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2024 Jaguars offseason blueprint revolves around building 'bigger,' 'stronger' trenches
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- 2024 Jaguars offseason blueprint revolves around building 'bigger,' 'stronger' trenches
Changes will be made to both the offensive and defensive lines for the Jacksonville Jaguars this offseason.
Not only will there likely be different personnel, but perhaps there'll be changes with players already in-house, too.
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That, at least, is what Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke has alluded to in what is seemingly his offseason proclamation.
"We've got to get bigger, we've got to get stronger, we've got to get more physical in the trenches," Baalke said at his end-of-season press conference in January.
The Jaguars will have multiple opportunities to address whatever they feel are the team's biggest needs through the draft or via free agency. The first clue has been planted, and it's clear that Baalke feels the team must, first and foremost, get bigger and stronger to improve.
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"We've always prided ourselves on being able to do that; run the football, stop the run. For whatever reason, we weren't able to do that. I think there's a lot of moving parts to that. I don't think it's just player-related, I don't think it's just scheme-related," said Baalke.
"We've got to get bigger, we've got to get stronger, we've got to get more physical in the trenches. If you want to compete for championships, you have to do that. I think we've got some good pieces in there, we have some good young players in there, but we have to get better."
What getting better exactly looks like will be part of the puzzle the Jaguars will have to solve this offseason.
Still, as Baalke alluded to multiple times during his end-of-season press conference , something has to change and there are multiple paths forward to doing that.
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Jaguars strength and conditioning program could evolve
The weight room is shown Tuesday, July 18, 2023 at the new Miller Electric Center at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. Selected guests and media witnessed speeches, a ribbon cutting and tour of the new facilities. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]
It's almost a cliche to bring up a team's strength and conditioning program when the players are often injured or generally don't look physically strong.
There's some merit to that at certain levels of football, but very rarely will the program be a major swing one way or another. Still, there's at least a little impact and a program can tip the scales one way or another.
There won't be any changes to the strength and conditioning program in terms of personnel in Jacksonville, Baalke said, but he did say they might have to change how they go about some aspects of the program.
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"I think we do an excellent job in the training staff, the human performance department as a whole. We've just got to do some things a little bit differently. We've got to push some narratives a little stronger," said Baalke.
"It's tough to get these guys competing against each other in that weight room, but that's where we're going. It's got to be a year-long competition. It's got to be a focus of ours to get stronger, to get more physical, to play the game at the level you need to play it to win in January and February."
Baalke's words indicate that perhaps the program will evolve to become more competitive, leading to — what the team hopes — a stronger player base.
Cedric Scott currently heads the program as the team's Director of Strength and Conditioning. He's been with the team for 13 seasons and just finished his second season as the director of strength and conditioning after being promoted in 2022.
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Jaguars free agency and 2024 NFL Draft should revolve around the trenches
Jacksonville Jaguars offensive line coach Phil Rauscher talks to players during the first day of a mandatory minicamp Monday, June 12, 2023 at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Fla. This is the first of a three day camp June 12-14.
With the Jaguars' edict of getting bigger and stronger now underway, the team must go full-steam ahead this offseason to achieve that goal.
Though it sounds nice on paper for the Jaguars to improve what they do in the weight room, that ultimately won't matter much. For the most part, strength training programs and facilities around the league are nearly universal. There won't be a major swing one way or another, but it could tip the scale if used correctly.
What will tip the scale one way or another this year, in real-time, will be Jacksonville's course of action through free agency and the NFL Draft.
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The Jaguars currently have nine draft picks this year, but they'll potentially add two compensatory picks due to what they didn't do in free agency last year and lose one pick via the Calvin Ridley trade . The Jaguars could lose a third-round pick (pick No. 96) or they could lose their second-round selection (pick No. 48) depending on what they do with Ridley in free agency.
Though they shouldn't utilize all of their draft picks on offensive or defensive linemen, it's not unreasonable to say that at least four or five early picks should be in that direction.
Jacksonville will have to make headway during free agency to upgrade players on both sides of the football. For example, they'll have to decide on left tackle Cam Robinson one way or another and they could have to decide if keeping Foley Fatukasi is worth it, too.
The Jaguars cannot put together another year in which they finish the season losing five of their final six games, giving up 146.8 yards in those losses, and rushing for only 96.8 yards per game through 17 contests. In their final three games, the Jaguars averaged just 91.3 yards on the ground, ranking 26th in the league.
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If there's any promise they'll need to follow through on to compete for the Super Bowl, it's this one.
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82 .
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars offseason will focus on trench building, getting bigger
