The Jacksonville Jaguars confirmed on Tuesday that free agent signing Kelvin Beachum will be the team's starting left tackle against the Green Bay Packers for Week 1 of the regular season. This means that, and the team also confirmed, that Luke Joeckel will move inside to be the team's starting left guard at least for the first few weeks of the season.
Beachum LT Joeckel LG vs Packers
— Ryan O'Halloran (@ryanohalloran) August 30, 2016
This announcement and confirmation by the Jaguars shouldn't really surprise anyone, as it was pretty clear the team signed Kelvin Beachum with the intention to start him at left tackle when he was fully recovered from his torn ACL. Beachum played well in his first live action on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals and if that's him not full 100 percent, the Jaguars would appear to be in good shape at the left tackle position barring any setbacks with his knee.
As far as Joeckel, he's got a shot of extending his career in Jacksonville at the guard position if he plays well. Sunday evening against Geno Atkins is likely the worst you'll see of him at the position, and while the play where he tripped over Linder's foot is ingrained in everyone's mind thanks to NBC replaying about 800 times, the feeling is going to be uneasy there for a while.
The reality is Joeckel didn't play all that well on Sunday night, overall, but like most of his time at the left tackle position his actual play is often weighed down by some disastrous looking bad beats, like the play he fell down against Atkins or the other play where he just completely whiffed on Atkins. Or getting run over by Michael Johnson.
Anyway, I can defend Joeckel all day and say it could still workout, but the reality is no one is going to believe Joeckel is even mediocre until he stops getting turtled at least once a game going forward. He's still ultimately likely an upgrade over Zane Beadles and could potentially settle in more as long as Beachum continues to play solidly at left tackle.
As expected though, Kelvin Beachum is your starting left tackle for Week 1.