Jacksonville Jaguars Players Analysis

David Garrard:
2 years ago, Garrard had a really nice season and everyone thought he was primed for a breakout last year. Unfortunately, his o-line got absoutely wrecked, and in the process, so did his candidacy for breaking out. This year, the Jags brought in 2 promising rookie o-linemen (Monroe and Britton), get healthy vets back, and even have great backups like Tra Thomas should something bad happen. Garrard also gets an extremely reliable target in Torry Holt. Expect top 15 numbers with relative consistency and very few boom weeks.


Torry Holt:
He's getting old, but he's still reliable. Long gone are the high reception days and even the high TD days, but Holt makes for a fine vet if the rest of your WR corps is young guys. I like comparing him to a Donald Driver and a Hines Ward in that you likely know what you're getting: low upside, but low bust possibility. Holt is one of the best, if not the best route runner in the league, so he knows how to get open despite his age, and you can bet Garrard will look his way with regularity. Consider Holt a low WR2 or good WR3.


Maurice Jones-Drew:
Ahh, MJD. I have a bunch invested in him this season (he's in pretty much all my important league), but that was half-fluke thanks to high draft picks. Anyways, I have MJD pencilled in as the #2 overall pick in non-PPR, and #1 overall pick in PPR for several reasons. A big one is the o-line upgrades that I mentioned in the Garrard blurb. The second big reason is that as you all know, Fred Taylor has gone to the Pats (holler!), leaving MJD to see a nice increase in touches. I've seen concerns that he won't be able to handle a full load, but every RB in the game has injury risks in some way, and he's more than proven he's a capable RB. Smaller RBs (ie Slaton) have also recently performed well. I'm not foolish enough to think he'll get 325+ carries, but 2,000 total yards and 12-18 TDs are well within reach. Consider that last year he was the RB6 with a bad o-line and an RBBC. He's scored almost 40 TDs in 3 years in the league, has caught at least 40+ passes per year, has averaged at least 4.2 YPC per year, and at least 8.1 yards per catch per year. You want consistency and a non-bust from your RB1 (ask Addai owners last year), and I think MJD is up there with Peterson in terms of safety. Consider me sold.


Marcedes Lewis:
Lewis came along slowly last year. He offers nice size at 6'6", and since Matt Jones is gone, might see a couple more touchdowns. 550+ yds and 4+ TDs aren't out of the question, so he can be targeted as a pretty low TE1 in deep leagues or a TE2 in any format.


The Jaguars D is one I'm avoiding this year.They were a bottom 6 D last year, and only 2 of their draft picks were defensive. Pass.


Potential sleepers:
Ahh, now we come to the fun part about the Jags. You'll notice there's very few players you'll want on your starting rosters from the team, but boy oh boy is there potential abound for your 20 teamers and deep dynasties. I'll start with my favorite, Mike Walker. This guy has had the tools to get it done in the NFL for awhile now, but always seems to get bitten by the injury bug in some way. The 2 games he was fully healthy last year, he put up 11 receptions and over 150 yards. Of course, 2 out of 16 games won't cut it in fantasy leagues, but someone to monitor in redrafts and dynasties alike, as he has the starting gig as long as he's healthy. The Jags also have 3 very promising rookies in Mike Thomas, Jarrett Dillard and Tiquan Underwood. I'm very interested in seeing how they do in camps and preseason, but for now, dynasty league material only unless Holt or Walker gets injured. Thomas and Dillard project as slot receivers, while Underwood is more of a deep threat. And it's not like Troy Williams is any good, so they should get their shots. Zach Miller is buried in the TE depth chart (make sure you draft the Oakland Miller and not this one btw...don't make a mistake), but there are some whiffs of him potentially producing in a few years. Lastly, Chauncey Washington, Greg Jones and Rashad Jennings are all competing for MJD's backup spot. At this point, none of them are likely worth a handcuff, but Jennings is someone to keep an eye on in dynasties (he's the most intriguing to me, and the staff seems to like him). Jones and Jennings will likely compete for goal-line carries this year if MJD does go down, but this isn't guaranteed 'til we see what happens come Week 1.