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Each year Football Outsiders puts out their season almanac, which goes through and previews NFL teams for the upcoming season based off some metrics, including the previous and past season's Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA) among other formulas and statistics.
Each year prior to the start of the season, we try to partner up with Football Outsiders and discuss the Jacksonville Jaguars outlook based on their metrics and projections. I asked Brian McIntyre, who wrote the Jaguars portion of the 2013 Football Outsiders NFL Almanac, some specific questions pertaining to the 2013 season.
The first topic we covered was the Jaguars first-round pick, offensive tackle Luke Joeckel.
How much of an impact can Luke Joeckel realistically have on the Jaguars offense in general?
From a pass protection standpoint, the Jaguars have ranked in the bottom third of the league in "Adjusted Sack Rate" and gave up 50 sacks in 2012, 90 percent of which were the result of "blown blocks" or on plays where either the pass rusher was untouched or the overall pressure was too much for Jaguars blockers to handle. A lot of the "blown blocks" on Jaguars' pass plays were attributed to the right tackle tandem of Guy Whimper and Cameron Bradfield, who had 31.8 "blown blocks" and 10 sacks. Adding a potential Pro Bowl-caliber tackle in Joeckel should improve the pass protection on both edges. Joeckel's presence should also push Eugene Monroe (who had 14.3 blown blocks on pass plays) to improve his performance on the left side as he's playing for a new contract next offseason.