NFL insider speaks on Jacksonville Jaguars trades and Super Bowl contention

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).

Whether you think one overpaid or not in trade, the reality is that won't be known until we see how far they go in the playoffs. Yes, they gave up premium draft capital for Eagles run-stuffing tackle Jordan Davis. The Jags believe he will provide some pass-rush push, too. Either way they have restored their rotation of bodies up front and made a serious response to losing Hamilton. The addition of veteran safety Jessie Bates gives them more cover on the back-end of the defense and should help lock down their deep coverage and eliminate the big plays.

The moves were decidedly bold, they doubled down on the defensive line as we thought they might and remember, Coen and some members of their front office come from the Rams organization - they won a Super Bowl in no small part via blockbuster trades that gutted them of some future top draft capital - "F Dem Pick," with something of the motto at the time.

It won't always result in a Lombardi Trophy, but that is the intent.

"They got better right now, no question about it," said one longtime NFL general manager. "And they'll worry about the draft down the road. You can see (Rams head coach) Sean McVay's influence."

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.