The Jaguars fielded a competitive workout during Thursday's ninth organized team activities session.
The offense and the defense traded moments, as the first and second units battled during team drills. Quarterbacks Blake Bortles and Cody Kessler would connect on a string of positive plays and then the defense would respond with a sequence of shutdown snaps.
Bortles continued to show off his strong connection with tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins, while Kessler frequently targeted rookie wide receiver DJ Chark on successful red zone strikes.
On defense, the front seven forced the quarterbacks to throw away passes several times during red zone drills. Cornerback Sammy Seamster, who is starting in place of Jalen Ramsey, nearly produced a pick on an overthrow by Bortles. Defensive end Yannick Ngakoue also beat left tackle Cam Robinson for a "sack" with an impressive spin move.
More News and Notes
- The Jaguars were again without Ramsey and running back Leonard Fournette on Thursday. Ramsey is expected to return for mandatory minicamp, while Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone has said Fournette is currently dealing with a personal situation.
Wide receiver Dede Westbrook, safety Cody Davis and defensive ends Calais Campbell, Lerentee McCray and Dante Fowler were not seen at the workout. Campbell and Davis were the new absentees on the list.
Fullback Tommy Bohanon, long snapper Carson Tinker and defensive end Dawuane Smoot were seen working on the sideline. Defensive tackle Michael Bennett returned to the workout after missing a few sessions.
- Jaguars secondary coach Perry Fewell on what he has asked Ramsey to do while he is away from OTAs:
“We talk constantly during the offseason, and he has some things that we talked about at the end of the season that he needs to work on. We talk and communicate about what he needs to work on and what he does not need to work on. When I say doesn’t need to work on, he needs to work on a lot of little technique things. Yes, it is constant communication.”
- Fewell on former seventh-round cornerback Jalen Myrick's needs for improvement:
“The things that we gave him from a ‘get better’ standpoint were he is a two-position player. We focus with him at the nickel position as well as the corner position. We think that he has good cover skills. His technique at the line of the scrimmage we want him to get better at and then just his overall instincts. [His] awareness of formations, motions and shifts, where he should be, how he should get there. Those are little things that are very important to a DB when they are trying to out-leverage a [wide receiver] in coverage. Just some basic fundamental instinctive defensive back [skills].”
- Fewell on Seamster, who is filling in for Ramsey:
“We are just looking at a number of different guys rolling with the first team, but Sammy was on our practice squad last year, obviously. He has the traits that we look for in our corners. He did a nice job in our Phase 2 and gave us confidence that he would be able to provide some continuity and run with the ones. We wanted to give him the opportunity and see if he could live up to that challenge.”
Follow Mike Kaye on Twitter at @Mike_E_Kaye.