Jacksonville Jaguars

Inaugural season: 1995

Home field: EverBank Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida

Owner: Shahid Khan

Team colors: Black, teal, gold

Overview

The Jacksonville Jaguars is an American football team that plays in the South Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) of the National Football League (NFL). The team is one of the more recent additions to the NFL, playing its inaugural season in 1995.

Despite its relatively small television market, Jacksonville had a long football history before landing the Jaguars franchise in 1993. In addition to hosting the annual Gator Bowl, a postseason college football game, the city had long hosted an annual college football game between the Universities of Georgia and Florida. This event is called the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party." On a professional level, Jacksonville had previously been the home of teams in the World Football League (1974–1975), the American Football Association (1977–1983) and the United States Football League (1984–1986). Like many growing southeastern cities, Jacksonville was often a rumored destination for unhappy NFL teams looking to move to greener pastures. However, while Jacksonville made overtures to several franchises, the city failed to finalize any deals.

Beginning in the late 1980s, Jacksonville began to organize a campaign to gain an expansion franchise. Backed by several prominent state politicians, the city's efforts were realized in 1993 when the NFL chose Jacksonville over such larger cities as St. Louis, Baltimore, and Memphis to gain the league's thirtieth franchise. The new team was chartered under the principal ownership of Wayne Weaver, the owner of shoe chains Nine West and Shoe Carnival. Although the team struggled in its inaugural year, it defied all expectations by becoming the quickest expansion team to reach the playoffs. In its first five years, the Jaguars were an astounding 53–35 in all games, boasting a .603 winning percentage, nine playoff appearances, and four playoff wins.

The team has struggled since its incredibly hot start in the team's first half-decade (1995-2000). It reached the playoffs only nine times between 2000 and 2024, collecting four wins. Since its founding in 1995 through 2023, Jacksonville's playoff record stands at an even 8 wins and 8 losses. Despite these difficulties, the franchise is still a very valuable property for owner Shahid Khan. Forbes estimated the Jaguars to have a net worth of $4.0 billion in 2024.

History

Jacksonville seemed like an unlikely destination for an NFL franchise. It lacked the prestige and name recognition of other cities in Florida. Still, with a metropolitan population of over 1.5 million, it was the fourth-largest city after Miami, Orlando, and Tampa and the biggest city in the state's northern half.

Jacksonville was initially one of eleven cities vying for the NFL's two announced expansion franchises, although it was considered a longshot to win. When pitching its viability as an NFL city to executives, Jacksonville officials noted the city's growth potential, its potential natural rivalries with other Florida franchises in Miami and Tampa, and its lack of a major league franchise in any sport. However, the city lacked a suitable NFL-ready stadium and, if selected, would have been the fourth-smallest metropolitan television market. Ultimately, the city offered a $121 million commitment to renovate the existing Gator Bowl, and in what was the first expansion of the NFL since 1976, Jacksonville joined the Carolina Panthers as the league's newest teams.

Weaver allowed the fans to choose the team's nicknamehe Jaguars triumphing over the Sharks, Stingrays, and the Panthers. The Panthers was the name eventually selected by the new Carolina franchise. Weaver hired Tom Coughlina former position coach in the NFL and the head coach of Boston Collegeto be the team's first coach. Jacksonville participated in the 1995 NFL Expansion Draft, which included all NFL players who the existing franchises had not protected. The Jaguars chose journeyman quarterback Steve Beuerlein of the Arizona Cardinals with the first pick. The Jaguars added such players as offensive lineman Tony Boselli and quarterback Mark Brunell in the 1995 NFL Draft. Both would prove to be key players in the Jaguar's early success.

The Jaguars played fellow expansion team Carolina in both teams' first NFL games in a preseason match at the Hall of Fame stadium in Canton, Ohio. The Panthers won 20–14. The Jaguars's first official game came a month later at home against the Houston Oilers. In front of more than 72,000 fans, the Oilers triumphed 10–3. As was to be expected, this first season was difficult for Coughlin as he struggled to form a cohesive team from the veterans picked up in the Expansion Draft and free agency with the rookies selected in the NFL Draft. As a result, the Jaguars did not pick up their first win until game five, when they won a rematch with the Oilers at the Houston Astrodome 17–16. Although the Jaguars finished 4–12 overall, the season was a roaring success from a franchise perspective. The team attracted more than 66,000 fans for every home game, with most games featuring attendance near the 72,000-person capacity of the Gator Bowl.

Despite the uneven performance of the Jaguars and Panthers in their first seasons, it was apparent that both teams had greatly benefitted from the NFL's new Expansion Draft system. The Jaguar's four wins were an NFL record for an expansion team. However, the Jaguars quickly surpassed this achievement in an incredible second season, when the team went 9–7 in the regular season, becoming the quickest NFL expansion team ever to reach the playoffs. In the postseason, the Jaguars upset the heavily favored Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos to reach the AFC Conference Championship. The dream season, however, ended at the hands of the New England Patriots 20–6.

The Jaguars built off their championship run in 1997, recording an 11–5 record and the second of four consecutive playoff appearances. In 1998, they won the AFC Central Division for the first time with another 11–5 campaign, again losing in the first round of the playoffs. The 1999 season would be another magical one for the Jaguars, as they won a team-record fourteen games, giving them the best overall record in the NFL in only their fifth season. Unfortunately, their season ended earlier than expected when they lost to the Tennessee Titans 33–14, just one game shy of the Super Bowl.

The Jaguars suffered through an injury-plagued 2000 season, beginning a five-year run of mediocrity in which they could only muster one winning season, a 9–7 campaign in 2005. Weaver fired Coughlin in the middle of this stretch after finishing 6–10 in 2002. Overall, Coughlin led the team to a 68–60 record in eight seasons. Jack Del Rio replaced Coughlin as head coach. While Del Rio could not recapture the magic of the late 1990s, he guided the Jaguars into two playoff appearances in 2005 and 2007. In 2007 the Jaguars reached the AFC Conference Championship for the third time, where the New England Patriots defeated them on the road 31–20. After middling campaigns in 2009 and 2010 and a poor start to the 2011 season, Del Rio was fired after eight and a half seasons.

Within days of Del Rio's firing, Weaver announced the team's sale to Khan on January 4, 2012. Khan, a self-made Pakistani-born American billionaire, paid the team an estimated $760 million. As his first decision as owner, Khan selected Mike Mularkey as coach, an experiment that only lasted one season when the team went a disappointing 2–14. His successor, Gus Bradley, fared little better, going only 14–48, and was fired toward the end of the 2016 season after the team started 2–12.

Bradley was replaced by Doug Marrone, the team's offensive line coach. Marrone led the team to a 1–1 finish in 2016 as interim coach and was rewarded with the full-time head coaching job before the start of the 2017 season. Marrone was able to manufacture a quick turnaround, guiding the Jaguars to a 10–6 record in 2017 and an AFC South championship. Entering the playoffs for the first time since 2007, the team upset the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road 24–20 in the second round. The Jaguars faced the New England Patriots for the third time in the AFC Conference Championship. New England again blocked the Jaguars' path to the Super Bowl by winning a close game in Boston 24–20. For the 2018 season, the Jaguars started hot, winning three of their first four, including a revenge win over the Patriots in Jacksonville. However, a seven-game losing streak in the middle of the season doomed their postseason chances, and they finished a disappointing 5–11.

Since 2019, the Jaguars have mostly fielded sub-par teams. Under coach Urban Meyer's one-year tenure (2021), the Jags were revealed to be a dysfunctional organization. Although Meyer had achieved incredible success at the college level, including multiple national championships, his leadership and management styles quickly put him at odds with his players. His staff selections were also controversial. Meyer's tenure got off to a poor start and never recovered. After starting the 2021 season 1-12, Meyer was fired in December of that year. Meyer managed to draft Trevor Lawrence as a quarterback, who had had a standout college career. Lawrence became the face of the franchise in the early and mid-2020s, as he and the team showed steady improvement. In 2022 and 2023, the Jaguars went 9-8 in each of these seasons under coach Doug Pederson. The 2022 team qualified for the playoffs, where they beat the Los Angeles Chargers before losing in the Division round against Kansas City. The 2023 season ended in disappointment as the team failed to reach the playoffs.  

Notable Players

As a relatively young franchise, the Jaguars have had only one player named to the NFL Hall of Fameleft tackle Tony Boseli (1995-2001) inducted in 2022. The Jaguars have a team-based award called the Pride of the Jaguars. Seven members, including Boseli, hve been honored. Others include running back Fred Taylor (1998–2008), who rushed for 11,271 yards and sixty-two touchdowns over his eleven seasons; quarterback Mark Brunell (1995–2003), the team's all-time passing leader and a three-time Pro Bowler; and wide receiver Jimmy Smith (1995–2005), an important part of the team's championship runs in the 1990s. Two members also include the original owners of the JaguarsWayne and Delores Weaver. Tom Coughlin was inducted in 2024 after serving as the team's first coach.

Other notable former Jaquars players include Maurice Jones-Drew (2006–2013), an undersized 5'7" running back ranking second in career rushing yards and third in career receptions as of the end of the 2018 season; defensive linemen Marcus Stroud (2001–2007) and John Henderson (2002–2009), who anchored the team's defensive line for almost a decade and combined for fifty-one sacks; wide receiver Keenan McCardell (1996–2001); and linebacker Daryl Smith (2004–2012).

Bibliography

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Hanley, Liam. "Ranking 10 Greatest Jacksonville Jaguars of All Time. MSN, 16 July 2024, www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/ranking-10-greatest-jacksonville-jaguars-of-all-time/ar-BB1q2m0k. Accessed 22 July 2024.

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