NFL insider speaks on Jacksonville Jaguars Trade Deadline plan

If you aren’t taking the Jacksonville Jaguars seriously as a potential Lombardi Trophy winner, you absolutely should be.

They solidified their playoffs chops by reaching the postseason a year ago in Liam Coen’s first as a head coach, quarterback Trevor Lawrence is quietly going to end up in the MVP conversation, the defense has real bite and probably hasn’t played its best football yet, and this is a highly motivated team to still make something happen by this week’s trade deadline for a multitude of reasons. Oh, and they have the easiest remaining schedule in the NFL and have a very real shot to secure the bye in the AFC and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

"It’s the best team in the league no one is talking about," is how one longtime NFL personnel exec put it who has evaluated their film. "That’s a very dangerous football team."

One general manager said of them: "Yeah I buy them as a Super Bowl (contending) team."

Arguably, no team in the NFL is better fortified for the second half of the season. The Jags played successive games in London (and suffered a rare loss in one of them, to a desperate Texans team), but since then had a bye, then basically didn’t have to play their starters against the Colts in Week 8 (42-7 win) and could take most of the second half off Thursday night at Baltimore (Ravens playing a third-string QB), in a 33-10 win.

And as I mentioned, outside of a meeting with the Bears they don’t face much competition the rest of the way and can bully AFC South foes. Entering play Sunday, the Jags had a +106 scoring differential, twice as good as any other team in the conference, and a +14 net TD differential, that was best in the NFL.

Only Joe Burrow (Bengals) had a better passer rating than Lawrence (111.7); Jacksonville can pound teams on the ground and are top five in explosive pass plays and the kind of balanced attack that plays well in January. Oh, and they are also holding opposing passers to an 80.1 rating, top six in the NFL – the combination of that kind of QB play coupled with the ability to mitigate the opposing QB is special (8 TD passes allowed to 11 interceptions – best in the NFL).

We can quibble about the level of competition they have faced, and will face, but this coaching staff quickly became as respected as any in the NFL. And there is room for growth. No can run on them – 3.7 yards/carry – but they lost star defensive tackle DeVon Hamilton for the season and are looking for help. And internally, there was a sense they had given up too many big plays and could use someone else to help them rush the passer.

"They want to make something happen (at the deadline)," the GM said. "I think they add a piece (on defense)."

The Jaguars are up against some unique forces, to further fuel their sense of urgency.

They basically do not have a home stadium next season with massive construction underway and will play all their games away from Jacksonville. Good luck with a Super Bowl season then, especially as they will be playing a first-place schedule next year. Owner Shad Khan has brought nothing close to a winner since purchasing the team and while everyone focuses on salary cap – which is highly fungible – the Jags are only 25th in cash spending this season; Khan could take on real salary if he chose to and there is an expectation around the league that he will.

Defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile has a very real chance to become a head coach, and Coen’s offensive staff could get plundered by other teams too. These opportunities don’t always come around, and I get the sense from within that organization that none of this is lost on them. There is no super power in the AFC right now, and really not in the NFL.

Fear the Jags. This might finally be their time.