Philly Leader

The Eagles will host Doug Pederson and the Jaguars in their first Kelly Green game of the season in Week 9. The Jaguars enter 2024 looking to improve on where they left off last year after losing five of their last six games and failing to make the playoffs.

Quick Stats:

2023 record: 9-8 (2nd in AFC South)

Key additions: DT Arik Armstead, C Mitch Morse, CB Ronald Darby, DB Darnell Savage, WR Gabe Davis

Key losses: WR Calvin Ridley, OLB K'Lavon Chaisson

Top draft picks: WR Brian Thomas Jr. (Round 1, Pick 23), DT Maason Smith (Round 2, Pick 48), Jarrian Jones (Round 3, Pick 96)

Here are the top storylines throughout the Jaguars Training Camp as told by The Florida Times-Union reporter Garry Smits:

What have been the biggest storylines for the Jaguars in Training Camp?

"In the past week, week and a half, on the offensive side, the talk has been the connection between Trevor Lawrence and Brian Thomas Jr., the first-round draft pick wide receiver. They've gotten more and more confident with each other. Trevor is looking for him deep more often and in 11-on-11, on the 7-on-7 scrimmaging. He caught a really nice deep ball today, and for the first time I noticed a deep starting to throw to him before he gets out of his break."

"The other kind of big news on offense is how well backup running back Tank Bigsby is playing. He's slashing real well; he's hitting the holes. But most importantly, it appears at least as far as in Training Camp and in preseason games that Tank's ball security problems he had last year are a thing of the past. He's really been working hard at it. I think the skill position coaches have been working all the guys. They've got four or five different kinds of ball security drills they've been doing. And I think Tank has become a little bit more trustworthy in that regard."

What are the expectations defensively this year?

"On a defensive front, I think that's where their most improvement is going to come. They really like Maason Smith from LSU; he's played well. They think Roy Robertson-Harris still has some gas in the tank. Jeremiah Ledbetter is a guy that kind of flashed for them a little bit last year. And then DaVon Hamilton was another nose tackle who was hurt during the first half of last season and they're really hopeful that he's going to play better this year. So not so much optimism about offensive line but they're really optimistic about their defensive line."

What players are battling for positions on the roster still?

"Safety is going to be a pretty good battle especially since they brought in a couple of veterans—Darnell Savage from Green Bay—and re-signed Tashaun Gipson who played with them in 2017 when they had their playoff run that year. They brought him back but lost Andrew Wingard to an injury on either second or third day of training camp which raised some doubts about him playing again soon while Gipson can't play for first six games either but they like Antonio Johnson who's now second-year player obviously Andre Cisco too who’s entering his third year now—Andre had an interception which could’ve been pick-six under live conditions today if whistle wasn’t blown quick like it usually happens during camps also managed three interceptions within single training session few weeks ago thus performing quite well overall hence depth safety should be closely watched." – Compiled by Liam Wichser