The Offensive Skills Tossup of Jaguars vs. Colts in South

The Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts seem to be going in two different directions in the AFC South. While there's a general consensus that the Jaguars, although not a giant leap, may take a step back to the good life with Head Coach Liam Coen at the helm. Indy, however, could be slipping backward into the football abyss in the division.

The reason for a potential decline would be a dire QB situation. Newcomer, veteran Daniel Jones, and holdover Anthony Richardson do not exactly instill a wealth of confidence in their abilities; however, they do have a nice array of skill guys.

In ESPN's Ranking of NFL WR, TE, RB groups for 2025 written by Bill Barnwell, The Colts held a 2nd-place ranking in the division at 16th overall, as opposed to the Jaguars, who ranked third in that grouping, and 18th overall, just two spots behind.

Even though there are whispers of an overall regression, Barnwell has them improving in this particular category, up six places from 2024 and nine from 2023. A possible good reason for this is the fact that it doesn't include the play of the QB.

"How much of Indianapolis' limited offensive firepower are you willing to pin on the scattershot arm of Anthony Richardson? The Colts had three receivers top 800 yards a year ago, and while Josh Downs was a much better player with Joe Flacco on the field, Michael Pittman Jr. and deep threat Alec Pierce were both more efficient with the inconsistent, explosive Richardson at the helm," wrote Barnwell.

Translation: The system and the pass catchers have been excelling, but the men throwing the ball were the source of frustration in "Circle City".

"No other group of receivers suffers more because of its situation. The Colts dropped back for just 567 passes last season, the fourth-lowest total of any team. Nearly 21% of those passes were off target, the second-highest rate in the league. The only teams whose receivers were afforded fewer on-target pass attempts were the Ravens and Eagles, who had more concentrated passing attacks."

"And even when throws were "on target," the average quarterback group turned those throws into precise targets (hitting the receiver in stride in the torso area) just under 70% of the time. Flacco and Richardson did that 59.9% of the time, the worst rate by more than four percentage points and the worst mark by any team since the 2018 Bills (Josh Allen's rookie season). This would be a much more celebrated group of wideouts with competent quarterback play."

As good as the targeted players were in 2024, the running back returned to his spectacular form that was temporarily halted by injury.

"Jonathan Taylor's talent is more difficult to dispute, but after failing to reach the heights of his 2021 campaign over the subsequent two seasons, he seemed to be on the same track in 2024, owing to a midseason high ankle sprain."

"After recovering from the injury, though, he was devastating over the final month of the season," continued the ESPN scribe. "In Indy's last four games, he racked up 117 carries for 627 yards and six scores. Injuries continue to be a concern for Taylor, who hasn't completed a full season outside of that 2021 campaign, but he remains one of the NFL's best backs when healthy.

In turn, the Jaguars have a better quarterback situation, but that's not factored in here in the rankings. It could be argued that the receivers are on par, but there is a partial unknown with Dyami Brown coming over from Washington and the newness of Travis Hunter. Then there's the rushers who don't really measure up to Taylor.

All of this will be figured out in Weeks 14 and 17, where circumstances will factor in more at that late stage of the season. But at that juncture, reality will prove to be more relevant than rankings.

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