The Jacksonville Jaguars have a lot of work to do this offseason, but their top priority might already be clear.
Yes, the Jaguars still have to navigate contract situations for Josh Allen and Calvin Ridley. Yes, they have to find a way to get out of several bloated contracts. And yes, they need to attack free agency and the draft to ensure they take a step forward after remaining stagnant in 2023.
But none of these are what the top priority should be. Instead, that priority is a reflection of their biggest failure of 2023: an inability to protect Trevor Lawrence. This offseason, the Jaguars need to ensure they don’t get a repeat result.
After making it through his first two seasons with minimal injury scares, Lawrence was legitimately walking wounded for much of 2023. Lawrence sustained four different injuries this fall that forced him to miss valuable practice time and play in several games with injuries: a knee injury in Week 6, an ankle injury in Week 13, a concussion in Week 15, and then finally a shoulder injury in Week 16 that forced him to miss his first-career start.