Jaguars Rank No. 16 in Sports Illustrated's Post-Draft Power Rankings

The Jaguars land in the middle of the pack in SI's latest rankings.

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson speaks during a press conference Friday, April 26, / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA

It doesn't appear the Jacksonville Jaguars will have to worry about reading their own press clippings this offseason.

Last offseason, the Jaguars were nearly unanimously picked as the eventual AFC South winner. Most outlets had the Jaguars pegged as a top team in a stacked AFC and had quarterback Trevor Lawrence projected as the team's first-ever MVP candidate.

The Jaguars obviously never reached those heights, losing five of their last six games after an 8-3 start and missing the playoffs completely. And there were more than a few occasions that Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson noted that perhaps his team read into their own hype too much.

That shouldn't be a problem this year, as reflected by Sports Illustrated's post-draft power rankings. The Jaguars land at a mostly respectable spot at No. 16, but they seem more like an afterthought among the AFC than anything else.

"Jacksonville disappointed me a bit, although I don’t know what the team’s private pre-draft evaluation of Brian Thomas Jr. looked like. Getting a top target for Trevor Lawrence has obviously been their goal for three consecutive offseasons, which made it seem like a move up to the top 10 for either Harrison, Nabers or Odunze would have made the most sense (it would seem like Atlanta was willing to move down, given the pick). Instead, they let WR4 come to them, which, again, may end up working out given what they thought of Thomas," SI's Conor Orr said. "I like the selection of a placekicker (Cam Little) deep in the draft in hopes of developing one. The back end of this year’s talent pool was poor, and so kicker becomes a value spot if you get the pick right."

The Jaguars rank in the top-half of the league, but also rank No. 10 in the AFC and No. 3 in the AFC South behind the Houston Texans (No. 11) and the Indianapolis Colts (No. 14).

"It’s no joke the AFC South got better, so we got who we got in the locker room right now and that’s who we’re going to take to war with us. If we want to be able to come out on top in the AFC South, all of us are going to have to get better," Jaguars linebacker Foyesade Oluokun said last month.

"We can’t squeak by in games we’re not playing well. The team that plays the best in the conference is going to be able to win these games. I don’t really care what the roster looks like, when you go in on Sundays, you play better than the other team and you win, that’s got to be us playing better. So let’s get better every day so that when we’re there on Sunday, we have the confidence that we know we can play.”