The Jacksonville Jaguars didn’t just make noise at the NFL trade deadline - they changed the conversation around their entire season.
Under coach Liam Coen, the Jaguars added star defenders Jessie Bates III and Jordan Davis in a record-setting deadline stretch, and the moves have pushed the team into a new tier of attention. Jacksonville was also tied to Jalen Carter before ultimately striking the Davis deal, a move that had fans doing a double take.
Pat McAfee took notice on The Pat McAfee show and on ESPN’s College Gameday, framing the Jaguars’ aggressive approach as the payoff for a plan that’s been building for a while.
“Trevor Lawrence has been stupendous, he has been everything we hoped he would be coming out of Clemson, when they were saying he was maybe the next John Elway or Andrew Luck. You find the right coach, find the right motivator, good things start to happen, and that's been Liam Coen…They've been waiting, and waiting to go all-in…Now they add Jessie Bates III, who (has) a Hall-of-Fame resume, you get Jordan Davis from the Eagles moments ago…They're goin' all-in.”
He didn’t stop there.
“They've given up a lot, but they can see it, they can say it, and the AFC South and the NFL as a whole might be in trouble.”
Jacksonville earned a strong grade for the Bates III move and now turns its attention to seeing how the new pieces fit on the field. That could start Sunday, November 15, in Tennessee against the Titans.
With Coen’s group now loaded up for a push, the Jaguars are being talked about like a team built for a run to its first-ever Super Bowl since joining the NFL in November of 1993. McAfee said it, and Jaguars fans are thinking it too.
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