Fresh off a morning at the movies, Jack Del Rio was relaxed and forthcoming in his press conference on Wednesday.
"It was a great movie. If you appreciate the game of football, I think it touches your soul a little bit," Del Rio said after returning from the Jacksonville premier of the movie "Invincible."
Ah, nothing tugs at the old heartstrings like a good, old-fashioned football movie as training camp is winding down. Del Rio had clearly been softened by the flick, which left him in a reflective mood.
"It's been a good, productive camp, relatively free of distractions and problems," the Jaguars coach said, looking back on nearly three weeks in the boiling north Florida heat.
The Jaguars were to practice this afternoon, twice on Thursday and once on Friday, at which time Del Rio's team will break camp and fall into a more regular season-like routine.
"It's a process. You need to get better. We're coming out of camp. We've worked hard. We need to be better. We have a great preseason schedule. We have a great opportunity to evaluate our football team," Del Rio said.
The most high-profile evaluations will occur at wide receiver, where the big story going into training camp was the quest to develop a young receiving corps and identify a number one receiver to replace the departed Jimmy Smith.
Now, the question is: Should the Jaguars trade for a veteran wide receiver?
"I think it would be a mistake to do anything but continue to develop our guys right now," Del Rio said, giving his young wide receivers a vote of confidence. "The group is showing progress. We have an explosive quality. They are talented young players that need time to develop."
What about a number one receiver?
"I can't anoint a guy in week two of the preseason. Somebody is going to get the ball and we will have developed that guy," Del Rio said.
"You're talking about who's your go-to guy? We don't have a proven go-to guy on this team so there's going to be angst. We believe in the process of bringing in talented people and driving them through competition," he added.
The Carolina Panthers are this week's preseason opponent and they will offer a solid opportunity for Del Rio to evaluate his offense against what was the NFL's number three-ranked defense last season. Del Rio said at some point in the next two games he will give backup quarterback David Garrard some playing time with the first team offense.
"I haven't determined whether it'll be this week or next week," Del Rio said of Garrard's stint with the number one offense. "I'd also like to get (third team quarterback) Quinn Gray some work early in the game against better people, to get a better look at him."
