JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It is time to turn things up a notch.
On Saturday, the Jaguars practiced for the first time in shoulder pads. Putting the pads on also comes with some increased intensity. There was more trash talk on Saturday than on any other day of camp.
With the pads on, the team spent large portions of practice working on the running game. Travis Etienne continued to flash some real home run speed. But overall, the defense was able to control the action. Josh Allen came up with back-to-back sacks during the team portion of practice and Travon Walker spent a considerable amount of time in the backfield. This dynamic duo didn’t line up against Trevor Lawrence much. The first-team defense matched up with the second-team offense and vice versa.
Trevor Tracker
A look Lawrence on Saturday. He was 12 of 16 passing.
Jake Luton’s numbers: (6 for 9, INT).
Kyle Sloter’s numbers: (1 for 1).
Lawrence with another solid day of work on the field. Most of his passing attempts came during the 2-minute drill portion of practice against the second-team defense. Lawrence was able to march the offense down the field calmly but they were not able to get into the end zone, although that is not Lawrence’s fault. On the second-to-last play of the drill, Lawrence found Evan Engram open on the 2-yard line. Engram simply dropped the pass despite being open.
This has become a running theme with Engram dropping at least one pass during each practice. To Engram’s credit, he spent time on the Jug machine after practice to work on catching those passes. It is clear that Engram is part of the Jaguars plan on offense this year.
They have spent considerable time working on getting the ball in his hands on short passes and even handing the ball off to him. But for him to be the sort of playmaker that the Jaguars are hoping he can be, Engram will need to get the drops under control. And he certainly can’t drop easy touchdowns like that when the games start to count.
The team is set to go full pads on Sunday and I would say the defense is ready for it since Saturday’s final play of practice ended with Rayshawn Jenkins knocking Mekhi Sargent down to the grass.
Notebook
- The Episcopal Eagles football team got to watch practice from the stands. Cool moment for the team since the Jaguars are borrowing the Episcopal Knight Sports complex for camp this year.
- Benjie Franklin continues to show up in my notebook day in and day out because he continues to make plays. Saturday, Franklin came up with his first interception of camp. He picked off Jake Luton and took it the other ways for a pick 6. Franklin will be an undrafted player to keep an eye on.
- Buster Brown has been having a good camp but Laquon Treadwell schooled him today. Brown tried to press Treadwell at the line and Treadwell pushed back knocking the rookie off balance.
- Gerrit Prince made a very nice sliding catch down the field. Price has a nice combination of speed and hands.
- Laviska Shenault with an up-and-down day on the practice field. He had one bad dropped pass but rebounded by making two contested grabs.
- Rookie linebacker Devin Lloyd is still sidelined.
- Right tackle Jawaan Taylor missed his second consecutive practice
- James Robinson and Jamal Agnew are still limited participants. Both ended last season on injured reserve.