Grade the Offseason!

[iPwn]

We have officially reached dead season. From here until the start of the season, we likely won't see any additions or subtractions that will play large role in the team's makeup. With that in mind, before we get to see these guys in action, how would you grade the offseason we have had?

Coaches Lost
HC Jack Del Rio (midseason)
OC Dirk Koetter
ST Russ Purnell

Coaching Added
OC Bob Bratkowski
ST John Bonamego
HC Mike Mularkey
DC Mel Tucker (Retained, after being courted for head coaching jobs)

We also had a wide variety of changes at many other positions as well. Such is to be expected with a new coaching regime. For a full list, look here for last year's coaching staff, and here for the current staff.

Retained Free Agents
LB Russell Allen
RB Brock Bolen
S Courtney Greene
S Dwight Lowery
CB Rashean Mathis
CB William Middleton
DE Jeremy Mincey
DT C.J. Mosley
TE Zach Potter
K Josh Scobee (Franchised, unsigned)
OT Guy Whimper

Lost Free Agents
DT Leger Douzable
QB Luke McCown
CB David Jones
DE Matt Roth

Cuts
CB Drew Coleman
P Nick Harris
RB Deji Karim
WR Kassim Osgood

Free Agents Added
WR Lee Evans
QB Chad Henne
DT David Howard
WR Laurent Robinson
CB Aaron Ross

Draft
P Bryan Anger
WR Justin Blackmon
DE Andre Branch
CB Mike Harris
LB Brandon Marshall
DT Jeris Pendleton

I tried to get most of the relative key additions and subtractions. If I missed any big ones, let me know.

With that said, how did we do?

*in before it's too early to tell, or on paper every team looks better post*

I know I left out A-, B+, etc. But deal with it. I don't want 50 billion options.
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[jagman777]

We brought in some players that will definitely compete to improve this team. The biggest question IMO is the coaching staff, because it's up to them to salvage Gabbert and make him a franchise QB. We truly have no idea if they are capable of doing that as of yet, so it has to be an INC, but if I turn a blind eye to that unknown, I'd give us a solid B.
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[mikeyfarley]

I like what they did for the most part, but they did nothing with the 0-line. Re-signing Guy Whimper? Seems like he'll be the top backup at LT and RT again, so we need to hope there's no games missed by Monroe or Britton. I guess Spitz will be the top backup for all 3 int. line positions.

Would have liked another LB to compete with Session. Other than that they did a great job of addressing the teams needs.

Hopefully Mularkey does a good job improving the passing offense. The Jags should be able to have a winning season and make the playoffs with the schedule they have as long as there's no big o-line injuries.
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[McMorrow_922]

Great Offseason. I think Mularkey will be a big role in developing Gabbert. I really like are chances of becoming a contender this year.
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Adopt a JAGUAR

Laurent Robinson-

Marcedes Lewis-

[MJD4MVP5455]

I give the offseason a solid B+...we filled some needs but there is still room for improvement...the development of gabbert can make the offseason go up to an A or down to a C
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[sadjag]

[mikeyfarley]

[Its A Sabotage]

I'd say B...ESPN graded us an A scannerheadexplode.gif
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[JaguarCrazy2832]

[Adrenaline_Flux]

[MoJo122-b-21]

[iPwn]

The line was pretty good last year before the injuries and musical chairs at the positions.

Surprising though, as the season wore on, the run game heated up. Without looking up stats, I'm not sure how much that was the o-line playing better, or MJD just beasting.

And if Whimper's problems were partially tied to his injury, we could see things greatly improve from him.
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[Adrenaline_Flux]

I remember there being talk not long ago that part of the reason Gabbert held onto the ball too long sometimes was because guys were running the wrong routes too often and weren't where they were supposed to be. With the group improved and the coaches improved, I'd imagine that won't be occurring as often.
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Sig Credit: ChrisC21325

[McMorrow_922]

[Tugboat]

I'll give it a B- for the offseason.

They made the obvious changes and took steps to remedy some of the obvious holes, so that's good. Things definitely appear to be moving in the right direciton. But at the same time, it's hard to give huge credit on the housecleaning with the coaching staff, as: a)it was painfully obvious that it needed to be done, and b)i'm optimistic about the selections made, but i'll reserve paying credit for the decisions until i see what these new folks can put on the field.

The WR position also falls under the category of 'instant F if not significantly addressed' for me. So while Gene took some clear steps in the right direction, i'm hesitant to give too much credit there. I'll give credit for staying out of some of the silly money that got thrown around in FA, but i'm still not convinced the position is where it really needs to be. If Robinson pans out as a legitimate reliable #2 WR who can stretch the field, and Evans can bring something of value on the field, things look a lot better and i'll give it more than a marginal passing grade. But as it stands, i have my reservations about the weapons brought in, and whether it's enough. I'll give it a C+ sort of grade for now, but there is the potential for it to exceed that if things go exceptionally well on all fronts there. However, i'm more than a little bit skeptical when it comes to expecting an entire WR corps to exceed expectations...last year's debacle was a clear example of what happens when you expect everyone to be better than they've ever been before.

The DE need looks to have been at least partially addressed, but again, nothing exceeding expectations for me there. Just a passing grade on that, nothing more.

Keeping our own key free agents was good, but again...just a pass from me. With a leg up on keeping the guys and a boatload of cap space to work with, there was really no great reason for Gene to NOT retain these guys. If we'd lost some of the guys, those would be dings on the offseason grade, and by the same token, i'm reluctant to give a large amount of credit for retaining these guys.

The draft was a real mixed bag for me. The first 2 picks i liked quite a bit, but beyond that, not overly excited about it to be honest. The 3rd round punter pick is a big minus for me. High risk, relatively low reward pick there. If Anger does turn out to be an 'elite' punter, the pick is worth it...but anything less, and it's a big miss, and i'm just not at all sold on the idea that the upside is there when you're talking punters. The other later round picks seem alright, but there's nothing there that really wows me. So as a whole, not much more than a passing grade there from me.

The QB position is obviously looking like the biggest make or break position for this season, but i'm not going to credit any negative or positive there really. That's on Blaine Gabbert's shoulders, and i don't think it really falls under the jurisdiction of 'offseason grading'. They brought in a 'plan B' in Henne who is about as good as you could hope for given the circumstances, so i'll give a bit of credit there, but it's far from a major coup, bringing in an adequate backup plan for a young QB with a lot of questionmarks.

There are also a couple of noteworthy deficiencies that i still see there with this team that weren't addressed. First up is the O-Line depth. When healthy, our line looks pretty good, but there's just too little solid depth, particularly given the injury risk we've got there. I'm disappointed that more wasn't done to bolster the tackle position in particular.

I also would've liked to see something more substantial done with our RB position. MJD is great, but he absolutely cannot continue to see the sort of abuse he did last year, and i'm more than a bit wary of leaning entirely on Rashad Jennings returning to form and really lifting a big share of the burden coming off injury and a completely lost season like that. Especially when there was so much excellent value out there on the FA market and in the draft at the RB position. A 3rd useful and productive back would not have been the end of the world if Jennings does return strong and ready...on the other hand, if Jennings doesn't return strong...a lack of strong alternative options is a major problem.

A bit more depth at at LB and TE would have been nice as well. But those aren't huge issues.

As a whole though, it's a B- offseason for me. Gene did make clear strides towards improving the worst of our problems at WR, DE and above all, the coaching staff. But most of these changes are things that i considered 'MUST FIX' issues...the sort that you get an instant fail for not addressing. So it certainly looks like progress in the right direction, but it's just a passing grade of 'C' from me for not completely missing the mark. The draft is also fairly neutral for me, as is free agency where we largely just hung on to our own guys. Changing the coaching staff is a 'C' for me as it was absolutely blatantly obvious that it needed to be done, but i do like what i've seen and heard from the choices made, so i'll give a boost for that. Using precise mathematical calculations and whatnot, i'd say that brings it up to about a C+ or B- for me overall.