a 2 QB league then Trevor Lawrence has some value as a QB2, but I think there are other quarterbacks with higher upside. The fantasy outlook for the Jags is a lot like the season outlook; bleak.
Players to target: Travis Etienne Jr. (RB4) and Christina Kirk (WR4)
Jacksonville Best Case Scenario
This is not a team that can compete for the division, but they can come out of the gates 2-0. They open with Washington on the road (we saw Carson Wentz vs. the Jags week 18 of last season) and host the Colts in week 2. For whatever reason the Colts don't play well in Duval County. If they sweep the Texans and New York teams, plus a win against Detroit on the road and continue their London success with the Broncos. Their ceiling is 8-9.
