The Jacksonville Jaguars have at one point or another held a top five pick in the NFL Draft in each of the last five years, which means that the team hasn't been winning a ton of games recently. The last time Jacksonville finished above .500 was in 2007. But this year, owner Shad Khan has said that "everybody's reasonable expectation" for the 2016 season is a winning record.
Does that mean fourth-year head coach Gus Bradley must reach that expectation to keep his job? General manager Dave Caldwell says no.
"I think, for us, we've always targeted year four and year five in this building of this team," Caldwell said. "We wanted to make good, safe, sound decisions and build a foundation for the first three years, and then take a little bit of risk this year going into year four. You saw that with the Myles [Jack] pick and some of our free-agent acquisitions, and we're making a push for it.
"Coach Bradley and his staff, they do a great job and I think we just have to show improvement, continue to show improvement. I don't know what that looks like in the wins and loss columns, but I expect good things and our best football is ahead of us."
Bradley has gone just 12-36 in his first three years as head coach, and the upcoming season was the last on his contract before the two sides agreed to a one-year extension. While quarterback Blake Bortles and the Jacksonville offense took a major step forward in 2015, Bradley's future will be decided by the improvement (or lack thereof) of the defense.
The Jaguars surrendered the second-most points in franchise history (448) last season and a franchise record 449 in 2013. Under Bradley, Jacksonville has recorded the fewest interceptions in the NFL (26) and ranked second to last in scoring defense (27.3 points per game) and third down defense (43.8 percent) and 29th in total defense (375.0 yards per game).
However, this year's offseason additions may stop the bleeding. Pass-rusher Malik Jackson and free safety Tashaun Gipson were signed in free agency, while Caldwell invested six of his seven draft picks in defensive players, including cornerback Jalen Ramsey and linebacker Myles Jack. In addition, last year's first-rounder Dante Fowler Jr. will be returning from an ACL injury.
"We always have high expectations and I think that the expectations in this building is this is what we had hoped for, to keep building the roster through the draft, add some free agents to our current roster, and we'd feel like our roster would keep getting better and better with each year that we've been doing it," Bradley said. "And we're to this point right now, so to me it' great. That's what we'd hoped for, that you'd say, 'Hey, this is a good roster and the expectations, well, that's what we had planned.' When we put this thing together, we felt like at this time, this is the type of roster that we'd have, so it's a good thing."
Follow Brandon Katz at @Great_Katzby
