I don't want to see any of this tonight! Source: US-Presswire

Pass protection: The Jaguars will see premium rushers in the first weeks of the regular season (Jared Allen, Connor Barwin, JJ Watt, Robert Mathis, Dwight Freeney, Carlos Dunlap – and that’s just the first 4 games), so the offensive line must be ready to protect Blaine Gabbert. Sadly injuries are a consistent problem here, especially at the LG position. Starter Will Rackley is out for 2-3 weeks, and his backup Jason Spitz was injured during last Friday’s scrimmage. It seems the Jaguars will start RT EBen Britton at LG again, and Cameron Bradfield will play at RT. The position is so thin, that the Jaguars now asked UDFA rookie DT Drew Nowak to switch from defense to offense, and play guard instead of defensive tackle. Also they moved the two backup centers, John Estes and Mike Brewster to the guard position.Not the best signs against one of the best pass rushing units in the league.

Eugene Monroe also sat out several practices with a leg injury. Brad Meester has been given some extra rest, because this will be his 13th season, so the Jaguars want to keep him as fresh as possible. The only good news is the return of Eben Britton who is finally 100% healthy after a back injury.

One of the area where Gabbert needs to silence his critics is pocket presence, but he needs to get better protection compared to last year. For the tackles (including Cameron Bradfield and Guy Whimper) it will be quite a challenge to handle Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Matthias Kiwanuka. The interior O-line will be more interesting to watch (mostly because I have no idea who will play at LG…). They will face Linval Joseph, Rocky Bernard, Shaun Rogers, and Marvin Austin. At least Gene Smith can really evaluate the backup guards…

Rookies: Finally Justin Blackmon signed his rookie deal, but we will not see him play on Friday night. But don’t worry, there will be plenty of rookies to watch still. Since Austen Lane’s injury is keep him from action for the next couple of weeks, it is more and more likely that Andre Branch will start on Week 1 opposite Jeremy Mincey at the other DE spot. He will most likely face David Diehl. This could be a great matchup too see if Branch is really as good as advertised by D-line coach Joe Cullen.

"Legatron" Source: US-Presswire

Bryan Anger can salso start to silence those who criticized the surprise decision by the front office from last April to draft the punter at 3/7. Jaguars fans who watched him punt during training camp are already calling him “Legatron”. Let’s hope he can prove it 1 or 2 times. Of course I want to see the rest of the draft picks (LB Brandon Marshall, CB Mike Harris, & DT Jeris Pendleton) performing, but the players I really can’t wait to see to play are among the undrafted rookies. WR Kevin Elliott and LB Julian Stanford are looking more and more like locks in the final 53 roster. Elliott is maybe the 3rd best WR after Robinson and Shorts based on training camp practices. Stanford could easily be a new Russell Allen. Other than these two look for Ryan Davis (DE from Bethune Cookman), Antonio Dennard (CB from Langton), J.K. Scheffer (LB from Cincinnati), Matt Veldman (TE from North Dakota State), and Mike Brewster (C/G from Ohio State). Most likely all of them are long shots (besides Davis & maybe Veldman) to make the final cut, but with good performances in the preseason they can all made that decesion much more difficult.

Wide receiver battle: Besides the improvement of Blaine Gabbert, everybody is focusing on how the receiver group will improve. Last year they were clearly the worst unit (again) in the NFL. But this offseason Mike Mularkey asked proven WR coach Jerry Sullivan to join his staff and he immediately became the offensive version of D-line coach Joe Cullen.  His diligence, work ethic, league-round respect, and charisma all make him likable to players, coaches, and fans.  However despite the new faces in the receiver group (Laurent Robinson, Lee Evans, Kevin Elliott, Mike Brown and now Justin Blackmon) the group is still very inconsistent. The dropped passes are a consistent problem since OTAs, and not so long ago offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski even told reporters that “the passing game is not very good”. Laurent Robinson after a slow and rough start is slowly starting to get on the same page with Gabbert. And Cecil Shorts already overtook Mike Thomas on the depth chart. Kevin Elliott said before OTAs he will make the team, just based on his receiver skills. Well back then everybody thought he was overconfident, now people are starting to realize that actually might happen.

Right now I see 3 clear locks on the final roster (If no injury happens) – Robinson, Blackmon and Shorts. Mike Thomas is a lock because of his contract, but his effort was often simply not enough in a couple of practices (although to be fair, he had a couple of good ones too). After these 4 I would list Elliott as the 5th, partly because he can be an effective special teams player as well. I expect the Jaguars will keep a 6th WR and that is wide open. Brian Robiskie, Lee Evans and Taylor Price all can make their case for themselves starting with Friday’s preseason game. I see almost no chance for Chastin West and UDFA rookie Mike Brown to make this team (although Brown can be a practice squad player later).

Running game: Of course the big national storyline is the holdout of Maurice Jones-Drew. But while everybody else thinks that the absence of last year’s leading rusher is a major blow for the Jaguars, the front office is still satisfied with the back currently practicing. So far Rashad Jennings is possibly the best offensive player in camp. He can run, catch and lately he is improving in pass blocking as well and performed really well in last Friday’s scrimmage. Behind him there is a brand new face in Jalen Parmele archived little so far in his career, but right now he is the Nr. 2 RB behind Jennings, ahead of last training camp’s sensation DuJuan Harris, and Richard Murphy who spent last year on IR. So far everything is pointing toward Parmele as the 1st backup after Jennings (and he could be the 3rd option if Jones-Drew returns). It will be interesting to watch if he can keep this status as the preseason progresses.

With the injuries along the offensive line, it is tough to predict how effective the running game will be no matter who is carrying the ball.  Can the Jaguars still run the ball well? I also wonder how many backs Gene Smith and Mularkey  want to keep on the final roster. If that number is 5, that could mean Brock Bolen might not make the team this time – Montell Owens, and the expensive, yet excellent blocking FB Greg Jones are my candidates for the other 2 RB/FB spots.

Time to shine Blaine! Otherwise that guy behind you gets a whole lot closer! Source: US-Presswire

And finally a few words about the QB: I wrote an article a couple months ago about bashing Blaine Gabbert becoming a new sport among some people who cover the league. That has gotten worse in the last few weeks, and I just don’t get why. Yes, the 2nd year QB had some bad practices early in camp, but he became better and better with almost every practice. He was (along with Jennings) the star of the scrimmage. He is starting to built chemistry with his receivers, especially Laurent Robinson. His mechanics are better, he is now taking charge of the offense. But all these improvements don’t seem to bother many members of the media, who still think that it’s just  matter of time until Chad Henne will replace last year’s 10th pick of the draft. Well the good news for Gabbert is that he can now quiet his critics by showing his improvement in decision making, footwork, pock presence and accuracy. Based on the scrimmage we can expect short range passes from him to boost his confidence, which is okay early, but sooner then later Bratkowski must let Gabbert use is cannon arm for deep passes as well.

The Jaguars plan to let Gabbert and the 1st team offense play throughout the 1st quarter, maybe early in the 2nd as well. I hope the promising improvements of the offseason will be recognized by everybody- Also this will be the first big test about how the young QB can handle the pass rush of the powerful Giants D-line. I expect some QB runs (Mularkey often asked former Steelers QB Kordell Stewart to plays like that that, while he was Pittsburgh’s OC) but Gabbert must handle the rush well in these preseason games because he will face a lot of good pass rushers early in the regular season.

There is another reason why he must perform particularly better than Henne on Friday. On Wednesday Tony Boselli, Jeff Lageman (and basically Jaguars fanbase) called out Michael Lombardi about his negative comments toward Gabbert. If Gabbert starts to  perform well “experts” like Lombardi (and the rest of the bunch who can’t stop bashing the 2nd year QB)will look really stupid really fast. However if Gabbert’s recent development does not show in the upcoming weeks and Henne outperforms him (I don’t think that’s realistic right now), the problems and perception of the Jaguars get much, much worse.

I can’t say how exited I am, that football (even preseason football) is back, and finally we can watch real games instead of playing the guessing game. The season opener against the Minnesota Vikings is less then a month away. Let’s hope we will know a lot more about the ’12 Jaguars in the upcoming 4 games and hope that these revelations will be more postive then negative. Some people think Jacksonville is a mess, others (like me) think something promising and powerful is developing in North Florida. The preseason starting with this Giants game will bring us closer to the truth about which concept is more valid.

- Zoltan Paksa

$26 dollars for two 100s level seats?  I couldn’t believe it.  I thought I had found the best deal in sports. But I was wrong.

The best deal in sports is had by NFL teams, not their fans.  It’s had by teams like the Jaguars, who’ve gotten an average of 1800 yards/year for the last three years by MJD and will have him under contract next year for 4.5 million not-so-big ones.  It’s had by teams like the Ravens and the Bears, who have been churning out offense and wins because of the legs of Ray Rice and Matt Forte, and now that those two are looking for new contracts, the Ravens and Bears are hiding behind the franchise tag.  Even teams like the Titans that have supposedly “grossly overpaid” their running backs are getting a decent return off their investment.

Ozzie Newsome explaining his deal-sharking ways to John Harbaugh. Source: Mitch Stringer-US PRESSWIRE

Let me run some numbers by you.  Do you know what the most expensive commodity in the world is?  It’s an NFL yard.  Two years ago, during the uncapped year, the Redskins spent $178.2 million for 5,374 yards of offense.  The Tampa Bay Bucs, the best value team in the NFL that year, spent $80.8 million for 5,362 yards of offense.  Now, I know the expenditure numbers refers to the money spent on all players, not just offensive players that see the field, and I also know that yards aren’t the ultimate measuring stick of an NFL team (for statistical purposes, probably points; in real life, probably wins/championships).  But all players contribute directly or indirectly to the amount of yards a team can accumulate, and even if you want to argue with me about specifics, the premise that NFL teams spend an inordinate amount of money on NFL yards still holds – the Bucs spent over $15,000/yd… and the Redskins? Over $30,000/yd.

For the average NFL team, about 1/3 of their yards come from the running game (117 yards) and 2/3 of them come from the passing game (230 yards).  Now, there are many players that have a role in the number of yards an offense gains.  The linemen, of course, have a huge influence on both running and passing yards.  The blocking tight end has a big influence on both, and blocking receivers have an influence on running yards while blocking running backs have an influence on passing yards.  For the most part, the other players that have an effect on passing yards and running yards balance out.  The main differences are at the skill positions – the QBs, the WRs, and the RBs.  Now, given that a team usually passes for about twice as much as they rush, a passing yard should be worth about twice as much, monetarily.  However, there are twice as many skill players directly involved in gaining a passing yard (the QB and the WR), while there’s only one skill player directly involved in gaining a rushing yard (QB hand offs are not a skill).  Thus, since the passing yards should be divided amongst two players, for the average NFL team, QBs, RBs, and WRs contribute about equally to the amount of yards their offense gains.

By this reasoning, shouldn’t NFL QBs, RBs, and WRs be paid about equally?  If not the average QB/RB/WR, how about the top QBs/RBs/WRs?  Does anyone think they are paid equally?  In case you do, I’ll save you the embarrassment of speaking up and saying so.  They don’t.

Let’s take a look see at the case of Peyton Manning.  Manning, coming off of a career year in 2010, signed an extension that made him the NFL’s highest paid player – an extension that paid him $23 million in 2011.  Manning’s trailing three year passing yards/season average was 4,401 before that extension.  The Colts chose to pay Manning about $5,200 per yard gained.  Now, let’s look at our boy MJD.  His trailing three year total yards/season average is 1,795.  Using his $4.5 million salary for the season, the Jaguars are paying him about $2,500 per yard gained.

* Note, I am using the salaries for the upcoming season as the comparison because those are the only salaries that are more or less guaranteed.  As we’ve seen with plenty of the “big”, back-loaded deals players have signed recently, it would be foolish to consider those last few years as income the player is guaranteed to get.

Peyton Manning: not a good deal. Source: Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

But you know what, MJD isn’t a perfect comparison obviously, since he thinks his contract is no longer fair.  Let’s take Arian Foster, as an example.  After this past season, Arian Foster inked an extension that would pay him a guaranteed $9 million next season.  Arian Foster’s trailing two year total yards/season average is 2,242 yards/season.  Thus, this extension that Foster signed this year is paying him about $4,000 per yard gained, which is an absolute steal in terms of production and potential for growth, considering the amount the Colts agreed to pay Manning.  Let’s look at another big money back.  After holding out last year, Titans RB Chris Johnson agreed to an extension that would pay him $8 million in 2011.  Using his three year trailing total yards/season average of 1869 yards/season, Johnson fought tooth and nail for an extension that paid him $4,292 per yard, almost $1000/yard cheaper than Manning.  Even after holding out, being overweight in camp, and having a season that was inarguably underwhelming, Johnson made $5,460 per yard, only slightly more than Peyton did – and it was his worst season ever.

Some people might argue that QBs are usually the faces of their franchise and therefore must be paid “a little” more.  But that argument doesn’t really hold true here.   Comparing RB pay to WR pay is even more preposterous.  Take the situation of Larry Fitzgerald, a receiver almost everyone would say is worth his contract.  He signed an extension before 2011 that would pay him $11 million the following season.  Taking into account his trailing three year yards/season average of 1220 yards/season, the Cardinals agreed to pay him over $9,000 per yard!

Of all the running backs in the NFL, only Adrian Peterson has a contract that matches Peyton Manning in terms of dollars/production ($6,000/yd).  And therein lies the problem, according to NFL GMs.  They would say something like, “We’re not in the business of paying for past production.  We’re in the business of paying for future production, like in any business.”  But that’s an argument you only hear with regards to older players and running backs.  Did the Colts have a problem paying for past production when they inked Manning to a huge deal at 34 years old?  There’s no way they honestly thought he was going to get better than he already was.  At best, they were hoping that his production wouldn’t decline too much for the next few years.  Let’s compare this to Arian Foster or Chris Johnson.  At 25 years each and having only played two and three years in the league respectively when they signed their extensions, they certainly had the potential to get better.  But they didn’t get paid anywhere close to the way Manning did.

What doesn't this guy do? Source: Andrew Weber US Presswire

The league overhauled its rookie wage scale recently, signifying that NFL teams were sick of overpaying for potential.  But, they also don’t want to pay for past production.  If there were a way for all players to get paid equitably, then they could have it both ways, but at this point it’s not equitable at all – RBs are getting downright screwed.

The problem with the system is two-fold.  The first, and the elephant in the blog, is the short shelf life for running backs.  It truly is about 5 years at an elite level, tops.  The second problem is the introduction of the rookie wage scale and removal of early big money contracts.  Running backs are easily the most NFL-ready of the three major offensive skills positions coming out of college.  Thus, RBs are screwed twice during their careers – first, because they come into the league producing while being paid the same as a rookie QB or WR that rides the bench, and second, because they have a short shelf life, so by the time their rookie contract is over, teams get very worried or pretend to get very worried about giving the RB a decent contract.

When it comes down to the facts, the NFL reimbursement system needs an overhaul in the favor of RBs.  How should this be done?  I don’t know, but I have some ideas.  How about a more performance-based rookie wage scale for all players, not just running backs?  How about shorter rookie contracts for running backs?

I know people say you can find a running back anywhere in the draft, but at the end of the day, haven’t the top NFL RBs been the top NFL RBs for the last few years?  Regardless of where they’ve been picked, Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson, and Maurice Jones-Drew have all been elite by NFL standards since they’ve become full-time starters.  In the last two years, Foster and McCoy have joined them.  Of these five, four of them have gotten paid.   How about a front-loaded 4-year extension to pay the fifth one?

(115% of the $9 million left on his contract, plus two $7.7 million franchise tags ought to do it, don’t you think?  This would come out to a 4 year extension worth $28 million, front-loaded to make the next two year at $8.5 million/yr and the last two at $5.5 million/yr + performance-based incentives.  Send me your thoughts in the comments or via email!)

– Zain

Editor’s Note: We’re very lucky here at Black&Teal to be part of Fansided, a wide-reaching network of blogs for every NFL team (as well as a huge selection of NBA, NHL, MLB, and other blogs as well). We’d be dumb not to take advantage of these resources, so welcome to our new feature: Enemy Intel. Each week, we’ll be checking in with the staff from the Fansided blog representing the Jaguars’ opponent for that the week.

This week, we’ll be talking with Cody Byers, editor and lead blogger for Stripe Hype, Fansided’s Cincinnati Bengals Blog. A huge thanks to Marc for taking the time to update us on what’s going on in the Big Apple as we head into a very tough week 2 contest for the Jags.

Andrew Hofheimer: How is Andy Dalton looking so far? Does he look like he’s capable of being a “stud” NFL quarterback or will he always be more of a game manager, relying on the running game and orchestrating the shorter offenses that he ran in college?

Cody Byers: Dalton shows a lot or promise. He definitely seems capable of being a “stud”. The offense is relying on run game right now because of the fact he’s a rookie rather then being only a “game manager” (Ex: Joe Flacco). He has already shown the clutch gene last week vs the Bills where he drove down the field successfully with less then 2 minutes on the clock. His ability in the short-mid passing game is what makes him such a great fit for what the Bengals are trying to establish in the WCO. (more…)