Jacksonville Jaguars Fan Forums

Figured I may as well start a thread about it. Here are the notable blurbs on the Jags players; the rest of the article is in the link below.

 

Fullback: Will Ta’ufo’ou (JAX)
 
A strong blocking [fullback] in a division that didn’t feature the position heavily in 2014, Ta’ufo’ou is the obvious selection here.
 

<div>Defensive Interior – Ends: Sen’Derrick Marks (JAX) and Jurrell Casey (TEN)
 
While neither player is at their best against the run, they have each proven to be extremely disruptive interior pass rushers, combining for 14 sacks and 89 total pressures this season. For Marks it was a bittersweet season, reaching a career-high in sacks before suffering a serious injury in the final week of the season. For as well as Casey played as a 3-4 end, he was arguably less effective than he had been as a tackle in a four-man front, though either way he is a dynamic pass rusher.
 

<div>Linebackers: Geno Hayes (JAX), Telvin Smith (JAX)
 
Hayes enjoyed a terrific final six games in 2014, finding the form of his early years in the league that had made him seem such a promising linebacker for the Buccaneers. Smith was able to show off his excellent athleticism with some big performances, such as his standout game against the Browns in Week 7 when he seemed to be in on every play, the trick for the rookie will be to play that way on a more consistent basis.
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https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/20...outh-team/

I admit, I wrote Hayes off and didn't really pay much attention to him after the year went on.  I didn't even realize he turned it around that last stretch.

Quote:I admit, I wrote Hayes off and didn't really pay much attention to him after the year went on.  I didn't even realize he turned it around that last stretch.

 

I thought he was playing well at the end of the season, but him having a great enough impact to be declared a top two LB in the division is a surprise. He must have started to get comfortable at the OTTO position over the course of the year. Over the last five games he had two sacks and forced fumble and I believe he also had another sack that was taken away because of a penalty.

Is Hayes more of a confession at the poor LB play in the South? He didn't really stand out to me?

Quote:Is Hayes more of a confession at the poor LB play in the South? He didn't really stand out to me?

 

You could say that for a lot of the positions. Talent wise, it is a putrid division.

That is kinda interesting that Hayes turned it around.  Wasn't pretty much everyone saying that our LB core was one of the worst in the league? We have a lot of youth potentially lined up and POZ there to help bring them around.  If we draft a LB in the 2nd or bring someone else in as a stopgap while the younger guys are developing I think we'll have a pretty nice LB core here in the future.

 

Not going to lie, our offense was pretty bad this year, but the way we were able to turn around the defense from last year to this year really does seem promising. 

 

If the defense ends up improving even more and gets in the top 10, maybe top 5 if we start getting some more INTs, and the offense improves to the low to mid 20s do you think that would be enough improvement for Gus and Co to keep their jobs? I would probably say so, especially since a lot of the playoff teams this year were built on defense. 

 

There's also a blurb about Linder almost making top right guard as well...

So does the team re-sign Hayes? And if so, will the team still be looking to sign/draft an OTTO, or is Hayes the guy there? I picture a bigger, more physical player at that spot.