Faalele In, Mekari Out, and the Line Holds Its Breath

Patrick Mekari is on Injured Reserve after back surgery in August. That's the fact the Jaguars' offensive line enters Week 1 carrying. The front office moved quickly to patch the gap — Daniel Faalele came over from the Giants and is active at guard — but acquiring a player in mid-August and asking him to protect Trevor Lawrence in a regular-season opener are two different things.

Lawrence is healthy, Strange is healthy, the skill positions are largely intact. The weapons are there. What's less certain is the continuity in front of them. Mekari's absence isn't the only name in the injury ledger from this summer — Cole Van Lanen spent time on the PUP list before being activated — and continuity up front is exactly the kind of thing that erodes quietly before it collapses loudly.

Faalele's presence buys the Jaguars something, but he's new to this system and new to these teammates. My read is that the first few weeks will tell us more about this offensive line than the offseason transactions did. If the unit holds together, the skill-position talent is good enough to paper over a lot. If it doesn't, Lawrence absorbs the consequences.