With the Super Bowl in the books, the Jacksonville Jaguars would like nothing more than to put a disastrous 2021 season behind them and look toward the future. Before we can do that, however, NFL Network released its final league power rankings for the year.
The Jags were basically permanent residents at the bottom of the NFL power rankings for most of the season, and more than a month removed from this team’s last game in the 3-14 campaign, that’s still where it finds itself.
Here’s what Dan Hanzus wrote about Jacksonville, who fired head coach Urban Meyer after 13 games and replaced him with a Super Bowl-winning head coach in Doug Pederson this offseason.
The Jaguars are like the kid (or grown adult Power Rankings guy) who slaps the reset button when things start to go sideways in a game of Tecmo Bowl. The team completely botched Year 1 of Trevor Lawrence with the disastrous Urban Meyer hiring, but landing on Doug Pederson feels like a solid move (even if the circuitous route to the former Eagles coach hinted at continued dysfunction within). A 3-14 season means Jacksonville is armed with the No. 1 overall pick for the second consecutive year to go with more projected cap space than 30 other teams. Time to take another crack at this thing.
As Hanzus notes, this team doesn’t have to have a bleak future in spite of the fact that the way the coaching search played out, to say the least. The Jags have plenty of cap space and the chance to draft a potential All-Pro caliber player with the first pick.
Getting that pick (and this offseason, as a whole) right will be crucial, though. The Jags were in a similar situation last offseason and couldn’t take advantage. They’ve been gifted another chance, and it would be difficult for fans to witness them waste it again.
