Luke Joeckel getting comfortable as Jaguars RT

By Alfie Crow@AlfieBCC May 6, 2013, 10:00am EDT

The Jacksonville Jaguars selected Luke Joeckel with the second overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, leading a lot of people to wonder if he would eventually take the left tackle role from veteran Eugene Monroe. All indications thus far however are that the Jaguars plan to use Joeckel at the right tackle position long term and hang on to Monroe, giving the Jaguars a potential elite pair of tackles.

The transition to right tackle is going to be a little bit of work for Joeckel, however.

"It's feeling a lot better than I thought it would," Joeckel told reporters after practice on Saturday. "My set felt a lot cleaner today and my first step felt a little bit faster today. It's going to be a process, but it's moving along pretty well."

Everything is reversed when you flip sides on the offensive line, and while it sounds simple to just reverse what you did on the other side, it's not quite that simple. A lot of the movements Joeckel made at the left tackle spot, including his kick slide, how he sets up his hands, etc. are all from the feeling of playing a certain direction, it becomes muscle memory. It's going to feel unnatural to begin and Joeckel's going to have to think about what he's doing rather than just doing it.

Like fellow rookie Denard Robinson, Joeckel was willing to do what he needed to to get on the football field though, because he's a competitor.

"I want to get on the field," Joeckel told reporters about switching to the right side. "I want to help my team win football games, whatever position it might be. If they wanted me to go play guard, I'd go play guard. I definitely would love to be a left tackle in the future, but whatever gets me on the field is what I'd do."