All football fans know that the deficit of football between the Super Bowl and the start of preseason is made slightly better by the weekend of the NFL Draft, giving everyone a little taste of what's to come. Fans all riled up because their team didn’t pick who they wanted, or they just look confused as the names become less known to them. But they all band together to give the NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, a loud and proper boo-ing that he usually deserves. However, all that is about to change for the better.
Today starts the upswing of emotion as preseason is finally going to kick off with the Jacksonville Jaguars squaring off against the Las Vegas Raiders in Canton, Ohio for the Hall of Fame game. Does this game have any implications on either team's regular season record? No, but supporters of these two teams get to see their draft picks in action finally, as well as all the signings, and trades that have happened in the offseason. I am most excited to see how Devante Adams will fare with Hunter Renfrow, Darren Waller, and Josh Jacobs, who have all been outstanding targets for Derek Carr. In years past, Carr would be able to spread the ball to anyone who, and those guys could very easily have the best performance of the week at their position. Now with one of, if not, the best WRs in the league in the mix, it will be interesting to see how Carr will distribute throughout the game. Carr knows the timing and strengths of each of his current teammates, and who can get him the necessary yards in the Raiders system, but Adams played with Carr in college and is an exceptional route runner with tremendous hands. With Devante signing to the team, it’s easy to overlook the addition of Chandler Jones on paper, but no one should forget about his abilities. Jones, who was on a strong Cardinals defense, had 10.5 sacks (5 in week one) and now will join Maxx Crosby (8 sacks last year) to give offensive lines nightmares. I have a strong feeling that a healthy Raiders squad can easily make a rather deep playoff run, but may run into problems with the Chiefs and the Bills in the postseason.
For the Jacksonville Jaguars, the off season featured a lot of free agent signings, as well as the first overall pick in Trayvon Walker. There were a lot of fans, Jags and not, who were not impressed with the pick and thought Aiden Hutchinson should’ve gone first. I personally believe that Walker is the better choice and the better player that they need down in Duval. As for their offense, Trevor Lawrence is gaining a significant increase in talent from last year’s roster in many different places. The Jaguars have signed, or are activated, a new skill position player in all but one spot, as Marvin Jones Jr. will return as a WR. The new WRs that will be joining Jones Jr. this year are Christian Kirk from the Cardinals, and Zay Jones from the Raiders. Both of these players were overshadowed on their previous teams, Deandre Hopkins and Hunter Renfrow respectively, had an occasional good game to help their teams win. Another addition that falls into a similar category is the new TE Evan Engram from the Giants. Engram was never a standout player, with the exception of his first season where he tallied 722 yards with 6 TDs. All of these additions have their work cut out to show that they possess the ability to be a reliable target and have it mean something when they drop the ball or come up short. The final piece here is the activation of Travis Etienne after he was injured in a preseason game last year. Injuries are tough to overcome, but he was a strong runner for Clemson and has played with Lawrence who can help him back into his role. There was a lot of additions of players, but none really stood out, besides Trayvon Walker, and those other players are mediocre at their position. It seems like the Jags are hoping for a lot of decent players over one great player, which is a bold strategy and we will soon see if it pays off.
I know this is just a preseason game and there are no implications on the regular season, and a majority of the star players won't even step foot on the turf to play a down. However, with all of this said, football is football and we are going to see plenty of hits, scores, spectacular catches, and so much more in the weeks to come. Football is back!