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JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – JANUARY 11: Trevor Lawrence #16 of the Jacksonville Jaguars runs out prior to the AFC Wild Card Playoff game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Buffalo Bills at EverBank Stadium on January 11, 2026 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Mike Carlson\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> spent most of last season trying to make people believe.<\/p>\n That plea has apparently been settled.<\/p>\n Bleacher Report ranked Jacksonville No. 8 in its NFL power rankings entering training camp<\/a>, placing the Jaguars ahead of established contenders including the San Francisco 49ers<\/a>, Detroit Lions<\/a>, Baltimore Ravens<\/a>, Green Bay Packers<\/a> and Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Writer Gary Davenport offered an even stronger declaration.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Jacksonville Jaguars are a Super Bowl contender,\u201d Davenport wrote.<\/p>\n Jacksonville entered last season coming off a 4-13 record, with questions surrounding nearly every important part of the organization.<\/p>\n The Jaguars now enter training camp carrying top-10 expectations and the belief that their next meaningful step should come in January.<\/p>\n The climb from rebuilding team to playoff team happened quickly.<\/p>\n The next one will be considerably harder.<\/p>\n Lawrence Has Given Jaguars a Contender\u2019s Foundation<\/p>\n The reasoning for a deep Jacksonville playoff run begins with Trevor Lawrence<\/a>, who delivered the best season of his career during Liam Coen\u2019s first year.<\/p>\n Lawrence finished with 4,007 passing yards, 30 touchdown passes and nine rushing scores. His 38 total touchdowns established a franchise record<\/a> and ranked third in the NFL.<\/p>\n The Jaguars\u2019 offense followed his improvement.<\/p>\n Jacksonville scored a franchise-record 474 points and 55 touchdowns. The offense finished sixth in scoring at 27.9 points per game and fourth in scoring margin.<\/p>\n The most persuasive stretch came after the team\u2019s Week 8 bye.<\/p>\n Jacksonville went 9-1 over its final 10 regular-season games and averaged 32.8 points during that span<\/a>.<\/p>\n That run removed much of the uncertainty surrounding Lawrence\u2019s place among the AFC\u2019s better quarterbacks. He looked comfortable in Coen\u2019s system and protected the football late in the season, producing when Jacksonville needed him most.<\/p>\n The defense supplied balance.<\/p>\n Bleacher Report noted that Jacksonville finished eighth in points allowed and led the NFL<\/a> in run defense. The defense and offense feed off each other, and the Jaguars enjoyed a more complete profile than an offense-dependent team with overly reliance on Lawrence.<\/p>\n Jaguars Must Prove Last Season Changed Their Standard<\/p>\n Bleacher Report\u2019s ranking also identified the concerns that will follow Jacksonville into camp.<\/p>\n The Jaguars lost Travis Etienne<\/a> Jr. in free agency, leaving questions about how the offense will replace his touches. They need Brian Thomas<\/a> Jr. to rebound after his production declined sharply from his Pro Bowl rookie season.<\/p>\n There is also the ongoing question of how Jacksonville will use Travis Hunter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hunter primarily played wide receiver during an abbreviated rookie season. He\u2019s likely to spend more time at cornerback in 2026<\/a>, where his athleticism could help a secondary that remains one of the team\u2019s more uncertain areas.<\/p>\n The larger challenge involves expectations.<\/p>\n Jacksonville will no longer surprise opponents with Coen\u2019s offense or Lawrence\u2019s improvement.<\/p>\n Teams have an entire season of film to study, and the Jaguars will carry the pressure of defending an AFC South title and showing that their late-season surge was sustainable.<\/p>\n Their playoff loss also raises doubt.<\/p>\n Jacksonville earned a home game after winning 13 times, then watched the Buffalo Bills<\/a> end its season with a 27-24 wild-card victory. The Jaguars proved they could reach the postseason but fell flat once they arrived.<\/p>\n Ranking Jacksonville eighth puts the franchise in unfamiliar company and raises the standard before the first padded practice.<\/p>\n The Jaguars are done with the days of trying to stay relevant enough to sneak into the playoffs.<\/p>\n This year, they are being asked to play like a team capable of reaching the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDuncan Day<\/a> is a sports contributor for Heavy. He has covered NFL, NBA, hockey and soccer for various outlets, including NBC Sports, Boston.com, USA TODAY, Forbes, Bleacher Report, The Dallas Morning News and more. More about Duncan Day<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – JANUARY 11: Trevor Lawrence #16 of the Jacksonville Jaguars runs out prior to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-337010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}