One of the biggest issues with this NFL offseason which has been significantly altered by COVID-19 is the lack of experience the rookies will get on the field before the regular season. As many are aware, organized team activities were replaced with a virtual process, while minicamp was eliminated and the same will apply for preseason games.
Of course, this has made a scenario where it will especially be an uphill battle for draft picks who aren’t high selections to make rosters. When looking at the Jags’ roster makeup, these are players they’ve named to their rosters quite often in the past, but things could be different this year.
Jags coach Doug Marrone discussed this exact matter when asked about going without preseason games, which would mark one of the most unique offseason fans have seen in a while.
“I told this to the young guys, I said if you look at our league and the history of our league, this is probably going to be one of the more challenging times for a young player to make a football team,” Marrone told the media Thursday
“One is because of opportunities and the other is a young football player that may have some better players ahead of him, but not being able to play preseason games to get on film and maybe get picked up by another team. I think the challenges for these young guys are much greater than they have been in the past.”
It was clear the Jags were going to be a young team early in this offseason as they traded away veteran Calais Campbell, Nick Foles, and A.J. Bouye. They also elected not to pick up nose tackle Marcell Dareus’ last year and released receiver Marqise Lee.
Losing all of the aforementioned names put the Jags in a situation where they will now carry 12 draft picks and 18 undrafted rookies into training camp. However, with the staff potentially on the hot seat, it’s hard to imagine them carrying a lot of undrafted players on their roster — if any at all.