The Jacksonville Jaguars aren’t projected to do all that great this season by the national media due to losing a lot of veterans this offseason. The good people over at BetMGM aren’t too high on them either as the team is projected to win only five games.
Of course, the players on the Jags’ roster aren’t trying to hear the negativity. As the quarterback of the team, Gardner Minshew II especially is ready to prove the doubters wrong and believes his comrades will be motivated by those who believe the Jags won’t make any progress.
“I think it should put a chip on everybody’s shoulder on our team, know being kind of counted out like that,” said Minshew Thursday. “I think we do have a lot to prove, prove that we are not what anybody says about us, the only people that really know, the only peoples whose opinions matter is who is in that huddle, who is on that team and I think we are going to set those expectations for ourselves and not worry about what anybody else has to say about us.”
In addition to the veterans they’ve lost, one could certainly understand why the Jags are being doubted as they’ve only had one winning season out of Dave Caldwell’s seven-year tenure. Additionally, they could be without pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue, who is currently not seeing eye-to-eye with the front office.
Another concern that has been brought up by fans is the shortage of additions made offensively around Minshew. While the team did get tight end Tyler Eifert and drafted receivers Laviska Shenault Jr. and Collin Johnson, some are concerned about the Jags not adding a new starter on the offensive line. Sure, fourth-round pick Ben Bartch could be the No. 1 right guard but the team views him more as a project for now.
Regardless, Minshew seems very confident in the pieces around him. The reason for that is because the unit seems to be buying into new offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, who has a respectable track record with quarterbacks and young offenses. That said, if Gruden can tap into the Jags’ offensive potential, they could be well on the way to making a lot of people national pundits eat their words.