For a young and rebuilding team, there's 3 positions that can turn a bottom-dweller in to a contender real quick; quarterback, left tackle, and defensive end. With Bortles and Joeckel in place, the Jags are almost certain to draft the third piece of the proverbial puzzle this year. 

 

I can't say that Joeckel is going to work out or not. He's sucked so far, but I'm willing to be reasonable on the matter; Joeckel really hasn't had the opportunity to develop normally, just as FBT said. He definitely needed to get stronger coming out of college, and his athleticism was supposed to be his strong suit. It's hard to be athletic after you miss your first season with a broken ankle, but he did get absolutely abused last year. The thing that ticked me off the most was him, along with the rest of our crappy offensive line, didn't bother picking Bortles up after he was getting destroyed game after game. It speaks to Bortles' toughness, but it also makes me question why his guys aren't selling out for him; especially Joeckel who is supposed to be the Tony Boselli to Blake's Mark Brunell. IF Tony left Mark out to dry, he didn't make him scrape himself up off the turf afterwards. 

 

I think Bortles has a chance to be the most important piece for the team moving forward because he has a strong work ethic and a lot of talent. Don't get me wrong, Bortles has a lot of developing to do, which is why his work ethic is so important. He's shown the ability to make things happen when plays break down and has natural traits that can't be coached, but he has some serious question marks also. He's not very accurate when his mechanics are off, (his deep ball is overthrown A LOT), he loves to throw off his back foot, and he has a gunslinger mentality that can scare the bejeesus out of an OC. If he truly works on his flaws though, he can be a top 10 guy in this league for sure. I love his toughness. 

 

I think this team drafts Vic Beasley this year, with the hopes of him turning in to our version of DeMarcus Ware. If Joeckel somehow rights his ship (I'm not a huge believer), Bortles lives up to his potential (and magically stays healthy), and the Jags get that impact sack-master, watch out. Even if they don't draft Beasley, it's reasonable to expect a pass rusher in this draft. If they can at least hit 2 out of 3 of these guys, this team is going to turn around a lot faster than people think. In fact, this is a playoff team if Bortles maximizes his 2nd year potential, Joeckel becomes a dominant LT, and the rookie we draft is a dominant pass rusher. 

---