The ramping up continues, and Doug Marrone likes what he sees. Full practices are approaching, teaching is getting done around TIAA Bank Field and the unprecedented football environment that is Jaguars 2020 Training Camp now is well under way. I’m very happy with the way the week’s going, the Jaguars’ head coach said Thursday afternoon.
Marrone, speaking to the media via videoconference for the third time since players began reporting for ’20 training camp, discussed multiple issues during the half-hour session. He talked about liking – really liking the approach of young players such as DJ Chark and Josh Allen – and he characteristically expressed regret that the unusual nature of ’20 camp will make this perhaps the most difficult season ever for unknown, undrafted players.Maybe I’m looking too far into it, but I think that’s sad, he said.
The Jaguars this week have been continuing to go through walkthroughs and virtual meetings during what the NFL is calling a ramp-up period because COVID-19 eliminated the offseason program. Non-contact practices are scheduled to begin next week with padded practices starting the following week.
And while Marrone doesn’t like that the elimination of preseason games because of COVID-19 will make it difficult for the bottom end of the roster, he does like how Jaguars players and entire organization has approached a camp defined by the pandemic.
The players have been really compliant in trying to do all the right things, Marrone said. With the rules and the protocols that are in place, that was my biggest goal starting out – was to try to get everyone used to it. …
I think everybody’s been doing a really good job of it. You don’t hear, ‘Oh, I can’t believe we have to do this,’ or, ‘I can’t believe we have to do that,’ or, ‘Why can’t we do this or that?’ From a standpoint of being educated on it and knowing what we have to do, everyone’s been really good.
