By: Peter DiPaola
According to our polls at Sideline Journalists the Denver Broncos are the best destination destination for a head coaching position.
My vote was for the Jacksonville Jaguars, while Denver has a stout defense and weapons on offense at the wide receiver position, the Jaguars have plenty of talent themselves. In 2015 Blake Bortles was second in passing touchdowns behind Tom Brady, Bortles did take a step back in 2016 as he was in the middle of the pack (tied for 15th) in touchdown passes. That can be linked to Blake Bortles and former offensive coordinator Greg Olson not agreeing on an offseason quarterback coach between the 2015 and 2016 seasons. The Jaguars will be hiring a brand new coach this offseason which hopefully will mean that Bortles will get the help he wants. It is a good sign that he cares about getting better since he wanted to improve and get better with a coach that could help him improve.
Of course Bortles is not the entire offense, they do have Allen Hurns, Allen Robinson and Marqise Lee at wide receiver along with Julius Thomas and Marcedes Lewis at tight end. The backfield features Chris Ivory and T.J. Yeldon, so whoever ends up coaching this team will have plenty of talent on offense at their disposal to coach up and help Bortles and the offense grow in 2017.
Defensively the Jaguars were 6th in total yards allowed, 5th in passing yards allowed, 25th in points allowed and 19th against the run in 2016. They will have to work on the scoring defense and the run defense as well as their pass rush, the Jaguars were tied for 19th in sacks with 33. Jacksonville's defense allowed just 20 touchdown passes in 2016 (tied for 5th best in the NFL), the only downside to their pass defense is that they ranked dead last in interceptions with just 7. However as mentioned they were top 5 in touchdowns allowed which is great.
There are some kinks to work out on both sides of the football, but when you consider the talent of this team and the division they play in (AFC South) this team could possibly make the playoffs in 2017 with the right tutelage. Denver is not a shabby place to be a coach, but in Denver the offensive line needs fixing, the quarterback spot is still a question mark, the running game struggled as did the run defense. Cornerbacks Chris Harris and Aqib Talib could be free agents at the end of 2018 and DeMarcus Ware could retire.
The upside is that Denver does have two solid receivers and great secondary, if Talib and Harris walk when they become free agents this team could have completely different look and would give whoever the coach is a short time to win games or possibly lose his job. Denver also in a tough division that is the AFC West and they could be on the outside looking in again in 2017.
*ALL STATS ARE FROM WWW.NFL.COM*