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Jaguars OTAs: Tobias Palmer showing off speed

2013-05-22T14:00:10Z

The Jacksonville Jaguars appear to have their starting wide receivers set with Cecil Shorts III and Justin Blackmon, even with the suspension, but after that there are a logjam of players who can fill different roles. The Jaguars drafted Ace Sanders in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft, but another rookie has also been turning heads in practices thanks to his speed.

N.C. State wide receiver Tobais Palmer ran a 4.31 40-yard dash at his Pro Day and has been flashing that speed for the Jaguars in practice.

"This is my 40th year in coaching and I feel like I can smell it. You get a feel for a guy and you see something."-Jerry Sullivan

"He has to learn and then function in our system but all the things I see, I'm encouraged," receivers coach Jerry Sullivan told the Florida Times-Union.

The Jaguars have a bit of a logjam at the back end for wide receiver with Shorts, Blackmon, and Sanders taking up three spots on the roster, but the final two or three spots should be a battle between Jordan Shipley, Taylor Price, Tobias Palmer, and the other receivers currently on the team. If Palmer can keep flashing his speed when the pads go on, he could have a chance to squeeze his way on the roster, especially with his ability to return kicks.

"As a rookie, your head is going to swim a little bit," Shorts told the Florida Times-Union of Palmer. "You're trying to learn everything, but it doesn't seem like he is panicked. He's pretty under control."

Palmer was disappointed in going undrafted in April, but he knows he can work his way on to the Jaguars final 53-man roster if he continues to up his level of play.

"This has allowed me to get my foot in the door," Palmer told the Times-Union. "But I can't get off the gas pedal. I have to keep pushing until I see my name on the 53-man roster."

Keep reading:

• Love: "There’s nothing wrong with me"

• The rise of "Generation Jaguar"

• Where does Kyle Love fit on the Jaguars?

• Tyson Alualu moving to DE

• Sen'Derrick Marks forcing his way on the field

Breaking down the Jacksonville Jaguars 2013 offense

2013-05-22T12:49:37Z

Let's break down Jedd Fisch's offense.

I charted about 250 snaps of Miami's offense (North Carolina, North Carolina State, Florida State, and Virginia Tech) to get a feel for Fisch's play calling tendencies, favorite concepts, and how he utilized the talent at hand. Besides noting personnel groupings and the plays being run (I'll get into more Xs and Os stuff in a later post), I also graded the outcome of each play according to Football Outsiders' College Football Success Rate metric. A "Success" is awarded by the offense gaining 50% of the required yards on 1st down (usually five yards), 70% on 2nd down, and 100% on 3rd down.

The first chart shows success rate according to down, distance and play type. The second chart shows what kind of plays are being run in those down and distance situations. Just a warning: these numbers aren't very pretty. On the bright side, I do like a lot of the things Fisch does conceptually, and I think it can potentially suit the personnel here very well.

Note: 1st and Possession = the initial 1st down of a drive. .

Success Rate
	1st and Possession	1st and 10	2nd and 1-3	2nd and 4-6	2nd and 7+	3rd and 1-3	3rd and 4-6	3rd and 7+
Overall Success	31% Success Rate	29% Success Rate	86% Success Rate	57% Success Rate	29% Success Rate	44% Success Rate	36% Success Rate	21% Success Rate
Dropback Pass	20% Success Rate	30% Success Rate	100% Success Rate	25% Success Rate	26% Success Rate	50% Success Rate	29% Success Rate	29% Success Rate
Play Action/ Movement Pass	29% Success Rate	33% Success Rate	50% Success Rate	0% Success Rate (1 attempt)	17% Success Rate	0% Success Rate (1 attempt)	100% Success Rate	0% Success Rate
Run	29% Success Rate	27% Success Rate	100% Success Rate	78% Success Rate	13% Success Rate	50% Success Rate	0% Success Rate	50% Success Rate
Screen	60% Success Rate	50% Success Rate			57% Success Rate			0% Success Rate

Down and Distance Tendencies
1st and Possession	1st and 10	2nd and 1-3	2nd and 4-6	2nd and 7+	3rd and 1-3	3rd and 4-6	3rd and 7+
23% Dropback Pass	13% Dropback Pass	14% Dropback Pass	29% Dropback Pass	36% Dropback Pass	78% Dropback Pass	64% Dropback Pass	75% Dropback Pass
16% Play Action Pass	10% Play Action Pass	29% Play Action Pass	7% Play Action Pass	22% Play Action Pass	11% Play Action Pass	18% Play Action Pass	11% Play Action Pass
49% Run	74% Run	57% Run	64% Run	27% Run	11% Run	18% Run	7% Run
12% Screen	3% Screen			13% Screen

On 1st and Possession, they show a nice balance between running and passing (and variety in the types of passes they're throwing). The problem is that they weren't particularly successful in any facet, either. Poor 1st down production is crippling on an offense. Most people point to 3rd down as the most important, but 1st down is the real money down in football.
You can see that Miami really wanted to establish a consistent run game and just wasn't able to do so.Their run/pass ratio really skews especially heavy on 1st and 10 situations (they ran almost 75% of time time at just a 27% Success Rate).
I'd like to see more use out of the screen game, especially because Fisch uses his backs really creatively in the passing game. Miami's offensive line rhad a tendency to get overwhelmed in pass protection (I completely understand the rationale of drafting Joeckel now), especially once they got into longer Down and Distance situations.
A lot of Miami's problems were personnel related. Their two best players on offense were good - but not spectacular - runningbacks. Their quarterback was very young and played like it. Their offensive line was overmatched often, struggling to open holes or pass protect. Sounds familiar, huh?

That's not to paint a picture of gloom and doom. As noted, Miami shared a lot of the same personnel deficiencies as the Jaguars. With the addition of Joeckel and some luck with health, the Jaguars' offensive line should be much improved from the last two seasons. I can see immediately how the team will want to get Denard involved, both as a space player and doing Wildcat stuff. The Jaguars also have more relative talent at wide receiver than the Hurricanes. So there's a lot of reason for optimism, and, overall, I think a lot of the pieces the Jaguars already have in place will meld nicely with Fisch's philosophy on offense.

Keep reading:

• Who's on your Jaguars Mt. Rushmore?

• The rise of "Generation Jaguar"

• David Garrard calls it quits

• Tyson Alualu moving to DE

• 2013 NFL schedule: Times, dates for preseason announced

Jaguars OTAs: Sen'derrick Marks forcing his way on the field

2013-05-22T12:45:36Z

The Jacksonville Jaguars signed veteran defensive tackle Sen'Derrick Marks during the free agency period to compete for one of the starting positions on the defensive line and apparently the team is high on Marks and his fit at the three-technique.

The Jaguars move former first-round pick defensive tackle Tyson Alualu, who was playing the three-technique role previously, outside to the defensive end position similar to what the Seahawks did with Red Bryant, in part because of wanting to get Marks on the field.

Marks knows he's still competing with the other 16 defensive lineman however, but he knew that when the team signed him.

"He told me when I came in on my visit, ‘We're going to compete,''' Marks told John Oehser of Jaguars.com. "He said, ‘We're going to find who will compete for the job. That's what they went out and did. It doesn't bother me."

Marks was originally drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the second round of the 2009 NFL Draft, but started just 26 games in his first four seasons and his play was up and down. Right now, Marks appears to be slated to start for the Jaguars on the interior, but a lot can change once the preseason rolls around.

Keep reading:

• Love: "There’s nothing wrong with me"

• The rise of "Generation Jaguar"

• Where does Kyle Love fit on the Jaguars?

• Tyson Alualu moving to DE

• 2013 NFL schedule: Times, dates for preseason announced

Jaguars News: Practice cut short, Kyle Love confident and more

2013-05-22T12:44:17Z

Weather costs team practice time; Bradley reveals why Owens was cut | jacksonville.com

Storm costs team practice timeThe NFL limits teams to 10 organized team activities (OTAs) in the offseason, but the Jaguars will have no more than 9 ½ this year.They lost half of their Tuesday session when their usual two-hour practice was stopped after about 45 minutes by a thunderstorm.The Jaguars weren’t able to wait out the storm because of the rules covering offseason practices limits the players work day for the voluntary drills to six hours, which for the Jaguars is 8:15 a.m. until 2:15 p.m.

Kyle Love of Jacksonville Jaguars confident he'll play with diabetes - ESPN

Kyle Love said Monday he's very confident that his recently-diagnosed Type 2 diabetes won't be a problem or change his playing style as he tries to catch on with the Jacksonville Jaguars after being cast off by the New England Patriots. He said he learned about his diabetes following a team physical. Team doctors noticed he had high blood sugar and called him back in for more tests, which revealed diabetes. Type 2 is manageable with the requisite blood-sugar monitoring, a healthy diet and a good amount of physical activity.

OTA Report: D-line now a numbers game

Sen’Derrick Marks knew this was coming. Tyson Alualu did too, and to hear the two veteran defensive linemen tell it, anyone who was listening to Jaguars Head Coach Gus Bradley could have expected something like this.But seventeen linemen?

Justin Forsett ready to run with his chance | jacksonville.com

Justin Forsett’s mantra is Carpe Diem — seize the day.“In this league, opportunities are few and far between. You’ve got to take advantage when they’re there. It’s a blessing just to have an opportunity to go out and compete every day,’’ the veteran running back said.Signed as an unrestricted free agent to a two-year $2 million deal to give the Jaguars more depth at running back, Forsett is getting an opportunity because Maurice Jones-Drew is still recovering from surgery last December for his Lisfranc foot injury.

Jaguars to host RB Kahlil Bell for workout, according to report

2013-05-21T21:34:27Z

The Jaguars have to feel somewhat comfortable about the running back position with Maurice Jones-Drew, Justin Forsett and Denard Robinson all on roster, but that doesn't mean they'll continue to look for increased competition, as Adam Caplan of Sirius XM NFL Radio reports that former Jets and Bears running back Kahlil Bell is scheduled to workout for the team on Wednesday.

Bell, 26, was an undrafted free agent following the 2009 NFL Draft and signed with the Minnesota Vikings, but was waived during the preseason of his rookie year. He earned a spot on the Chicago Bears practice squad and eventually earned his way to the active roster, playing in 24 games for the team and starting three. He was waived by the Bears twice in 2012 and once by the New York Jets before finishing the season with the Bears.

In 24 career games, Bell has accumulated 633 yards rushing on 148 carries (4.3 yards per carry) and has yet to record a rushing touchdown. Along with Jones-Drew, Forsett and Robinson, the Jaguars also have De'Leon Eskridge, Jonathan Grimes and Jordan Todman on roster.

Jaguars OTAs: Practice cancelled due to weather, no make up allowed

2013-05-21T17:23:33Z

The Jacksonville Jaguars took the practice field for their fifth OTA practice under cloudy skies and it was cut short after just under an hour due to lightning in the area. The Jaguars have had eight total practices in the month of May, including rookie mini-camp, and two have been in pouring ran with another called short due to weather.

Due to the CBA rules, unfortunately the Jaguars will not be able to make up the lost practice and just have to move on to the next one on Thursday.

There has been some discussions about the Jaguars potentially building a practice facility due to the fact that Florida is prone to so many showers in the summer months, often interrupting OTA days and training camp. Continued interruption of practices might spur something forward in the talks, but as of now there is no facility in the plans.

Keep reading:

• Love: "There’s nothing wrong with me"

• The rise of "Generation Jaguar"

• Where does Kyle Love fit on the Jaguars?

• Tyson Alualu moving to DE

• 2013 NFL schedule: Times, dates for preseason announced

How does Kyle Love fit on the Jaguars defense?

2013-05-21T16:00:05Z

With the addition of Kyle Love the Jaguars now have 17 defensive lineman on the roster, which is a unit the team needed to make upgrades on. Love will likely play the nose tackle role for the Jaguars defense, as head coach Gus Bradley liked to use something called the "one-shade" at one of the interior defensive line positions, a variation of a nose tackle or the one-technique.

The "one-shade", which is the one-technique playing the gap between the center and the guard, but shaded more towards the center. It's similar to what Brandon Mebane did in Seattle's defense, which essentially allowed him to two-gap from that position and soak up blockers.

"He does a nice job on tape, I thought, for what we're going to ask him to do," Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley told reporters. "We're going to try him out at some different spots but I think it's just another creating and adding competition to that whole group."

In New England, Love often lined up next to Vince Wilfork, arguably the best interior lineman in the game, and he would play a similar role. Lining up at times as the shaded nose, even with Wilfork lining up heads up on the opposing team's center, such as this third-and-one play against the San Francisco 49ers.

In the play above, you can see Love lined up at the one-shade with Wilfork at the zero-technique (right over the center) and new Jaguar Brandon Deaderick lined up at the five-technique. On the play, Love stands up No. 77 while Wilfork collapses the interior of the line and the run results in no gain, because Love holds his position and fills the gap the running back tries to go through.

Love should play the same type of role for the Jaguars going forward and should compete with Roy Miller for a starting position. If Love doesn't start, barring he's healthy, he should be in heavy rotation on the defense.

Keep reading:

• Andre Branch fits the LEO role

• The rise of "Generation Jaguar"

• Geno Hayes not guaranteed starting role

• Tyson Alualu moving to DE

• Marcedes Lewis ready for his "reward"

Jaguars OTAs: Kyle Love says he's fine, digs at Patriots

2013-05-21T14:00:10Z

The Jacksonville Jaguars claimed defensive tackle Kyle Love last week when the New England Patriots waived the fourth-year player with the non-football illness designation after he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. The Patriots insists it wasn't because of his recent diagnosis, despite Love's agents public criticism, but for whatever reason he was waived and claimed by the Jaguars.

More: Love passes Jaguars physical, dealing with diabetes

Love stepped on the field Monday for his first set of OTAs with the Jaguars, who didn't appear to have an issue with Love's recent medical diagnosis and the 26-year old lineman is ready to get back to work on the field.

"It feels great to be back," Love told reporters with a smirk after practice on Monday. "I had a little setback but I'm ready to work and get better every day."

Being diagnosed with diabetes wasn't a shock to Love though, as it runs in the family.

"My mom and dad both have it, so I was bound to get it," Love told reporters on Monday.

"You’re sad, but then you’re happy at the same time. I’m just trying to move on and not really worry about what happened."-Kyle Love

It was reported Love lost nearly 30 pounds because of his diagnosis, but Love disputes that notion, saying only a fraction of his weight loss was due to his diagnosis and the majority of it was from changing his diet and working out.

"It's not like I lost 30 pounds," Love, who typically plays around 315 pounds, said. "I was never out of shape. I participated every day so I don't know where that came from."

Since his diagnosis, Love has adjusted his diet and cut out the things that got him to where he was, health-wise.

"Since I cut out the sweets and a lot of the carbs, I just have more energy," Love said. "That was my downfall. I can't eat them now. I was a little bit sad, but I know I have to get my health back up. If I have to cut out everything, so be it."

Even though Love had a relatively clean bill of healthy, the Jaguars are still going to ease him into the lineup and not over work him early on.

"They reviewed it and felt good about the situation and felt like we can get him the care he needs," Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley said. "We went through a preliminary meeting to talk about what he can and can't do and the number of reps. We'll bring him along slowly and get a chance to see him."

Love is ready to move on from the whole situation with the Jaguars, but he did give the Patriots a little dig on Monday afternoon.

"That's how they run their business up there; veteran guys who have been there for years and put in a lot of work get treated like rookies," Love said.

Keep reading:

• Andre Branch fits the LEO role

• The rise of "Generation Jaguar"

• Geno Hayes not guaranteed starting role

• Tyson Alualu moving to DE

• Marcedes Lewis ready for his "reward"