3. Jacksonville Jaguars
After the way they finished the 2022 season, I don’t know that I’m higher on any up-and-coming team in the entire NFL than I am on the Jaguars. Maybe the Detroit Lions (who are also on Kansas City’s schedule).
The Jacksonville Jaguars started last season pretty inconsistent, but the flashes were there. After losing in London to the Denver Broncos, the Jaguars went on an absolute tear, winning eight of their next 10 games including a brilliant comeback in the playoffs against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Unfortunately, the magical second half for the Jaguars ended in Kansas City, and in brutal fashion. The Jaguars had a chance with plenty of time left in the fourth quarter to mount a 10-point comeback, but receiver/returner Jamal Agnew fumbled the ball just as the Jaguars were about to cut the Chiefs’ lead from 10 to 3 and the hopes of coming up with an upset on the road against the Chiefs were dashed.
The Jaguars have reloaded in 2023 with a roster that is largely the same as what we saw a season ago, but the players will have grown and developed even further in Doug Pederson’s system. Not only that, but Jacksonville added Calvin Ridley at last year’s trade deadline and will add him to a vastly underrated receiver corps, one that looked like it might be the worst in the NFL going into last season.
The Chiefs will take on the Jaguars in Week 2, and playing in that Florida heat in Week 2 can be absolutely brutal.