Press Taylor Explains What Kirk, Jones and Shenault Bring to Jaguars
Few position groups on the Jacksonville Jaguars' roster faced as much criticism last season and at stages of this offseason than the wide receiver room. Now, the question is if they can prove the doubters wrong and show genuine improvement.
Three of the biggest keys to answering that question will be veteran wide receiver and leader Marvin Jones Jr., big-money free agent addition Chrsitian Kirk and third-year former second-rounder Laviska Shenault.
Jones? He is the leader of the group. No receiver on the team has accomplished or experienced what Jones has in his career, essentially making him a coach on the field.
Kirk? The Jaguars were criticized for signing him to a four-year, $72 million deal with $37 million guaranteed, but the team expects him to be worth every penny on and off the field.
Shenault? He isn't a starter (that will be Zay Jones as the third receiver), but there is a genuine argument to make for him as the highest-ceiling weapon in the room.
But how do the Jaguars themselves see their wide receiver room and what each brings to the table? When it comes to offensive coordinator Press Taylor, the thinking is that each has their own unique skill set that can help the Jaguars' offense move forward this season.
When it comes to Kirk specifically, Taylor shared the same message that head coach Doug Pederson shared when the Jaguars signed Kirk. Kirk had his best season as a slot receiver in 2021 -- his first year truly playing as a slot -- but the Jaguars and Taylor view him as a wideout who can do more than just operate in the middle of the field.
“He has the ability to align all over based on what we need. Again, it’s about putting our guys in position to do what they do well," Taylor said at the end of the Jaguars' offseason activities.
"If there’s a matchup, a play, a situation where he needs to be an outside receiver, he has the skillset to do it. If he needs to align in the slot because that’s what best suits what we’re trying to do or accomplish on that play or that week, he has the ability to do it."
While the Jaguars believe Kirk has the physical ability to win either outside or inside depending on the week and opponent, it is his ability to absorb the offense and different roles from a mental standpoint that gives them even more confidence.
"And, he has just, like I said, the mental flexibility to where if we need to move him in the game, he can handle all that," Taylor said. "That’s a really valuable asset that we put a premium on with him and that’s kind of why he was targeted as one of the guys we wanted to get and bring in.”
Jones, of course, doesn't have the positional questions that Kirk has. Jones is a mostly outside receiver, operating primarily from the Z position but also having the ability to beat press as an X. But aside from what Jones brings in terms of skill set, the Jaguars know his experience adds just as much value.
Compared to the rest of the young Jaguars' wide receiver room, Jones is as experienced as one could get. He has appeared in 129 games in his nine-year career, catching 496 passes for 6.857 yards and 55 touchdowns in that spa, the type of production the rest of the Jaguars' room doesn't compare even if you combine all of their careers.
"He’s proven a lot in this league year in year out for a long time now and so he kind of carries that respect," Taylor said. "Then the character he has, the work ethic he has, the production he has, that all helps obviously.”
Last year, Jones was one of the true leaders of Jacksonville's offense and locker room in general during the terrible Urban Meyer era. Jones bought a lot of cache as a leader thanks to his actions on and off the field in 2021, and that has carried over to this season.
“Marvin brings it every single day and that’s what’s kind of the fun thing about him. He always has a smile on his face in the meetings rooms, very engaged, asks great questions," Taylor said.
"He kind of speaks up. There’s some of those times you see these veterans that ask questions in a meeting room that I would bet you he probably knew the answer to, but he knew that somebody probably needed clarity on that, so he’ll ask it on behalf of other people. That’s what you like to see in guys that are the leaders of their position rooms. I think we have a lot of leadership ability with the guys we have, but Marvin is definitely in that group of guys that everybody looks to."
Finally, there is Shenault. Shenault is not expected to enter the season as a starter since the Jaguars have Kirk, Jones and Zay Jones in those three spots. Shenault, though, presents a profile and skill set that no other player on the roster has. The consistency hasn't been there, but the upside and potential are still there to be developed.
"There’s not a lot of receivers that are 220, 230, the range that Laviska [Shenault Jr.] is, and as dynamic as a ball carrier as he can be," Taylor said.
Shenault, though, hasn't had the start to his NFL career the Jaguars hoped when they drafted him in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. He had a solid rookie season but the Jaguars clearly faced internal struggles with his usage, not knowing if he was best as a big slot, as a downfield threat, as a screen/gadget player, or even out of the backfield.
Then last year, Shenault was moved from the slot to the X receiver position after DJ Chark's Week 4 injury. The move didn't fit his skill set, and his production suffered as a result.
In 16 games, Shenault caught 63 passes for 619 yards and zero touchdowns, bringing his yards per catch mark down from 10.3 to 9.8 and his yards per target figure down from 7.6 to 6.2. Shenault's catch percentage also took a big hit; after catching 73.4% of his targets in 2020, he caught just 63% in 2021 as Pro Football Reference credited him with eight drops.
"He’s been put in a lot of different positions. He’s played for a lot of different coordinators, and that’s a lot of guys," Taylor said. "You’d love to be able to see a guy with continuity in a system and how he evolves as he learns it and masters it and really moves forward with that, and he really hasn’t been fortunate to be in that kind of situation yet with his career. Hopefully we can provide a little bit of that and really maximize his abilities, like you said, because he can be a unique type of player.”
