JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There’s only one ball. Who’s going to get it? In Doug Pederson’s world, that’s a good problem to have.
The Jaguars pass catching group is as talented as its been in quite some time. Christian Kirk and Zay Jones had very strong first seasons with Jacksonville. Tight end Evan Engram set the franchise record for receiving yards in a season. And, oh, by the way, the team traded for a potential No. 1 wideout in Calvin Ridley, then added a playmaking tight end with a second-round draft pick (Penn State’s Brenton Strange).
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Add all of that potential in with quarterback Trevor Lawrence delivering them the ball and the possibilities are far greater than what the team saw in 2022.
“I think having really three guys like we do, dynamics of three guys, it’s hard to take a guy like Calvin or Christian or Zay, even Jamal [Agnew], off the field,” Pederson said during organized team activities Tuesday. “But at times, you’re going to have to do that to create matchups, to create situations that can be advantageous for an offense for us.”
Receiver has immense upside, potentially the best in franchise history. That’s not a stretch to say. The Jaguars have only had receivers reach 1,000 yards receiving in a season 17 times in 28 years of play.
Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell are responsible for 13 of those. Smith last played in the league 2005 and McCardell in 2007.
That pair also turned in four seasons where they both eclipsed 1,000 yards, the last time coming in 2001. Only once since then have two Jaguars receivers surpassed 1,000 yards in the same season (Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns in 2015).
Kirk had his career high in receiving yards last year (1,108) and Jones wasn’t that far behind (823). Engram, who isn’t at voluntary OTAs, had 766 receiving yards and four touchdowns in his first season with the team. All three of those players are entering their second season in the same offense and Pederson said that expected jump is the exciting part of what’s ahead.
“I just think that all of our second-year players with us, just the confidence they have within the scheme on both sides of the ball and even on special teams,” Pederson said. “You just see that confidence in all these guys and their leadership ability to take in the young guys and coaching young guys on the side that’s what I see when they’re out there.”
The addition of Ridley is perhaps the biggest storyline for the offense, and the main reason why this core of Jacksonville receivers could emerge as the best in franchise history.
He’s missed roughly a year and a half of football due to a mental health break and then a gambling suspension. Jacksonville made a deal for Ridley at the trade deadline last year. Ridley was reinstated by the league last March and has looked very good during workouts. Pederson said that the Jaguars have tried to ease Ridley into the mix because of his time away from the game, but his excitement is easy to spot.
“He hasn’t played ... in a while because of the injury and, you know, so just trying to be careful with him,” Pederson said. “He’s done an outstanding job for us. .. He’s the type of guy that you have to kind of pump the brakes with. He wants to go so much and so fast and so hard out there in practice that we just kind of have to pump the brakes and just tell him, ‘Hey, now’s not the time.’”