The Jacksonville Jaguars enter this season with an aura of confidence we haven’t seen around the franchise in a decade.
Some of this has to do with the team’s better-than-expected performance a season ago. Though, a lot of it surrounds the multitude of talented additions the team made during the spring.
Among those additions, rookie second-round pick Myles Jack likely boasts the most upside. The linebacker was considered a sure-fire top-five pick prior to serious concerns of his knee injury and whether he’d be able to hold up long term.
It now appears that Jack himself is more than prepared to get his NFL career off on the right foot.
DC Todd Wash says LB @MylesJack will get reps with the first team defense today.
Live: https://t.co/Yn84tOCoWf pic.twitter.com/qLXJ6rOF0E
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) August 3, 2016
There’s a bit of a caveat to this. Veteran linebacker Paul Posluszny took the day off — enabling Jack to run with the first team.
It’s not necessarily that Jack got first-team reps. He has the talent to be a Pro Bowl caliber player in the NFL. It’s the fact that this happened so early in his first camp. Add in the previous concerns over his knee, and this could be telling.
Looking at it from a pure talent perspective, and the Jaguars wouldn’t tell us this publicly, they likely want Jack to impress enough in camp that he earns the starting gig.
The Jaguars added both Jack and first-round pick Jalen Ramsey to their defense in the draft. They also signed veteran defensive end Malilk Jackson and former Pro Bowl safety Tashaun Gipson.
How these four players perform in 2016 could tell us whether this season will end in a playoff appearance for the up-and-coming Jaguars.
As it is, Jack appears to be off to a solid start.