Jaguars’ Veterans Report for First Day of Training Camp
The Jacksonville Jaguars are officially back at TIAA Bank Field.
Along with most of the rest of the league, the Jaguars had their veterans report for the first day of training camp on Tuesday. Rookies reported a week ago, and Tuesday marks the first day ahead of a month filled with intense practices and competition as first-year head coach Urban Meyer attempts to establish an identity.
The Jaguars and Meyer will hold practices for the next several weeks to prepare for the 2021 season, which will feature 17 regular-season games for the first time in NFL history.
Fresh off the worst season in franchise history with last year's 1-15 record, Meyer and the Jaguars are aiming to shock the masses this year and exceed all expectations. The journey to doing so will be determined in part by what the Jaguars produce on the practice field during training camp.
For Meyer, camp will be the first time he can truly see his Jaguars team in real game situations. The Jaguars held weeks of organized team activities and a few minicamp practices over the summer, but the Jaguars have yet to be in pads during Meyer's tenure. In the near future, that will be changing.
“Well, we haven’t had a whole lot of it, you know. We’ll know more in training camp when they—be it OTA or phase 3 and the minicamp, you’re just not in competitive situations," Meyer said in June.
"You’re not allowed to—there’s no win-or-lose situations. And that’s how you really find out about, not just Trevor, but a majority of the guys and I’m looking forward to doing that and finding that out.”
Training camp will also formally introduce No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence to the NFL. Lawrence went through the rigors of the offseason training program, but his first training camp is the most significant event of his short NFL career to this point.
For Lawrence, he will have to show the Jaguars they can trust him as the Week 1 starter, while also showing tangible improvement now that he is fully recovered from offseason labrum surgery.
“I want to just master the offense. I want to have complete control and know everything and be comfortable. You can’t really play free and play really well if you don’t know what you’re doing," Lawrence said in June. "So that’s the goal is just to master the offense by the time training camp comes around so in training camp we really can focus everything forward on being the best team we can come [preseason] and then going on into the regular season as well.
"That’s the plan and it starts with the quarterback. Obviously, I have to be ready and I’m going to do everything I can to ensure that that is the case. I’m excited to get started."
