The Training Camp Plan For Jaguars Quarterback Position
Incumbent starter David Garrard will get the most reps in training camp.
The Jaguars coaching staff is well aware that the biggest question facing its offense going into the 2011 season will be who will emerge as the starting quarterback.
It is such an important question that head coach Jack Del Rio has laid out a plan for how many repetitions each quarterback will receive when training camp opens up. Jaguars offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter detailed that plan in an article on Jaguars.com.
Koetter described the breakdown as about 40 percent of the reps for incumbent starter David Garrard, about 30 percent for first-round draft pick Blaine Gabbert and about 20 percent for veteran backup Luke McCown.
“What it does is create a situation where Blaine will be learning the offense as if he’s the (No.) 2. Luke will technically be the three, but competing to be as high as he can go,” Koetter told John Oehser of Jaguars.com. ”It forces Blaine to come along without putting pressure on him to come in and be the starter.”
Like most people, however, Koetter believes that the longer the lockout goes, the harder it will be for Gabbert to overtake Garrard for the starting quarterback job this season. Not having the pressure to come in and start right away like most first-round quarterbacks should be beneficial to Gabbert’s development, and the fact that he gets to learn from two experienced veterans can only help his development.
Regardless, it appears that Gabbert will have the opportunity to win the Jaguars starting quarterback job in 2011.
Jack Del Rio Discusses Blaine Gabbert, Jaguars Quarterback Position
The biggest story for the Jaguars this offseason has been the future of the quarterback position.
Jaguars Head Coach Jack Del Rio gave a clue as to how they would handle rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert in an interview with Dan Pompei of National Football Post.
“Fortunately for us, with David (Garrard) returning as a very capable starter, you don’t have to rush the development of Blaine,” Del Rio told Pompei. ”That’s a good situation. We’re operating from a position of strength as opposed to having to force a guy into duty before he’s ready.”
It is impossible to know when Gabbert will be ready to step in, but Del Rio did state that he would prefer to let him sit for at least this season in order to develop. In order to stimulate that development, Del Rio said he would give Gabbert plenty of practice reps in training camp and throughout the season.
While it would be ideal for the Jaguars to allow Gabbert all the time he needs to develop into a franchise quarterback, it is widely believed that Del Rio is coaching to keep his job in 2011 and he has said that he will play the quarterback that gives him the best chance to win on Sunday.
The longer this lockout goes, the better the chance that quarterback is Garrard.
Dirk Koetter Ranked Among Top Assistants In NFL By ESPN
Dirk Koetter has been the Jaguars offensive coordinator the past four seasons.
Jack Del Rio may not be the best coach on the Jaguars coaching staff.
Jaguars offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter was ranked fifth on ESPN’s rising assistant coach power rankings that were released this week.
Koetter emerged as a candidate for head coaching openings this offseason, and was reportedly very impressive in his interviews with the Denver Broncos. Now that his name is out there, it will only be a matter of time before he gets a shot to run his own team.
In his four years of running the Jaguars offense, the team is ranked 13th in total yards (338.6 yards per game).
In their short history the Jaguars have been known for their defense, but since Koetter arrived in Jacksonville his unit has outperformed the defense.
Proposed CBA Is Being Discussed At Owners Meetings
It appears that the NFL Owners are close to proposing a new Collective Bargaining Agreement to the players.
Chris Mortensen of ESPN has written an in depth story about the details in the proposed agreement.
The new proposed deal would reduce the wait time for unrestricted free agency from six years to four years, which would be a great deal of help to the Jaguars who have expressed several times this offseason that they expect to be extremely active in free agency. The reduced time to free agency would expand the pool of free agents this offseason and help the Jaguars address some of their needs on defense.
As I have said before any news about a new deal is good news, but this is the first time we have seen anything specific about a new CBA.
Maurice Jones-Drew Does Not Like Jaguars Draft
Maurice Jones-Drew believes the Jaguars did not need to draft David Garrard's replacement.
While most fans of the Jaguars loved the decision to trade up and draft quarterback Blaine Gabbert in the first round of the NFL Draft two months ago, one holdout remains disappointed in the direction the Jaguars took.
On Monday, while being interviewed on NFL Network’s Total Access, Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew said he felt his team should have gone a different direction in the first round.
“I just feel like what we needed as an offense wasn’t a new quarterback, we just needed another year amongst each other because we had a lot of new players come in,” Jones-Drew said. ”You see a team like the Patriots or the Steelers or the Colts, those guys [have] been in the same system for the 10, 12 years together, and so that’s what we’re trying to grow right now.”
Jones-Drew went on to say that Jaguars team officials explained to him that David Garrard would benefit from the competition much like he did in 2007 when he beat out Byron Leftwich for the starting quarterback position. Garrard has yet to return his 2007 form over the past three seasons.
Despite all that, Jones-Drew still believes that Garrard will be the starting quarterback for the Jaguars in 2011.
“But I know David will win,” Jones-Drew said of the upcoming quarterback competition. ”He’s a fighter, that’s what he does.”
