There are important NFL players and then there are the players who shoulder the fate of their teams based on day-in, day-out performance during the season. These are the latter. Here are the 3 Players Who Will Make Or Break The Jacksonville Jaguars' 2015 Season.
QB Blake Bortles
The Jags' season will rest on the second-year signal caller's arm, without a question. His 21.9 QBR in 2014 was a product of both shoddy protection in front of him and what seemed like a perpetual hiccup in his decision making. There were flashes of the top-tier talent that caused the Jags to mortgage the NFL Draft house on him, but flashes won't be enough to take this franchise back to the playoffs. He'll need to grow, and quickly, for Jacksonville to make any level of noise in the AFC South.
TE Julius Thomas
Bortles' progression as an NFL quarterback will hopefully get a boost from the former Denver Broncos tight end, both in giving the young QB a safety valve and a dynamic, big target that can burn both defensive backs and linebackers. The Broncos marked Thomas as expendable early this offseason, pointing to his 300-yard drop in production from 2013 and 2014 as reason enough not to break the bank on him. However, his second-straight 12 touchdown season cemented him as one of the best red zone threats in the game. He'll need to keep that up for the Jags' offense to lift itself out of the doldrums of its 2014 run.
OLB Dan Skuta
The Jags will hang their hats on the defense in 2015, and the addition of Skuta after a relative breakout campaign with the 49ers last year will be HUGE if Skuta can replicate the chaos he created in 2014. His five sacks and three forced fumbles last year are good enough, but it's the impact that his consistency and dynamic work as a pass rusher will have on the rest of the front seven that really places him on this list. If he shows 2014 wasn't a one off, this Jags defense will be in dang good shape.
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