JACKSONVILLE – Cam Robinson feels better.
Actually, to listen to the Jaguars' fourth-year left tackle, saying he feels better than he did this time last season is understating the issue.
"Healthwise, it's like night and day," Robinson said.
That's significant because Robinson – a second-round selection by the Jaguars in the 2017 NFL Draft – was discussing the knee injury that cost him the final 14 games of the 2018 season and that kept him at less than full strength through much of last season.
Robinson said he now feels fully healed from the torn anterior cruciate knee ligament he sustained in a 2018 Week 2 victory over New England, and that's key news for him and the Jaguars' offensive line.
"Last year, I was just trying to get on the field," Robinson said Tuesday during a videoconference that marked his first media availability of 2020 Training Camp. "Even at this point last year, I don't even think I was cleared yet. When I did get cleared, I ended up having another injury.
"To me, it's like night and day finally being able to be healthy."
Robinson, who started 15 games as a rookie, spent the first two games of last season inactive as he continued working toward full strength. He played the final 14 games of last season, but now enters the final season of the rookie contract he signed in 2017.
The common perception in thought in medical circles is a player typically is far closer to fully recovered in the second year after a torn ACL than in the first season. Robinson said that definitely was the case for him.
"The point last season where it started to feel back normal was probably the last four weeks of the season," he said. "Everything other than that it was kind working to get on the field, just working to stay healthy and just to stay on the field. The last quarter of the season, the four or five games maybe, was when I started to feel like myself again."
Also Tuesday:
*Jaguars middle linebacker Joe Schobert spoke to the media via videoconference shortly after Robinson, saying of adapting to the Jaguars' defensive scheme: "It's just different terminology," he said. "We're playing a lot of defenses that I've played before, but the terminology is different." Schobert, who signed with the Jaguars as an unrestricted free agent from Cleveland this past offseason, will start in the middle in the scheme – which will allow former Jaguars middle linebacker Myles Jack to move and start at what the team believes is Jack's more natural position of weak-side linebacker. "It's been good," Schobert said of his relationship with Jack. "Myles is a great guy. He's a loose character on the field. He likes to enjoy himself and get everybody else pumped up. It's always great having a guy like that next to you in the linebacking room and I think I'll just be a little bit of a steadying voice for him. We communicate very well back and forth with our checks and our talk pre-snap. It's been real good so far." …
*Robinson said echoed the sentiments of many Jaguars offensive players, including running back Leonard Fournette and quarterback Gardner Minshew, when he said he so far likes the new offensive scheme being installed by new offensive coordinator Jay Gruden. "He does a good job of keeping the defense off-balance," Robinson said. "One thing you don't want to be in this league is predictable. The more we can mix it up and the more we can do a lot of things to keep the defense off-balance – and to kind of keep them guessing – as well as running the ball, then you're going to successful in this league.'' …
