The Jaguars participated in their ninth straight fully padded practice on Tuesday. The session was the team's last practice prior to Thursday's preseason home opener against the New Orleans Saints. While Sunday and Monday featured plenty of passing, this practice revolved around situational work and run drills.
- First-round pick, defensive tackle Taven Bryan (abdomen), missed the first practice of his Jaguars career on Tuesday. Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone didn't elaborate on Bryan's injury but said the ailment is a day-to-day situation. Marrone said Bryan hasn't been ruled out of Thursday's preseason opener against the New Orleans Saints.
- Defensive tackle Eli Ankou (knee), linebacker Brooks Ellis (undisclosed) and wide receiver DeAndre Smelter (undisclosed) also missed practice. The trio has been sidelined since Friday.
Defensive end Calais Campbell (calf) wore full pads on Tuesday but did not participate in drills. Campbell hasn't been a full participant in practice since Thursday.
Defensive end Dante Fowler (shoulder) remained on the physically unable to perform list. He can be taken off PUP at any time during training camp and the preseason.
Marrone ruled out Ankou and Fowler for Thursday's preseason game against the Saints.
- The first and second team 11-on-11 drills were limited to just 14 passing attempts. Starting quarterback Blake Bortles completed 6-of-7 passes with his lone incompletion coming off an impressive interception by cornerback Jalen Ramsey (more on that later). Backup Cody Kessler completed 5-of-7 passes with his two incompletions produced by throwaways during red zone drills. Sixth-round quarterback Tanner Lee had a solid day, avoiding interceptions for the third straight practice. It seems like the rookie is processing plays a bit quicker this week.
All three quarterbacks had highlight throws during team drills. Bortles hit wide receiver Donte Moncrief with a perfect pass on a go route with Ramsey in coverage during 7-on-7. Kessler made an impressive quick throw over the middle to rookie wide receiver DJ Chark for a touchdown. Lee made a deep throw to wide receiver Dorren Miller during 7-on-7 with cornerback Charlie Miller in coverage.
- Ramsey's interception was impressive in two different instances. First, Ramsey was able to break up the go route pass from Bortles to Moncrief with one hand. Then, as he was falling to the ground, Ramsey was somehow able to control a catch for the interception. Following the play, weak-side linebacker Telvin Smith flipped out with excitement. Honestly, writing may not do the play justice, so I've embedded Jaguars.com's footage.
- The special teams drills produced some interesting nuggets. Kessler took reps as the backup holder on field goals while punter Logan Cooke took reps as the backup kicker on extra points. Cooke's first attempt darted straight into the middle crossbar. The second attempt was perfect and probably could have gone for 50 yards.
- Linebacker Andrew Motuapuaka and cornerback Quenton Meeks produced pass breakups during team drills. Linebacker Donald Payne produced a "sack" on a blitz during the first 11-on-11 period.
- Running back Tim Cook stood out while taking on plenty of reps. He has shown the ability to take hits and keep going since the pads came on. He has also shown an ability to catch out of the backfield. Right now, Cook is competing with Brandon Wilds for the fourth running back job.
- Marrone on coaching players with the new helmet rule:
“We have done everything we can. We showed them. I really believe, I can’t speak for the players, but for me, I think that my responsibility is to make sure that we show them all of the tape so that they have watched every single tape that has come out on helmet [rules]. We have taken clips from practice and showed them to some of the officials that came in last night. We are continuously coaching on that because I really believe it’s extremely important to make our game safer. I think it starts with us as the coaches because then I think it will get passed down to college, youth football and things of that nature. It is a challenge for us, but again, it is the right challenge with player safety and trying to play this game in a safe way without losing the physicality of the game.”
- Marrone on what he is looking for from Kessler on Thursday:
“I don’t know if it’s something that is as specific as one thing. You keep it broad. You just want to see their performance. You want to see the results. You want to see how he handles the huddle or handles the situation with the quarterbacks that you haven’t been with before. People that you have been with, whether it is offensive linemen, quarterbacks or receivers, you want to see them out there obviously competing, but doing everything the right way and have a better understanding of what is going on."
- Marrone on right guard A.J. Cann's improvement:
“I think the biggest thing that was interesting was how we come out with a new helmet rule and obviously I was the one that did the tape for the offensive linemen. The first player I put on the tape was A.J. A.J, I don’t want to say had a problem, but A.J. would drop his head at times and put himself at risk and other players at risk. The one thing now that I have seen is that he plays quite a bit now, he’s playing it with the proper technique and his head up. Because of that, he has been playing better. It’s something that we want to just see. We don’t want to jump too far ahead of ourselves, but he is doing a better job. He is playing better now than he ever has. Can he keep that up? And there is still room for improvement for him. I am excited about seeing how he progresses and what happens when he starts playing in the games.”
- The Jaguars will host the Saints at TIAA Bank Field on Thursday at 7 p.m. Local viewers can watch the game via the Jaguars' official app or jaguars.com/live.
Follow Mike Kaye on Twitter: @Mike_E_Kaye.