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Jacksonville Jaguars Have Sneaky Value To Win the AFC South

By Donnavan Smoot

Indianapolis Colts v Jacksonville Jaguars
Indianapolis Colts v Jacksonville Jaguars / Sam Greenwood/GettyImages
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Now that Matt Ryan is in Indianapolis, everyone thinks the Colts are just going to walk all over the AFC South. Our guy Iain MacMillan even thinks Ryan will play so well that he’ll win the MVP. 

I don’t agree with that, and I don’t agree with the notion that the Colts will have a cake walk to the division title. They will have to fight the Jacksonville Jaguars to get there. 

It may sound ridiculous now, but the Jaguars have the pieces to get to the top – making their betting value intriguing to me. 

WynnBET has the Jaguars’ odds to win the AFC South at +600, behind the Titans at +145 and the Colts at -110. 

First off, the Titans are set to regress without Julio Jones and A.J. Brown there. Treylon Burks could be a great receiver, but asking him to do that from Day 1 is a big ask. On top of that, Ryan Tannehill took a step back last season, and could be in line for another season of regression. 

Now to the Jaguars. Jacksonville got Urban Meyer all the way out the building, which has to be worth a few wins on its own. The Jags replaced him with Doug Pederson, who coached a backup quarterback to a Super Bowl victory. Pederson has the best quarterback prospect from last year’s draft and still has time before his career takes a turn for the worst. 

Jacksonville has also improved both its offensive and defensive lines, while adding three new pass catchers. This is an offensive unit that has weapons and a young quarterback who can grow with them. 

The main area where the Jaguars can improve is in the turnover battle. They had the worst turnover margin in the league last season. If they can get that under control, the outlook of this team is completely different. 

Obviously, there’s a lot of “ifs” involved in this turnaround. However, teams go from worst to first every year in the NFL and – I can’t overstate the importance of this next fact – Urban Meyer is gone. With a clean slate and moldable talent, Jacksonville’s future is bright. 

You can find Donnavan Smoot’s full betting record here.

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