We are now to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2018 Fantasy Football Team Previews.
The Jags shocked the world last year by finishing 10-6 and getting to the AFC Championship game. This came after eight of the last nine seasons finishing under .500. Oh, the lone season that was not under .500, was exactly .500, so not much better.
The successful season was thanks to a much-improved defense that finished second in points and yards allowed. The draft pick of Leonard Fournette helped the offense immensely too. This took much pressure off of Blake Bortles and allowed the offense to go from bottom feeders to top 10. That combination of great defense, plus being able to control the ball will be a key to their success in 2018 too.
2018 Fantasy Football Jacksonville Jaguars Preview
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Quarterbacks
Blake Bortles has been better than ever before at keeping the ball safe pic.twitter.com/rS2YGInGBs
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) December 23, 2017
- Blake Bortles
- Cody Kessler
The Jaguars turned into a run-heavy offense, which led to a career low in pass attempts for Blake Bortles. This, however, did not hurt his overall stat line as Bortles was the most efficient in his career ever, completing 60% of his passes for the first time. He also had the lowest interception rate of his career. This allowed Bortles to finish as the No. 13 overall Quarterback.
Just a year after the Jags were contemplating benching Bortles, it is 100 percent his show now. Although he can't be trusted as a QB1, Bortles can as a streamer/matchup play. And be on the lookout of if he gets on a roll. Over the past few years, Blake had stretches where he can put up some major fantasy points.
Running Backs
Leonard Fournette was good as a rookie, but perhaps not as productive as fantasy owners had hoped. pic.twitter.com/YOaO9rz01z
— PFF Fantasy Football (@PFF_Fantasy) June 23, 2018
- Leonard Fournette
- T.J. Yeldon
- Tommy Bohanan
Simply put, the only running back you want from the Jags is Fournette and he is a good one. He had a fantastic rookie season scoring 10 total touchdowns and rushing for over 1,000 yards. He did all this despite missing three games.
Besides his injury history, there is some other risk here as well. Fournette averaged just 3.9 yards per carry. While some see this as a huge negative on him, I'm not as worried about it because he saw 8-plus men in the box 48% of the time last season. Good for 5th highest, and highest among "lead" backs.
If the passing game can improve even just a little, then Fournette will see fewer men stacked against him and the sky is the limit. Regardless he will get a ton of volume so you need to worry a lot less about how efficient he is.
The rest of the running game leaves a lot to desire. Yeldon is really all you need to know about here, but only is valuable when Fournette misses time.
Wide Receivers
Marqise Lee finally put together a healthy and productive year in 2017. pic.twitter.com/lg8GgunFT6
— PFF Fantasy Football (@PFF_Fantasy) June 27, 2018
- LWR: Marqise Lee
- RWR: Donte Moncrief
- SWR: Keelan Cole
- SWR: Dede Westbrook
The receiving corps does not have a lot of star power, but is deep and always seem to find a way to produce. The issue is it is hard to predict just who the receiver will be that will produce for fantasy purposes week to week.
Marqise Lee is the defacto No. 1 here as the Jags let Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns walk. Last season Lee caught 56 passes for 702 yards in 14 games. That was good for a WR42 finish.
Just one spot behind him at WR43 on the season was rookie Keelan Cole. An undrafted free agent, Cole went on a tear Weeks 13-16, totaling 393 yards and two touchdowns. During those weeks, which of course were most leagues playoffs, he was the No. 2 receiver in fantasy.
Still, according to depth charts Donte Moncrief, who the Jags signed from the Colts this offseason, is the No. 2 receiver. Moncrief has shown some potential in the past with Andrew Luck as his quarterback finishing with six and seven touchdowns in 2015 and 2016. Still, the lack of consistency is what led him to be dumped by the Colts.
Probably my favorite receiver, after Lee, is Dede Westbrook. The 2016 Heisman finalist struggled to get going last season after missing the first nine games with an injury. If his preseason from 2017 means anything, it is that he is ready to compete at the NFL level. I may try grabbing him late in every draft I'm in this year.
Again the receiving corps is not one I'm targeting for a couple of reason. One, they don't have the standout receiver. Two, Blake Bortles is their quarterback and is as inconsistent and unreliable as they come. Three, and probably most important, this is a heavy run first team.
Tight Ends
- Austin Sefarian-Jenkins
- Niles Paul
Honestly, nothing to see here. Sefarian-Jenkins is a nice redzone threat at best. The realization you need to have here is the Jaguars have not utilized their tight end since... well ever.
Could ASJ solve that issue? Sure, but we said the same thing about Julius Thomas when he joined the team and look what he did.
Just do yourself a favor and look elsewhere for your tight end in fantasy.
Final Verdict
The Jaguars were a great story last year making it all the way to the AFC Championship game.
Their defense should be top notch again this year. This will help them keep the identity they want on offense, which is run-first.
Do I see them repeating the success they had last year? No, I think that will be very hard to do. Not only will they likely have to compete against an Andrew Luck led Colts team, but they will also have to deal with a Texans team who is getting a large chunk of their defense back from injury and will have a healthy Deshaun Watson all season. Oh and don't forget about the Titans who everybody was on last year to take that next step.
Visit the F6P Fantasy Football Draft Kit Page for more advice to prepare for the 2018 season.
Team Previews
| AFC East | AFC North | AFC South | AFC West |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bills | Bengals | Colts | Broncos |
| Dolphins | Browns | Jaguars | Chargers |
| Jets | Ravens | Texans | Chiefs |
| Patriots | Steelers | Titans | Raiders |
| NFC East | NFC North | NFC South | NFC West |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cowboys | Bears | Buccann ers | 49ers |
| Giants | Packers | Panthers | Rams |
| Redskins | Vikings | Saints | Seahawks |
| Eagles | Lions | Falcons | Cardinals |
