The Jaguars finally got a look at rookie linebacker Myles Jack on the field Tuesday, and for a change, the news out of their camp wasn’t about an injury.
Jack fell to the second round over concerns about his knee, but he said his biggest struggle was with the heat and humidity of Jacksonville, and the pressure of learning a new playbook without a full offseason.
“The knee felt good,” Jack said, via Hays Carlyon of the Florida Times-Union. “It’s just conditioning. I need to get in shape and just get acclimated. It’s a new tempo, a lot going on mentally.”
Part of that’s because he wasn’t able to participate fully in OTAs because of the league’s archaic rule regarding players from schools on the quarter system, which requires players to wait until their class finishes exams to join their NFL teams.
Because he’s a little behind, they had him working behind starter Paul Posluszny in the middle during team drills, after Jack spent the spring playing catch-up.
Linebackers coach Robert Saleh was able to talk to Jack three hours a day by videoconference, but there’s only so much you can do when you’re not on the field.
“We utilized every bit of it,” Saleh said. “He did a good job [today]. There’s nothing like real, live practice reps. For as much as we’ve been able to meet over the past month within the rules that the CBA allows, I thought his retention was pretty good, and it’s just going to get better from here.”
Now that Jack’s there, and 2015 first-rounder Dante Fowler has returned from the torn ACL that ended his rookie season, the Jaguars are just waiting on first-round cornerback Jalen Ramsey. He’s expected to get back for training camp after a knee procedure.
“He’s just like me, it doesn’t look like anything is wrong with him,” Fowler said of Jack. “That’s good. We’re healthy and Jalen is getting back soon, so the future is looking bright.”
The Jaguars haven’t always been able to say that about their defense, and they’ll continue to hold their breath given their bad luck with injuries. But if Ramsey and Jack and Fowler can stay on the field, the Jaguars have potential impact players at each level of the defense, and they can certainly use that.
