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The Jacksonville Jaguars didn't expect to be competitive in 2020 and lived up to that mantra throughout the season. Jacksonville has lost 11 consecutive games, which is the longest streak for the franchise in a single season (the Jaguars lost 13 straight games between the 2012 and 2013 seasons). This wasn't a surprise for a franchise that moved on from the "Sacksonville" defense that reached the AFC Championship Game three years ago, as Abry Jones is the only starting defensive player left on the team from that unit. 

Jacksonville's rebuild has been in the works for several seasons, trading franchise pillars for valuable draft picks and creating significant amounts of cap space to usher in a new era of the franchise. This season was a lame duck year for head coach Doug Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell, and the latter was fired in November. Marrone is likely to follow the former GM out the door soon as the organization continues to rebuild the franchise and attempt to have the best run of success since Tom Coughlin led the team to two conference championship games in four seasons during the late 1990s. 

The biggest tools Jacksonville has to offer are 12 draft picks in the 2021 draft and a projected $79,676,992 in available salary cap space -- the most in the NFL (per Over the Cap). Having five projected draft picks in the top 100 (not counting potential compensatory picks) certainly helps. The Jaguars may be one of the worst teams in the NFL in 2020, but good times for this franchise are ahead. 

Jacksonville already mastered the agonizing part of the rebuild, but completing this recipe will result in the Jaguars cooking at the top of the AFC South in four seasons -- perhaps even sooner. 

Lose out and get that top-two pick

This one is easy for the Jaguars, who have done a masterful job at losing football games while playing hard enough to be competitive (six of their losses are by one score). Jacksonville isn't that far off from improving by five or six wins next season, based on landing that top-two pick and getting that franchise quarterback (we'll get to that in a bit). Losing their final four games and clinching that top-two pick shouldn't be difficult, since Jacksonville plays three teams with a winning record who are all fighting for a playoff berth in the AFC. The only hurdle is the Chicago Bears, who have lost six games in a row and are in a free fall of their own. 

Even if Jacksonville happens to beat Chicago, 2-14 should be enough to solidify that top-two pick but would likely eliminate them from the No. 1 spot (which they probably won't get anyway). Jacksonville just needs to continue doing what they're doing. They are competitive despite their record but just a few pieces away from turning this around quickly. 

Get an offensive-minded head coach 

Doug Marrone isn't expected to be the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021, as his fate was essentially sealed with the team firing general manager Dave Caldwell. Jacksonville will look to start anew with a new general manager, who will want to pick his own head coach to usher in this new era for Jaguars football. 

Marrone had an offensive background but wasn't an innovator as a number of these head coaching candidates are in today's NFL. Jacksonville hasn't had an offense ranked higher than 26th in scoring over the past three years, an indictment of how inept that side of the ball has been for the organization. The NFL is setting records in points and yards per game, and Jacksonville hasn't been a part of the party. 

Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady are the two candidates Jacksonville should make a run for, but both coordinators may want to join a franchise with an established quarterback. The Jaguars can get creative and make a run at New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael or Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who each have an excellent history of developing young quarterbacks and utilizing the short passing game. We won't mention Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich for this job; both already are all too familiar with this franchise. 

A young, first-time head coach with new offensive concepts is what Jacksonville needs.

Draft a quarterback with the top-two pick

Pretty simple: if Jacksonville loses out and lands that top-two pick, Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields will be there for the taking. The New York Jets are going to take Lawrence if they seal the top pick, which leaves the Jaguars with Fields, who fits the mold of a dual-threat NFL quarterback that can transform Jacksonville's offense instantly.

Jacksonville does not have a good history of drafting quarterbacks in the top 10 (Byron Leftwich, Blaine Gabbert, Blake Bortles), but Fields could have instant success in this league. Set Fields up with a zone-read and RPO-style offense, and he won't suffer the same fate as Dwayne Haskins or other Ohio State quarterbacks that put up huge numbers in college. 

This is where the Pete Carmichael or Brian Daboll hire comes in, as both coaches have experiences with zone-read schemes. Jacksonville has the benefit of landing a franchise quarterback at No. 2 in a year where a signal-caller like Fields would easily be the top pick in other years. This couldn't have gone any better for Jacksonville. 

Spend money to fix defense

The Miami Dolphins provided the blueprint for a quick fix to a poor defense by spending cap space on impact players. There are plenty of players in free agency that would make the Jaguars defense better, starting with safety Justin Simmons and cornerback William Jackson III. Those two players can help address a pass defense that is the weakest unit of this Jaguars team, ranking 29th in yards allowed and 30th in passing touchdowns allowed. Jacksonville has more than enough cap space to pay these players top-dollar, especially if they fit whatever defensive scheme Jacksonville applies. 

Simmons and Jackson are just examples, but the premise is the same -- use some of that cap space and spend money to plug holes on the defense. If Jacksonville can make that unit a top-15 defense, the Jaguars are going to win some football games and accelerate the rebuild in 2021. 

Use high draft picks on the trenches

Jacksonville will need a good left tackle to protect Fields and could use a much improved pass rush in 2021. The Jaguars are currently 30th in the NFL in sacks (15) and eighth-worst in pressure percentage (20.1%) despite blitzing the quarterback 32.1% of the time (12th-most in NFL). 

Improving the pass rush can be used with a few of those five picks in the first three rounds, which includes an extra selection in the first (from the Los Angeles Rams) and another in the second (from the Minnesota Vikings). Getting solid edge rushers will significantly improve that secondary as quarterbacks won't have all day to throw. 

One of those top four draft picks should be used on a tackle that can immediately improve the offensive line and protect Fields. If Jacksonville can't keep Fields upright, there's no point in wasting the next five seasons on him -- and the Jaguars will be back to square one again. 

Continue finding good players in the later rounds of the draft 

The Jaguars have been successful finding impact players on Day 3 of the draft and in the undrafted free agent pool in 2020. Collin Johnson, a fifth-round pick, has eight catches for 162 yards and a touchdown in the two games he started receiving significant snaps, looking like a reliable pass catcher for the Jaguars going forward. 

Jacksonville found a few impact players in their undrafted free agent pool this year, the two main ones being running back James Robinson and defensive tackle Doug Costin. Robinson is third in the NFL in rushing since Week 7 (606 yards in six games) and is a No. 1 running back for the next several seasons while Costin has been one of the best interior defensive linemen in the 2020 rookie class since he cracked the starting lineup in November. 

These late finds in the draft will be something the new front office personnel will need to continue, even with all the high draft picks in Jacksonville. Might be worth it to keep a few of these scouts around in the next regime.