Doug Marrone Provides Update on Jaguars O-Line Depth Chart, What it Means for Will Richardson

The Jacksonville Jaguars had a unique offensive line in 2019, particularly when it came to the utilization of 2018 fourth-round pick Will Richardson. This year, there will be some more stability and less moving parts.

Richardson, a college right tackle, spent most of the 2019 training camp in a competition with veteran A.J. Cann for the starting right guard position, but Richardson was forced to fill in at left tackle on a whim for the first two games of the season due to injuries to Cam Robinson. For the rest of the year, Richardson moved back to right guard and rotated with Cann, often subbing out every two drives with the 2015 third-rounder.

"Well, I think I don't have any problems just as an overall philosophy with that, you know, as far as you know, rotating someone in and if you feel you're going to get a better performance. I think that there's a lot of things that go into that, you know," Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone told local media in a video conference Friday.

But in 2020, Richardson will be developing at just one spot, and it won't be at right guard, Marrone said. Instead, Richardson will move to left tackle, likely making him the team's swing tackle, while fourth-round rookie Ben Bartch will play right guard, assumedly behind Cann.

In actuality, the versatility of Richardson and his performance at multiple spots in 2019 played a role in the Jaguars' draft decisions along the line, Marrone said.

"In specifically with Will, I'm gonna go back a little bit to the draft, you know, we were looking, you know, we were going to take a lineman, and we were thinking about, you know, do we want to take a tackle, do we want to take an inside player," Marrone said. "Where we were drafting when we had slotted what we wanted to take, we didn't want to limit ourselves to a certain position, meaning that Will gave us the flexibility. Because, you know, he had played inside and played well at times, he played tackle and I thought he played well at times, for us to go out and get the best offensive lineman, you know, that we thought in the draft at that time."

Realistically, it may not be a long-shot to think Richardson could push Robinson to start at the left tackle position. Marrone was high on Richardson's performances at tackle during the season last year, and he stated numerous times that he sees starting-level talent in Richardson -- they just have to figure out where he will actually start.

"And the one thing about Will is he's shown progress, and shown the ability to play and shown consistency when we kept him in one position, so I want to be real, you know, cognizant of, of what we do with him, you know, because I think if we stick in one position, he has the ability to grow and get better," Marrone said.

"And he has the traits to be a starter, you know, somewhere on that line, but we've got to put him in a spot and we will put him at left tackle right now."

Bartch was the only major addition the Jaguars made to their offensive line this offseason, but it is unlikely he is an early contributor after he spent just two years playing offensive line at the D-III level for St. John's of Minnesota.

For the Jaguars to move Richardson once again, it is clear they think he can contribute at left tackle. If things go a certain way, he may even start Week 1. Expect for this to be one of the more intriguing position battles when training camp is permitted to open.

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