The Players: The Jaguars’ starters may actually be playing more than one would expect to see in a preseason game according to this article.

“I plan on playing our guys a good bit … a good bit more than we have in the past,” Del Rio told reporters following practice on Friday.

The players to watch: Matt Jones (WR), Mike Walker (WR), Khalif Barnes (OT) Justin Durant (LB), Clint Ingram (LB) and Cleo Lemon (QB).

Also, as a side note, Mike Smith signed former Falcon and Jaguar player Grady Jackson. Big old Grady Jackson. He looks like the baconator was made for him.

The Prediction: Preseason games are weird because it is basically how well your third stringers are against their third stringers and there is absolutely no way to predict what will happen. I give the Jaguars the advantage because

1) I am a huge homer.

2) I will be there so they have to win, duh.

3) They have a lot of depth at a lot of different positions.

It was an exciting bout between Khalif Barnes and this year’s second round pick Quentin Groves. There were eight rounds and no injuries.

Jaguars.com reports:

Barnes, who is attempting to hold off Richard Collier in their competition for the starting left tackle job, used his bulk to push Groves aside on the first thrust. In the second fall, Groves used his quickness to rebound from Barnes’ initial thrust, stopping the ball-carrier between the two blocking bags.

Del Rio had the bags placed three yards apart, which most thought was a little tighter than in past years.

The other match ups included:

Tony McDaniel and Uche Nwaneri
Richard Collier and James Wyche
Clint Ingram and Charles Davis
Matt Jones and Trae Williams
Drew Miller and Thomas Wiliams
Justin Durant and Chris Brown
Vince Manuwai and Jimmy Kennedy

With hot and humid days, rainy afternoons and Jaguars taking the practice field it is really starting to feel like football season. Unfortunately, there is another reminder of football season lurking in the bicep of Brad Meester:

“We’re trying to determine how long he may be out. He strained a bicep muscle or tendon and we’re concerned he may miss time,” Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said.

Del Rio went on to add:

Del Rio said it’s important for backups to step up when the starters get hurt.

“Nobody in this league is going to feel sorry for anybody else. What we preach and what we do is the next guy gets an opportunity and we expect him to step in and play well,” he said.

The most important thing is for Meester to heal because he is awesome.