The Jacksonville Jaguars are about as frustrating a team possible in 2022. Despite owning a fourth quarter lead in six games this season and being tied late in a seventh, the team is 2-6 near the midway point of the year.
The Jaguars have been in the lead 43.16 percent of the time they’ve played this year, a higher percentage than the 6-1 Buffalo Bills, among many other teams.
But 2-6 is 2-6, and the Tennessee Titans are starting to run away with the AFC South.
Typically a team with dwindling or non-existent chances at the playoffs is a seller at the NFL trade deadline, ready to cash in players for draft picks. But the Jaguars aren’t the typical bottom of the barrel team this season. So that puts them in a weird place before Tuesday’s cutoff to make a deal.
Here are the cases for trading to add players, dealing away players on the roster, or sitting tight at the deadline:
The case for the Jaguars to acquire talent
Regardless if you feel the Jaguars have any shot at all at tracking down the Titans (who have a 3.5-game lead), the most important thing for the franchise in the long-term is finding out if Trevor Lawrence is worth continuing to build around.
And right now, the margin of error afforded to Lawrence by his wide receivers is making that difficult to figure out.
That’s not to excuse Lawrence for his incredibly costly mistakes, like the game-changing goal line interception Sunday. But those errors are compounded by the fact that the Jaguars are completely unable (or unwilling) to push the ball downfield and the passing offense is instead limited to short and intermediate throws that are often into tight windows.
Adding A.J. Brown has helped the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts make significant strides. The Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa finally looks like a top draft pick now that he has Tyreek Hill. The Bills’ Josh Allen didn’t take his play to supernova levels until the team added Stefon Diggs.
Can the Jaguars find a receiver of that caliber at the trade deadline? The answer is almost definitely no. But Jacksonville wouldn’t be doing Lawrence or itself many favors by paring down the roster instead of making moves for guys like the Jets’ Elijah Moore or the Steelers’ Chase Claypool.
The case for the Jaguars to trade away talent
According to the New York Times’ playoff simulator, the Jaguars are down to just a five percent chance at making the postseason after their latest loss and even that feels generous.
There’s a reason teams that are such long shots typically trade away players and that’s because, at a certain point, there’s not much point keeping them around.
Take wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr., for instance. At 32, he’s the oldest player on the Jaguars offense and he’s fourth on the team in receiving yards, behind Christian Kirk, Evan Engram, and Zay Jones. His contract is expiring in the offseason and the Jaguars have a promising young talent behind him on the depth chart in Tim Jones who has hardly seen the field.
The Jaguars may not be inclined to trade away Marvin Jones, but those are the kind of players a non-contending roster doesn’t need to cling to.
Would Trent Baalke — a general manager who has to know his job security is far from ironclad — be willing to tear down the roster with a move as consequential as sending away pass rusher Josh Allen? Probably not, but he did send away James Robinson for not a whole lot, so cashing in players for draft picks clearly isn’t off the table.
There’s tinkering that can be done that would continue to set up the Jaguars for what they really need: more young talent added to the roster.
The case for doing nothing at the trade deadline
It’s not fun. It’s not sexy. But patience is a virtue.
As frustrating as it has been to watch the Jaguars follow the same script every Sunday of an early lead, followed by blown chances, and an eventual fourth quarter collapse, the team is clearly close.
Does it make sense for a team that is highly unlikely to go to the playoffs to give up pieces it could use in the offseason to upgrade the roster? Does it make sense for a team to send away players when it looks ready to flip the switch at any moment and start stringing together wins?
Sometimes riding it out is the best way to see where the roster is at and what needs to be fixed, while keeping the tools to make the changes necessary.
