The Free Agency story is annually a popular feature in our preseason magazine, and it's a good one to reference for all the other stories; which teams have seen the most turnover since the end of last season. The NFL Draft is yet to come, but Jacksonville looks like one of the March winners.
"Winners" at least in terms of adding the most players, that is. Jacksonville will feature new offensive starters at seven or eight positions, four of which are high-priced free agent additions. Three other projected starters are in-house replacements for departed, released or retired starters from a year ago. The clown show that was the first and only year of the Urban Meyer Era is being swept out.
But: It's still the same GM, Trent Baalke, handing out the contracts. At a glance, I see only one spot that's definitely improved from 2021. Two if we're including Evan Engram, which is reasonable, and three if we're confident that Christian Kirk and the Joneses is a better wide receiving trio than Jones, DJ Chark and Laviska Shenault.
| JACKSONVILLE OFFENSIVE STARTERS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Position | 2021 | 2022 | Note |
| QB | Trevor Lawrence | Trevor Lawrence | Even Baalke couldn't mess up this pick |
| RB | James Robinson | James Robinson | Tore Achilles in Week 16 |
| RB | Carlos Hyde | Travis Etienne | Etienne may need to start in Week 1 |
| WR | Marvin Jones | Christian Kirk | Paid like No. 1 |
| WR | DJ Chark | Marvin Jones | Jones now 32 years old |
| WR | Laviska Shenault | Zay Jones | Shenault potentially traded |
| TE | James O'Shaughnessy | Evan Engram | Former Giant will be busy |
| LT | Cam Robinson | Cam Robinson | Franchised two years in a row |
| LG | Andrew Norwell | Ben Bartch | Probable downgrade |
| C | Brandon Linder | Tyler Shatley | Early draft pick likely |
| RG | A.J. Cann | Brandon Scherff | The one clear upgrade |
| RT | Jawaan Taylor | Walker Little | Last year's 2nd-rounder likely starter |
Looking at it laid out like this, there are a lot of questions in the midst of all the turnover. Will the offensive line be better at more than one spot? Will Robinson be healthy at the start of the season? Is Kirk a legit No. 1 wideout?
I'm a Trevor Lawrence fan, and I'm OK with the Kirk and Engram additions, which should give him more receiving weapons. Doug Pederson will be an upgrade from Meyer strictly by not embarrassing himself with some verbal or off-field misstep on a weekly basis. Those are the positives.
But the offensive line is a question mark, and Cam Akers' return from a torn Achilles in six months shouldn't be seen as the rule (and Akers wasn't impressive in the postseason). I wonder if the team won't struggle again, and be looking for a new GM (and some more new players) a year from now.
--Andy Richardson