NFL Fantasy Football Matchup Cheat Sheet: Jacksonville Jaguars
In NFL daily fantasy leagues, matchups are important. Pay attention to favorable matchups rather than the overall quality of individual players. It is better to select an above-average offensive player facing poor or average defense than an elite talent facing above-average or elite defense.
Each position in ranked according to one of these four ratings: Elite, Above-average, Average, and Poor.
Offense
QB Chad Henne, Blake Bortles: Poor
RB Toby Gerhart: Average
WR1 Cecil Shorts: Above-average
WR2 Allen Robinson, Marqise Lee: Average
Slot WR Ace Sanders: Average
TE Marcedes Lewis: Above-average
O-line: LT Luke Joeckel, LG Zane Beadles, C Mike Brewster, RG Brandon Linder, RT Austin Pasztor: Average
Blake Bortles is the wildcard here. He could sit out the entire season or he could look good in the pre-season and earn the right to start in Week 1. He will be an excellent quarterback in time, but his issues with throwing mechanics and footwork will hamper his rookie year production if he does take the field. Henne, who has never had a season in which he threw more touchdowns than interceptions, will start while Bortles develops and he is only a marginal upgrade to the dreadful Blaine Gabbert of recent years past.
Rookies Allen Robinson and Marqise Lee should develop into dangerous weapons, but adjusting to the NFL will limit their production to average in their inaugural season. Shorts is an underrated receiver and a cheap sleeper option you should consider taking on weeks when Jacksonville is playing a poor to average secondary.
Defense
CB1 Alan Ball: Above-average
CB2 Dwayne Gratz: Average
Nickel CB Will Blackmon: Above-average
Safeties: SS Jonathon Cyprien, FS Josh Evans: Average
Linebackers: WLB Telvin Smith, MLB Paul Posluszny, SLB Dekota Watson: Average
D-line: DE Chris Clemons, DT Sen’Derrick Marks, DT Roy Miller, DE Red Bryant: Above-average
Teams will be surprised by the strength of Jacksonville’s secondary in 2014: Gratz and Cyprien improved in the second half of 2013 and should only get better as sophomores, and Ball and Blackmon exceeded expectations and frustrated receivers all season long.
The pass rush should be improved as well with the return of Babin and Marks and the addition of Chris Clemons, who had a down regular season last year due to playing while recovering from an ACL tear. The Jags must believe his 4.5 sacks in the 2014 offseason, including a sack on Peyton Manning that forced a fumble in the Super Bowl, show he is now healthy.
Red Bryant will add an excellent run-stopping presence as a 5-tech defensive end. All these improvements lift the Jags D from the bottom of the rankings, but there are still no elite pieces here so they won’t progress to more than a league-average defense.
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