Last year's Carolina Panthers were not exactly expected to be one of the best teams in the NFL. They were predicted to make the playoffs by only two of our eight-person preseason panel and five out of 13 on NFL.com. Nobody at CBS Sports, NFL.com, or ESPN picked Carolina to make the Super Bowl, either. FiveThirtyEight's predictions tool gave the Panthers only a 55 percent chance of making the playoffs and a projected total of 9.2 wins.

Of course, the Panthers then went out and blew away expectations. They were undefeated until Week 16 and ultimately ended the regular season with a 15-1 record. They went to the Super Bowl as well.

There will likely be a lot of people looking for candidates to become "this year's Panthers" over the next few months, but Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Davon House already has his pick: the Jaguars. “It all starts off Week One,” House said. “If we make a statement in Week One, we’re going to shock a lot of people in this league. How come we can’t be the Carolina Panthers of this year? No one thought Carolina would be 15-1.”

Davon House has high hopes for the Jaguars. (USATSI)

Based on how exactly it was that the Panthers outperformed expectations last season, here's a short list of things the Jaguars need to get in order to become this year's Panthers:

  • Improved quarterback play from already good quarterback (Cam Newton; Blake Bortles)
  • Offensive line significantly outperforms expectations
  • Wide receivers significantly outperform expectations (the Jaguars already have Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns, so they're ahead of the game here!)
  • Injury-prone running back stays healthy (Jonathan Stewart; Chris Ivory and T.J. Yeldon aren't all that injury prone)
  • Two of the best linebackers in the NFL (the Jags have nobody like Luke Kuechly and/or Thomas Davis)
  • Star cornerback breaks out and becomes a superstar (the Jags have nobody like Josh Norman, though maybe Davon House thinks this will be Davon House)
  • Star defensive tackle breaks out and becomes a superstar (Kawaan Short; Jared Ordrick/Malik Jackson?)
  • Good coaching (Ron Rivera; Gus Bradley)

But that's all, though.