After an incredible 8-3 start to the season, the Jacksonville Jaguars lost five out of their last six games, finishing with a record of 9-8 and missing out on the playoffs.
Less than 48 hours removed from the Jaguars’ week 18 loss to the Tennessee Titans, the Head Coach of the Jaguars Doug Pederson made several coaching changes on both sides of the ball.
Second-year Defensive Coordinator Mike Caldwell and the entire defensive staff excluding Outside Linebackers Coach Bill Shuey were all relieved of their duties. On the offensive side, Running Backs Coach Bernie Parmalee was fired and the Jaguars didn’t renew the contract of assistant Offensive Line Coach Todd Washington.
A disappointing end to such a promising season for the Jaguars as they internally had higher expectations for themselves. After a 9-8 record in 2022 and winning a playoff game, they wanted to continue to build on that momentum but it ultimately all came crashing down in the last six weeks of the season.
After playing host to the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football in week 13, the Jaguars season began to crumble right before their very eyes. A game in which Trevor Lawrence suffered an ankle injury and the Jaguars lost in overtime to Jake Browning – it all went downhill from there.
Jacksonville continued to deal with a lot of injuries on both sides of the ball that derailed them all season long with notable guys like Trevor Lawrence, Tyson Campbell, Andre Cisco, Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, Cam Robinson, Jamal Agnew, etc.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence would continue to sustain multiple injuries throughout the remainder of the season which ultimately derailed him from playing his very best football, and more than likely hindered the offense to some degree. Lawrence was banged up throughout the majority of the season as he sustained an ankle, knee, shoulder, concussion, and left finger injury.
This isn’t to excuse Lawrence for his lack of production this season because his third season was significantly worse than his second year in the league. However, it is not just on the quarterback when a team loses five out of their last six games, it is a total team collapse.
Starting with personnel on the offensive side of the ball, the Jaguars had a pitiful offensive line all season long. The interior of the OL led by second-year center Luke Fortner regressed so badly that the Jaguars couldn’t have a reliable running game. Among all starting centers in 2023, Luke Fortner had the worst PFF run-blocking grade by over 10 points, and he also gave up the ninth most pressures at his position which was the second-worst overall grade.
“He’s held up pretty well,” Doug Pederson said in his final press conference with the media of the season. “Continue to work on strength and things like that.”
Although Jacksonville dealt with multiple lineups and injuries on the offensive line, the unit as a whole was very bad. According to PFF, they ranked 31st in run blocking grade and 21st in pass blocking grade. Rookie Anton Harrison and Cam Robinson, who only appeared in nine games this season, were the only bright spots on the offensive line.
After only appearing in five games in 2021 and serving his full one-season suspension in 2022, Calvin Ridley got back to form and had a very solid first year with the Jaguars. Despite having some bumps along the way, Ridley finished with 76 receptions, 1,016 yards, and had eight touchdowns on the season.
“Calvin was a bright spot for us offensively– he was someone here down the stretch who we relied upon, a player we’ve all liked on offense and he’s got a lot of talent,” Doug Pederson said when speaking on Calvin Ridley. “You hope things work out– you never know how things go, it’s a crazy business.”
Calvin Ridley will now be an unrestricted free agent this offseason. If the Jaguars re-sign him, they will give up a conditional second-round pick to Atlanta, and if they place the franchise tag on him, it will only be a third-round pick.
Press Taylor took over as the full-time play caller in Jacksonville this past season and has been widely criticized by a majority of the fanbase and local media. The Jaguars saw their offensive ranks take a dip this year in terms of points per game (22.2), yards per game (339.5), and rushing yards per game (96.8).
“I thought overall Press did a nice job of organizing the offense, the game planning that we did, and even (play) calling,” Doug Pederson said when talking about Press Taylor’s first season as an Offensive Coordinator.
Defensively for the Jaguars, after getting off to an incredible start they began to fall apart towards the lighter half of the season. Yes, injuries and coaching played a role in their inability to get off the field at times, but the Jaguars retained all 11 starters on that side of the ball. Mike Caldwell kept his job going into his second year as the full-time Defensive Coordinator, they gave Roy Robertson-Harris an extension, and they have a very expensive defense loaded with high draft selections and highly paid free agents but they still didn’t take that next step up.
The defensive line for the Jaguars was subpar at best outside of second-year linebacker Travon Walker and Josh Allen, who each put together a career-high season. After having just 3.5 sacks his rookie season, Travon Walker climbed to 10 sacks this year. Josh Allen set the Jaguars single-season sack record in Week 17 and finished this year tied for second in the NFL with 17.5 sacks.
Third-year General Manager Trent Baalke ultimately failed to put together the right personnel in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Baalke was ultimately very conservative this off-season with free agents, moving up in the draft, and at the trade deadline.
Baalke had an opportunity to potentially make a big splash at the deadline by acquiring Chase Young or Danielle Hunter to help bolster that defensive line. Jacksonville also had Jadeveon Clowney in the building before ultimately letting him go before he signed with the Baltimore Ravens. Baalke also went into the 2023 draft with nine picks and ended up selecting 13 players instead of packing his picks to get blue-chip talent like Brian Branch, O’Cyrus Torrence, etc.
Coaching, personnel, injuries, lack of preparation, and execution are just a few of the many things that went wrong with the Jaguars in 2023. Jacksonville will have big decisions to make this off-season with paying both Josh Allen, and Calvin Ridley, and if they make any other moves in terms of personnel within the organization.