JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In the immortal words of Allen Iverson, “We are talking about practice. Not a game. Practice.”
Football is back-ish. The first day of training camp is sort of like the first day of school, everybody is on their best behavior. There are a few jitters but overall it is just about setting the table for what it going to happen the rest of the school year, or in this case, the rest of the season.
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For rookies, this is really their first taste of the NFL. The offseason program is one thing but training camp is a different level. For rookie Jarrian Jones, he looked right at home on an NFL field. Jones was one of the standouts from the first day but he did say it was sort of a surreal moment walking on the field.
“Coming out and seeing all the fans, I’m like, ‘OK, this is real,’” Jones said.
Jones is a third-round draft pick and will be competing for a starting job so he needed to hit the ground running. The stage doesn’t seem too big for him, and he said “it’s been fun.”
That fun carried over onto the field. He had a big pass breakup in the end zone during 7-on-7 drills but he said he should have had an interception on the play. With that in mind, Jones still gave himself a pretty good grade for his first day of camp.
“I would give it a B,” said Jones.
He is humble. I would give him an A+ for the day. Jones has looked good.
Jones looks the part of an NFL player and said he knew he belonged on the field quickly.
“I lined up against Gabe Davis and I was like ‘bro, I literally play with you in ‘Madden’.” And then we did our first rep, it was like ‘yeah, I’m supposed to be here.’”
He is definitely supposed to be on the field. Cornerback is going to be an interesting battle to watch to see who earns the starting job opposite of Tyson Campbell. Both Jones and Ronald Darby had good days out on the field. The vet is the lead dog for the job but I wouldn’t count out the rookie.
📖 Notebook 📖
- Darnell Savage in a red noncontact jersey.
- Arik Armstead is on physically unable to perform (PUP) list.
- Steven Jones tweaked his Calf during conditioning drills
- Keilan Robinson injured his toe during condition drills but practiced during the 1st day of camp.
- Trevor Lawrence threw his first interception of Camp. Ronald Darby jumped in front of Gabe Davis in the end zone for the INT. A low light for Trevor but a big play for Darby.
- Brian Thomas Jr. had a few plays he wished he could do over. BTJ had a drop in the back of the endzone on what should have been a pretty routine touchdown. No reason to worry just not an ideal moment.
- Austin Trammell had made the catch of the day. It was a beautiful over-the-shoulder catch with Tevaughn Campbell draped all over him on the sideline.
- Caleb Johnson was the defensive player of the day hands down. Johnson had a one-handed interception to go along with a few other splash plays. There is a competition for that third starting linebacker job and Johnson looks like a new name to throw in the mix.
- Darnell Savage did participate during team drills. He lined up exclusively in the slot. Expect to see a lot more three-safety looks this season.
- Christian Braswell also had an interception. Mac Jones gift-wrapped that one for Braswell.
- Tyson Campbell just got the big contract and was showing why on day 1 of camp. They tried to throw Tyson’s way twice and both passes ended up incomplete. Tyson was locked in and locked down his side.
- Brenton Strange got some solid action during 7 on 7. Strange caught a pair of touchdown passes from Trevor. Good start to his second year.