The Jaguars Veteran Plan For a Young Team
As the Jacksonville Jaguars and new offensive coordinator Jay Gruden began to put together their offense for the 2020 football season, there was one glaring omission in each unit ... zero veterans and no experience within the system.
So through free agency, the front office was able to add pieces within nearly every unit to provide more depth but also a foundation of knowledge that could serve as a source of information for what is overall a very young team.
Chris Thompson—a running back who is used as a pass-catching back just as much as a rushing one—played for Head Coach Gruden for five and a half-seasons as a Washington Redskin. Tyler Eifert, the former first-round tight end from the Cinncinatti Bengals, spent his productive rookie season under Gruden was the Bengals offensive coordinator at the time.
And quarterback Mike Glennon comes to Jacksonville from the Oakland Raiders where he spent a year under Jay’s brother John in a very similar offense, as Marrone explained with Glennon’s signing saying, “I know when I was talking with Mike, you know, there was a comfort level with obviously the offense that was in Oakland obviously under Jon Gruden, Jay's brother, and us. Which is, there are things that are different, but the philosophy is pretty much the same.”
The offensive line, as Marrone points out, is the only position that really doesn’t have someone to serve as the Gruden touchstone within the unit.
During an offseason where coaches can’t be with the players in person and walk them through the installs on the field, having that trio to help break down the playbook for the younger ones on the team amidst a circle of trust has been crucial explains Jacksonville Head Coach Doug Marrone.
“We as coaches—and I always challenge the coaches on how you talk and communicate with players—a lot of times, like all of us, we’ve all been educated in some form—grammar school, college, high school—you have some teachers that communicate just at one level. We’ll they’ll connect to those students at the one level and then sometimes if you don’t communicate at that level, you’re gonna struggle to really know what’s going on. So what do you do? You find someone in the class or you get a tutor and you can go ‘hey help me understand, hey explain it a different way’ and all of a sudden like ‘oh shit I have it, I’ve got it now.’
“And I think a lot of times, we as coaches were challenged to communicate in all these different ways so we can get our point across but I think from player to player, a lot of times the players will open up more; cause a lot of times when we try to overcome from a teaching standpoint—hey there’s no such thing as a dumb question. I used to, when I was a position coach, I would never let anyone laugh at a question cause I never wanted to embarrass someone.
“So you want to create this environment where it’s open and you can learn and I think when you have players around that have a background [in the system], the most important thing about that is that you trust, that are smart, that truly do know it, to try to explain it maybe a different way for someone to pick it up, or take somebody under their wing, I think all those things help you as you go forward.”
There is a catch-22 to bringing in veterans in this way though and Marrone is wary of relying on them too much for fear of finding the team stuck within the catch. It’s not uncommon to hear a coach lament a talented player in the wrong position and commit to not paying them until they know the player—as talented as they may be—can be trusted to be in the right place. It’s a balance that Marrone says has to be struck carefully so that a team isn’t hurting themselves just to help themselves.
“You get comfortable sometimes with a player that might know what to do but you have another guy behind him that’s working his butt off to figure it out and is a better athlete. A lot of times with coaches, you’re gonna play with the guy that is safer but maybe may not be able to make the play but you have a guy that can make the play but may not be in the right position. So it’s a lot of balance to that and working through it. But we do have some key players, veteran players that do have a little bit of background in the system and I think that’ll help us.”
As tempting as it sounds on paper, the Jaguars are unlikely to be stuck in Marrone’s proposed predicament. It’s been made very clear through the 2020 NFL Draft process, the free agency signings and statements of support from Marrone as well that Gardner Minshew II is their guy at quarterback. Glennon is there as a veteran support and won’t find himself and Minshew stuck in a situation like the rookie did last season with Nick Foles, battling for a job that tears apart a team.
Related: Jaguars’ Gardner Minshew II: ‘I’m Gonna Give Us the Best Chance to Win No Matter What’
Chris Thompson is entering his seventh year and joins a unit with the next longest-tenured player entering his fourth. He knows he’s here to help teach the offense and assist that fourth-year player, Leonard Fournette, even admitting as much after his signing.
“I’m in a situation where I know this offense pretty well, so being able to help these guys get an understanding of the offense as I know it and just on the field being able to help however I can. Whatever the situation might be after camp and everything, I’m going to do whatever I can to help those guys out. I know Leonard (Fournette) is the guy, so whenever he needs a break, I’m trying to go in there and just pick up where he left off.”
But Thompson also brings enough versatility that his presence on the field isn’t a deterrent to the drive. His balanced stat sheet (250 rushes for 1,194 yards and five rushing touchdowns and 212 receptions for 1,772 yards and 10 receiving touchdowns) is proof enough of that.
Tyler Eifert is the exception to Marrone’s rule, bringing in the veteran experience that can help while also being the athletic guy at the position. James O'Shaughnessy is entering his sixth year but no other tight end has more than two years. Eifert has played only one full season since joining the league in 2013 due to injury but brings with him 185 receptions for 2,152 yards and 24 touchdowns along with a knowledge of the system that is already paying dividends in the teams virtual meetings. More so, Eifert has become a sounding board for Minshew.
Related: Gardner Minshew and Jaguars Teammates Coming Together Virtually to Learn Offense
“With Eifert, I call him,” explains Minshew, “like with these [play] scripts, I just ask him on every play like ‘alright what are you thinking here. What’s, what are you expecting, how do you like to do this’ and just kinda picking his brain for as much information. Similarly with Chris Thompson who’s also played with Coach Gruden. Just kinda hearing their thoughts, seeing it though their eyes and I think that’s been valuable experience for both of us.”
