What is SI's Bold Prediction For the Jaguars in 2024?

If the Jacksonville Jaguars see Ryan Nielsen turn the defense around and into one of the AFC's best units in 2024, that would be seen as a riveting success.

Right?

That ultimately depends on team success, with Sports Illustrated's latest 2024 predictions for each team showing that a win in one area may not equal a successful season.

For the Jaguars, their prediction is simple: Nielsen transforms the defense into a top-10 unit, but it isn't enough to become one of the AFC's seven playoff points.

"I’ve written this in multiple posts and told other mediums at this point. Hiring Ryan Nielsen was the best nonhead coaching move of the offseason, and not just for Jacksonville. For every team," SI said. "Nielsen will unlock the raw, amoebic potential of this defense, though I am not optimistic that Jacksonville will consistently outplay the Colts and Texans en route to a playoff berth."

Simply put, the Jaguars can't afford to not make the playoffs in 2024. Missing the playoffs for the second year in a row -- and doing so after back-to-back winning seasons -- would show that the Jaguars' trajectory is either in neutral or pointing downward.

For Trevor Lawrence's fourth season, that simply can't be the case. By this point in Lawrence's career, the Jaguars should be able to put enough around him on both sides of the ball to be a playoff team.

If the Jaguars are a top-10 defense and miss the playoffs at the same time, that likely means Lawrence and the offense didn't take a step forward after an uneven 2023. And if that is the case, then the Jaguars will have plenty of questions to answer about general manager Trent Baalke and head coach Doug Pederson.

"It’s not going to do me any good to sit up and here and tell the world what we view as our key needs. At the same time, we know what we need to do," Baalke said last month.

"Again, this isn’t a team that finished 2-15. We finished 9-8, one game out and it’s not good enough. I get that. It’s not a team that needs to be a total overhaul. There’s good players in that locker room. There’s good coaches in this building. There’s good personnel people. We have what we need in this building, we just got to add some more to it.”