It’s almost never easy to get rookies up to speed during the offseason for NFL teams and that might especially be the case this offseason. The coronavirus has presented circumstances where NFL facilities have been shut down since late March, and though players in need of medical treatment can return this week, it’s unknown when all players will be able to return.
Still, despite all of the hurdles COVID-19 has brought, the Jags’ rookies have managed to make a good impression on Jags coach Doug Marrone during virtual sessions after he issued a challenge to them early in the process.
“I said, ‘I don’t know what these first impressions are going to look like, but I want to make sure you understand we’re still looking at how in this virtual setting will you be able to impress us beyond what we’re asking you to do,'” Marrone said this week. “You see certain things like if a meeting starts at a certain time, most of those guys are logged in 15 minutes early. Most of those guys are prepared. They have questions ready. I’ve been impressed.”
That’s certainly good to hear as the Jags will have a really young team — and much like 2019’s class — Marrone will need his 2020 rookie class to contribute in a big way. There were some changes in the front office as Tom Coughlin was fired before the 2019 season could end, which means the heat now falls on Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell to put a better product on the field in 2020.
The Jags made 12 draft selections in April and added 18 undrafted free agents. With a lot of turnover before the draft, it’s possible a handful of those rookies could end up starting. The issue with that is that they won’t have the same amount of preseason time on the field as the rookies before them have, so soaking in all they can during this unusual virtual process will be huge as they wait for the NFL to approve full operations.
