The Jacksonville Jaguars need to step up

The Jacksonville Jaguars have been an utter embarrassment. Jacksonville has not made the playoffs since 2007 and even worse, has failed to make any real effort to get there. The Jaguars have turned off legions of fans in Florida, forcing the team to tarp off portions of EverBank Field in recent years.

After going 9-39 over the past three campaigns, Jacksonville now faces a critical offseason. The Jaguars have an insane $68.2 million in cap space, almost $13 million more than any other team. Between being flush with cash and functioning in a state without income tax, Jacksonville can outbid everybody for elite talent.

Here’s the catch. You don’t want to. When free agents get big money, it almost always ends in disaster. Mike Wallace, Albert Haynesworth, Larry Brown, Jerry Porter and Dannell Ellerbe are only a few example of overspending leading to massive headaches down the line. Instead, Jacksonville should intentionally aim to be boring yet efficient in free agency.

The Jaguars gave up a league-high 71 sacks in 2014. After investing the third-overall pick in quarterback Blake Bortles last year, general manager David Caldwell needs to protect his asset. Jacksonville should aggressively target center Rodney Hudson or Stefen Wisniewski, guards Clint Boling and Orlando Franklin, and tackles Bryan Bulaga and Doug Free. If there is ever a positional group for Caldwell to make it rain on, it’s the offensive line.

The secondary desperately needs upgrading also. Instead of going after Byron Maxwell and Darrelle Revis, the Jaguars should target players like Buster Skrine and Rahim Moore. Neither will end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but both are solid players and significant upgrades.

Ultimately, the revival of this once-proud organization starts and ends with the draft. The team can be supplemented with free agents, but the drafting must improve by leaps and bounds. Want to know why Jacksonville is a laughingstock? Take a look at its last 10 first-round selections:

2005: Matt Jones, WR, Arkansas
2006: Marcedes Lewis, TE, UCLA
2007: Reggie Nelson, S, Florida
2008: Derrick Harvey, DE, Florida
2009: Eugene Monroe, OT, Virginia
2010: Tyson Alualu, DT, California
2011: Blaine Gabbert, QB, Missouri
2012: Justin Blackmon, WR, Oklahoma State
2013: Luke Joeckel, OT, Texas A&M
2014: Blake Bortles, QB, Central Florida

Withholding judgement on Bortles, the rest of this collection is horrific. Monroe and Nelson were certainly solid players, although Monroe was dealt halfway through 2013 for a late-round pick. Everybody else was a massive bust, or in the case of Gabbert, a historically bad decision. Blackmon had talent, but everyone knew the red flags which doomed him.

The Jaguars are drafting in the top three for the third consecutive season. Caldwell can not whiff on this selection. The wise move would be to take a defensive front-seven talent such as Dante Fowler Jr., Shane Ray or Randy Gregory. While anybody can flop, those players seem to be the safest bets in this class that will still be available.

Jacksonville has been a mess for years. It’s time to change.

About Matt Verderame

Matt Verderame, 26, is a New Yorker who went to school at the frozen tundra of SUNY Oswego. After graduating, Verderame has worked for Gannett and SB Nation among other ventures.

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