Jacksonville Jaguars: Josh Allen, Nick Foles turning heads

The Jacksonville Jaguars were in contention for the AFC two years ago. Their moves to get Nick Foles and Josh Allen could revive those AFC hopes.

Two seasons ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars came within an inch of beating the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game.

It didn’t happen, of course, and the Jaguars were back in the top 10 of the NFL Draft in 2019.

They were also left with major question marks at the quarterback position. After investing in Blake Bortles following his 2017 season, the Jaguars had to bite the bullet and get out of his contract so they could start fresh at the position.

The Jaguars, of course, ended up signing veteran Nick Foles, a Super Bowl MVP with the Philadelphia Eagles the same year the Jaguars were in the NFL’s version of the Final Four.

Foles has history with new Jaguars offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, the Eagles’ QB coach when Foles was the Super Bowl MVP there.

The offense the Jaguars will run will obviously be second nature to Foles, making this transition from Philadelphia to Jacksonville pretty much seamless. In his first preseason action of the 2019 season, Foles led the Jaguars down on a very good-looking touchdown drive, capped off by a touchdown pass to Dede Westbrook.

For the Jaguars, some predictability at the quarterback position will be a welcomed addition, even if Foles isn’t ‘spectacular’ every single week. He really doesn’t have to be. Their defense is going to get him a few extra opportunities with the ball more often than not.

Speaking of the defense, the second half of what is one of the most impactful duo of additions made this offseason is edge player Josh Allen, the Kentucky superstar who ‘fell’ to the seventh overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

The Jaguars probably didn’t go into Thursday night of the draft thinking they were going to get this kind of upgrade off the edge.

https://twitter.com/Jaguars/status/1164696371934326784

Allen has made a number of splash plays like this throughout the preseason and was particularly good against the Dolphins, but look at him throwing guys around against the Eagles.

https://twitter.com/Jaguars/status/1162201073072799746

This is a huge couple of pickups from a team that carried Blake Bortles to the AFC Championship game just two years ago. Allen is going to be a problem with all of the other talent on that Jaguars defensive front, and Foles is obviously going to bring some stability and a spark to the offense.

Dede Westbrook went so far as to say he’s what the Jaguars have been ‘lacking’.

This could be a huge bounce back year for the Jags thanks to these two guys.