Category: Jay Gruden

The good, bad and ugly from the Jags’ loss to the Texans

The Jacksonville Jaguars are now on a seven-game slide after losing 25-27 at home to the Houston Texans this afternoon. Sunday’s final results kept the Jags from becoming the first team in NFL history to concede 30-plus points in seven consecutive …

The Jacksonville Jaguars are now on a seven-game slide after losing 25-27 at home to the Houston Texans this afternoon. Sunday’s final results kept the Jags from becoming the first team in NFL history to concede 30-plus points in seven consecutive games.

Had the Jags allowed another 30-point game (or more), it would’ve marked the second time the team would’ve achieved an unwanted feat as they became the first team ever to drop three consecutive games to winless teams last time they faced Houston.

That said, here are the good, bad, and ugly talking points from Week 9’s defeat:

The good: DJ Chark is back in a big way

The best news coming out of this game is that the Jaguars now sit in sole possession of the No. 2 overall pick as the only one-win team left in the NFL.  However, fans shouldn’t let that distract them from the stars who are on the team currently like DJ Chark Jr., who bounced back Sunday in a big way.

After seeing his connection with quarterback Gardner Minshew II deteriorate to some degree in the last couple of games, Chark came out and put on a show. He ultimately finished the game with seven catches for 146 yards and a touchdown, giving him the highest receiving total in the whole game. He also reminded fans why he is one of the brighter deep threats in the NFL.

Myles Jack, James Robinson, and even Jake Luton flashed at times in Sunday’s game, but the biggest bright-spot for Jacksonville this Sunday was Chark because he now has the momentum he was desperately searching for.

The bad: Jay Gruden’s fourth down, 2-point conversion play-calling

There have been questions about Jay Gruden’s play-calling decisions since the team’s Week 2 loss in Tennessee. Whether it’s the persistence to have Minshew throw the ball 40+ times in five-straight defeats or that embarrassing fumble in the last game against Houston. The true failures of Gruden’s tenure in Jacksonville have been his lack of efficiency on fourth down.

After nine weeks of the 2020 season, only two teams have fared worse than the Jaguars when it comes to converting on fourth down as they’ve only converted on 28% of their tries, down from 48% in 2019. Today was a reinforcement of that as the team ran the same play on back-to-back third and fourth downs in the fourth quarter.

The Jags’ 2-point conversion rate is an improvement on this mark, currently sitting at 40% — also down on last year’s total (50%) — but still isn’t good enough. Today’s attempt failed due to an errant throw by Luton, but the decision to force a ball to Chark in double coverage seems odd.

The ugly: The Jaguars secondary

It is difficult to put into words just how putrid the Jaguars’ secondary is. Busted coverages, missed tackles, long touchdowns have been littered throughout the 2020 campaign and all three were rampant in today’s matchup.

For what feels like the first time all season, the Jaguars were able to get consistent pressure in the face of Deshaun Watson. Unfortunately for the front-seven, the former college football champion proved to be at his usual elusive best.

Despite the improved efforts from the Jaguars pass-rush, Watson still had two touchdowns on the day. Both were from 50 yards or further and came as a result of dismal play from members of the Jaguars’ secondary.

The first was a 57-yard catch and run from Brandin Cooks, who managed to squeeze between three Jags’ defensive backs and then scamper up the sideline leaving safety Jarrod Wilson in his wake.

The second occurrence was even more concerning, although the play should’ve resulted in a delay of game penalty. However, when the ball was snapped, C.J Henderson completely lost track of the ball as Will Fuller V adjusted to it behind the rookie’s back before turning the ball upfield for a 77-yard score.

If this secondary doesn’t play better soon, it’s difficult to imagine the Jaguars staying competitive the rest of the way. It’s especially concerning with the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rogers up next as their offense is ninth in passing.

Jay Gruden acknowledges that Jake Luton is facing a tough task vs. Texans, but likes his physical tools

Jay Gruden has been impressed with Jake Luton, but feels he is battling a difficult task against the Texans in his first start.

With Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew II sidelined by a significant thumb injury, rookie Jake Luton is set to likely start in his place. Like Minshew, he’ll be in a similar situation as a sixth-round rookie who likely didn’t have plans to take the field in their first year, but here we are as things simply come up out of the blue all the time in the NFL.

As the team heads into Week 9’s game against the Houston Texans, there is a great deal of belief in the young rookie, but at the same time, the staff is aware that a win won’t be easy. Those were pretty much the sentiments echoed by offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, whose been impressed with Luton dating back to this summer, but understands he’s being thrown into the fire rather quickly.

“Unfortunately, it’s not going to be easy for a rookie, first game, hadn’t taken a lot of reps with the first team,” said Gruden Wednesday. “In fact, I don’t think he’s called one of our plays in the huddle since training camp, so it will not be easy for him.”

As for the positives, Gruden praised Luton’s physical tools Wednesday, as the rookie does offer the team better measurables (6-foot-6, 224-pounds) and arm strength than Minshew.

“I think there’s a lot to like, just what we’ve seen over the course of [the] last three, four months. He’s got a great arm. He’s got the ability to put touch on the ball. He can stroke it now, that’s for sure, so we’re excited to see him throw the ball down the field,” said Gruden.

“I think he has great vision too. He’s tall, he’s six foot six [inches]. I think he’ll be able to get off his first progression, be able to work his eyes and find the next, second, hopefully third guy if we have protection. But from arm talent, he’s impressive.”

Only time will tell if Luton can have the success Minshew did as a rookie, but it’s clear the staff has faith in him. Now, it will be a matter of doing it on the field as he will have the opportunity to do something that Minshew hasn’t — and that’s defeat the Texans.

 

2 Jaguars make PFF’s top-10 rookie rankings for Week 1

The Jags got a crazy amount of contributions from their rookies during their season opener against Indy, but two in particular were huge.

Opening weekend came and went in the blink of an eye for the NFL. Something to savor for football fans everywhere as the season kicked off after so much doubt and anticipation. It was also something to savor for Jaguars fans in particular, who witnessed their team come away with a shocking 27-20 win after many in the media tried to persuade them that the team was “tanking for Trevor.”

A big part of the Jaguars’ win on Sunday was the impact that rookies had on the overall team performance. The roster underwent a huge overhaul during the course of the offseason and many were wondering whether the team would be able to remain competitive as a result.

The 2020 rookie class more than answered the call on Sunday. There were seven first-year pros who made meaningful contributions to the team’s 1-0 start to 2020.

Both rookie receivers Collin Johnson and Laviska Shenault Jr. made their presence felt on offense. Johnson had a grab to help the Jags convert a third-down and put on an athletic display at the end of the game with a backflip while in victory formation. Shenault saw a 62% snap count and was able to register three receptions for 37 yards and a touchdown.

New offensive coordinator Jay Gruden involved Shenault out of the backfield, too, at one time deploying putting him in the wildcat for a reasonable gain. Needless to say, it got fans on Twitter very excited.

Among all of these impressive debuts, there were two rookies on the Jags’ roster who had breakout games on Sunday. In fact, their showings were so impressive that the Jags were the only team to have two players featured on Pro Football Focus’ list of top-10 graded rookies.

10. RB James Robinson, Jacksonville Jaguars

Robinson recorded 62 rushing yards on 16 carries, with 56 yards coming after contact, earning a 65.7 rushing grade that ranked 11th of 26 running backs. He didn’t get much help from the line at times, as he was contacted at or behind the line of scrimmage on nine of 16 carries, but he still managed to break off a couple of 10-plus-yard gains despite that.

Head coach Doug Marrone said his decision to move on from Leonard Fournette boiled down to what the staff saw on the practice field, an area where James Robinson seemingly flourished. The former Illinois State star was the only back in the NFL to have 100% of their team’s running back rushing attempts.

The Jaguars’ new starting running back owns a piece of history after his impressive debut, setting a new opening weekend rushing record for undrafted rookies with 62 yards. That’s, well worthy of the tenth spot on PFF’s list of rookies this week.

2. CB C.J. Henderson, Jacksonville Jaguars

CJ Henderson might have put in the best rookie debut in franchise history. It is easy to over-exaggerate after one week, but the job he did shutting down the left side of the field was nothing short of phenomenal. PFF said so themselves:

The No. 9 overall pick then earned an 84.2 PFF grade against Indianapolis in Week 1, the second-best grade of the week at the position. His grade when lined up on the outside was actually the best we have ever recorded by a rookie in Week 1 in the PFF era, and he allowed only two catches on six man-coverage targets (17 such coverage snaps) while making four plays made on the ball.

There was no doubt that the Jaguars were going to rely on their young guys to produce, but the responsibility placed on Henderson’s shoulders could have seen him crumble early.

Corner is a notoriously difficult position to translate to, yet Henderson handled the pressure like a seasoned pro. His success against a four-time Pro Bowler meant the team kept him on the field for 73 of the teams 74 defensive plays, ranked third amongst all defenders.

Both Robinson and Henderson will need to continue their growth heading forward, and if they do, the Jags have a good chance to exceed expectations. Both will be interesting to watch as the Jags take on another divisional rival in the Tennessee Titans Week 2 in Nashville.

Jay Gruden calls QB Jake Luton the ‘biggest pleasant surprise’ of Jags camp

It goes without saying Gardner Minshew is the guy for the Jacksonville Jaguars heading into 2020, but there is uncertainty behind him at quarterback. The team also have veterans Joshua Dobbs and Mike Glennon on the roster, but neither has distanced …

It goes without saying Gardner Minshew is the guy for the Jacksonville Jaguars heading into 2020, but there is uncertainty behind him at quarterback. The team also have veterans Joshua Dobbs and Mike Glennon on the roster, but neither has distanced themselves or built a notable buzz from TIAA Bank Field.

One quarterback who has, however, is sixth-round rookie Jake Luton, at least according to offensive coordinator Jay Gruden. In his virtual meeting with the media Friday, Gruden called the young signal-caller the “biggest pleasant surprise” of the Jags’ training camp so far.

“Yes, I think that’s been the biggest pleasant surprise, I would say is his ability to come in here and learn,” Gruden said when asked if Luton was ahead of expectations. “He plays with great poise and confidence for a young player. We put him in the number one huddle a couple times, and he has shown no sign of being intimidated. He fits right in there, like I said, he’s got great accuracy, he’s got great arm strength, so we’ve been very impressed with him.”

One thing that was clear when the Jags drafted Luton was he had the prototypical size at 6-foot-6, 224-pounds. Evidently, those physical tools have translated well.

Luton’s play is certainly encouraging news as coach Doug Marrone said there was no clear cut No. 2 guy behind Minshew over a week ago, according to John Reid of the Florida Times-Union. That said, it appears Luton has upped his play lately and several media members have caught on.

Gruden was also asked about whether or not he thought the team would keep three quarterbacks and stated that it would ultimately come down to Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell, though he’d like to keep three.

“Well, I’m always going to give my opinion, but at the end of the day, it’s up to Coach [Doug] Marrone and obviously [General Manager] Dave Caldwell and they’ll have the final say,” said Gruden. “But, if I have my way, I definitely want to keep three. With all of the things going on in the world today, with the Coronavirus, you never know what’s going to happen.”

The Jags are approaching the two-week mark before the season so Luton’s name will be one to watch closely heading forward. If he continues the growth we’ve witnessed over the last few weeks, he could very well boot Mike Glennon or Joshua Dobbs out of the mix.

 

Jags TE James O’Shaughnessy discusses his excitement about Jay Gruden’s scheme

Now that he’s back from his ACL tear from 2019, Jacksonville Jaguars tight end James O’Shaughnessy is excited to see what 2020 holds on the gridiron. A key reason for that is his eagerness to play in Jay Gruden’s new scheme, which has already …

Now that he’s back from his ACL tear from 2019, Jacksonville Jaguars tight end James O’Shaughnessy is excited to see what 2020 holds on the gridiron. A key reason for that is his eagerness to play in Jay Gruden’s new scheme, which has already implemented some things that the well-traveled veteran hasn’t seen yet.

In a digital presser with the media on Tuesday, O’Shaughnessy discussed his outlook on playing for Gruden and also discussed what he’s done to learn the new system.

“Well, [the] offense is amazing. It has a West Coast background, but it has new wrinkles that I haven’t seen before and I’ve been with some pretty good OC’s offenses before with the [Kansas City] Chiefs and the [New England] Patriots. So, I’ve seen a lot and I saw concepts I’ve never seen before and that was cool to see,” O’Shaughnessy said.

“From the tight end standpoint, watching the film, studying what they’ve done with other tight ends, like [San Francisco 49ers TE] Jordan Reed, [San Francisco 49ers TE] Vernon Davis, Eifert back in Cincinnati. I mean, there’s a lot of optimism for everybody in the room.”

The veteran playing under Bill Belichick’s and Andy Reid’s schemes is certainly nothing for fans to overlook, as both have coached some great offenses and have had great success at tight end. That said, O’Shaughnessy’s words should excite fans heading forward, especially when considering how he flourished with Gardner Minshew under center early in 2019,

With the Jags entering this offseason with concerns at tight end, the recent foot injury to Josh Oliver and Tyler Eifert’s history with injuries, fans are probably feeling nervous about the tight end position heading forward. However, if O’Shaughnessy can begin to re-establish the connection he once had with Minshew, that would help tremendously as the two linked up during a lot of crucial moments in the season.

Jaguars training camp primer: Everything you need to know about team’s new additions

The Jags made a lot of moves to get to the start of training camp with key additions like Joe Schobert, C.J. Henderson and more.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have reported for their first day of training camp. There were a lot of moves made this offseason to get to this point in addition to navigating through the issues coronavirus has caused.

To get you all prepared for what will be a unique training camp, we’ve decided to group all of the team’s new additions into one post. Here are all the new draft picks, free-agents, and coaches that Doug Marrone and company were able to add this offseason:

New additions

TE Tyler Eifert: Tight end has long been an area of concern for the Jags and 2019 was no exemption. The Jags were left almost bare at tight end last season when Geoff Swaim, Josh Oliver, and James O’Shaughnessy all had to go on injured reserve. With Swaim not showing much when he was healthy, the Jags released the veteran and picked up someone familiar with the scheme: Tyler Eifert. He’s a former Pro Bowler and will be TE1 but comes with injury concerns, missing over 50 career games.

RB Chris Thompson: Like Eifert, Chris Thompson brings familiarity to the Jags’ new system because he was with coordinator Jay Gruden in Washington. With such a young running backs room, the Jags felt the need to bring in a veteran, and with seven years of experience, Thompson should be a very good role model and player for the group.

LB Joe Schobert: The Jags tried Myles Jack out at MIKE linebacker after locking him up to a long-term deal, and to put it lightly, it didn’t work out. That said, they added veteran Joe Schobert this offseason to man the spot and move Jack to WILL linebacker, an area where his skill-set could better thrive.

DL Rodney Gunter: With the Jags trading Calais Campbell, they needed to find a cheaper option to replace him and Rodney Gunter ended up joining the Jags as a result. He’ll play both on the interior and exterior of the Jags’ defense and could be a sleeper to have a solid season.

DT Al Woods: Nobody expected the Jags to pick up Marcell Dareus’ expensive contract option this offseason and they didn’t. With a hole left at nose tackle, the ended up signing veteran Al Woods, who brings nine years of experience to the table and will be the oldest player on the team (33).

DE/LB Cassius Marsh: The Jags wanted more help on the edge and at SAM linebacker. That sent them in the direction of Cassius Marsh, who will compete with rookie K’Lavon Chaisson to start at SAM on early downs.

CB Rashaan Melvin: Jalen Ramsey was traded before the 2019 season was over and A.J. Bouye was traded before the 2020 offseason could end. With that being the case, the Jags needed a veteran at corner and added Rashaan Melvin as a result. He’ll enter his career with the Jags with 40 starts to his name and will compete with Tre Herndon to start alongside rookie C.J. Henderson.

Notable departures

DL Calais Campbell: The Jags made the tough decision to trade Calais Campbell as a result of needing to reallocate money and get younger. It’s possible they would’ve kept him on a smaller cap hit, but the good thing about the trade is that he ended up with a great team.

CB A.J. Bouye: Bouye is another testament of the Jags needing to reallocate money. Like Campbell, the Jags added him in 2017 through an expensive “win now” free-agent class, but success didn’t come for the team. That put the Jags in a predicament where they wanted to keep the veteran but had to dump his salary on the Denver Broncos.

DT Marcell Dareus: As previously stated, the option to pick up Dareus would’ve been costly to retain at about $20 million on the season. Sure, he was arguably their best run defender, but that’s not worth the price that would’ve c0me with him. The Jags were able to find a significantly cheaper veteran option in Woods and got a sleeper in third-round pick DaVon Hamilton, who could be the future at nose tackle.

QB Nick Foles: The Jags took a costly swing on the Super Bowl MVP in 2019 and he ended up with a collarbone injury that allowed them to see some impressive things out of Gardner Minshew II. Understanding they may have caught lightning in a bottle, they moved on from Foles by trading him to the Chicago Bears to give Minshew a clear path to the QB1 spot.

WR Marqise Lee: The longtime veteran was another expected cut for the Jags. His career, unfortunately, was plagued with injuries and the Jags simply saw an opportunity to upgrade the spot with a strong receivers class that highlighted the 2020 NFL Draft.

Draft selections (12)

Round 1 (No. 9): CB CJ Henderson, Florida (More about Henderson)

Round 1 (No. 20): Edge K’Lavon Chaisson, Louisiana State (More about Chaisson)

Round 2 (No. 42): WR Laviska Shenault, Colorado (More about Shenault)

Round 3 (No. 73): DT DaVon Hamilton, Ohio State (More about Hamilton)

Round 4 (No. 116): OL Ben Bartch, St. Johns (More about Bartch)

Round 4 (No. 137): CB Josiah Scott, Michigan State (More about Scott)

Round 4 (No. 140): LB Shaquille Quarterman, Miami (More about Quarterman)

Round 5 (No. 157): Safety Daniel Thomas, Auburn (More about Thomas)

Round 5 (No. 165): WR Collin Johnson, Texas (More about Johnson)

Round 6 (No. 189): QB Jake Luton, Oregon State (More about Luton)

Round 6 (No. 206): TE Tyler Davis, Georgia Tech (More about Davis)

Round 7 (No. 223:) CB Chris Claybrooks, Memphis (More about Claybrooks)

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Undrafted rookies (18)

Connor Slomka, FB, Army

Amari Henderson, CB, Wake Forest (Highlights) (Scouting report)

Steven Nielsen, OT, Eastern Michigan

Brandon Wright, kicker/Punter, Georgia State

Marvelle Ross, WR, Notre Dame College (Highlights)

James Robinson, RB, Illinois State University (Highlights) (Scouting report by NFL.com)

Kobe Williams, CB, Arizona State (Highlights)

Ross Matiscik, LS, Baylor (Highlights)

Josh Hammond, WR, Florida (Highlights)

Luqman Barcoo, CB, San Diego State (Highlights) (Scouting report by Mountain West Wire)

Nate Evans, LB, Central Florida (Highlights) (Scouting report by Black and Gold Banneret)

Tre’Vour Wallace Simms, OL, Missouri (Highlights) (Scouting report PFN)

Ben Ellefson, TE, North Dakota State (Highlights)

Nate Cottrell, RB, Georgia Tech (Highlights)

Tavien Feaster, RB, South Carolina (Highlights) (Scouting report by TDN)

Austen Pleasants, OL, Ohio (Highlights) (Scouting report by PFN)

J.R. Reed, Safety, Georgia (Highlights) (Scouting report by TDN)

New additions to the coaching staff

OC Jay Gruden: The Jags decided to mutually part ways with former offensive coordinator John DeFilippo this offseason, putting them on the market for a new offensive coordinator. They eventually ended up with former Washington Football Team head coach Jay Gruden to replace DeFilippo.

Gruden has had success with young quarterbacks in the past like Andy Dalton ad Kirk Cousins, which probably was a big reason Marrone wanted him on the team.

QB coach Ben McAdoo: Ben McAdoo, a former head coach for the New York Giants, will bring 16 years of coaching experience to the Jags’ quarterbacks room. His most notable run coaching the position came back in 2012-13, when he was with the Green Bay Packers and coached Aaron Rodgers.

Quality controls coach Dennard Robinson: Dennard Robinson is a familiar face to Jags fans as he was their No. 135th overall pick of the 2013 draft. As a quality controls coach on offense, the former multi-purpose weapon will be learning under guys like McAdoo and Gruden while also researching opponents in advance.

Assistant LB coach Tony Gilbert: Tony Gilbert is another former Jags player who will be joining the coaching staff as a newcomer. He spent time with the team during the Jack Del Rio era and will work alongside head linebackers coach Mark Collins.

Jay Gruden excited to see the progress Jawaan Taylor makes in second season

The Jags got a great deal of production out of their 2019 draft class but Jay Gruden seems to especially be high on RT Jawaan Taylor.

Quarterback Gardner Minshew II isn’t the only player who fans are excited about from the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 2019 rookie class as the team’s early selections showed promise, too. Of course, the first name that comes to mind is Josh Allen, who beat the Jags’ rookie sack record with 10.5 and was nominated to the Pro Bowl.

The second player is someone who went under-the-radar in offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor, who already appears to have made a fan of new offensive coordinator Jay Gruden. In this week’s video call with the media, Gruden was asked about rather or not he was excited about the growth of the young tackle and it led to a bunch of high praise towards him.

“One hundred percent, yes,” said Gruden in the Zoom conference. “He’s long, he’s athletic and he plays with the tenacity that you love from a tackle. I am very excited to get to work with him at right tackle. He can run, he can pull, he can get out there on screens, he’s physical in the running game and he can pass protect, he’s got great feet. He’s got every quality that you want in an offensive tackle and the more experience he gets and handing some of the movement up front, the better he’s going to be.”

Talk about high praise for the second-year player.

Gruden’s fondness towards Taylor isn’t shocking when looking at what he had in Washington. On the blindside for his group was Trent Williams, who was a massive force at 6-foot-5, 318 pounds. While Taylor (6-foot-5, 312-pounds) plays on the opposite side, the traits that Gruden explained are very identical to those of Williams, who is a seven-time Pro Bowler.

Taylor will be coming off a rookie season where he struggled early and garnered 16 total penalties, good for second in the league. However, during the last quarter of the season, he played significantly better and many have been excited to see his growth in 2020. He also proved to be an ironman for the Jags and was the only rookie in the league to play in 100% of his snaps, so Gruden also is probably impressed with his toughness, too.

Listen to the latest from Jags Wire’s own James Johnson and Phil Smith on their podcast “Bleav in the Jags.” Subscribe via Apple podcasts and check out our archived episodes via Bleav Podcasts.

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Gardner Minshew on Jags’ doubters: ‘I think it should put a chip on everybody’s shoulder’

The Jacksonville Jaguars aren’t projected to do all that great this season by the national media due to losing a lot of veterans this offseason. The good people over at BetMGM aren’t too high on them eithe r as the team is projected to win only five …

The Jacksonville Jaguars aren’t projected to do all that great this season by the national media due to losing a lot of veterans this offseason. The good people over at BetMGM aren’t too high on them either as the team is projected to win only five games.

Of course, the players on the Jags’ roster aren’t trying to hear the negativity. As the quarterback of the team, Gardner Minshew II especially is ready to prove the doubters wrong and believes his comrades will be motivated by those who believe the Jags won’t make any progress.

“I think it should put a chip on everybody’s shoulder on our team, know being kind of counted out like that,” said Minshew Thursday. “I think we do have a lot to prove, prove that we are not what anybody says about us, the only people that really know, the only peoples whose opinions matter is who is in that huddle, who is on that team and I think we are going to set those expectations for ourselves and not worry about what anybody else has to say about us.”

In addition to the veterans they’ve lost, one could certainly understand why the Jags are being doubted as they’ve only had one winning season out of Dave Caldwell’s seven-year tenure. Additionally, they could be without pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue, who is currently not seeing eye-to-eye with the front office.

Another concern that has been brought up by fans is the shortage of additions made offensively around Minshew. While the team did get tight end Tyler Eifert and drafted receivers Laviska Shenault Jr. and Collin Johnson, some are concerned about the Jags not adding a new starter on the offensive line. Sure, fourth-round pick Ben Bartch could be the No. 1 right guard but the team views him more as a project for now.

Regardless, Minshew seems very confident in the pieces around him. The reason for that is because the unit seems to be buying into new offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, who has a respectable track record with quarterbacks and young offenses. That said, if Gruden can tap into the Jags’ offensive potential, they could be well on the way to making a lot of people national pundits eat their words.

Jay Gruden excited to see the progress Jawaan Taylor makes in second season

Jaguars coordinator Jay Gruden seems fond of some of the pieces in place in Jacksonville and Jawaan Taylor is clearly among them.

Quarterback Gardner Minshew II isn’t the only player who fans are excited about from the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 2019 rookie class as the team’s early selections showed promise, too. Of course, the first name that comes to mind is Josh Allen, who beat the Jags’ rookie sack record with 10.5 and was nominated to the Pro Bowl.

The second player is someone who went under-the-radar in offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor, who already appears to have made a fan of new offensive coordinator Jay Gruden. In this week’s video call with the media, Gruden was asked about rather or not he was excited about the growth of the young tackle and it led to a bunch of high praise towards him.

“One hundred percent, yes,” said Gruden in the Zoom conference. “He’s long, he’s athletic and he plays with the tenacity that you love from a tackle. I am very excited to get to work with him at right tackle. He can run, he can pull, he can get out there on screens, he’s physical in the running game and he can pass protect, he’s got great feet. He’s got every quality that you want in an offensive tackle and the more experience he gets and handing some of the movement up front, the better he’s going to be.”

Talk about high praise for the second-year player.

Gruden’s fondness towards Taylor isn’t shocking when looking at what he had in Washington. On the blindside for his group was Trent Williams, who was a massive force at 6-foot-5, 318 pounds. While Taylor (6-foot-5, 312-pounds) plays on the opposite side, the traits that Gruden explained are very identical to those of Williams, who is a seven-time Pro Bowler.

Taylor will be coming off a rookie season where he struggled early and garnered 16 total penalties, good for second in the league. However, during the last quarter of the season, he played significantly better and many have been excited to see his growth in 2020. He also proved to be an ironman for the Jags and was the only rookie in the league to play in 100% of his snaps, so Gruden also is probably impressed with his toughness, too.

Jay Gruden says he would like to utilize D.J. Chark in the slot more

Jay Gruden is really impressed by the film he’s seen on D.J. Chark but feels there are more ways he could be utilized.

Jacksonville Jaguars receiver D.J. Chark Jr. was undoubtedly the team’s most improved player in 2019. After a 2018 rookie season in which he struggled and only caught 14 passes, he bounced back last year by leading the receiving corps with 73 catches for 1,008 yards and eight touchdowns. He also went to the Pro Bowl alongside defensive linemen Calais Campbell and Josh Allen.

Despite that success, coordinator Jay Gruden believes Chark is just scratching the surface and could be utilized in the slot just as well as on the outside.

“He’s got the skill set with the size, speed and ability to come in and out of cuts,” Gruden said. “I think we can do a little bit more with him. I’d like to get him inside and do some more things with him in the slot. But he’s an excellent specimen. And the thing that I have come to know about DJ in the limited time I got to meet him was that he’s hungry.”

This is something Chark won’t have a problem with as it’s another creative way to free the young receiver up. While Dede Westbrook is the player who is expected to see the most snaps in the slot, switching things up occasionally won’t hurt, especially when considering Chark’s size (6-foot-4, 194-pounds).

As we previously pointed out last week, the slot is a spot that has seen a lot of production in Gruden’s offenses in the past. His last primary slot receiver, Jamison Crowder, accumulated 221 catches for 2,628 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns throughout the last four seasons while mostly playing at the position.

Playing Chark in the slot is also something that, of course, could help quarterback Gardner Minshew II, too. With Chark seeing a total of 118 targets last year (the most on the team) it won’t matter where he plays as Minshew clearly likes going to him.