Breaking down the Jacksonville Jaguars training camp battles heading into 2024.
The Jacksonville Jaguars were thought to be a Super Bowl contender in 2023, but injuries and inconsistent play led to a late season collapse. There has been some roster turnover to try and get the team back on track. And heading into the 2024 season, these are the main Jacksonville Jaguars training camp position battles for 2024.
Running Back
There is no doubt that Travis Etienne is the starter and will get the bulk of the carries. However, the Jaguars need to find a second back to take some of the beating off of him. He had 74.5 percent of their attempts last year, but did not have the same effectiveness as in 2022. Etienne did not miss a game but only had two games over 100 yards. Watching him play, you could see he was dealing with injuries for long periods throughout the season. After Week 5, he only averaged over four yards per carry once.
In 2023, the Jaguars drafted Tank Bigsby to take off some of that pressure, but he only had 50 carries last year and struggled with ball security. The coaching staff has stated that they want him more involved, but if he is ineffective D’Ernest Johnson will take some of the touches. Reports have been that Bigsby looks good in OTAs but he will need to continue to show progress in Jaguars training camp. He will need to continue that strong performance going into training camp if he wants to secure the RB2 spot.
Wide Receivers
Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones are now replaced with Gabe Davis and Brian Thomas Jr. It is clear that the Jaguars wanted to get more vertical threats to help push the ball down the field. Jones was injured for much of the season last year and Ridley did not fit that role. With Davis and Thomas on the outside, a healthy Christian Kirk will work the middle of the field and hope to recapture his 2022 form.
I think the biggest battle will be for the fourth wide receiver position on the team. Doug Pederson has said he likes what he sees in Parker Washington, but he will have to hold off rookie Joshua Cephus and veteran Devin Duvernay. Washington had a good game against the Cincinnati Bengals but struggled the rest of his rookie season when replacing Kirk.
Offensive Line
The Jaguars brought in Mitch Morse at center in free agency, as Luke Fortner has just not panned out. Second-year player Anton Harrison seems to have the right tackle spot locked up, so what does that mean for Walker Little? Cam Robinson is slated for left tackle but the team needs to see more of Little to see if they will extend him. That battle I think is the most intriguing for the offensive line in training camp.
Defensive Line
New defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen comes in with a scheme that will employ mostly a four-man front. This will change how the Jaguars have lined up in the past, especially with Travon Walker standing up in an outside linebacker role. I think this will help him because it will bring him into a similar role he held at Georgia. A third pass rusher will need to emerge outside of Walker and Josh Allen, as that combo had 27 of the 40 sacks last year. Trevis Gipson was brought in to help but there will be competition with second-year player Yasir Abdullah.
The defensive tackle positions look to be occupied by veterans Roy Robertson-Harris and Arik Armstead. For depth, there will be a battle for playing time between Davon Hamilton and the two rookies out of LSU in Maason Smith and Jordan Jefferson. The defensive tackle position was very important in Nielsen’s scheme in Atlanta, so the depth at this position must be built.
Linebacker
Nielsen runs a multitude of different looks and that will especially affect how many linebackers will be on the field. There will be two linebackers in a 4-2-5, and they will be Devin Lloyd and Foyesade Oluokun, who were the two leading tacklers last year. When the formation changes to three linebackers there is a question of who that will be. My leading candidate will be Chad Muma because I think this defense fits his skillset. There is also Ventrell Miller in his second year out of Florida who will challenge for playing time.
Defensive Backs
Tyson Campbell had a disappointing year in 2023 dealing with injuries, but he is their top corner. The Jaguars need him to return to his form from 2022. They also brought in Ronald Darby and Darnell Savage. The talk in town is that Savage will be playing the nickel back position and possibly be utilized as a third safety. The Jaguars drafted Jarrian Jones out of Florida State who can play nickel as well. Depending on how quickly Jones can catch on I think Savage and Darby might compete for the second corner position opposite Campbell.
At safety, there is an interesting mix of players with Andre Cisco potentially having a guaranteed starting spot based on his play as a starter in 2023. Rayshawn Jenkins is now gone, so the other safety spot is up for grabs. The first to get a shot could be the hard-hitting Antonio Johnson out of Texas A&M. There will also be competition from veteran Andrew Wingard and newly acquired Terrell Edmunds. It will be interesting how the rotation plays out in training camp.
With a healthy Trevor Lawrence and a retooled receiving corps, I think the offense could be what people envisioned last year. The defense has tons of questions in the back seven but a change in philosophy hopefully cuts down on the big plays allowed. Because of that, training camp will be especially important for the Jaguars.
The season turned last year in the Bengals game where the defense allowed Jake Browning to do whatever he wanted. The AFC South is now a very competitive division but I think the Jaguars have the weapons to be right there till the end for the division crown.
Brandon Haye
Brandon grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and works as a health insurance data analyst. He has no children, but two fur babies - Squirt and Brownie. He and his wife, Katie, spend their time playing poker and enjoying time with their pups. Brandon is a huge Michigan Wolverine and Jacksonville Jaguars fan. He at one time was in 77 fantasy leagues and loves the game of football. Brandon started writing for The Leauge Winners in 2021.