Despite covering the Jacksonville Jaguars for the fourth season and heading into my third preseason hosting a Jags podcast, I am not a card-carrying member of the Duval Devout. I’m also aware that recency bias is real. Granted, none of it may end up mattering if the Jaguars are awful this season, but it feels like there’s more for Jaguars fans to be excited about than in any other year in the franchise’s history.

Maybe members of the Duval Devout will crush me for having this opinion. After all, some might cite the Jaguars’ inaugural season leading up to their first-ever NFL contest. Others might bring up the return of Tom Coughlin to the Jaguars staff. There are even those who thought to bring up the season where both Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer returned to North Florida to take a crack at representing the region in the pros after winning championships in college for the Florida Gators years before.  (Sure, it may not have all been positive banter surrounding that last example, but it was exciting)

Yet considering that the buildup for what we’ve seen this offseason started back in December when the Jags were mathematically eliminated and the writing on the wall was seen for eventual staff head coach and general manager firings that took place, maybe it’s not so crazy.

But before the lead gets buried, one must mention the blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Browns that put them in position to shock the NFL Draft world and bring Heisman Trophy Winner Travis Hunter to Duval County with the second-overall pick. The promise that Hunter has shown (albeit in shorts) in OTAs and minicamps at this point as a player on both sides of the ball has shown a flash that the hype surrounding the former Colorado Buffalo and the potential impact he can make on the field just might be real.

Off the field, the star power and sheer likability that Hunter has become famous for sets a foundation for him to potentially be the most famous entity to wear a teal uniform in history — especially as a non-quarterback.

But while Hunter might be the biggest spectacle of the offseason, he’s certainly the only excitement. Back in January, when Doug Pederson was fired, it opened the door for Liam Coen to eventually leave his offensive coordinator position with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and accept the job as Jaguars head coach in a drama-filled clock-and-dagger story surrounding who knew what when.

Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union

But the Duval Devout knew and owner Shad Khan would eventually realize that GM Trent Baalke also had to go. This led to the eventual hiring of general manager James Gladstone as well as the only Hall of Famer in Jacksonville history to this point, Tony Boselli, becoming the Executive Vice President of Football Operations.

With Boselli, Coen, and Gladstone in place, the shake-up began. Starters like Christian Kirk and Evan Engram were sent to other franchises while work toward make the roster younger and fresher — much like what had happened in the front office — got underway.

In fairness, with all that’s listed here, it all means nothing if the team fails to build upon these new foundations to become at least become squad that others don’t mark on their calendar as an easy win. But this represents the first true reboot of this magnitude for the Jacksonville Jaguars under Khan’s ownership.  It’s the dawning of a new era for this franchise. . . successful or not.