JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s game week for the Jaguars, but they’re not quite sure what that will look like when the Steelers come to town on Saturday night.
And it’s one that every NFL coaching staff struggles with when deciding who should play and how much they should be on the field for if they do.
Recommended Videos
“That is the ultimate debate,” said head coach Liam Coen.
On one side of the argument, the Jaguars are in the midst of trying to shake the residue from a 4-13 year that resulted in a coaching and front office overhaul. They need all the live reps that they can get before the regular season opener on Sept. 7.
On the other side, there’s nothing worse than to risk a significant injury to a potential starter or backup during what is essentially a practice game.
Coen’s background in Los Angeles was very, very limited (if any) reps for starters during the preseason. In fact, he said it was one of the Rams’ pitches to draw in younger or undrafted players. Those players knew that they’d be able to get plenty of film during preseason, which would optimistically lead to another opportunity if things didn’t work out with the Rams.
In Tampa Bay, it was different as the Buccaneers did play starters and got some legitimate work in during preseason games.
Both scenarios have their positives and negatives, but Coen said Jacksonville won’t determine its preseason plan until its second day of padded practice this week.
Training camp coverage
“So, it’s definitely a difficult decision that we’ve been wrestling, back and forth with a little bit, but we’ll have a better idea tomorrow,” Coen said.
The Jaguars need the work.
In last week’s stadium scrimmage, the Jaguars had issues that needed to be cleaned up. Miscommunications. Forcing plays. Penalties. A few of those same problems resurfaced on Tuesday, with penalties and offensive lulls the biggest things of note.
“Today was definitely one of our worst days as an offense,” said quarterback Trevor Lawrence. “Even speaking just personally, I felt like I maybe didn’t see it as great today. I just felt like we were moving a little slow coming off the off day. Just need to bring a little more juice next time.”
Camp is already passed midway point. Tuesday’s was the 10th of 19 camp practices. Jacksonville is on the road for its second and third preseason games, followed by a decision on final roster cuts by 4 p.m. on Aug. 26.
Much of the roster appears to be set, but the first depth chart did have some interesting nuggets on it this week. Rookie Travis Hunter is listed as a starting receiver and also in as a possible backup at cornerback with second-year player Jarrian Jones. At safety, call it the OR position. Jacksonville has Eric Murray or Darnell Savage listed as starters at one safety spot and Andrew Wingard or Antonio Johnson as a starter in the second spot.
Running back is another OR spot with Travis Etienne and Tank Bigsby in at No. 1 and 2.
Hunter had an eventful Tuesday, often putting his white defensive jersey top over his teal offensive top so that he could be subbed in to defensive packages. Coen said that pattern will likely continue for Hunter.
“Very similar. It might not be every single day, but I would say it would probably be a little bit more normal than not,” Coen said.
