Where Do the Jaguars See Their Battles at Right Tackle and Left Guard Before Week 1?
In just 16 days, the Jacksonville Jaguars will officially kick off a new era, traveling to Washington to take on the Commanders in a season-opening road game. Between now and then, though, the Jaguars have plenty of questions to answer.
Arguably the most important question is which five players the Jaguars will have in place to protect Trevor Lawrence and fuel a running game that has lagged behind this preseason. The Jaguars know who their left tackle, center and right guard are, but there are still two spots up for grab between left guard and right tackle.
At right tackle, the Jaguars have seen Jawaan Taylor and Walker Little split time with the first-team offense in both camp and the preseason. On one hand, there is an experienced right tackle with unfulfilled potential in Taylor. On the other hand is Little, a second-year lineman who made the switch to right tackle this offseason.
The Jaguars have started Taylor in each of the past two preseason games, though he and Little have regularly rotated with both the starting and backup offenses. Taylor has played a few more snaps than Little since he missed the Hall of Fame game with a hamstring injury and may have the inside track to the job, but Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson hasn't gone as far as to say that, yet.
“I think another big day for them today. Jawaan, he’s played consistent, played well. Walker is right there with him," Pederson said on Thursday.
"It’s still a little bit of a competition. I think both of them have done some really good things. This game, we’ll see how much time each of them plays, but we’ve got to make a decision soon because we’re getting ready for Week 1."
The closeness of the battle between Taylor and Little has made it hard to single in on either single player as the likely starter. Taylor has been given the first reps, but each has done enough to stand out to the Jaguars and convince them that they at least deserve a chance, which is a better scenario than neither player doing enough to win the job.
"There’s been a good, I think, ebb and flow of this guy had a great day in this situation, this guy had a great day in this situation, one day a guys does a great job in pass protection, another guy does a great job in run blocking, and you just kind of want to see both of them grow and push each other along the way, and that’s what we’ve seen so far," Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor said this week.
"That’s why we’re not in any rush to make a decision. We’re not in any panic that we don’t have the guy in the building. It’s really the opportunity of maximizing who’s going to give us the best chance at that given week, who we’re going against this opponent, all that, so credit to those guys for the way they’ve prepared and pushed each other and competed with one another.”
The obvious question in regards to the right tackle battle is what becomes of the loser of the back-and-forth affair. As of today, it looks like the Jaguars will factor in the non-starter as their swing tackle, even if it means one is better on the left side compared to the side.
"That’s something that would kind of be down the line. We’re not going to give somebody a leg up or make somebody a backup because they’re a potentially better backup on the other side," Taylor said.
"We’ll play the guy who gives us the best opportunity at that position. Now, if something went on there, say somebody won the job and another guy was a better backup somewhere else, maybe there’s a rotation you have to do later on down the road if something happens, that would be there, but for the most part, we want to play the best five given that week.”
Meanwhile at left guard, the Jaguars are still weighing their options between third-year lineman Ben Bartch and veteran backup Tyler Shatley. Shatley started camp as the left guard before Bartch took control of the job following the Browns preseason game, which has since led to Shatley taking all of his snaps as the second-team center.
“They’re still competing, as well. Tyler Shatley has got a great opportunity. Ben (OL Ben Bartch) had played well. He deserved the opportunities with the ones to continue his evaluation process, then another part of that was getting Shatley a lot of center work, and that’s what we were able to do last week," Taylor said.
"By virtue of being able to evaluate him, it gave Ben an opportunity to play with the ones, because there are a lot of times guys play well with the unit they’re in. Competition ups as you move with the ones, you want to see if that continues. So far, he’s done a great job. They’re both competing really well at the position.”
"Haven’t made that decision yet as far as playing time, but Bartch has done well there. He settled in over at left guard," Pederson said. "Shatley has done a nice job as well, but one thing with Shat is he can move back to center if we need to, gives us a little versatility there.”
Then there is the new player in town. The Jaguars traded a seventh-round selection to the Green Bay Packers for second-year lineman Cole Van Lanen, who has taken reps at right guard since joining the Jaguars two days ago.
Could Van Lanen be a late entry in the guard position? Maybe, maybe not, but he gives the Jaguars another option behind Bartch.
"Yeah, he’s done some nice things. We got him here, when did we fly up here? Tuesday. He got here late Tuesday night, physical yesterday morning, got a cram session with the offense, and we throw him out there," Pederson said.
"Here you go, good luck, welcome to Jacksonville. I tell you what, he’s handled it extremely well, smart guy, he’s sharp, he was able to pick up a lot of things. When Tyler Shatley is playing next to him at center, there’s great communication. Tyler’s a veteran, he’s a pro, he understands what’s going on. That’s what you need out of those guys. They just help each other, and I think he’ll be able to compete possibly for a spot, and we’ll see today and next week where it unfolds.”
