It’s no secret that the Jaguars had a tough season, ultimately finishing 9-8 and outside of the playoff hunt after a promising run to the divisional round last year. There are a lot of areas of improvement that can be identified but many point to the offensive line a as a key area of concern. Center Luke Fortner has been a source of frustration for many members of Jaguar Nation and appears to exemplify the issues that afflict the offensive line.
According to ESPN, the Jaguars had the lowest yards-per-carry average of 1.7 on third-and-short plays last year, making them the worst team in football in this category. Fortner being the center on the offensive line gets a lot of the blame. He has a stature built for the NFL, standing 6-foot-6 and 307 pounds. But, it appears the problem isn’t his physical gifts, it’s the skills needed to play the position at a high level in the most competitive football league in the world.
While some have soured on Fortner, it appears that the Jaguars still have faith in the Kentucky Wildcat product. Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke, in a quote obtained by Jacksonville.com, laid out that he believes that the problem doesn’t solely rest on the shoulders of Fortner.
“I truly believe in Luke as a guy that has what it takes to play the position and play it well. He’s showing signs of doing that. This was not necessarily one player’s issues. This was a systematic issue. So when you look at across the board, the things I talked about going back to the basics, going back to three-point stances, coming off the ball, forming an identity. All of those things, we’ve got to do better.”
Even in his support of Fortner, Baalke still believes that a sense of healthy competition could do wonders to bring out the fire in the young Jaguar.
“We also got to look to how we make this a more competitive situation. Guys get nervous when the guy behind them is pushing them every day for the starting role. Iron sharpens iron. So, you got to make these rooms as competitive as you can, whether it’s through the draft or through free agency, we’ve got to attack that to make these rooms as competitive as they can be so the guy that’s starting is always feeling the pressure of the guy behind him.”
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