JACKSONVILLE – Jaguars 2022 Training Camp continued Thursday.
It was the fourth day of the first training camp under Head Coach Doug Pederson, featuring a non-padded practice at Knight Sports Campus of Episcopal School of Jacksonville. Each day throughout camp, four members of Jaguars Media – senior writer John Oehser, senior correspondent Brian Sexton, senior reporter/editor J.P. Shadrick and team reporter Ashlyn Sullivan – will share an observation.
Here are Thursday's "campservations:"
John Oehser, Jaguars Senior Writer…
The theme for Day 4 '22 training camp was defense. One of the overall themes for Week 1 – aside from the rapid and obvious development of quarterback Trevor Lawrence and running back Travis Etienne Jr. – is that youth will get an immediate opportunity around the Jaguars in 2022. Not only are rookie outside linebacker Travon Walker (Round 1, No. 1 overall) and rookie inside linebacker Devin Lloyd (Round 1, No. 27) in the starting rotation, rookie center Luke Fortner (Round 3, No. 70) has worked with the first team since Day 1 of camp Monday. "With a guy like Travon, he's our first pick; you're going throw him in there and he's going to be in there," Head Coach Doug Pederson said. "You draft these guys for a reason and the reason is they need to play. We need the depth. We need the talent. We need possibly to fill a hole. There's no better time than right now to let them go through a practice, make mistakes and have successes and be able to coach all that rather than Week 1 or 2 of the regular season."
Brian Sexton, Jaguars Senior Correspondent…
Thursday was a day for defense; it almost always happens that Day 4 or 5 of camp is when that unit catches up to the offense. Wide receiver Christian Kirk after practice Thursday said there is often a point early in camp when the defense makes the offense look bad. The defense was on top of it Thursday with great energy from guys like outside linebacker Josh Allen, cornerback Shaq Griffin and safety Rayshawn Jenkins. They were seemingly everywhere, making the quarterback hold the ball too long or make a bad decision with the ball. Second-year corner Tyson Campbell continues to look worlds ahead of where he was when last season ended. He's comfortable and confident and can just let his length, speed and leaping ability loose after a year when it seemed he was thinking too much. Some will call Thursday a bad day for the offense. I thought the defense played as well as it has since camp began.
J.P. Shadrick, Jaguars Senior Reporter/Editor …
This was the defense's day in red zone. There were notable passes defensed by linebackers Tyrell Adams and Foye Oluokun and defensive backs Tre Herndon and Jenkins. After not recording an interception last season, Griffin picked one off from a tipped ball in the end zone. Kicking – and notable misses – was the focus of a lot of observers Thursday, but the Jaguars are not concerned as of right now four days into camp. Let the pressure of preseason games and situations build for a couple weeks before making a final determination at that spot.
Ashlyn Sullivan, Jaguars Team Reporter…
Kirk gave some great insight after Thursday's practice, a practice where the offense struggled a bit in the red zone. Kirk mentioned it was Day 4 of camp and this is normally the time where the defense starts scheming to beat the offense, almost a "catching-up" period. This goes to show Kirk's experience, knowing this is a normality – that the offense can start slow the first day of a red-zone period. Still, the day the defense – especially the defense backs – had shouldn't go unnoticed. Jenkins, Herndon and Griffin all made big-time plays to stop the offense. Griffin was beaming from ear to ear walking off the field; he finally got that interception he has been working for after diving for a tipped pass off tight end Evan Engram. The defense is playing fast, explosive and hungry. We knew they would be better from looking at the names on paper, but you can see how much better they are after watching a few days of camp.
