The 2024 NFL season for the Jacksonville Jaguars has been nothing short of a nightmare in Duval County. Jacksonville doesn’t seem to catch any breaks this year, particularly when closing out games and avoiding the injury bug.
Coach Doug Pederson has been on the hot seat for weeks and his future in Jacksonville is uncertain. Pederson has had success in the NFL as a coach, even previously winning a Super Bowl with the Eagles back in 2017. Those glory days have been long gone, with Pederson and the Jaguars having a dismal record of 2-10 this season.
The Jaguars’ biggest issue is not knowing how to finish and close out games, in addition to being devastated by injuries. Out of their ten losses, six of those games were within one score that went the wrong way for the Jags. Jacksonville has been competitive in most of its games, yet injuries, turnovers, and questionable play-calling have contributed to its downward spiral.
Trevor Lawrence has been placed on IR, and he’s most likely done for the season due to a concussion. Prior to Lawrence suffering that injury, he was already nursing an AC joint injury to his non-throwing shoulder. Lawrence will eventually get surgery to repair that in the offseason.
The Jags also lost their top two wide receivers in Christian Kirk and Gabe Davis. Kirk went down with a broken collarbone in week 8 while Davis suffered a meniscus tear a few weeks back. These injuries along with turnovers have played a critical role in the lack of productivity on offense for the Jags.
Defensively, Jacksonville ranks 29th in the league in total defense, a stat that hopefully can improve going into next season. In my opinion, I feel that Jaguars owner Shahid Kahn and GM Trent Baalke should stick with Pederson for at least one more season based on the unfortunate circumstances the Jaguars faced this season.
There are some major decisions that need to be made regarding the future of Trevor Lawrence and Doug Pederson. Even prior to his concussion injury, Lawrence didn’t have his best season, and his skill set seemed to be declining
this year. Lawrence has thrown for 2,045 yards, 11 TD’s, and 7 picks with a QBR of 59.7. It will indeed be interesting heading into next year to see what direction the Jaguars franchise will go. Any direction seems to be better than what we’ve seen during this 2024 campaign.