It seems that it was just yesterday that the Jaguars were being purchased by a new owner and playing out the final games of the 2011 football season. Now here we stand, almost one month from the 2012 NFL Draft and I wonder, "what have the Jaguars done with this off season?"
As it stands, the Jaguars have not lost any players of significance (unless you count a concussion riddled Matt Roth as such). While it would be easy to say that the Jaguars have improved this off season the amount of improvement would be in dispute from fan to fan.
As it stands the Jaguars have re-signed all of what I call their dependable defensive talent: Lowery, Mathis, Mincey -which means they got no better or worse. In addition, we signed former NY Giants CB Aaron Ross to compete for the starting corner position. I'm a little iffy on this move as it may or may not actually pan out. Only time will tell.On the offensive side of the ball the Jaguars have been quieter than expected seeing as our WR core was the laughing stock of the Pop Warner world last year. While we did sign Laurent Robinson (a move I'm definitely a fan of might I add), we still do not have what I consider a #1 WR in our ranks. Many people feel that we may go to the draft for said #1 WR, but unless you can find a solid AJ Green-type of WR in this year's draft it's going to be difficult to bring a rookie WR in and expect them to play up to #1 WR standards. I'm not so sure I see that type of WR in this year's draft frankly.
In a non-football related move, the Jaguars also signed Chad Henne. Lol (sorry, just not a fan, but I digress)
As it stands the Jaguars have definitely improved but I believe the real improvement will be shown only because our schedule is seemingly easier than last season. If Gabbert can be much better, we pick up a solid WR in the draft, and we win the games we're supposed to win with this schedule I believe we can at least be a .500 team, if not better. And there's always that one team that plays better than expected due to a soft conference, schedule, or just being underestimated from a rough season before (I mean, we did lose 6 of our first 8 loses by a TD or less if you think about it-Cincy TD on last play of the game and Saints final TD late). Nevertheless, I do not see us as a true post-Wildcard playoff team until we get a legitimate #1. Just my two cents.