2019 Jacksonville Jaguars Odds to win the Super Bowl with Expert Betting Predictions

The Jacksonville Jaguars were such a pleasant surprise in 2017, winning their division while scoring the second most points in the AFC and allowing the fewest. It's led many suckers, including me, to think that they would be a respectable team last year, too. Unless 5-11 and the second worst offense in football meets your standards for respectable, that definitely was not the case. Now the team is at a crossroads. They have had a solid offseason, but they need to improve or things could get ugly in Jacksonville.

Jacksonville Jaguars Coaching

That 10-win season was Doug Marrone's first in charge of the team. But all the good will from that was lost last year, and Marrone enters the year on one of the hotter seats in the league. He has a new offensive coordinator in John DeFilippo, who disastrously ran the Minnesota offense last year, but was previously the QB coach for the Super Bowl-winning Eagles that featured new Jaguar starter Nick Foles.

Jacksonville Jaguars Quarterback Situation

Everything is mostly new here. Starter Blake Bortles is gone - probably a couple of years too late. To replace him, the team paid some serious cash to Nick Foles. He has been sound in replacement roles, but I am skeptical that he is a true starter in this league - not a great one, anyway. He can be better than what they had without issue, though. Tanner Lee, last year's sixth-round pick from Nebraska, was the third-stringer last year behind Cody Kessler, but he will be vying for the backup role this year alongside Gardner Minshew, this year's sixth-round pick out of Washington State. It's not the best QB room in the league by any means, but it is an improvement, and will have a good chance to be adequate as long as Foles is healthy.

How The Jacksonville Jaguars Improved

Aside from the upgrade at QB, there are some things to like here. Josh Allen from Kentucky was a great first-round pick and has a chance to be very disruptive in an already sound pass rush for this team. And second-round pick Jawaan Taylor should be able to step in at right tackle and help an offensive line that needs to be good because the management really seems to want this to be a power running team, and the running game has lots of room for improvement.

How The Jacksonville Jaguars Got Worse

Linebacker Telvin Smith is taking the season off for personal reasons, and that leaves a massive hole for this team on a defense that they are going to have to rely on. The receiving corps is a long way from the most explosive with Marqise Lee and Dede Westbrook as starters, and Terrelle Pryor has people around the team more excited than they should at this point. They feel like a receiving corps with a lot of guys who would be scary good third options, but not much more. And they lack both the big receiving threat at tight end despite some changes there, or a running back who catches anything that a lot of contenders have. It doesn't feel like the offense is quite keeping up with the times.

Jacksonville Jaguars Schedule Analysis

They open against Kansas City, then play at Houston before hosting Tennessee. That's just brutal. They get no runway to break in their new guys and could easily be in a big hole both overall and in their division before things even barely get started. Their trip to London this year sees them play Houston, which is followed by a bye week and then two road games, so they go more than a month from Oct. 27 to Dec. 1 between home games at a time in the season when things can start to be decided. Not ideal. And two of their last three are on the road, too, which complicates a stretch drive if one is to be had. All in all, this is far from a great schedule.

2019-20 Jacksonville Jaguars Betting Odds and Trends

BetOnline has the Jaguars at +3300 to win the Super Bowl, which has them tied with Baltimore and Seattle, and behind 16 other teams - including two in their division. That is, at best, where you would place a fringe playoff contender. They are the third choice to win the AFC South at +550, well behind favored Indianapolis as well as Houston, and not far ahead of Tennessee. They set the season win total at 7.5, with the "over" slightly favored. Bovada has the "no" at -290 when asking of the Jaguars will make the playoffs. Josh Allen is tied with two others as the fifth choice to win Defensive Rookie of the Year at +1600.

2019-20 Jacksonville Jaguars Predictions and College Football Picks

This feels like a middle range season - not nearly as good as 2017, but not as bad as last year, either. The offense will be closer to competent but not good enough to truly contend. And some personnel drama on defense will limit their potential somewhat. The schedule doesn't help, either. I see seven or eight wins, and a new head coach for next year - not that this is all Marrone's fault.

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