Multiple experts identify Jaguars player as key for 2023 success
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a team on the rise in the eyes of many. And it’s not hard to understand why. Trevor Lawrence took a giant leap forward in 2022, throwing for 4,113 yards with 25 touchdowns to 8 interceptions while earning a Pro Bowl nod. Travis Etienne showed off the fleet feet that warranted […]
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a team on the rise in the eyes of many. And it’s not hard to understand why. Trevor Lawrence took a giant leap forward in 2022, throwing for 4,113 yards with 25 touchdowns to 8 interceptions while earning a Pro Bowl nod. Travis Etienne showed off the fleet feet that warranted the Jags spending a first-round pick on him. Christian Kirk, for whom the Jags were ballyhooed for signing to lofty contract, lived up to his high expectations. The defense also found a groove in the season's final month-plus, as the Jags ripped off six straight wins to reach the AFC divisional round.
But, to some, there’s another player that will help define whether the Jags can repeat their success again in 2023. And it’s a player who hasn’t even played a single NFL down.
Anton Harrison, the team's first-round pick out of Oklahoma, will be tasked with taking over and holding down the right tackle position. And more than one pundit thinks his success will be key in the Jaguars 2023 season.
Pro Football Focus lists Harrison as the team's impact player in their most recent power rankings, which find the Jags sitting 12th. They note of Harrison:
"Harrison allowed just nine total pressures from 447 pass-blocking snaps in 2022. With Cam Robinson suspended for the first six games of the 2023 season, the Jaguars needed to find a tackle to start in his place, and Harrison can do just that. Additionally, 2021 second-rounder Walker Little has never started a full season at tackle in his career, so if he struggles on the left side, Harrison has the flexibility and experience from college to play there."
Doug Pederson stated last week that Harrison will play right tackle, so him taking over as a short-term solution for suspended LT Cam Robinson doesn't appear to be a possibility. Walker Little will slide over and take over on the left side.
Peter King with NBC Sports listed the Jaguars 13th in his recent power rankings and said the following about the team and Harrison:
Rising team, with one asterisk. For all borderline playoff teams, the most important rookie this year might be tackle Anton Harrison, picked 27th by GM Trent Baalke after starting 24 games at Oklahoma, because of the free-agent loss of right tackle Jawaan Taylor and the looming PED suspension, reportedly, of left tackle Cam Robinson.
The departure of Taylor is the only starter the team lost in free agency. Harrison is also only 21 years old. Add in Robinson's suspension and Little's relative inexperience (six starts in two seasons), and honestly, it makes a lot of sense that the tackle positions are going to be viewed skeptically until Little and Harrison prove themselves.
Harrison proved in college that he could protect his quarterback at an elite level, allowing just one sack in 2022 and four in over 1,000 pass block snaps since 2020. He's going to have to carry that productivity to the next level if the Jaguars are going to carry over the good times from 2022 into 2023.
That's a lot to put on the broad shoulders of the 6'4", 315-pound rookie.
