Jaguars Begin Virtual Rookie Minicamp; NFL to Provide Update Next Week

The Jacksonville Jaguars began their rookie minicamp on Friday in a situation that no one imagined, with the 12 picks from the 2020 NFL Draft and the 18 undrafted free agent signings all logged on to a virtual camp.

They are spread across cities, states, and various situations. But no matter how different this year's camp is from those in the past, head coach Doug Marrone made it clear that some things stay the same. For starters, there are three expectations by which he wants them to abide.

“One was be on time, second was be prepared, and third was make sure that we’re communicating.

“I talked to them about first impressions and how important they are. It’s a little bit furry, we’re in this new system here of virtual meetings and you know how are you going to be able to make impressions during this time of year, good and bad. Good, that’s great. If it’s bad, those things are obviously gonna go against you.”

Marrone explained the breakdown while on a conference call with local reporters Friday afternoon. He was on a break during the virtual meetings, enjoying a sandwich and as he explained, getting an opportunity to talk because he sits in the back of the class while in the camp calls. But that’s reality right now for the Jags and the other 31 teams across the league.

“We started with the team meetings, we did special teams which we normally do. We took a break, that’s what we’re on right now, then we’ll go on back to unit meetings then break it down to individual meetings then they’ll spend time with Marcus Pollard in our rookie development session.”

The NFL will update teams next Friday telling them, “how we’re gonna proceed going forward,” Marrone explained. But until then they’ll continue to adapt to this new normal that calls for evaluating physical traits through a virtual screen. Typically after a meeting, players and coaches head to the practice fields and can apply the mental reps to actual play kinesthetically. When playing a physical sport, it’s how—Marrone has found—the majority of his roster will learn.

“We’ve encouraged our players to set things up, go walk through some things. But even then they can get a feel for how their body should function or their calls but you don’t have an opponent out there running.”

While at the NFL Scouting Combine this past February, Marrone and his staff decided to outfit the Jaguars facility with a virtual simulator which will hopefully help guys better learn the playbook while on-field practices are still off-limits.

Over the years more and more teams have adapted lesson plans to a virtual simulator. With an onsite practice field and indoor air-conditioned facility, the Jaguars haven’t found a need for one previously. But while in Indianapolis, the Jaguars decided the technology was needed to catch up to other teams. And now, the decision is immediately going to pay off.

“This kinda gets you off our feet and people can use it in meetings. It’s a -- I first heard about it years ago when in Green Bay. Green Bay had it. So what they did is you’re able to project like a full, it’s really impressive if you have the room, basically a whole picture of lets just say an offensive team breaking the huddle and there’s their formation and it’s on a wall like a drive-in movie and then you’re a defense and you’re sitting there and they make the call and you can actually line up on those players there as they go and as they motion and move you can make your calls.”

But of course, while this can be helpful once teams are allowed to at least re-enter the facility, it’s still a moot point until then. Instead, Marrone and staff are continuing to rely on program fundamentals through an online lens. The rookie minicamp will be integrated with the veterans next week as installations begin. During that time the disconnected aspect of Zoom calls will actually help with the way Marrone ask meetings are held.

“We try to tell the rookies ‘look go ahead and listen, take a lot of notes then when the veteran players are excused, then comes those sessions maybe that you’re discussing the one-on-ones, the two-on-ones.’ And I think that helps in a lot of ways. I think it keeps the meetings going. You can continue to challenge your veteran players on what you want to get out of them and at the same time, it’s an appreciation that people have in a room where it’s not all these questions going on and you’re sitting there trying to learn and time goes by and next thing you know you’re behind on all those installations. So that’s kinda the way we’ve always done it and I think it’s something that’s been beneficial for the young guys being ready.”

Also beginning next week, the team will begin working on what Marrone calls “team chemistry” exercises. There’s just one problem.

“How do you work on chemistry in a virtual world when you’re not in that locker room?”

During the draft, both Marrone and General Manager Dave Caldwell harped on the high character guys they wanted to bring into the locker room and the cultural change it would wrought. It will be even more crucial now as the Jacksonville Jaguars look to take their young team and create a lasting foundation in an ever-shifting world.

“A lot of this is gonna be, if you don’t have self-discipline, meaning making sure you’re figuring out a way to work out, you figure out a way how to understand this stuff, you figure out a way to do it, I think you’re gonna have a very difficult time making a team, any team, not just our team. So I think there’s gonna be a lot of self-reflection on the motivation of a lot of people.”