National outlet pegs the Jaguars' biggest area of concern entering 2023
There's a lot of optimism for the Jacksonville Jaguars entering the 2023 season. The defending AFC South champions have understandably been a team to watch or an AFC dark horse team by many national pundits during the offseason. However, there are still obviously areas of concern for the team as it enters the 2023 season. […]
There's a lot of optimism for the Jacksonville Jaguars entering the 2023 season. The defending AFC South champions have understandably been a team to watch or an AFC dark horse team by many national pundits during the offseason.
However, there are still obviously areas of concern for the team as it enters the 2023 season. After all, it took a late defensive strip-and-score against the Tennessee Titans to finish the regular season above .500, so the Jaguars are not a team without its fair share of flaws.
CBSSports.com's Cody Benjamin listed the biggest red flags for all contending teams this weekend. For Jacksonville, he listed the team's protection up front as the biggest cause for concern for the Jaguars.
Everyone likes Jacksonville as an AFC sleeper after Doug Pederson's first year in town. Everyone likes Calvin Ridley to boost Trevor Lawrence's MVP stock. But what about the young QB's protection? Left tackle Cam Robinson is facing a multi-game suspension, guard Ben Bartch is still recovering from injury, and right tackle Walker Little has made six career starts. – Cody Benjamin, CBSSports.com
This take is pretty fair. The Jaguars' offense looks ready to lift off in 2023 with the addition of Calvin Ridley and Trevor Lawrence looking every bit of the franchise quarterback that the team hoped for when they drafted him #1 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.
The main thing that could ground it is at the tackle positions especially. Cam Robinson, whom the team signed to a 3-year, $54 million extension in April 2022, was suspended by the league in April 2023 for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing substances.
The length of the suspension hasn't yet been publicly announced by the league (could be two, six, or eight games), but the Jaguars will have to shuffle their tackles around to account for it in the meantime.
It appears thus far that Walker Little, who has eight career NFL starts including the playoffs, will shift to left tackle, while rookie Anton Harrison will start on the right side. That's a lot of uncertainty and inexperience out of the gate at two extremely important positions in the passing game for a team that's looking to take the next step this fall.
Other areas of concern that would have merited consideration here would be the pass rush and the secondary. ESPN analyst Marcus Spears noted recently that the Jaguars' defense needs to be either one that pressures the quarterback or comes up with a lot of takeaways. That a defense can't be methodical with the numerous elite offenses in the AFC.
And he's not wrong about that. Mike Caldwell will have to figure out how to get the most out of his pass rush this fall. He'll also have to see if his cornerback situation with Darious Williams and Tyson Campbell on the outside and Tre Herndon is the answer in 2023. Those assignments seemed to stabilize the secondary in the latter part of last year, but time will tell if that's the true fix.
However, for a team who will need to score to keep up with good teams in the AFC, protecting Trevor Lawrence will be tantamount to the team's fortunes this fall.
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Featured image via Bob Self/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK
