admin
Jaguars’ OL coach Shaun Sarrett recently weighed in on the offensive line competition that is taking place.
“It needs to improve.” That is, in part, what Liam Coen said about the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offensive line unit very early on in his tenure as head coach.
To help foster this improved play, GM James Gladstone has reshaped the offensive line unit this offseason. This included signing Robert Hainsey, Fred Johnson, Chuma Edoga, and Patrick Mekari. Then in the draft, Gladstone selected Wyatt Milum and Jonah Monheim.
The infusion of new players has brought in a lot of versatility and a lot of competition as the Jaguars search for their best starting combination up front.
As offensive line coach Shaun Sarrett said recently, the goal has been to “breed competition” along the offensive line unit throughout the offseason.
“That was the thing we saw and we wanted in the spring,” Sarrett said via Jaguars.com. “It’s going to really pop its head when you come into training camp. There are guys who running with the ones right now, and there’s guys that are running with the twos. But they have to hold on to their spots. We’ll keep them working at it each day and hopefully we have the best five starting when it all flattens out.”
While we don’t know what exact combinations have been utilized up front during OTAs and minicamp, with a number of new faces and several players who can play multiple positions, it’s been reported that the Jaguars have done a lot of mixing and matching up front.
“We do have a lot of guys can play multiple spots,” Sarrett said. “I’ve got guys that have played center. I’ve got guys who have played tackle, guard and center. It makes us better. I always hear this old saying: ‘The more you can do, the longer you’re going to be around.’ There are multiple guys who can play multiple positions on this offensive line.”
During this portion of the offseason, when the pads aren’t on and contact isn’t permitted, it can be quite difficult to evaluate offensive line play. So some of the things that Sarrett and Liam Coen are looking for include technique, fundamentals, and communication as the new scheme is being implemented.
Naturally, in this new-look Jaguars offense, many eyes are going to be on Trevor Lawrence and his play, which is obviously important. But when it comes to consistent success for really any offense, that starts with the offensive line unit providing a run game to lean on to help keep the offense out of predictable passing situations and time in the pocket for the quarterback.
The competition up front will only pick up once training camp arrives, but I’m not sure that anything at this time is written in pen, rather it’s all in pencil as the Jaguars search for their best starting configuration, regardless of who that consists of or where those players are asked to line up.
“We’ll keep them working at it each day and hopefully we get the best five starting when it all flattens out,” Sarrett said.
#coach #Shaun #Sarrett #Jaguars #offensive #line #competition
