JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …
Matt from Rock Hill, SC
Zone. In the process of checking off every NFL stadium (one or two a year) and about to make the nine-plus-hour trek to MIA (Jags 6-2 in these games). I'm hopeful, but am I about to have a miserable drive back next Monday?
The Jaguars open the 2024 regular season against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., Sunday. The Dolphins are a difficult matchup – and not just because they made the playoffs as a wild-card entrant each of the past two seasons. They're a tough matchup for any defense because they are a high-powered offense with speed everywhere – particularly at wide receiver with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. It's also a potentially particularly tough test for a defense in its first regular-season game in a new system. That doesn't mean it's an impossible test. The thought here is the Jaguars' strength defensively is a front that includes defensive ends Josh Hines-Allen, Travon Walker and Arik Armstead and nose tackle DaVon Hamilton. That foursome from this view must win Sunday for your Monday drive to be pleasant.
Rob from St Augustine, FL
Atlanta has been using a 3-4 in recent years. So, when Ryan Nielsen joined us, I figured he'd keep our defense the same. What made him change schemes? Did he just believe our roster suited a four-man front better? Or is it possible he wanted a four-man front in Atlanta, and THEIR roster didn't support it?
The Atlanta Falcons ran a four-lineman front when Nielsen – now the Jaguars' defensive coordinator – was the coordinator there in 2023. The Falcons ran a three-lineman, four-linebacker scheme before that and have moved back to a 3-4 this season.
John from Jacksonville
There are no Jimmys or Joes on the Jaguars roster. Doesn't that mean it really is the Xs and Os?
It's a player's league. Players make plays. Players win or lose games. Play-calling matters. Executing plays matters more.
Brian from Round Rock
Will we ever know who is calling the plays this year?
Jaguars Head Coach Doug Pederson hasn't announced this yet. When asked about this Monday, he said, "You may never know." So we'll see.
Bill from Bostwick
I recall a question posted in the O-Zone during the offseason asking why a player's weight is not updated on the team's roster posted on the team website. It doesn't seem to ever change after what's posted prior to the player's rookie season. And I recall what seemed to me like a rather snarky O-Zone answer. Yet during the offseason I read Devin Lloyd being quoted as saying he put on around 12-15 pounds and was up to around 250 pounds as he transitioned to middle linebacker. And last week on the radio, Jeff Lageman laughingly scoffed at the fact Tyler Lacey was listed at 279 pounds on the Jaguars website roster. "He's easily 310-320 pounds, I promise you," he said. This week he had other comments on how Travon Walker was more like 285 pounds. Not the 272 he's listed at on the team website. I'm quite certain every player has their height and weight measured by team staff prior to each season. They seem to get a new headshot photo taken. That gets posted annually. Weights matter in professional football. How hard can it possibly be to have a roster each year posted with weights that may have/probably have changed – sometimes significantly – from the player's rookie season?
This is not a "team website" issue. Team websites reflect the team's official roster. Heights and weights rarely change on the official roster because teams have no incentive to update them. Fans wanting more detailed, updated weights isn't likely to change this.
Marcus from Jacksonville
I guess if we're going to be technical about it, special teams players should be the only starters. I mean, every game starts with a special teams play, so they are the first 11 guys on the field for every game.
Good eye.
SCOTT from Daytona Beach
When do they name the captains for this year?
The Jaguars named five captains Tuesday: Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, tight end Evan Engram, defensive end Josh Hines-Allen, linebacker Foye Oluokun and punter Logan Cooke. These are the permanent captains for 2024. Pederson will name a sixth captain each week, a selection that likely will draw criticism from Round Rock, Texas, as often as not.
Van from Nebo
Sorry, I didn't mean they should have kept Shatley. I understand their reasons. My point was the way they handled it. Knowing he was planning to retire after this season, it would have been easier to accept had they given him the option to go ahead and retire instead of just letting him go. It left a sour taste in my mouth.
It is the nature of the NFL that "perfect scenarios" to end careers aren't always possible. Former Jaguars center/guard Tyler Shatley was at the point of his career after 10 seasons that he wanted to play a bit longer if possible. The Jaguars like Shatley very much as a backup option if necessary. When Shatley didn't make the 53-man roster, the Jaguars released him. That doesn't necessarily mean Shatley never will play in the NFL again, so there was no reason yet for him to retire.
John from Jax
Hi, KOAGF. Two comments regarding some O-Zone posts. First, ironic how special teams players aren't "starters" when the football game itself doesn't "start" without the opening kickoff, a special teams play. Second, this concern about releasing Shatley on what may be his final season is odd because what happens if we kept him on the roster to make him feel good and then he wants to play again next season (and the next). We must remember that football is a game disguised as a business.
First, I guess it's ironic that special teams aren't starters. I suppose I would lean toward common sense and say the players who start the game on offense/defense are starters. Second, I don't want to portray this ongoing O-Zone Shatley discussion as unfeeling toward him. Shatley's story is one of the most impressive in franchise history. He's a player who carved out a 10-year NFL career after signing with the team as a collegiate free agent. The Jaguars didn't release him as an insult. Players don't play forever and yes … it's a business.
Donut from Saint Johns
Excited for the new season to start soon! Had a thought when I read your special teamers listed as starters question. Is it ironic that the part of the team not listed as starters actually does start every game?
John meet Donut. Donut meet John.
Jason from North Pole, AK
The most recent depth chart seems to indicate that Chad Muma will start over Devin Lloyd when there are only two true off-ball linebackers on the field. I am glad we have some depth, but it seems like a guy we spent a first, fourth and sixth-round pick on being outplayed by a third-rounder rounder seems bad.
Muma and Lloyd are listed on the Jaguars' unofficial depth chart with an "or" between them at will linebacker. Multiple other players on the Jaguars' defense are listed in this fashion. I don't know that this indicates anything other than either could start and that who plays may depend on the situation.
David from Orlando, FL
KOAF - I bet there are fans of all 32 teams that truly believe, with a little luck, their team could win the Super Bowl – which is statistically true, so, there is a chance. After about a month, reality sets in and half of those fans will curse their team and vow never to get fooled again! It just cracks me up how some fans are so delusional thinking their team will win it all because it is so obvious to me that the Jacksonville Jaguars are the team of destiny and will be crowned as champions of the world!!!
You go, girl.
Matt from Section 133
I have no idea why this thought came to me, but it made me feel old: this is the first season since 2010 that Blaine Gabbert isn't on an NFL roster. Those heady days when we drafted him and the future was bright seem like a million years ago, don't they?
The Jaguars selected quarterback Blaine Gabbert No. 10 overall in the 2011 NFL Draft. This was in the middle of the 2011 lockout. I had just joined the Jaguars as the senior writer and the Jaguars were staring at the first of six consecutive losing seasons, but at the moment he was drafted there were moments that seemed at least undark. And it was a ways back. I wasn't young, but I was younger. That's true of many moments from my past.
Josh from Jacksonville, FL formerly of Longview TX
You would be lucky to have Scobee sense ... just saying.
Define "lucky."
