QB

David Garrard

 (+) His ability to run the ball and score on the ground is his biggest asset
 (+) With only Luke McCown and rookie Trevor Harris out of Edinboro University behind him on the depth chart, his job is as secure as it gets
 (+) Mike Sims-Walker has quickly become a great target to throw to while Maurice Jones-Drew continues to be one of the best pass-catchers out of the backfield in the NFL
 (–) The Jaguars simply don’t pass the ball enough for Garrard to be fantasy effective
 (–) Garrard has just five 300-yard games and three 3-TD games in the past three seasons combined
 (–) He’s prone to taking sacks and turning the ball over too often
 (–) His arm isn’t used in the red-zone very much with Touchdown Machine MJD on the team

RB

Maurice Jones-Drew

(+) Even though his coaches were hesitant with him to begin the 2009 season, MJD proved he could take on a full load over the course of a 16-game season despite his size
(+) He hasn’t slowed down in the slightest as a Touchdown Machine
(+) He either plays in warm weather or a dome almost the entire year in 2010
(+) The Jaguars lack a proven backup to steal carries from MJD
(–) A very weak passing game allows defenses to stack 8 men in the box more often than not
(–) Whether he wore down over the course of the year or defenses figured out how to play against that vanilla offense, MJDs stats dropped considerably over the 2nd half of the season

Rashad Jennings

(+) Jacksonville recognizes that MJD had too heavy of a workload last season and will look to share the ball a bit more in the backfield
(+) Jennings put up 5.2 yards per carry in ’09 with 39 attempts
(+) He could be a candidate to steal some Red Zone action from MJD – Rashad is 27 pounds bigger
(+) Will run behind the PYRO 8th ranked run blocking line
(–) The Jags drafted RB Deji Karim in the sixth round and thus far are raving about his playmaking abilities
(–) Jennings happens to be a bit slow, which doesn’t work well in the Jags offensive scheme

WR

Mike Sims-Walker

(+) Sims-Walker has the body-type and athleticism to put him among the elite in the game
(+) He’s also the only true threat as a receiver on the Jags
(+) His size and strength make him a big red-zone target
(–) @MikeSimsWalker seems to be included in a majority of @ChrisJohnson28 idiotic tweets
(–) Simply put, we wouldn’t condone having his QB on your fantasy team, so take that for what it’s worth
(–) Troy Williamson and Mike Thomas are his complementary receivers???  Ughhh
(–) Unfortunately, MSW is also one of the more injury-prone receivers in the game

Mike Thomas

 (+) Thomas has a good chance at becoming the Jaguars WR2 opposite Mike Sims-Walker to start the season
 (+) He has great quickness, steady hands, runs precise routes, and isn’t afraid to go over the middle
 (+) This speedster is a big-play threat at all times who can work out of the slot, on the outside, and in the return game
 (+) Saw a lot more action towards the end of the 2009 season, which could be a sign of things to come
 (–) Is really small for a wide receiver (5’8”, 198 lbs), so he’ll have a hard time making it as an outside threat
 (–) Any way you cut it, the Jaguars are seriously QB-challenged
 (–) Thomas is stronger than his size may indicate, but he still has a tough time breaking tackles

Jarett Dillard

TE

Marcedes Lewis

-  The Jacksonville Jaguars came off a 2008 season in which they finished 5-11 and were hoping to improve
         in a very tough division
-  The Jaguars started the season with a 7-5 record and were threatening to make the playoffs until they
         went on a four game losing streak to finish the season
-  The Jaguars finished the season last in the AFC South with a 7-9 record missing the playoffs again
-  Jacksonville scored 290 points while allowing 380 points against

2009 Total Points Rank:           25th (84 tot pts)
2009 Average/Game Rank:     36th (5.3 pts/gm)

FR=Fumbles Recoverd, PA=Points Allowed, FP Rank=Fantasy Points Rank, FP/G=Fantasy Points per Game

2010 Jaguars Defensive Outlook... 

The Jags may have found a secret formula nobody else can counter - the formula for the least amount of sacks in the NFL by a land slide.  14?  Single players have beaten this many sacks, and it’s really not that irregular.  That is the second worse total this decade, and I stopped looking, so it could be a much juicier stat than that.  Congratulations Jacksonville, you are moving into some unchartered territory on that one.  Don’t even think of drafting this defense.

-  Daryl Smith led the team with 107 tackles, Justin Durant had 98
-  The Jaguars had 14 sacks last season
-  Leading sacker was John Henderson with 3.0
-  How can the Jags increase their huge hole in the pass rush department
-  Derek Cox led the team with 4 INTs
-  Team forced 15 fumbles
-  Team forced a total of 30 turnovers

Team PYRO is hyper about Offensive Lines!  Understanding who will be blocking for the players on your roster is vital to your teams Fantasy success.  We take many factors into account when we rank these units, including weight, height, starts together as a unit, starts per year played, rushing average, sacks allowed, draft position, contact situation, pro bowl/all pro honors, Adjusted Line Yardage (ALY) and Adjusted Sack Rate (stats found at the link below).  O-Line Rank is one more piece of the puzzle that directs us towards delivering you a Fantasy Football Championship. 

Here is another great resource for looking at O-Lines…    http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol 

The fantasy lifeblood of the players sitting on your roster boils down to one EXTREMELY important stat.  Drum Roll please……………………………  ATTEMPTS!!!!  Ahhhh, there, we said it.  Before you can make a play, you gotta have the pill in your hands.  It’s pretty simple really, in the immortal words of the maligned Keyshawn Johnson… “Just give me the damn ball”.  There is no “I” in the word “team”, but don’t fool yourself, it’s in the word rotisserie twice. 

For the QB, it’s Pass Attempts, for the RB, it’s Carries, and for the WR and TE, it’s Targets.  If you look at the players in the league who are amassing large quantities of points, they are the ones who are seeing the rock come their way the most often.  Sure, you have to be good enough to do something with the p-skin when you get it, but never forget, you can’t make a play until you have the pill in your hands. 

The PYRO Offensive scheme charts aim to deliver you perhaps the most important information you could attain before and after draft day; Will my player get the chances they need to put out or will they be shut out?  It really boils down to what the offensive game plan on Sunday is.  These charts should provide some perspective on which teams are going to live by land and which are going to live by air. 

By Air

-  David Garrard has been a consistent performer at the QB position but cannot lead the team far enough
       in a playoff setting
-  The Jaguars finished last season ranking 19th in the league with 3,356 passing yards
-  Mike Sims-Walker has emerged as the number 1 target for the Jags
-  Troy Williamson, Kassim Osgood, and Mike Thomas will provide depth at WR
-  The TE position is strong with Marcedes Lewis at the top
-  Maurice Jones-Drew is a very effective receiver out of the backfield

By Land

-  The Jaguars ranked 10th in the league with 2,029 yards on the ground
-  Jacksonville has the bowling ball that is Maurice Jones-Drew who continues to be a top five running back in the league
-  Rashad Jennings averaged 5.2 yards per carry as the teams second running back
-  David Garrard is also a very effective rusher from the QB position gaining 323 yards on 77 carries
        and scored 3 touchdowns

RZ Touches (Position Rank) = The first number you see is Red Zone Touches (a pass attempt, a carry, or a target inside the 20 yard line).  The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.

% of Teams RZ Touches (Position Rank) = The first number is the players percentage of touches cut out against the total number of the Teams Red Zone plays called.  The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.  So, if Thomas Jones received a touch in 45 percent of the Jets Red Zone calls last year, and Knowshon Moreno received a touch in 38 percent of all the Broncos plays last year, Jones would be ranked higher at his position than Moreno would be.

RZ TD Success Rate (Position Rank) = The first number is the percentage of which an individual player was able to score a TD against his total number of touches.   The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.

Why Should I look at this Chart?

We couldn’t possibly take up a whole minute of your valuable fantasy football research time babbling about the importance of Attempts for your team and then leave out Red Zone Tendencies.

Yep, same drill with these charts, only a lot more important if scoring TD’s is what you’re leagues about.  The PYRO Red Zone Tendencies chart delivers a touchdown focused microcosm of the Offensive Scheme section.

To score a TD, your player needs a touch (pass att, carry, or target), and when they get a touch inside the 20, great things can happen for your Fantasy teams total points line.

It’s really easy, touches are King and converting a touch in the red is Fantasy Gold.

PYRO 2010 Jaguar Leaders in the Red Zone...

1. MJD
2. Mike Sims-Walker
3. Zach Miller
4. Mike Thomas
5. Rashad Jennings

Grade* = Team PYRO took this number directly from NFL.COM - not a number devised here by us, you know, your friends who don’t sleep?  In other words, proceed with caution knowing the source, but we thought it was at least a worthy effort and could help you gauge just how solid the teams draft was.  We hope it helps, we think it will. 

Draft Bits...

RB Deji Karim should compete with Rashad Jennings for the 2^nd string RB position.  The second stringer could see some time this year as the staff tries to keep MJD fresh, but we’re not expecting much at all out of that player.

Team PYRO considers our Strength of Schedule data an essential part of building you a Fantasy Championship.  This data is integral in helping us rank our players each year.  So far, so good.  We go to GREAT lengths to deliver you this PYRO nugget and we know nobody else in the industry is putting forth this type of effort, which puts you at a great advantage if you have been using us as your fantasy football research outlet.  Our SoS considers three factors when determining rankings for schedules for the upcoming year:

1) 75% weight is applied to the strength of defense from the previous season.  This is determine by fantasy points given up (run and pass).  Easy right? Here's where Team Pyro goes deep: before we get to that number, we factor in the quality of teams that these defenses had to face (essentially, a strength-of-schedule for the prior season).

 
2) 20% weight is applied to Free-Agent, Trade, and Injury Returns that will help or hurt the team for the current year.  We rank each players impact to their former team (2008), sum it all up, and then rank each team accordingly.

3) 5% weight is applied to the NFL drafincoming rookie impact.  It's a challenge to successfully gauge a rookie's effectiveness (too many Jamarcus Russells out there) which is why we valued it so low.  Some teams not only drafted highly touted defensemen this year, but will be immediately filling deficient positions from '09 with rookies, and usually, anything is an upgrade when you are starting a rookie.

Chart Key =

Ranking:  1=easiest  32=toughest

QB's, WR's, and TE's

(INDY) Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, and Dallas Clark have the EASIEST passing schedule in 2010

(BALT) Joe Flacco, Anquan Boldin, and Todd Heap have the HARDEST passing schedule in 2010

RB's

(SF) Frank Gore has the EASIEST rushing schedule in 2010

(MIA) Ronnie Brown has the HARDEST rushing schedule in 2010

July 14, 2010

Signed DE Austen Lane to a four-year contract.

May 1, 2010

Signed LB Freddy Keiaho.

April 27, 2010

Released DT John Henderson, LB Brian Iwuh, DT Montavious Stanley and LB Tank Daniels. Withdrew its qualifying offer to LB Clint Ingram.

April 24, 2010

Agreed to terms with OT Daniel Baldridge, LB Kyle Bosworth, TE Mike Caussin, LB Jacob Cutrera, C John Estes, CB Josh Gordy, QB Trevor Harris, WR Jason Harmon, OT Kevin Haslam, CB Chris Hawkins, RB Chad Kackert, P Robert Malone, WR Chris McGaha, DT Kommonya Quaye, FB Ben Stallings, WR Roren Thomas and S Terrell Whitehead.

April 21, 2010

Traded DE Quentin Groves to Oakland for an undisclosed draft pick.

April 1, 2010

Signed DE Reggie Hayward to a one-year contract.

March 7, 2010

Signed DE Aaron Kampman.

March 6, 2010

Signed WR Kassim Osgood to a three-year contract.

March 4, 2010

Signed DL Atiyyah Ellison and G Kynan Forney.

March 2, 2010

Re-signed WR Troy Williamson.

February 11, 2010

Released WR Torry Holt, OT Tra Thomas and DT Rob Meier.

February 4, 2010

Named Rob Boras tight ends coach, Earnest Byner running backs coach, Ben Albert assistant defensive line coach and Matt Griffin and Ron Heller offensive staff assistants.

January 27, 2010

Fired defensive line coach Ted Monachino. Named Joe Cullen defensive line coach