Jacksonville Jaguars stock up, stock down

Projected to repeat as AFC South champion in 2023, the Jacksonville Jaguars didn’t have to do as much roster tinkering as their other three division foes did this offseason. Here are four Jaguars players whose stock is trending either up or down:

Stock Up

Calvin Ridley, WR: Despite missing all of last season because of a suspension, Ridley hasn’t looked like a player who last played on Oct. 24, 2021. Reports out of OTAs indicate that his speed, explosiveness, route running and ability to get open are as sharp as ever.

Trevor Lawrence made Christian Kirk (84 receptions, 1,108 yards, eight touchdowns) look like a Pro Bowler and Zay Jones (82 receptions, 823 yards, five touchdowns) look like a bona fide No. 2 option, so imagine the year Ridley, who’s just two seasons removed from a 90-reception, 1,374-yards, nine-touchdown season, will have in 2023. 

Ridley's presence as both a big-play threat (he averages 13.5 yards per reception) and as a WR who sees a high volume of targets (328 through his first three seasons) could legitimize the Jags as a top-five passing offense. They ranked 10th last season.

Doug Pederson, head coach: Jacksonville had won just 15 games in the four seasons before Pederson’s arrival, finishing in last place in the AFC South each season. In his first season, Pederson led the Jaguars to a six-game improvement in the win column and their fourth playoff win since 2000 and delivered just the fourth division title in franchise history.

Year 2 was when Pederson led the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory, and while that’s a bit unrealistic to expect in Jacksonville this season, the first double-digit win season since 2017 is very much a realistic goal. With franchise cornerstones Lawrence, Travis Etienne, Josh Allen and Travon Walker in place — and all 25 or younger — Pederson has the Jags poised to run the AFC South for quite a while.

Stock Down

Cam Robinson, OT: Slated to miss the beginning of the 2023 season for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy, Robinson forced the Jaguars’ hand in the 2023 draft as they took Oklahoma offensive tackle Anton Harrison with the 27th pick. And although Pederson has said Harrison will play right tackle, the team’s only other options on the left side are Walker Little, who played 341 snaps at LT last year, Ben Bartch, Chandler Brewer and Cole Van Lanen, who have a combined 27 starts among them.

If Harrison breaks camp as Jacksonville’s left tackle and plays well, it may be hard to justify rocking the boat and moving him just to insert Robinson back in his former spot. While Robinson likely isn’t in danger of losing his roster spot, he could lose his starting job on the left side.

K’Lavon Chaisson, DE: In three seasons, Chaisson has failed to live up to the billing as the No. 20 overall pick from the 2020 draft. He has 60 tackles and three sacks, and he’s never logged more than 29 pressures or 20 hurries in a season.

With Allen and Walker setting the edges and Roy Robertson-Harris leading the charge at defensive tackle, the 2023 season could be Chaisson’s last as a Jaguar if his pass-rushing production isn’t anywhere close to at least average.