Perhaps the most impressive positional group on the day was the defensive line. The Jaguars' quarterbacks were under duress more often than not. But, as has been the case for most of camp so far, the offense and defense traded punches throughout the practice. Nick Foles and the rest of the quarterbacks had up and down days, but each seemed to respond well when faced with adversity. Foles completed just 5/10 passes in seven-on-seven, but two of those were drops by Geoff Swaim. Neither would have been easy catches, but Swaim let a sideline ball through his grasp when he attempted to catch it with just one hand. Shortly after he made a lunging attempt at a ball that he couldn't reel in. Both passes were catchable, and I couldn't help but wonder if Josh Oliver (we'll talk more about him later) would have been able to haul them in. Foles started 5/10 in 11-on-11 work but rallied to finish 11s 14/20. At one point he completed eight straight passes. Many of Foles' completions went to Dede Westbrook and Chris Conley, who have been the Jaguars' two best receivers in camp so far. Westbrook has established himself as the most talented receiver by a large margin. Garnder Minshew took most of the second-team reps and showed why the Jaguars have so much confidence in him. But he did make one crucial mistake. Rolling out to his right, he tossed a ball on the run to his receiver on the sideline, but his pass instead found the hands of Breon Borders, who made his third interception of training camp. Tanner Lee and Alex McGough both made some beautiful throws but didn't look quite as comfortable as Foles or Minshew. Lee found Tyre Brady deep down the field on a glorious bomb. Leonard Fournette continued to impress me as did RyQuell Armstead and Taj McGowan. All three of those runners did well catching the ball out of the backfield, but Benny Cunningham let an easy catch fall through his hands. For the second straight day, the Jaguars deployed Cedric Ogbuehi at starting right tackle and Leonard Wester at left tackle. Neither player has been overly impressive, and I'm beginning to wonder why Jawaan Taylor hasn't been getting more first-team reps. Speaking of rookies and reps: Josh Oliver had a nice outing. He hauled in several passes in tight coverage. I would like to see him get more run with the starters in the coming days. Oliver has a better skill set than does Swaim. Oh, and Quincy Williams, he looks like he's going to be just fine. He hasn't been perfect, but he's been playing with the starters and regularly flashes. On one play today he zoomed into the backfield and had to hold back from unloading on Leonard Fournette. He may surprise a lot of people in 2019. Josh Allen continued to improve in one-on-one drills. He was able to show an inside move against Josh Wells. Allen regularly wins with his speed-rush around the edge, so to see him learning how to win inside is encouraging.
The Jaguars continued to work on situational football. The offense was working on a one minute drill and a 30-second drill. The team pumped in some crowd noise on the loudspeakers during the hurry-up exercises. On special teams, the gunners practiced downing punts close to the goal line. Josh Lambo didn't have a spectacular day. He missed two or three kicks that were within his range. The kicks were long, but it's a bit unusual to see Lambo miss more than one try in a given practice. Dede Westbrook continues to look like the leader in the clubhouse at punt return. He's got an undeniable knack for it, but some may be wary of using such a valuable offensive piece on special teams. Keelan Cole also had some reps at punt return, as did Michael Walker and Marcus Simms. The competitive fire is high, and I'm encouraged by what I see on both sides of the ball. This team has more talent than it did in 2018 across the board. The biggest weakness so far has been pass protection. The Jaguars would do well to see what Jawaan Taylor can give them on a more consistent basis. The healthy return of Cam Robinson to the lineup will be crucial. \ Follow Jordan on Twitter for all the latest Jaguars news. |
