Jaguars 2025 Season in Review

Thirty-one takeaways. Top two in the entire league, and the engine that turned this Jaguars season from interesting into a thirteen-win division title. Here's how Jacksonville's defense became a takeaway machine, how Trevor Lawrence quietly finished fifth in the NFL in passing touchdowns, and the one number that explains why the Wild Card loss to Buffalo still stings. Thirteen and four. AFC South champs, three seed in the AFC, 27-24 Wild Card exit to the Bills. The Jags didn't just sneak in — they bullied their division and built a defensive identity the rest of the conference will be staring at all offseason.

Start with the team-level portrait. The defense finished at minus 108.5 expected points added allowed — third in the league, ninety-fourth percentile, and on defense that big negative is elite. The offense was a respectable plus 32.7, middle of the pack at fourteenth. Add thirty-one takeaways — twenty-two interceptions, nine fumble recoveries — and you have a team that won the turnover battle nearly every Sunday. But this was not a steady ride. Jacksonville got smashed 35-7 by the Rams in Week 7, lost a shootout in Houston 36-29 in Week 10, then ripped off seven straight to close the regular season, including a 41-7 demolition of Tennessee in Week 18. Started bumpy, finished dominant.

Now let's talk about the passing offense. Trevor Lawrence posted plus 35.9 passing expected points added on 606 attempts — roughly plus 0.06 per attempt, eleventh in the league, sixty-ninth percentile. Solid, not spectacular. The headline is the touchdowns: twenty-nine through the air, fifth-most in the NFL, plus nine on the ground. Thirty-eight total scores from your quarterback is star-level production. But the efficiency tells a different story — 60.9 completion percentage against an expected 63.6, so minus 2.7 percent completion over expected, thirtieth among qualified starters. He found the end zone but missed throws he should've hit, and the offense absorbed forty-one sacks along the way. Parker Washington led a true committee with 58 catches for 847 yards and 5 touchdowns. Boom-or-bust in the air: 48 points one week against the Jets, 7 against the Rams.

Now let's dig into the rushing offense. The ground game was just okay on paper — 1,958 yards, 115.2 a game, 4 per carry, twentieth in the league, forty-first percentile, with a rushing expected points added of minus 7.2. Where it mattered was the goal line: twenty-two rushing touchdowns is real volume in close. Travis Etienne carried the load — 260 carries, 1,107 yards, 4.3 a clip, seven scores — and his rush yards over expected was plus 43.9, plus 0.2 per attempt. Translation: Etienne was a hair better than his blocking asked of him, not by a wide margin. Steady floor, modest ceiling — capable of cracking a long one and stealing a hidden score.

Next up, the pass defense. This is the unit that defined the season. Minus 94.2 passing expected points added allowed — ninety-seventh percentile, elite. The Jaguars surrendered 231 passing yards a game and 25 passing scores, but they took the ball away constantly: twenty-two interceptions, ninety-seventh percentile in takeaways. The one wart? Just 32 sacks, nineteenth percentile — they generated pressure but didn't finish. The signature moment: Week 5 against Kansas City, third quarter, tied at 14, Chiefs at the Jacksonville 3, second and 3. Devin Lloyd jumped a Patrick Mahomes throw at the goal line and took it 99 yards the other way for a pick-six — a fourteen-point swing in a game Jacksonville won 31-28. That play is the defensive identity of the season: the bend doesn't break, and the takeaway shows up in the worst possible spot for the offense.

And the run defense. Tighter story here. Jacksonville allowed 86.3 rushing yards a game and just 13 rushing scores all year, with a per-carry expected points added allowed of minus 0.04 — a solid fifty-ninth percentile finish, steady floor without an elite ceiling. Not the wall the pass defense was, but comfortably above average, and crucially they didn't get gashed when it mattered. Combine that with the takeaway rate and you understand why this defense finished third in the NFL by expected points: opposing offenses couldn't lean on the run to control the game, and the moment they trusted their quarterback's arm too much, the Jaguars cashed in.