The Jacksonville Jaguars were one of the biggest surprises in the NFL last season. They earned their first trip to the playoffs in nearly two decades while reaching the AFC Championship game for just the third time in franchise history.

This has placed a huge target on the Jaguars for the 2018 campaign with greater expectations in and around the organization build off their success over the previous year. According to Mike Garafolo of The NFL Network, head coach Doug Marrone has voiced that he knows his team can't catch their opponents off guard like they did last season.

“Last year, you can easily say we might’ve caught a team [by surprise],” Marrone said. “But I don’t think we’re going to catch anybody [this year]. Now, everyone’s gonna know they have to play a good football game and they’ll be ready for us.”

Jacksonville has pushed forward a tremendous level of expectations on the franchise behind the talented roster that the front office has helped construct on both sides of the ball. The team features arguably the most talented defense in the league that has several game-changing players while the offense is led by their rising star running back Leonard Fournette in the rushing attack.

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There will be more challenges this time around with the AFC South becoming that much more competitive and well balanced with the emerge of quarterback Deshaun Watson making the Houston Texans a potential playoff team while there is the expected return of star quarterback Andrew Luck for the Indianapolis.

On top of that, the Tennessee Titans finally broke through with their first playoff appearance in nearly a decade.

The competition will surely be stiffer not only within their division, but around a league that will present a more difficult path ahead for Jacksonville to take that next step toward being legitimate Super Bowl contenders next season.