Training camp is quickly coming to an end with practices closed to the public.  The Jacksonville Jaguars will now begin to shift their focus to preparing for the 2008 campaign. 

This year, they are not only carrying the burden of being considered one of the top teams in the talent rich AFC, but they are also fighting for their playoff lives in what could be considered to be the best division in the NFL. Success or failure could be determined by one win or loss. 

For a team that is regularly mentioned among those with a legitimate chance of making the short trip to Tampa to play in the Super Bowl in February, there is a great deal of anticipation for things to come.

After spending the majority of the past week attending training camp and watching the 2008 iteration of the Jaguars going through the process, it is clear to see that this is a team that is poised and ready to take on the challenge ahead.  As they stare down the barrel of a difficult schedule, how the roster is configured to handle the haul will be a critical decision that could make all the difference this year.

At the start of the off season, Jacksonville identified three key areas that required attention with enhancements to the personnel.  This included the defensive secondary (cornerback and strong safety), wide receivers, and fixing the pass rush (defensive end).  Through the process, a fourth target was added to the mix with the tight end situation being what it is in Jacksonville. 

These areas were expected to be the most interesting position battles to keep an eye on during training camp, particularly with regard to the strong safety position in the defensive backfield, and more importantly, wide receiver.  The competition at these spots certainly did not disappoint.  But, after nearly two weeks in training camp, how have things panned out for the Jaguars so far?

Let’s take a look.

Strong Safety:

This position has been contested since the Jaguars made the decision to add Drayton Florence to the roster, essentially plugging him in as the bookend starter at cornerback opposite Rashean Mathis.  By signing Florence, the team had to determine where they would put Brian Williams, the starting cornerback since signing with the Jaguars two years ago.

The simple logic indicated that he would move to strong safety, replacing Gerald Sensabaugh, who was coming off of double shoulder surgery.  Sensabaugh struggled with his play making ability last season.  The shoulder issues certainly came into play as far as why that would have been the case.  However, prior to the injury, all indications were that the team was not overly enthusiastic about what they were seeing recently from the fourth year player after a promising start to his career.

Enter Brian Williams.

During organized team activities (OTAs) and mini-camp, Brian Williams was being touted as the new strong safety.  It appeared that he had the job locked up. 

However, because Del Rio opted to keep that competition open into training camp, there was a glimmer of hope for Gerald Sensabaugh that he could retain the starting job, pushing Williams to the nickel position.  As training camp wore on, the players spent an equal amount of time filling the role for the first team, taking turns as the starting strong safety.  However, in the last few days of training camp, it appeared that Gerald Sensabaugh was starting to regain the level of play that had the team eager to plug him in as the starter replacing Donovin Darius three years ago.

Sensabaugh is an athletic specimen with good speed, strong ball instincts, and solid tacking technique.  While he is not a banger in the same mold as Darius, he is more of a prototypical strong safety for the modern NFL.  His ability to maintain a high level of performance whether he is in coverage or containing the run makes him an ideal option.  Unfortunately, he was labeled unfairly as a soft tackler, but that tag was attached to him because people were not aware of the fact that he was dealing with significant shoulder issues in 2007.

Brian Williams has proven to be a very capable tackler.  He is more than capable of handling the coverage duties that are associated with playing the strong safety position.  However, he does not have the same level of athleticism that Gerald Sensabaugh possesses, and because of that, he lost his advantage late in training camp.  As a result, it appears that he will slide over to the nickel back position. 

While this is not necessarily the type of news that a player would normally embrace, the Jaguars defense spends nearly three quarters of their time in nickel because of the teams they face each year.  For all intents and purposes, the nickel position is a starting slot on this roster.

Tight End:

There did not appear to be a real competition developing at the tight end position until training camp began to wear on, and one of the key players in the rotation was still rehabilitating a knee injury on the sideline.

With George Wrighster still not back on the field fighting for a roster spot, this left the door wide open for shuffling the depth chart.

Marcedes Lewis is clearly at the top of the pecking order here, and he has looked solid throughout training camp.  He comes in looking bigger and more polished with his blocking skills.  His ability to provide a big, reliable outlet for David Garrard has been readily on display throughout camp.  While he is not necessarily a burner, he has a good sense for finding an opening over the middle in coverage.  He quickly gained the trust of his quarterback by making the difficult catches over the middle.  He still has the occasional issue with dropped passes, but it is not at such a level that there is a real concern at this point.

Greg Estandia is another player returning from off-season shoulder surgery.  Prior to the injury, he had shown up quite nicely last season as a reliable pass catcher.  Losing him to the injured reserve list last season hurt this offense because of his ability to get open deep in the seam, exploiting mismatches because of his outstanding size and decent speed.  Upon his return, he appears to have returned to form by providing this offense with another big, reliable target for David Garrard.  He had a solid training camp, and appears to be set as the second tight end on the roster.

Behind Estandia, things get a little difficult to determine.

Richard Angulo and Isaac Smolko both return to the mix, but neither player had a remarkable training camp.  Angulo appeared to fight the ball on occasion, especially on the bread and butter plays like crossing routes in traffic.  He had a tendency to struggle at times during camp, allowing balls that were put right on target, squarely in his hands to fall incomplete.  Where Angulo does have an edge is with his blocking skill.  He is a solid blocker, although that requirement would not seem to be a driving force in keeping him on the roster.

Smolko has proven to be a more reliable pass catcher, but this is a player that the Jaguars cut, and only brought back late in camp after Anthony Cotrone was lost to an ACL injury.  The odds of him making the roster are long.  However, the Jaguars did bring him back during the season last year when a need arose, so having him as a player that you can bring in quickly to fill a role in the case of an emergency is encouraging.

The player that made significant strides, and benefited greatly from the Wrighster absence was Charles Davis.  The behemoth tight end had arguably the best training camp of all tight ends, showing solid blocking skills, but more importantly, having extremely reliable hands in the passing game.  He is certainly a big guy, but he shows a skill for finding the crease in the defense.  His size helps in making him an easy target to spot, and he caught just about everything thrown in his direction during training camp.

Because George Wrighster has yet to cross the stripes and participate in drills, it seems very unlikely that he will be able to wrestle a roster spot away from one of the other players. With his injury history over the past few years, it makes the likelihood of him being on the opening day roster minimal.

Defensive End:

One of the key targets for improvement this off-season was fixing the pass rush.
Translation: an upgrade was needed at defensive end.

Entering the 2007 season, a major question mark surrounded Reggie Hayward.  Originally, he was the man that was brought to Jacksonville four years ago to fix the pass rush issues.  His impact was immediate, and fruitful.  However, a ruptured Achilles tendon brought him back down to earth during the 2006 season.  So, with 2007, expectations were tempered as to precisely what his impact would be on the defense.  While the veteran defensive end was clearly still somewhat hampered by the injury, he was able to contribute more than expected.  As he returned this year, all eyes were on him after the Jaguars spent their first two draft picks to sure up the pass rush at the defensive end position, sending the message that they were going to get younger, healthier, and hopefully more productive at the defensive end position.

When Reggie Hayward took the field for training camp for 2008, he showed no signs of difficulty with his Achilles tendon (he actually had both tendons operated on when the rupture occurred in an attempt to prevent the same thing happening with the other one), showing good quickness off the line, and decent power with his pass rush.  A minor hamstring tweak slowed him late in the first week, but it is clear that Hayward intends to step up his game to do his best to hold off the competition.

That turns out to be a good thing because the competition is coming quickly up behind him.  Already on the roster, James Wyche continues to make significant strides compared to a year ago in training camp.  His technique has improved, and he is becoming a very disruptive force in the backfield.  During the scrimmage last week, Wyche was routinely going up against Tony Pashos at right tackle, and the defensive end was doing a good job of walking the bigger tackle back into the pocket to force the quarterback to speed up his decision to get out of there.

Kenny Pettway started training camp on the slow side, but as the first week concluded, and week two began, Pettway was beginning to make his move.  He was responsible for bringing significant pressure from the end position, and batted down several passes during practice sessions.

Paul Spicer, the “old man” on the defensive line, is not letting his freshly inked deal go to his head.  Spicer has continued to impress with the way that he has not missed a step from his career year in 2007.  If he remains healthy, Spicer could set another benchmark for his career in 2008.

Jeremy Mincey has been rehabilitating his wrist/hand injury, and has not participated in practices during training camp.  This could have a negative impact on his ability to earn a roster spot, especially with two new draft picks poised to fill those spots on the depth chart.

Quentin Groves looked like a rookie during training camp.  At times, he was rock solid with his combination of speed and strength.  Groves training camp could be encapsulated in his performance during Oklahoma drills where he went head-to-head with Khalif Barnes.  On the first attempt, Groves was stuffed and mounted by the bigger offensive tackle.  However, with the second attempt Groves showed his dynamic side, side-stepping the tackle, and shaking off his attempt to contain him with the flick of an arm as he stuffed the running play at the pylons.  When Groves is good, he is very good.  When he is not, there are others there to take up the slack.

Where the lingering doubt continues to be an issue is with Derrick Harvey.  The first round draft pick is now the lone holdout among all first round draft picks for 2008.  The Jaguars have made the decision to stick to their guns and not bow to the pressure to get a deal done.

Perhaps it is because they are fully intent on keeping their cap situation under control?

Maybe it is because they have seen enough from the defensive scheme to feel that the team could weather a protracted holdout, waiting for Harvey and his agent to blink?

Or, maybe it is a combination of the two?

Regardless, the Jaguars will have to get a deal done with Harvey on their timetable in order to keep their financial house in order.  Having a pass rush that appears to be schematically capable of weathering the holdout certainly has to strengthen their case.

Harvey will be a factor in the future of the Jaguars pass rush.  But, as this hold out continues, that future is being pushed further out as the Jaguars shift their focus to what is needed right now.

Wide Receiver:

The wide receiving corps was one of the areas where the Jaguars focused a considerable amount of energy over the off season.  With the addition of Jerry Porter and Troy Williamson, the Jaguars added significant speed to a unit that was struggling to stay healthy, and finding it difficult to gain the respect of opposition defenses in 2007.

Porter was almost instantly inserted as the number one receiver.  However, hamstring issues that began with OTAs, and got worse with mini-camp, prevented Porter from participating in any manner during training camp, and required surgery to help speed up the healing process.  Reports indicate that Porter will return to the lineup at the beginning of the regular season.

While Porter is on the mend, Reggie Williams and Mike Walker were expected to take their turns at the number one spot along with Dennis Northcutt.  Reggie threw a wrench in those plans by suffering an MCL strain that required arthroscopic surgery to clean up the cartilage in that knee.  The surgery will sideline Williams until the start of the season.

Mike Walker did get a chance to showcase his abilities, and he did not disappoint.  Walker is still not quite back to 100% healthy, but he is getting close.  He did suffer a minor setback with a mild ankle issue, but he has worked through this in camp and has missed only minimal practice time since returning to full duty.

Troy Williamson was much maligned coming into Jacksonville because of his suspect hands.  Reports from Minnesota gave the clear indication that any camp success that Williamson might enjoy will be erased by the critical drops that he will leave in his wake.  Based upon his camp performance to date, Williamson has been a nice surprise, although not perfect.  There have been minor issues with route running, and there is the occasional dropped pass to contend with.  However, Williamson has shown well in training camp.  The true test will come during the preseason when he is facing the first real live contact of the year.

John Broussard, the speedy but twig-like receiver with great hands had another good training camp.  It is difficult to find players with his speed, but much like the concern about him was durability last year (which was realized after he suffered a couple of injuries that left him deactivated for multiple games), the same worry lingers over him in 2008.  There is little question that Broussard can play.  He has decent route running skills, great hands, and a willingness to put himself in harms way in order to make the play.  However, that disregard for his well being at this level can lead to additional abbreviated seasons.

Dennis Northcutt enters 2008 as the receiver that David Garrard trusts most of any on the depth chart.  However, to some fans, he enters the season as the guy that dropped the pass that could have been the knife that ended the New England Patriots perfect run.  During training camp, Northcutt continued to imbed himself as the receiver who has the best rapport with the quarterback.  He continues to be a reliable pass catcher.  With the additions to the roster, Northcutt can move back to the slot where he was expected to have an impact last year before being thrust into the number one slot.  His ability to exploit the middle of the field will serve him well, especially in the short to intermediate range passes that David Garrard prefers.

Matt Jones entered the off season as a player that was on the bubble.  After a disappointing performance in 2007, the Jaguars were reportedly souring on his ability to be a productive weapon for this offense on a consistent basis.  Jones was going to get a shot to earn a roster spot, but all speculation surrounded the fact that he was more than likely done as a Jaguar.  That sentiment grew exponentially when Jones was arrested in July on felony charges of alleged possession of six grams of cocaine. Jones has his first court date on Monday, August 11th, at which time the bigger picture will become clearer for the troubled receiver.

During training camp, Jones has stepped up his effort, showing heart, and play making ability that has always been a teaser for coaches and fans alike.  He was expected to have a letdown during training camp in order to remain consistent, but all Matt did during the first two weeks was perform at a high level, forcing the coaching staff to make a difficult decision instead of making it a no-brainer for Shack Harris and Jack Del Rio.  Jones seems to have flipped a switch and decided to step up his game in an attempt to salvage his career.

A couple of camp bodies showed well during training camp, but none of them have a realistic chance of being on the final roster.  D’Juan Woods, the practice squad returnee, took on the role of Charles Sharon / Cortez Hankton as Mr. August.  Woods has decent speed and hands.  However, on a roster that is so loaded with talent, he is pretty much an afterthought.

Jeron Harvey is a Ernest Wilford clone on the field.  Wearing number 19, Harvey is very similar in stature, and in the way that he plays the game.  He does not have deep speed, but he is very reliable in the short and intermediate passing game.  He is not a disciplined route runner, but he could be coached to be a strong possession receiver if the team is willing to invest the time.  In all likelihood, he winds up on the practice squad if they see the potential and feel that they can develop it in a timely manner.

Ryan Hoag played pretty well during camp.  Still, the journeyman was somewhat inconsistent, dropping passes at critical points in drills, and running somewhat undisciplined routes at times.  He has become a fan favorite because he is the quintessential underdog, but there is not a spot for him on the practice squad, and there is no room on the active roster to keep him around.

Final Camp Impressions:

The Jaguars stand at the cusp of a special season.

There are certainly issues with injuries to contend with.

There are certainly players that have difficult times to deal with off the field that could have an impact on the configuration of this roster.

However, as a whole, the 2008 Jacksonville Jaguars are the best positioned group to earn a trip to Tampa of any Jaguars team since 1999. The difference this time around is that they are more balanced, and focused on the task at hand.

Better buckle up!