With the Jacksonville Jaguars opening veteran mini-camp on Tuesday, a lot of the focus is going to be on the team's quarterback situation, as the team has simply stated that it will be an open competition between whoever is on the roster. A week before the 2013 NFL Draft just Blaine Gabbert and Chad Henne are on the roster, leading a lot of people to believe the team will select a quarterback at some point, but as of right now it's just those two arms on the roster.
"He did a good job. You know what, we threw a lot at him," Jaguars new head coach Gus Bradley told reporters on Tuesday when asked about Gabbert's first day. "You can see if you were here at practice you saw a lot of different situations, and we really wanted to put strain on our guys to see just how far we could push them."
There were some accounts that Gabbert was just so-so on the first day of mini-camp, but again it's the first day of mini-camp in a brand new system. At this point however, Bradley and company aren't necessarily looking for one of the quarterbacks to take the job and run with it, but simply to get on the field and begin competing.
"I’m not saying they don’t make a difference, but overall we’re going to go there. I’m sure we’re going to chart it and take a look at things because that gives us opportunity to say ‘here’s where we can make some better decisions’ and things like that, so I don’t want to disregard it," Bradley told reporters when asked if things like completions matter at this point.
"The main thing for me as a head coach is looking to see overall as a team how is our tempo, overall did we fight through those things? We fought through it, but we’re not near where we need to be and I think our guys would probably say you’re right," Bradley continued. "We’ll get there. That’s a great start. The attitude and everything for a first day like that. If they continue that attitude, which I think they will, you feel like some good things will come on the next practice."