32 in 31: Jacksonville Jaguars

Another year of 32 for 31, Sports News on Tap takes the month of August to preview the National Football League. We spend every day of the month looking at a new team and how they will fare in 2013. 

In all professional sports, there are those teams where a person can see the development of the team growing and growing by the minute. The Jacksonville Jaguars feel like a team on the rise that just needs a couple pieces to contend for a playoff position. 

The first step was getting new management whom seems to have a commitment to the city as well as making the experience of going to Jaguars games a great one. The second step was getting a coach in there with a vision. Former Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Gus Bradley takes over the reign and he sounds like a breath of fresh air. Hearing him talk to Mike Florio on Dan Patrick earlier this year, it sounds like he is the type of guy the Jaguars need and will help them maybe surprise a few teams this year. The next step is the players and while the Jags have some, they still need a few more to be successful .    

OFFENSE
Maurice Jones-Drew battled a Lisfranc injury all last season leading him to only play six games last season and rush for a career-low 414 yards. MJD looks to improve those numbers this season as the two prior, he had well over 1200 yards. I do not think it is time to start worrying about Jones-Drew regressing as we have seen with other running backs in the past. I still believe he has a couple years left in him. One thing that should help him this year is it appears the offensive line should be better with Luke Joeckel and they get Will Rackley back from a training camp injury last season.

The Jaguars currently have a quarterback battle between Chad Henne and Blaine Gabbert. Both started multiple games for the team last season, and Gabbert should have the slight edge due to his age. Hear me out, Gabbert gets another year under his belt and if it is clear, he's terrible then it is no-brainer to draft a quarterback very high in next year. If Gabbert ends up being better than expected then maybe drafting a quarterback in the first or second round might not be needed.  If it is Henne, it's clear the Jaguars want to rid themselves of the Gabbert era. Since I see some chatter about it, get out of my face with Matt Scott talk for quarterback. There is a reason he was an undrafted rookie.

DEFENSE
Paul Posluszny is the key cog of this team. He had a great year for this team last season with 231 tackles, three interceptions and seven quarterback pressures. Posluszny should be great for the team again this year and move like an angry hornet nest on defense. Russell Allen did nice work for the Jags on the outside last season and they hope he continues with his strong play.

Personally, Johnathan Cyprein was one of my favorite picks of the draft no matter what team he ended up on. I wanted the Packers to draft him and when they passed, I knew some team was going to get an All-Pro safety. I realize that's a strong thing to say without him playing a game, but he has all of the ability to reach that ceiling. Unless he has a woeful camp, Cyprein should be starting from day one and start getting truly familiar with Bradley's system and then make the move to become a leader in the back by the end of the season.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Sure, people love to give the Jaguars a lot of shit, but they do have some of the best special teams in all of the NFL. Josh Scobee is nearly automatic as a kicker and can definitely kick 50-yard+ field goals at will. Bryan Anger is very solid punter as well.  They added Ace Sanders in the draft and he will have multiple highlight reel returns this year.

KEY ADDITIONS
DT Sen'Derrick Marks, CB Marcus Trufant, RB Justin Forsett, CB Alan Ball, LB Geno Hayes - None of these excite me much but Forsett is a nice backup option if MJD goes down agan.

KEY DEPARTURES
S Dawan Landry, DT C.J. Mosley, CB Aaron Ross, WR Laurent Robinson,  RB Rashard Jennings, CB Derek Cox,

JAGUARS DRAFT PICKS
OT Luke Joeckel, S Johnathan Cyprien, CB Dwayne Gratz, WR Ace Sanders, ATH Denard Robinson, S Josh Evans, CB Jeremy Harris, CB Demetrius McCray - I am truly interested to see how the Jags utilize Robinson this year. I can definitely see him like a homeless man's Randall Cobb doing everything on the field including a pass once in awhile.

GAME TO WATCH
Thursday December 5th vs. Houston 7:25 pm - This will be a fun game for multiple reasons. One, Houston could come sleepwalking into this game meaning upset potential will be high. Two, people talking shit about 'Why the Jaguars are on national television' and those same people getting torched by Jaguars Twitter which will be hilarious. Jaguars Twitter is a personal favorite of mine.

PREDICTION
4-6 wins - Not quite there yet.  They have the burden of facing off against the NFC West this year making things even more difficult but Bradley will pull the upset every now and again.

Charlie.