The past couple days I have arrived at the Jacksonville Jaguars’ beautiful new training facility, the Miller Electric Center, right and bright in the morning to watch the Jaguars’ training camp. In this article I’m going to discuss every player which I’ve had the privilege of analyzing so far to give you fans at home a good idea of what’s going on behind the cameras and tweets.
First off, of course we have to discuss the quarterbacks. Trevor Lawrence shined on day 1, managing to make the right read seemingly every snap of team drills, scoring on 7 of his 8 drives. He also impressed heavily in basic drills appearing exceptionally quick, fluid, and confident, you could see why the Jaguars deemed him deserving to be the highest paid QB in the league. Since then Trevor has been extremely efficient at getting down the field during team drills, but has struggled in the red zone throwing multiple balls out of bounds and 3 INTs in the end zone, including two towards the back left corner to safety Andrew Wingard. I expect Sunshine to bounce back and deliver like he did on day 1, as I believe it was more-so the defense stepping up rather than Trevor declining.
When it comes to the backups, Mac Jones so far has been the QB with the most to be desired. The first day was quite atrocious, appearing unathletic in drills, throwing multiple bad balls, and staring down his first read. Day two, Jones improved by mitigating his mistakes, but still has been unimpressive, rarely pushing the ball down field. Veteran CJ Beathard didn’t look exceedingly better than Mac the first session, throwing a few misplaced balls and getting stuck on the first read as well. With that being said, Bethard took major strides during day two. CJ started off with some coverage sacks, taking too long to get the ball out, eventually though he was finally able to get into a groove having some beautiful dimes to receivers for scores. Beathard especially proves to be enjoying the new connections with free agency acquisitions Devin Duvernay and Denzel Mims. In a practice dominated by defense, Beathard was seemingly the only QB that was capable of executing.
As for the other dimension of the offense, Travis Etienne immediately caught my attention just by showing up. Etienne looks to have put on an impressive amount of leg muscle in the offseason. Travis has clearly displayed that he is a premier back in the league with his explosiveness, agility, footwork, and reliable hands. I will say he has struggled to produce running the ball in team drills. I’m not going to judge Etienne much off of this yet though as the blocking hasn’t been great and it’s only 2 hand touch preventing Travis from breaking through tackles. After contact Etienne has truly shined leading the league in broken tackles in 2023 with 31.
Behind Etienne, Tank Bigsby has impressed as well, showing massive strides from what was deemed a poor rookie campaign. Tank has been secure with the ball and more decisive hitting a hole to run through. Tank also has seemingly expanded the dimension of his game working on his receiving ability out of the backfield and has gotten some major reps at kick returner. D’Ernest Johnson looks as reliable as he has for Jacksonville in the past, but isn’t quite the gamechanger Travis or Tank could be.
Maybe the biggest shocker of camp so far has been 25 year old UDFA RB from Akron, Lorenzo Lingard. Lingard has shown great burst and explosiveness in drills as well as reliable hands, who’s yet to drop a pass. In scrimmage Lorenzo has rumbled for decent gains every time he touched the rock, but he still has a lot to prove as he sits at the RB5 position on the depth chart.
On the opposite spectrum, 5th round rookie Keilan Robinson has been extremely underwhelming, dropping 3 balls in basic drills, dropping a TD in 7on7, and bobbling a kick return all on day 1. Since then he hasn’t been as mistake heavy, but there weren’t any highlight points from him either.
Receiving the ball, Evan Engram and Christian Kirk have cemented themselves as Lawrence’s top weapons. Engram has shown to be practically impossible to cover in team drills, making multiple plays displaying his athleticism and hands so fluidly that it looks almost effortless. Kirk in the slot has primarily made plays underneath, but is certainly a top target for Trevor, especially in the red zone. Throughout the first two training sessions, Christian Kirk has reeled in 3 of Trevor’s 7 passing scores.
I had very high hopes for rookie Brian Thomas Jr., but has been unimpressive in the first three practices. So far Thomas has only secured ONE catch in team drills on a WR screen behind the line. Brian Thomas Jr. has shown off his elite route-running, perfectly executing a deadly C route on day 1, but bobbled and dropped the pass. I expect the rookie out of LSU to put his talents on full display soon enough, however as of now, BTJ hasn’t been getting the separation you’d hope for.
Opposite of Brian, Gabe Davis struggled the first day as well getting strapped down by Tyson Campbell and losing a battle with Ronald Darby leading to an interception. Thankfully, he took a step up during day two, making a handful of tough grabs through contact and along the sideline. His connection with Trevor has proven to grow each day.
As for the depth receiving weapons Devin Duvernay, Parker Washington, and Brenton Strange have impressed me the most thus far. Duvernay on top of being Jacksonville’s primary return man has put his RAC ability on full display being very active on screens and has looked electric catching 3 beautiful TDs. I’m eager to see how big of a role Duvernay will have on the offense this year in place of Jamal Agnew.
Even though Parker Washington hasn’t made a “wow” play quite yet, he has been extremely reliable getting consistent short gains. Washington has likely secured a roster spot as the team’s backup slot receiver behind Kirk.
2nd round pick last year, Brenton Strange seems to be taking a few pages out of Engram’s book, appearing more athletic than last year and thriving at finding the soft spot in zone coverage for easy gains. Strange has put this on display during 7on7 in the red zone adding 2 back to back TDs from Trevor after finding himself wide open on the left side of the field.
The best of the rest so far have been Elijah Cooks, Joshua Cephus, Denzel Mims, and Luke Farrell who have had some very good moments in their own right, but I’m still waiting for them to distance themselves further from the others this offseason.
The offensive line I’ve had the least amount of time analyzing, but there are certainly some notable factors I’ve picked up on. Anton Harrison seems to have taken the jump coming off of a very good rookie year. Anton’s footwork and fundamentals look as refined as a diamond as he shut down Travon Walker during 11on11 scrimmages. On the surface, Anton seemed like the best lineman on the Jaguars offense and I expect him to lead the OLine to take the next jump.
Cam Robinson on the other hand lost every single rep I watched against Joshua Hines-Allen, which obviously is a tough matchup, but it certainly hasn’t given me confidence in the starting left tackle. Ezra Cleveland and Mitch Morse held up extremely well against the opposing defensive tackles. Brandon Scherff struggled a tad bit in the run game though, giving Etienne no room to run.
The backup OTs, Walker Little and Javon Foster have played fantastic for the 2nd team protecting Beathard so far. Walker Little especially has played well and looks like he may take Cam Robinson’s starting job. Walker has clearly put on a lot of muscle in the offseason looking more athletic than ever. Having said that, the backup interior linemen have done relatively poorly, especially against Maason Smith who seemed to bulldoze through double blocks every snap.
Finally, I’d like to discuss the kickers. At the very start of day two, I was worried about the kicking situation, as both Cam Little and Riley Patterson missed multiple field goals without any defense there attempting to block them or pressure to make the kicks. Eventually my faith was restored, as the two kickers had a competition during the 11on11s. Little and Patterson each attempted 4 field goals, with one being from 50+ yards back. Cam Little won the competition going a perfect 4/4 hitting his longest FG right down the middle. Patterson went 3/4, barely missing on his long attempt. On top of Little’s impressive 4/4 during the competition, he also drilled a 61 yarder that would’ve been good from even further back as well. Cam Little, the rookie out of Arkansas, appears to have the makings of a franchise kicker, which the Jaguars have desperately desired with 9 different starters since 2020.
Overall, the players that have surprised the most on offense consist of Lorenzo Lingard, Devin Duvernay, Brenton Strange, and Walker Little. As for the players who have disappointed, they still have plenty of time to build chemistry before week 1. The start the NFL season is closer than people may realize though, with the Hall of Fame game being on August 1st at 8 P.M. EST. between the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears.