Welcome to Fantasy Six Pack's 2022 Fantasy Football Jacksonville Jaguars Team Preview!
Jacksonville won the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes in 2021. What followed was a circus that I doubt anyone could have predicted. A championship-winning coach was fired mid-season (arguably not soon enough), injuries abounded, and it was a lost season as soon as it started.
Which led to Jacksonville getting the first overall pick the second year in a row. Though they didn't add much to the offense via the draft, spending most of their draft capital on defense. They opted to use free agency to improve their offense, spending big money on Arizona wide receiver Christian Kirk and adding Zay Jones, Evan Engram, and Brandon Scherff.
Jacksonville also made a switch to Super Bowl-winning coach Doug Pederson, formerly with the Eagles in 2020. A coach with NFL success and experience should be a vast improvement over Urban Meyer.
Hopefully, an improved situation and roster turns things around for the Jaguars and their fantasy options in 2022.
2022 Fantasy Football Jacksonville Jaguars Team Preview
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Quarterbacks
- Trevor Lawrence
- C.J. Beathard
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There is hope for Trevor Lawrence in 2022. Lawrence suffered through one of the worst seasons statistically and situationally in recent memory. No player should have to endure what the Jaguars did last year. But, it's a new year.
Last season Lawrence completed 59.6% of his passes for 3641 yards, 12 TDs, and 17 interceptions, and finished as the fantasy QB23 according to FantasyData. His touchdown rate was all the way down at 2.0%. In 2021 QBs threw a TD on about 4.4% of passes on average. It was not good, to say the least.
Why bring up the bad when I started with "there is hope"? A few things. Everyone got hurt last year. Travis Etienne, James Robinson, DJ Chark, Dan Arnold, Carlos Hyde, and Jamaal Agnew all went down. He had Marvin Jones and Laquon Treadwell to lean on by the end of the season.
And that 4.4% TD rate I mentioned? I'll be shocked if he doesn't end up around that mark with the FA additions and improved situation in 2022. Things are looking up for Lawrence his sophomore season.
Running Backs
- Travis Etienne
- James Robinson
- Snoop Conner
In college, Etienne was a bell-cow back, accumulating nearly 5000 rushing yards and 1155 receiving yards in his four years at Clemson. The debate of who would lead the backfield in Jacksonville in fantasy draft season was intense, only for it to be all for nothing when Etienne suffered a Lisfranc injury and missed all of 2021.
But Etienne is back and healthy in Jacksonville. While James Robinson recovers, Travis will be the starter, with rookie RB Snoop Conner likely spelling him. HC Doug Pederson does prefer an RBBC approach, so expect multiple backs to be used, even when it's just Etienne and Conner.
When healthy, Robinson will take back the number-two role and these two will be a nice one-two punch. Even with the committee approach, I think Etienne is an RB2 this year with the potential for more, providing value at his ADP of RB26.
Wide Receivers
- Christian Kirk
- Marvin Jones
- Zay Jones
- Laviska Shenault
- Laquon Treadwell
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Christian Kirk is coming off of his best pro-season to be the top target for Trevor Lawrence. Kirk played all 17 games for Arizona last year, averaging 12.2 PPR points per game, finishing as the WR26. If Lawrence can improve, I can see him finishing back up as a high-end WR3/low-end WR2 once again.
In spite of everything, Marvin Jones finished as the PPR WR34 in 2021. Jones should continue his role on the outside along with former Las Vegas Raider Zay Jones. Marvin has been a productive receiver and locker room presence throughout his career, and I doubt that stops now. During the last month of the 2021 season, Jones had more targets, receptions, and yards than breakout receiver and fellow Raider Hunter Renfrow.
Marvin and Zay project to be the numbers two and three on the team, Marvin having the best chance to repeat as a WR3. More than likely he will finish in the WR4-5 range with Zay Jones riding the waiver wire. I doubt we see the Laviska Shenault breakout, as much as we wanted it to happen.
Tight Ends
- Evan Engram
- Dan Arnold
Of these two, I prefer Dan Arnold. After Arnold joined the Jags against Cincinnati and before his injury, weeks 5-10 he was the TE8 in PPR. Arnold is a good player just hadn't been in the right place at the right time. Jacksonville provided an opportunity. I think he deserves the start over Evan Engram, but there's an argument for him too.
Engram has extreme athleticism but has struggled recently. In his first three years in the NFL, he was a top TE in points per game, never outside of TE7. However, in his last two seasons, he has been a TE2 or TE3 in ppg. Part of that is due to his former team, the New York Giants, lack of scoring. They've had 27 receiving touchdowns in the past two seasons combined.
Both of these guys have the potential to be valuable fantasy assets. It's just a matter of which one it is. Like I said above, my money is on Arnold.
Final Thoughts
A lot of this depends on if the Jaguars can improve. Given how bad last season was and the upgrades they've done to the team, I don't see why they can't. There's nowhere to go but up. The stars don't have to align for there to be fantasy assets on the team, such as Travis Etienne and Christian Kirk. But, just how many more names we can add to the list of productive players hinges on Lawrence's development.
That will do it for our 2022 Fantasy Football Jacksonville Jaguars Team Preview! We at Fantasy Six Pack have a lot more coming to prepare you for your fantasy drafts, so stay tuned!
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