The Jacksonville Jaguars ended up being one of the NFL's more disappointing teams in 2023. After taking a significant step forward in Year 1 of the Doug Pederson era, the Jags stagnated and ended up missing the playoffs despite playing in arguably the NFL's weakest division. They lost five of their final six games to blow a sizable lead in the AFC South, with the lone victory coming against a horrendous Panthers team that won just two games all year.
Nevertheless, the Jaguars are thinking big when it comes to what they can accomplish in the 2024 campaign. At least, linebacker Devin Lloyd is.
"Expectations never change. It's the Super Bowl every year," Lloyd said, via WJXT4, the local NBC affiliate. "I think, obviously, last year, everyone talked about starting off 8-3 and finishing 1-5. For us, that's always going to be in the back of our minds, but we have nothing but the highest expectations. We've been working a little bit differently as far as not following the philosophy of expecting different results, doing the same thing.
"So, I would expect different results this year. We've changed things up a little bit for the better. I'm really just excited. We've got all the right pieces in place. OTAs went well. So really, you find out in training camp what type of team you are, and I look forward to getting out there and competing, competing with the guys, having a lot of fun, and really just getting better."
The Jaguars are essentially expected to be a league-average team in 2024. Their over/under of 8.5 wins is tied for 14th in the NFL, and their +4000 Super Bowl odds are tied for 15th. They even have an average strength of schedule, tied for 14th-easiest in the league, via Sharp Football Analysis. Those figures don't exactly scream Super Bowl expectations, though internal and external expectations will obviously always be different.
To reach Lloyd's goals, the Jags will have to show significant improvement on both sides of the ball. They need to finally fulfill the promise of the Trevor Lawrence era, and they likely need to make a jump up into the top 10 on the defensive side as well. Lloyd will have a role to play in the latter effort, but the former is likely more crucial to the team's ultimate success.
