(10-18-2019, 12:59 PM)JagJohn Wrote: Good read here: https://sports.yahoo.com/the-five-most-p...02580.html

Does a smash game for the Jaguars represent a new era (and is tanking worth it)?


Much of the analysis following the trade of Jalen Ramsey has been directed toward the Rams’ side of the deal. That’s understandable. Los Angeles was a Super Bowl participant last year and continues to defy the traditional norms of team-building.

The angle is just as interesting for the Jaguars. It cost them a true defensive difference-maker but Jacksonville is now in a position to continue their reboot armed with a pair of first-round picks in each of the next two drafts. Whether Ramsey was in the fold or not, the team that takes the field this Sunday will be quite different from the one that was pushing for a Super Bowl appearance less than two years ago.

It’s obvious the defense isn’t the same unit it was back in the 2017 season. Just as notable, the offense is a completely transformed operation. The Leonard Fournette of that season was a fine running back but had noticeable flaws. Here in 2019, Fournette looks much more like the type of offensive centerpiece the team imagined. Only one running back has handled more touches than him so far this season, and that’s supposed MVP-candidate, Christian McCaffrey. Once a question mark, Fournette’s catches per game have nearly doubled from his first two seasons and he’s run 10 more routes than any running back in the league. He’s done well with the chances too, clearing five yards per rush.

A receiver corps that rolled out Marqise Lee and Allen Hurns has now replaced that woebegone pair with inspiring youth. D.J. Chark is third in the NFL with 528 receiving yards and has been nothing short of a revelation. Veterans Chris Conley and Dede Westbrook have settled into strong role players behind him. Rookie passer Gardner Minshew has turned into one of the stories of the season. His precision and fearlessness have come to define the rest of the team.

With this offense as a baseline, it suddenly looks like Jacksonville doesn’t have far to go to revamp a roster that saw its window slammed shut after just one year while riding an all-time defense. That causes us to raise an eyebrow at the rest of the league.

As you look at the tanking outfits — like the Dolphins — across the NFL and then look at the position Jacksonville finds itself in, you begin to wonder if putting out a torturous product for a year is worth it. Following the Blake Bortles double-down disaster, Jacksonville looked like it was staring at a potential slew of 6-10- to- 8-8 stuck-in-the-mud seasons — seasons that have put Miami in a place where they felt bottoming out was the only way to get out.

Now, the Jaguars are loaded with picks and have promising spots all throughout their roster. It didn’t cost them a truly soul-sucking season to get here.

Of course, there are certain strokes of luck that one must get to be there. Cashing in a sixth-round pick for a possible solution at quarterback is ultra-rate. Few teams have disgruntled superstars to ship off for multiple Round 1 selections. Yet, teams have been rebuilding in the NFL for years without completely stripping the roster for parts. Certain breaks are needed for such a strategy. Not everyone gets them.

At the end of the day, the full tear-down model does greatly increase the margin for error. Talent evaluation and hitting on draft picks is deeply challenging. Having more is helpful. That’s why teams elect to go for this path. Still, seeing a team like Jacksonville boasting some of the same resources as a tanking team while running some true building blocks out on the field and suddenly providing promise in the current season should make a team think twice before they hit the self-destruct button.

Jacksonville’s offensive promise will be on full display in Week 7. The team will travel to face a Cincinnati defense that’s in complete shambles. Already struggling to defend the pass, the Bengals will play this week without their top two corners in William Jackson and Dre Kirkpatrick. We should see Minshew put up another workmanlike fantasy outing and involve Chark in the vertical game once again. And still, it’s worth wondering if Jacksonville’s passing game will need to do all that much, as this looks like a total smash spot for Fournette. The workhorse back will barrel through a Bengals front that is currently the only team to allow over 1,000 rushing yards on the season.

Not only are fantasy football gamers suddenly interested in multiple Jaguars for the first time since the Allen Robinson 14-touchdown season of 2015, but the franchise is staring at hope before they likely thought they could have it. The organization had to stumble it’s way into this, so much so that it’s hard to assign much credit to the decision-makers. Nevertheless, regardless of the path they took, the sun is shining brighter on this operation than we could have expected when they were seemingly headed to a top draft pick at warp speed when Nick Foles went down in Week 1.

"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."