Travon Walker, Calvin Ridley and More: Who Are the Jaguars’ X-Factors for 2023?

Which Jaguars will make or break the team's big hopes for 2023?

The Jacksonville Jaguars have higher expectations entering the 2023 season than the team has seen in a long, long time.

Even dating back to the 2018 season -- a year after the Jaguars came close to their first Super Bowl birth -- expectations weren't as high as they are in 2023. Even the most homer of fans knew the 2018 team was flawed due to the quarterback position. The 2023 team, though, is led by Trevor Lawrence and Doug Pederson, two pieces the Jaguars have never had. 

But for the Jaguars to reach the heights they hope to reach in 2023, it will take strong efforts from a few key members of the roster and coaching staff. If the Jaguars want to repeat as AFC South champions, it will be up to the following X-Factors.

Travon Walker

The Jaguars had one of the league's top pressure rates last year, but they finished No. 26 in sacks due to a struggle at finishing plays and bringing down the quarterback. Walker was maybe the biggest culprit of this issue as a rookie, with him showing some rawness and struggles as a pass-rusher and then failing to get home on some reps where he did manage to beat blocks.

The Jaguars know that, at the very least, they will get pass-rush production out of Josh Allen. They need Walker to take a big step from 2022 and show that he can be the type of impactful pass-rusher that the Jaguars drafted him to be. If he doesn't, then Allen will be a one-man show as a pass-rusher, something that could make it easy for offenses to key in on.

Walker Little

How far the Jaguars' offensive line goes in 2023 may rely on Walker Little. The third-year offensive tackle is just one player on a five-man line, obviously, but it is clear that the success of the left side of the Jaguars' line will largely hinge on Little, the No. 45 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Little will open the season at left tackle due to Cam Robinson's pending potential suspension for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing drugs policy. While Little will man Lawrence's blindside for an unknown span of games, there is also a chance that he slides inside to left guard when Robinson returns. If the left side of the offensive line succeeds in 2023, it will be in large part due to Little.

"He takes things to the left more natural, so like left tackle to left guard is not a huge jump to him. And he does really better on the left, I think he's just more natural for him, he's taken more things, more sets the left, he's done more run blocks left and different things like that," Jaguars offensive line coach Phil Rauscher said at the end of OTAs.

"And we feel good about the possibility of if something were to happen and he had to go in there and play guard that he could do it. His size and his overall mass helps him very much and then he has great two-step quickness that he can really get on somebody and explode through blocks."

Trevor Lawrence

This one goes without saying. Last year, Lawrence ranked top-8 in DYAR, DVOA, effective yards, interception %, ANY/A, Sack %, and success rate, while also finishing top-10 in EPA/Play and CPOE and completing 66.3% of his passes for 4,113 yards, 25 yards and just eight interceptions. He arrived in a big way and by the end of the year, showed he could be the type of quarterback who can put the offense, and team, on his back. 

Lawrence will need to be even better in 2023, though. The Jaguars have higher hopes for this season than last year's dramatic, end-of-season miracle run. They want to be in the same conversation as the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, and Cincinnati Bengals. After losing twice to the Chiefs last year, the bar has been set for the Jaguars and Lawrence. Whether he takes yet another step in 2023 will be critical toward the Jaguars' success.

Mike Caldwell

Mike Caldwell's first season as a defensive coordinator saw some highs and lows. The Jaguars' defense improved from a year previously but still finished just No. 26 in Defensive DVOA due to ranking as the No. 30 pass defense in the metric. Caldwell got more comfortable in the play-calling role as the year went on and the Jaguars' defense made big plays that they needed to make by the end of the season, but the Jaguars' playoff loss to a hobbled Patrick Mahomes also showed how far the defense has to go. 

For the Jaguars to ensure that they don't fall short in the same big moment this year, they will need to see the same development from Caldwell as a schemer that they are hoping to see out of Travon Walker, Devin Lloyd, and Chad Muma.

"As a coach you go back and you look at everything. You go back and you self-scout. I looked at some of the stuff we did early, then the middle of season, then the end of the season. And you can see really I liked what we did as we, I guess progressed toward the end of the season," Caldwell said during OTAs. 

"Now this year it's time to see what I want to take from the beginning and add to the end and just piece it together. But I think the main thing, it's not really me, it's the way the players were comfortable. They got used to doing certain things and they did those well and we continue to let 'em do it and that's the way it goes. So each year we'll go out there and we'll try some new things, put guys in different positions, do different coverages fronts, but at the end of the day we'll have an identity and we'll build that. Every year is a new year."

Andre Cisco

There are not many players who have received as much hype inside the building as Andre Cisco this offseason. Cisco had a solid first year as a starter last year, with the No. 65 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft recording 81 tackles, 11 pass deflections, one sack, one tackle for loss, three interceptions, and a touchdown in 17 starts. 

But the Jaguars expect him to be even better in 2023. Considering the flashes Cisco showed as a rookie and the growth he showed last year, the sky should be the limit for the third-year pro as he enters his second year as a starter. Thanks to his range and ball skills, Cisco has the traits to be a turnover machine for the Jaguars' defense and potentially the type of player who can help make or break wins.

"Yeah, I think he will take a big jump," Jaguars safeties coach Cody Grimm said at the end of OTAs. 

"He did a lot of good things for us, but he left a lot of plays out there too. And I mean, if you want to, obviously, if you go through and you see what his stats could have been if he caught a few more balls or did this and that. And he did a lot of good things on our defense. And now he just knows it better and he's getting better at some of the things you know, fitting in the run game and stuff like that, where he wasn't as good last year. So his game is well-rounded right now. He had a really good OTAs for us"

Calvin Ridley

The Jaguars had a top-10 offense last year with Marvin Jones Jr. in the starting lineup. With Jones now being replaced by former first-round pick Calvin Ridley, the expectation is that the passing game can take another leap in 2023 and potentially become one of the better passing attacks in the entire NFL.

Ridley showed this offseason that he is still a dynamic athlete who has the quick feet and explosiveness to get open at a high rate. The physical traits from his dominant days with the Atlanta Falcons are still there, and there is little reason to think he can't help elevate the Jaguars' offense in 2023.