Day 16 of the Jaguars’ 2024 training camp has come to a close on the practice fields at Miller Electric Center after the team held its first joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers today. Here are today’s highlights, social media updates and other observations from the field you may have missed. By the way, the number of video highlights available has skyrocketed due to the joint practices today. Buckle up, everyone.

Practical tips:

The Jaguars defense had a pretty strong day and was able to limit the explosive attacks of the Buccaneers offense. While Tampa Bay had an inconsistent redzone phase, most of their success during this phase came from checkdowns and aerial throws to 3rd and/or 4th options. The secondary had a really solid day in coverage, with several defensive backs making the list of today’s notable players. The defense rounded out the day with a pass breakup by Ronald Darby and a Travon Walker sack of Baker Mayfield during the third down phase.

Meanwhile, the Jaguars offense had a pretty exciting day in the passing game, with several explosive plays throughout practice. However, for those who weren’t there, a deeper dive into the passing and running game might be needed, which we’ll discuss below. In short, the Buccaneers defensive front had a great day.

Notable absences: Jaguars WR Christian Kirk did not dress or practice today for unknown reasons. However, he was on the field without padding, wearing a jersey and hat. WR coach Chad Hall was also absent from practice for personal reasons.

Notable players of today:

Lawrence was extremely good from the start in the 7-on-7 redzone, scoring touchdowns to Brian Thomas Jr., Parker Washington and Evan Engram on back-to-back attempts. Lawrence was 4/6 for 3 TDs. However, once the team periods began, the Buccaneers’ pass rush became more problematic for the offense and Lawrence. Lawrence had no turnovers, which is notable (and the same can be said about all of the QBs on both teams). It was a pretty strong day for Lawrence and the skill group, but unfortunately that compliment may come with a caveat, which we’ll get to later.

Engram started the day off great, catching a touchdown in the 7-on-7 red zone.

He then followed that up with a contested catch in the middle of the pitch during the team phase, but that was largely the end of his brilliance for the day.

Thomas Jr. started his strong day early in the team’s redzone phase with a touchdown, beating the Buccaneers’ starting CB Zyon McCollum for the TD.

A few more catches followed later, but none were better than this 80-yard pass from Trevor Lawrence, where he beat Bucs backup safety Kaevon Merriweather on the route.

Cooks made by far the highlight of the day: a 36-yard catch in which he used his frame, threw the ball high and caught it over Tampa Bay’s backup CB Josh Hayes.

Cooks made an impressive mid-level catch later in the same period. Cooks really shined in today’s practice when he was challenged by Tampa Bay’s physical secondary.

Washington had a really productive day in the teams since Christian Kirk was unable to practice today. Parker caught four balls in 11-on-11. His real highlight of the day, however, was this beauty in 7-on-7 with Tampa Bay’s backup CB Bryce Hall in coverage.

The day started early with two catches in the 11-on-11 period. It seemed like Davis’ busy day would continue after his first catch at the start of the following period, but he was quieter from there, catching only one more intermediate catch.

Despite having very limited room to maneuver outside of the redzone periods, Bigsby had a truly remarkable day with three rushing touchdowns in the various redzone 11-on-11 periods.

Jones had an inconsistent day in coverage during the teams. He secured a PBU early in the period, but then allowed two hard-fought catches while tight in coverage. Overall, it was still a positive day for the rookie, as his “negatives” on the day were that he was tight in coverage and narrowly missed a play on a few catches.

Campbell made a great play in the 11-on-11 redzone period, forcing Bucs WR Mike Evans into a PBU. He later forced an incomplete pass on a deep midfield target when he faced Evans in the following period.

Other notes:

Edmunds had a great forced incomplete pass from Baker Mayfield where Edmunds forced Bucs RB Bucky Irving to the sideline.

Johnson had some great plays in the redzone today, including a great pass breakup on teams on a route that ran across the formation, followed later by a near interception in the redzone.

While the highlights may or may not be made public by the team, I just wanted to note that Devin Duvernay’s 11-on-11 touchdown was such a great anticipatory throw by Beathard that led Duvernay into the back of the end zone that it’s worth mentioning. When the ball was released, Duvernay had just made his breakthrough and looked covered. CJ threw him free and led him away from the defender underneath.

CJ still had the odd puzzling miss on the day, but in my opinion this play was one of his better shots of the day.

The Jaguars’ defensive 1-on-1 situations took place on the far field while the Buccaneers’ defensive line battled the Jaguars’ offensive line on the near field. All this to say that it was difficult for fans and media to discern the results for the Jags D against the Bucs O. Rick Ballou perhaps summed up the day best for the Jags’ OL against the Bucs’ DL.

To Ballou’s point, both Mitch Morse and Luke Fortner struggled in 1v1s today. Morse was able to pick up some wins, though, while Forter really struggled with power across the board. Cam Robinson, meanwhile, won both of his 1v1 reps, and Anton Harrison also picked up two wins in the period. The interior of the OL will continue to be a talking point as Ezra Cleveland recovers from injury with his return today.

Open questions:

• When will the interior running game emerge? Will the starting interior OL be able to jumpstart the running game? Today’s joint practice included many team periods with very little movement up front against the Buccaneers’ staunch DL. Many of the more successful runs occurred on the edges or to the outside.

Brian Sexton of Jaguars.com previously noted in his conversation with Mitch Morse:

“Mitch Morse told me last week that with the running game, sometimes it takes a game or two in the regular season before you understand what the guy next to you is doing, especially when you have a new center. So that’s going to take some time.”

• Can the OL protect the QB? Although periods are not live and no contact with the QBs is allowed, many of the Jaguars offense’s bigger plays that occurred outside the redzone (i.e. longer development plays) were arguably sacks by Tampa Bay in a game situation. For example, the deep 80-yard bomb throw to BTJ before the throw was really a sack because Bucs DL William Gholston ran over LG Ezra Cleveland at the snap. Gholston was one yard behind Lawrence at the time of the throw. According to John Shipley on Jaguars on SI, the starting OL allowed a total of seven sacks of Trevor Lawrence today (six sacks in 11-on-11 teams and an additional coverage sack in 7-on-7 drills). Much of the pressure on the day came directly from the middle from Buccaneers’ DT Vita Vea and DT Kalijah Cancey.

None of this is to dampen fans’ enthusiasm, but rather to point out that questions will remain for this offensive line throughout the offseason until this unit is able to consistently deliver better end products to address fans’ concerns come 2023.

Injury Updates:

• DT Arik Armstead trained for the first time this offseason when he was activated by the list of physically unfit persons (PUP) on Tuesday evening. He appears to have recovered from his offseason meniscus surgery, and although he won’t practice today or play Saturday, that’s great news for Jaguars fans.
• LB Foye Oluokun returned to training after sitting out earlier in the week with a hamstring strain sustained during Saturday’s game.
• LB Ventrell Miller completed the entire training today in the red jersey without any physical contact, probably because of his broken hand.
• LG Ezra Cleveland returned to practice today following an ankle/heel injury sustained a week ago. He and Blake Hance alternated playing snaps at the guard position today while he works on his return.
• RB/RS Keilan Robinson was limited in training due to a toe sprain sustained during OTAs.
• TE Patrick Murtagh has not practiced after breaking his ankle a week ago. So far, no changes have been made to the roster that would indicate the team’s next steps.
• S Andrew Wingard has missed practice again due to the “serious” knee injury he suffered two weeks ago. So far, no changes have been made to the roster that indicate the team’s next steps. However, coach Pederson indicated on Monday that Wingard is expected to be out for approximately 6-7 weeks.
• S Darnell Savage still trained at full capacity today while wearing the red jersey without physical contact. The team had previously stated that it would be cautious during his recovery from a rotator cuff tear in 2023.

Next:

The next training camp practice is scheduled for Thursday, August 15, at the Miller Electric Center practice fields for the second day of joint practice with the Buccaneers. Warm-ups begin at 9:30 a.m. Practice begins at 10:00 a.m. Don’t forget to reserve your free tickets!