Ranking the 5 most important players on Jacksonville Jaguars' 2024 roster feat. Trevor Lawrence and Christian Kirk
The Jacksonville Jaguars suffered an extremely disappointing outcome last year, missing out on the NFL playoffs. In the season before, they advanced to the divisional round, so their regression was alarming. Despite all this, they still decided to make Trevor Lawrence the highest-paid quarterback by AAV in NFL history, tied with Joe Burrow.
The franchise's commitment to their quarterback clearly suggests that they still have a ton of faith in him. They will likely be expecting a return to the postseason this season and have a better overall performance than last year. If they are going to get back on track, here are the five most important players to their potential success.
Most important Jaguars for the 2024 NFL season
#5. Ronald Darby
Passing defense was one of the biggest issues for the Jaguars last season as they allowed the seventh-most passing yards per game. They brought in Ronald Darby to improve their cornerbacks and potentially help to solve their problem. If it works out for them, it could go a long way in improving their defense as a whole.
#4. Travis Etienne
The Jaguars enjoyed a 4-0 record last year in games that Travis Etienne received at least 20 carries. They similarly went 4-0 in games in which he scored multiple touchdowns and 2-0 in games in which he exceeded 100 rushing yards. If the team is aware of this glaring trend, it would make sense for them to feed their star running back more often during the 2024 NFL season.
#3. Christian Kirk
In his first year with the Jaguars two seasons ago, Christian Kirk set career highs in many different receiving categories. His numbers regressed last year, but that was partially due to the addition of Calvin Ridley as their new number-one receiver. With Ridley departing during the offseason, Kirk will need to step up again as Lawrence's most reliable target.
#2. Josh Allen
Josh Allen turned in the most productive year of his entire career at just the right time last season. He set a career-high with 17.5 sacks in a contract year, which resulted in him becoming one of the highest-paid defensive players in the NFL.
The risk with them doing so is that he recorded more sacks last year than he did across the previous three seasons combined, so he will need to prove that he was worth the massive investment.
#1. Trevor Lawrence
Despite his regression last year, Trevor Lawrence still earned himself a new contract that tied him with Joe Burrow as the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL at $55 million in AAV. He was one of the highest-rated quarterback prospects of all time when he entered the NFL, but he has failed to reach that level yet.
The Jaguars are showing their faith that he is still on his way there, so Lawrence will enter the 2024 NFL season with a ton of pressure on him to prove why he's worth the massive contract he received.