Quote:That o-line, that allowed glaring holes for pass rushers last year, will remain a huge concern in my mind until i see it fixed on the field. It's nice to add names on paper, but will they perform? This is huge for the team.
This^.
I tip my hat to Dave and the job he's been doing as GM as I also don't see anything, at least on paper, that appears to be a 'glaring hole'. On the other hand, what's on paper and what happens on the field are all too often very divergent. I'll hope for the best but I won't 'hold my breath' until I see it on the field.
Quote:If you view it optimistically? No, there's not a lot of holes. But realistically?
QB - Bortles is still a question mark, despite the promise
RB - Unproven rookie RB
WR - 3 2nd year WR and a rookie WR
TE - Solid starter/depth with Thomas/Lewis
LT - Luke is a ?, but promising with increased strength
LG - Beadles is OK, plus depth with Cann possibly even pushing him
C - Good possibility/depth
RG - Linder should be good
RT - Pernell is very much a question mark, never having started a full season
DE - Clemons is 34, Branch coming off groin surgery
DT - Marks is coming off ACL, Hood was underwhelming, and backup is a 6th round "steal" in Bennett.
DT - Miller is coming off injury, but should be fine with Jones behind him. Not great, but OK
DE - Odrick should be an upgrade over Red, and we retained Tyson. So another oK position.
LB - Solid starters, but depth is questionable.
FS - Brown has limited starts, Evans is a SS, and Sample is inexperienced at FS.
CB - Good starters and depth.
Truthfully, we have more "promise" than "production" filling our "needs"
That's about the truth of it. As you said, "we have more promise than production filling our needs"; or to put it another way, we have a great deal of unrealized potential on the field.
Quote:i agree with your list except for Julius Thomas is better than just being a solid starter at tight end. He's a 2 time probowler, 24 td's in the last 2 years and imo is the third best tight end in all of NFL.
Julius Thomas was a two time pro bowler... when he had one of the all time great quarterbacks to throw the ball to him. Will he be that effective here? We hope so, but for now that's a big question mark. It really doesn't help us how many accolades a player has accumulated else where under different circumstances if he doesn't bring that kind of production here.
Julius Thomas is a great catching tight end despite not having Peyton Manning to throw to him and doesnt take away his ability to make the catch, by being open from great route running, awareness, speed / acceleration, and ability to catch in traffic. The question only exists if Bortles can make a decent throw to him and he did demonstrate that provided he receives the time to throw, and with the improved Oline & coaching at Oline I see Thomas still having a great year. In fact one could argue that he should have an even better year that last year because of the young talent around him, Thomas will easily become Bortles favorite target. Having more throws increases his chances of making more catches thus more yards & touchdowns (as long as either Lee or Hurns plays well enough to draw double coverage on occasion).
Quote:Julius Thomas is a great catching tight end despite not having Peyton Manning to throw to him and doesnt take away his ability to make the catch, by being open from great route running, awareness, speed / acceleration, and ability to catch in traffic. The question only exists if Bortles can make a decent throw to him and he did demonstrate that provided he receives the time to throw, and with the improved Oline & coaching at Oline I see Thomas still having a great year. In fact one could argue that he should have an even better year that last year because of the young talent around him, Thomas will easily become Bortles favorite target. Having more throws increases his chances of making more catches thus more yards & touchdowns (as long as either Lee or Hurns plays well enough to draw double coverage on occasion).
That would be great if Thomas becomes 'that' guy again here and the whole use of TE's really opens things up for us on offense. It's an aspect of the offense that really hasn't been relevant for us for years. But like you said, much of this is going to depend on Bortles being able to deliver the ball on time and on target, and the biggest part of that is going to depend on the kind of pass protection he gets this season. Inevitably, it keeps coming back to that offensive line and how they perform this season.
Our third round pick LG A.J. Cann should challenge LG Zane Beadles to work hard this year to retain his position and gives nice depth either way as he could even play center.
The addition of free agent RT Jermey Parnell combined with RG Linder improving on his good rookie year the only huge weakness & question is with LT Luke Joeckel whom will be under a microscope & hopefully has a breakout year.
The center is a bit of a concern too but hopefully Luke Bowanko will improve this season.
The biggest improvement GM Dave Caldwell made for the Offensive line is by bringing in coach Doug Marrone!
I think the run stopping ability of this defensive line is being overvalued. Plus our linebackers have potential but POZ is returning from injury and you have two starters without much experience. Telvin may be a one year wonder and most are assuming he'll get better, not worse. Behind those guys we have nobody of note as depth. Our front 7 is questionable and very easily attacked. I think we have significant issues at safety too, free and strong.
Offense very much depends on Bortles who had statistically one of the worst rookie seasons. He needs to show a lot and the line needs to play a lot better.
Many many holes on this team, but there are holes on superbowl contenders too.
I still see a huge problem concerning the O-line and D-line until they both play consistently. Bortles almost lost his head last year, and opposing QB's thrive against our pass rush.... . Get it fixed or it's going to be a repeat of last year. :yes:
The biggest question regarding the Oline for me is the LT position in regards to utter failure but I see the talent combined with coaching as being at least the leagues average this season and not being the worst. On defense the Jaguars have again one of the best line coaches in the NFL (more proven than even Marrone is to the Oline), and had fowler jr not been injured it wouldve been spectacular to watch this season, but with Fowlers injury the team still was productive with Clemons & Branch rotating at LEO (team combined for top 5 in sacks all season long) the LE Bryant was praised for being one of the best against the run but he had less than expected season which prompted them to let him go in lieu of Odrick (whom they hope by switching back to DE he will get the pressure that Bryant had failed to bring).
The Free Safety position has and remains to be the biggest weakness on defense. That is Sergio Brown isnt changing my mind on the weakness of that position, but I hope he proves me wrong in preseason performance.
Quote:Julius Thomas was a two time pro bowler... when he had one of the all time great quarterbacks to throw the ball to him. Will he be that effective here? We hope so, but for now that's a big question mark. It really doesn't help us how many accolades a player has accumulated else where under different circumstances if he doesn't bring that kind of production here.
I disagree with you because peyton didn't run his route or made the contested catches for him. I'm tired of people always giving peyton credit for other's success like they couldn't be great without him. For instance, pierre garcon played with peyton was well right? Well breaking news is that garcon had the best year of his career when in 2013 (113 catches and 1,346 yards) catching passes from Kurt Cousins and RG III during his second year as the redskins QB respectfully. Please don't give me eric decker fall off because of peyton base on the fact we all knew he wasn't a #1 receiver and yet he still was a few yards away from 1,000 season with geno smith and michael vick as qb despite also missing a few games last year for a hamstring issue. I think julius thomas is going to be great and if he's isn't i would either blame injuries, getting fat and happy after the big payday or blake bortles isn't the guy but we will find out one way or another the year.
I have heard many say that Peyton Manning is like one of the best WR coaches in the NFL in addition to being a QB and for that reason I can see him making receivers better (combined with the ability to place the ball in the perfect spot for them) but they should retain that knowledge not lose it after working with him. I can see production dropping a bit by not being on a better offense but to say that he will all of a sudden fail simply without Peyton is a bit of a stretch.
It is a different feel now when/if you put away the anxiety for a minute. The really nice thing about this will be that, if the players turn out as expected this upcoming season then the next round of Draft choices can simply be rotation guys and part-time contributors for their first season. It's been a really long time since the roster has had that kind of feel to it. Now granted, no roster is ever complete and you can always improve, but thank the good Lord that there doesn't seem to be a need for a rookie to come in and be a full-time contributor right away.
Quote:It is a different feel now when/if you put away the anxiety for a minute. The really nice thing about this will be that, if the players turn out as expected this upcoming season then the next round of Draft choices can simply be rotation guys and part-time contributors for their first season. It's been a really long time since the roster has had that kind of feel to it. Now granted, no roster is ever complete and you can always improve, but thank the good Lord that there doesn't seem to be a need for a rookie to come in and be a full-time contributor right away.
Completely agree. This team is in a VERY different place from when Caldwell took over. You have to hit on the majority of your draft picks, but for the most part, I think that's been the case. The team isn't as bereft of talent as it was even a year or two ago, and the best part is the majority of that talent is young, so when the team does turn the corner, it's going to be a sustainable ascent.
Quote:Completely agree. This team is in a VERY different place from when Caldwell took over. You have to hit on the majority of your draft picks, but for the most part, I think that's been the case. The team isn't as bereft of talent as it was even a year or two ago, and the best part is the majority of that talent is young, so when the team does turn the corner, it's going to be a sustainable ascent.
Taking the total optimist point of view, this is the case. And that sustainable ascent is going to be where the team gets to churn the bottom third of the roster with draft picks instead of the front line players with street Free Agents. At least, in my point of view it will be that way.
The young offense just has to start to put it all together.
Im still keeping my expectations low. 6 win season is what I expect. I still feel that we have way too much youth on offense to project consistency. Like what has been mentioned in this thread many times, it all depends upon the offensive line. I expect our rushing attack to improve because of the depth and competition across the offensive line, and because of the strengths of many of the players we added, like Wiz, Cann, and Parnell. There are still question marks at LT, C, and RT, Joeckel being the biggest and most important. If he improves drastically, and entering his third season, we should expect him to, then the unit should play a heck of a lot better. I think overall, this is the most accumulated talent we have had at the skill positions on offense in a long time. I feel Yeldon is already the most pro ready running back we have, and I think Denard is a good change of pace. We will see Yeldon on the field on 3rd down because he can pass block and catch the ball out of the backfield. WR is still very young, but I like the potential of Robinson, Lee, and Hurns. Our TE situation was such a joke for such a long time, that its nice to see we have great depth at the position now. Marcedes is where he belongs, which is a blocking TE that will run a route every once and awhile. Julius Thomas has a lot of skill, and can be used as our slot WR, attacking the middle of the field. He will create some mismatches, which should open up opportunities for guys like A-Rob and Hurns, who can thrive across the middle of the field as well. Jaguars lacked the ability to attack the seams last season, and haven't been able to attack there in what seems like forever. With all this potential improvement on offense, Bortles should enjoy more success.
Defensively, I still feel we have a lot of question marks. Marks is coming off a torn ACL, Poz is a year older and coming off a torn pec, Roy Miller cant stay healthy, we have poor LB depth and im not sure Skuta can play, yet. This is the season Cyprien should finally make that drastic jump, but will he? We have a good group of corners, Telvin Smith, and a decent rotation of pass rushers. Will Jared Odrick be enough to improve our run defense?
Also, special teams was a huge problem last season. I hope we see dramatic improvement from the ST unit.
Caldwell has done a great job bringing in the young talent, now its time for our coaches to develop this talent.
Perhaps no glaring holes from a Long Term Perspective but I'd have to say that "on paper" we may have the worst WR units in the NFL when you ONLY consider 2015.
I expect a much stronger roster due to the combination of free agents, players improving from year 1 and the current draft class. Positions I expect the most improvement from:
1. Tight end- For obvious reasons
2. Q.B. - Expect Bortles to be different player this year.
3. Offensive line- Cann and Wiesniewski provide excellent competition and Parnell should be upgrade. If Joeckel's increased weight and experience help him to be the player they thought they drafted, this line will be very solid.
4. R.B.- Expect big things from Yeldon with Robinson or Gerhart as solid backups.
Only real concern is free safety. Hope someone will emerge between Brown, Sample or a sleeper (someone who moves from cornerback).
As of now, I think the biggest needs are MLB, DE, and FS. Poz should have been a priority, but from what I've read linebacker was a very weak spot in the draft this year. DE because of a certain guy's injury leaving Clemons as the best option other than Ryan Davis (who is more of a situation guy right now). FS shouldn't need to be explained. They tried to address DE and FS in the draft and free agency so I can't really blame Caldwell for those.