Jax is too weak in lane right now.

Unless he gets one of the few champs he counter picks as a lane match up, Jax is one of the weakest laners in the game.

Most people point to that being ok because of how he scales. But that's the problem; he's an entirely all in champ. If Jax falls behind at all, he will be behind the entire game. He provides next to no utility and simply cannot fulfill his role if he doesn't get the necessary CS. Jax doesn't have much utility to provide, he needs to do damage. And if he can't lane, he can't get the necessary gold to be able to do the damage he needs to do.

There are other champs in this game who scale hard, provide far more utility, and can lane. Jax doesn't need to be some beast laner, but just about every common top lane champ can bully him now due to ranged harass.

I've been away from the game for a couple years now and Jax feels like he is just in a terrible state. He's a counter pick at best for a handful of champs. And that really is no fun.

Basically, Jax is a champ that NEEDS to snowball right now. A champ shouldn't be dependent on snowballing. He already has enough problems getting melted in team fights, the least that he can have is an adequate lane phase.