Not Tough Enough: Jaguars Lack Grit

With so much success and so much expectation, what’s happened to the Jaguars? Winning three games to finish the regular season in 2022 put the Jaguars in the playoffs and they looked like a team on the rise. A comeback playoff win against the Chargers at home and playing the Chiefs tough in Kansas City got everybody talking about the Jaguars going into last season as a serious post-season threat.

Starting 8-3 in 2023 validated those expectations as they looked like they’d run away with the AFC South title. Then something happened. Or maybe more accurately, nothing happened. It’s been since November 26th of last year since they’ve won a road game. Their only win came against an overmatched Carolina team here at home. And a loss to a bad Titans team in Tennessee eliminated them from the playoffs.

One win along the way and the Jaguars win the division again and show some character and toughness, much needed commodities if you’re going to compete in the NFL.

But the Jaguars don’t have that.

I’m not saying they’re bad guys, or bad players. But there’s something that’s obvious about a team in any sport that has grit, character, and in football, toughness. And honestly, I’m not blaming the players. They’re brought in for what they can bring to the field and there’s no question they have plenty of talent. They’re fast, they’re well-conditioned, and they know how to play football. But none of these players were brought in because of their leadership, or their toughness or their grit.

Just looking at previous Jaguars teams, there are players in their history you’d like to have on this roster. Leon Searcy was a good player and a big guy. But mostly, he was scary. “He’d go medieval on you really quick,” one of his teammates quietly told me from across the locker room. “If you were his size and his age, you still wouldn’t want to fight him.” John Jurkovic had that quality. Clyde Simmons, Lonnie Marts, Tom McManus, Paul Posluszny and even Gary Walker all had that quality. Tony Boselli might be the best example of what’s missing in the character and culture of the Jaguars. He’s in the Hall of Fame not only because he had talent and technique, but he beat guys down. Remember the wave to Jason Taylor on national television? Anybody on the current Jaguars doing that?

Calais Campbell might be the most high-character guy I’ve ever met among players in the NFL. But on the field? He was the toughest player I’d ever seen. Wait, wasn’t he a free-agent last year and visited the Jaguars? Yes, he was, but apparently when he met with Jaguars GM Trent Baalke, reportedly, Baalke asked him, “Why are you here?”

So maybe Campbell was on the back end of his career. And maybe his production would be down. But his presence in the locker room would be immeasurable. And on the field, he’d have the grit the Jaguars are missing.

Were they even in the discussion form Derrick Henry? That would have been money well spent, regardless of the price. Talent, and grit come in that package and it’s obvious every time he touches the ball.

Can a whole season turn on one play? When Travis Etienne fumbled on the goal line against Miami in the opener, the whole team folded. The next play they gave up an 80-yard touchdown. Teams with grit don’t do that.

But I don’t really blame the players. They are who they are, and they were that before they became professionals. So, when they were vetted by the Jaguars scouting department, they knew they weren’t gritty, tough guys. They knew they were talented football players. But did they have a high football IQ? Were they considered the tough guys on their teams? No, they were not. Acquiring Arik Armstead and Mitch Morse as free agents was supposed to show the young Jaguars how to prepare and be ready late in the season. But by the time the Jaguars get there, it looks like it won’t matter.