Jaguars Training Camp: The Good, the Bad and the Great of First Padded Practices

Who stood out as pads came on and which areas do the Jaguars still look like a work in progress?

The Jacksonville Jaguars are back to playing football. Real football. This time tomorrow, they will be gearing up to play the Las Vegas Raiders after spending the last three practices in full pads (and last four in shoulder pads).

You can read our full breakdowns of each day of Jaguars training camp, but in this space we are continuing a new series we will hone in on with each turn of camp: The good, the bad and the great.

So, what was good about the Jaguars' first handful of padded practices? What can be classified as great? And what was downright concerning? We take a look below.

The Good

• The offensive tackles. The first full padded practice wasn't a great day for the offensive tackles as Walker Little got beat by a host of defenders in his first day at right tackle with pads on, with backup tackle Will Richardson also having some trouble with Travon Walker. This changed on Monday, though. Little was the star of 1-on-1s, shutting down Walker, Josh Allen, K'Lavon Chaisson, and Jamir Jones. He looked like a different player than the day before and drew some wildly positive cheers from line coach Phil Rauscher. Then there is left tackle Cam Robinson. Robinson has been consistent since the first day of pads, playing with a confident air to him that we haven't seen in previous camps. He is playing some of his best football as a Jaguar right now, at least practice-wise. Throw in Richardson improving on Monday and stumping Chaisson, and the tackles look like they could be the strength of the line. 

• Trevor Lawrence and the offense have actually gotten better since pads have come on. Normally you would think non-padded practices is when the Jaguars would see their quarterback and skill players have their big days, but the defense had several good days in a row against the offense without pads on. The tide shifted on Sunday, though. The defense dominated the offense in the first team drill of pads work due to three drops in five plays from the first-team offense, but the next several team drills saw the offense punch back. Then on Monday and Tuesday, very few footballs hit the ground as Lawrence got into his best rhythm all camp and the receivers who dealt with drop issues on Sunday began to correct them.

• The Jaguars keep picking up big gains in the running game. This could be a double-sided sword because it makes one wonder why the first- and second-team defense have allowed so many big runs since the start of training camp, but there is a good chance the current construction of the Jaguars' offense means that the best version of this unit is a running-based one. Travis Etienne and James Robinson might be the two best skill players on the team, Brandon Scherff might be the best player on the whole team and Snoop Conner has impressed. Those are good signs for an impactful running game.

The Bad

• Luke Fortner is going to have his good moments as a rookie, but there will be a learning curve at times, too. It wasn't hard to find where the Jaguars were starting a rookie along the offensive line, especially on Sunday and Monday as multiple Jaguars defenders had success against Fortner in team drills and 1-on-1s. This isn't to be unexpected, but it does show that there likely will be some ugly moments with Fortner as a rookie, just as with most rookie linemen.
•  “I'm not concerned with him. This guy is unbelievable. I really like where he's at mentally. His thing is he's just got to process it, slow it down, slow the game down and just take one play at a time. These are such valuable reps for him," Doug Pederson said about Fortner on Tuesday. "You got Brandon to the right, Tyler to the left, great communication in the middle with everything that's going on. You know, it is kind of funny. Sometimes you hear him coming off the field and just how he responds to the defense. He's like, ‘Man, these guys are fast, they show up quick, you know, in your face.’ He's sliding left and coming back and he's getting banged, but those are all things that you just work through. And he doesn't get discouraged. We're very encouraged by it. He's going to be a good player.”

• The outside linebacker depth. The Jaguars have tweener defenders in Dawuane Smoot and Arden Key who could play on the edge in a pinch, but it is clear the Jaguars' top backups behind Josh Allen and Travon Walker are K'Lavon Chaisson and Jamir Jones. Neither has stood out in a big way in camp, even with pads on, making it a scary situation for the Jaguars if they ever see Allen or Walker miss time. Jordan Smith wasn't going to save their outside linebacker depth, but his injury looks like it is surely going to hurt them.

The Great

• Snoop Conner. I am not sure a non-lineman has had more wow moments than Conner since pads have come on. He looked more athletic than advertised during the spring and early parts of camp, but since pads have come on he has been incredibly consistent, breaking off long runs and showing good hands at the line of scrimmage and even downfield. He is the favorite to be the RB3 right now.

• Zay Jones. Not because of any plays he has made, but because it took one day of pads for him to show he is wired differently than many players we saw draped in apathy from a year ago. He nearly got into a fight with a host of Jaguars defenders after seeing Travis Etienne taken to the ground on the sideline, the kind of temperament you would hope an offensive teammate has, but not something the Jaguars showed last year. It was broken up and no time was wasted, but it still showed Jones may be just what the Jaguars' culture on offense needs.