JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The two Ts dominated the conversation at Thursday’s organized team activity for the Jaguars.
Trevor and Tebow.
Trevor, as in the Jaguars No. 1 pick, quarterback Trevor Lawrence showed some of the traits that made him the first player selected in the draft but also struggled in the red zone drills on the first day reporters were allowed to watch the Jaguars full-team practice this offseason.
“Well, a big reason is red zone emphasis and that’s obviously a very hard area of the field,” Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer said.
“The field changes, especially against NFL talent all over the field and defense had the upper hand today. It wasn’t just him. So, it’s just [a] new area of the field, which is why you spend so much time down there practicing. It’s a completely different game. [He was] very accurate yesterday, today he’s just — we all struggled, not just him, offensively.”
There are still nearly two months until the start of training camp, so there is no need for panic after one subpar period of one practice in May. Some of what will improve for Lawrence is the relationship he has with his teammates. Veteran center Brandon Linder has liked what he’s seen so far of Lawrence and knows that the relationship shared between a center and quarterback is built over time, not overnight.
“We haven’t had too much conversation yet, just a little bit and on the field, it hasn’t been too much. But the kid’s won everywhere he’s been, and I mean he throws a damn good ball, that I’ve seen out there,” Linder said.
“But I’m excited, I know he’s excited, his whole team’s excited and so he seems good. You’re trying to build trust outside the building. I mean that’s how you create a relationship, so I’m sure we’ll be hanging out. We do offensive line dinners at my house and stuff and that’s just going to happen organically over time.”
As for the other T, Tim Tebow continued to work with the tight ends. He caught a few passes during Thursday’s drills, but it’s tough to gauge exactly where he is with limited snaps with the full offense. Meyer said that before the Jaguars start thinking about using Tebow in other ways, like as a wildcat quarterback or on gadget plays, they have to see if he’s going to be able to make the team as a tight end.
“I think it’s one step at a time and see what happens,” Meyer said. “Before you start having those conversations, you’ve got to feel where he’s at on the depth chart. So, obviously, it’s only been a couple of days, so we have not had that conversation as an offensive staff yet.”
The Jaguars had all 90 players on the roster present for Thursday’s practice. That’s in stark contrast to a number of NFL teams that have cut back to eliminated OTAs after members of the NFL Players Association signed statements saying that they would stay away from voluntary workouts this offseason.
The Jaguars will continue organized team activities next Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Then again June 7-10 before the mandatory minicamp convenes June 12, 13 and 14. Training camp will begin in July on a date to be announced.