I saw some things that I haven’t seen in Jacksonville for a long time. I saw pre snap movement. I saw three and four receiver sets. I saw two tight end sets. More than anything, I saw a nice balance of run and pass.

As Gabbert remained in the game, however, he seemed to revisit some of his old habits. He threw off of his back foot while cowering away from pressure. He turned the ball over. He overthrew receivers. But what do you expect? It’s the first preseason game, and there are still a lot of gliches to repair within the system. Gabbert ended his night completing 5 out of 10 passes for 62 yards and a score.

Mandatory Credit: Melina Vastola-US PRESSWIRE

Some things that I noticed along our offensive line: Bradfield had a rough night according to Kevin Harland and Tony Boselli. He kicked out to right tackle while Britton came inside to play guard. Bradfield gave up the pressure on the first offensive snap tp Justin Tuck, but after that he seemed to hold up pretty decent. Later on in the night once the 2′s and 3′s came in the game, Bradfield switched to left tackle. It was there that he really began struggling, but then again he was playing with the back ups. In a previous post of mine regarding the UDFA’s on the team, I mentioned Drew Nowak. He’s listed as a defensive tackle, but played left guard in the second half. I have to say I was impressed with him. He handled his man perfectly as Montell Owens bulldozed his was to a touchdown. Another UDFA I mentioned, Matt Veldman caught one pass. It just so happened to be the two point conversion that won the game. While on the topic of UDFA’s, I think Antwan Blake is making a serious push to make the roster if he continues his play on special teams. He recovered not one but two fumbles on the punt team. Another rookie that looked good on special teams was 5th round pick LB Brandon Marshall who had two special teams tackles on the night. Special teams will be the ticket for both of these rookies.

I really dig Bryan Anger and like his nickname: B-Anger. Banger. Get it? Nice work on the name, Jeremy Mincey. I’d like to see him punt, however, when he’s not deep in his own territory.

The receivers seemed to be clicking. All of the talk from camp about dropped passes seems to be a thing of the past. And how about Mike Thomas? Looks like he’s really shaken off some rust. He caught 4 passes for 89 yards and looked to be like the old Mike Thomas that we all know and love. Hopefully he keeps it up, but I think that he will. Speaking of receivers, I was very impressed with Brian Robiskie going 7 for 72 and a touchdown. As of now my receiver depth chart is as follows: Blackmon, Robinson, Shorts, Thomas, Robiskie.

Mandatory Credit: Douglas Jones-US PRESSWIRE

Chad Henne better watch his back. I have no idea why some people have deemed Jordan Palmer, “Cut” Palmer. I’ve read that he’s been having very good practices and he really pushed the ball downfield last night. If the team opts to only carry two quarterbacks, then they might have a decision to make.

The running backs looked solid. I was expecting more out of Parmele, but UDFA Keith Toston #43 looked very good. He scored the touchdown that lead to the two point conversion. I could see him pushing Owens for playing time. Running back depth chart as of now: Jennings, Owens, and Toston if he continues this level of play.

There are some things I saw that still need improvement. For instance, when Eli and the 1′s were in the game the pass rush was non-existent. I did see one play in particular where Branch forced Eli into a Knighton sack, but other than that Manning had way too much time to go through his reads. Martellus Bennett totally dominated Mincey on the goal line for a Giants score. Once Alualu comes back and once Austen Lane is healthy, maybe the rush will improve, but if it doesn’t keep in mind-this defense will face the likes of Stafford, Brady, Rodgers and Cutler.

We have to cut down on the turnovers. Both Shorts and Gabbert ended up losing fumbles. You can’t win in the NFL if you turn the ball over.

Derek Cox seemed to get a calf strain. This is a shame and I certainly hope it’s not that serious, but this is the nature of today’s NFL. William Middleton had a good game in his stead and covered his guy admirably. I highly recommend that we don’t rush anyone back during the preseason. D. Smith, Alualu, Rackley, Spitz, Lane, and Cox all must be healthy come regular season.

All in all this team has a very long way to go, but the offense looks like a 2012 NFL offense at least in the packages and scheme. I’m looking forward to seeing this team develop even further in the preseason and hopefully we can cut down on the turnovers, step up the pass rush, provide better protection, and continue the progress of a balanced offensive attack.

-David R. Johns

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

I thoroughly enjoy studying the roster. I like seeing how each individual player ended up in Jacksonville. I like seeing who excels at what and why. I like analyzing strengths and weakness of each individual player and position. By the time preseason begins, I’m sure that I’ll have a few underdog favorites.

Speaking of underdog favorites, I find undrafted rookie free agents highly fascinating. These are the college prospects no one wanted. Lately, however, it’s becoming more and more common for some of these prospects to become highly sought after once the draft ends. Yes, most of these UDFAs are camp bodies, players to fill out the newly expanded roster deeming their roles somewhat less important, but would you rather have a player who is in camp just to be there? Or would you want the best possible options, players who could push both draft picks and incumbent veterans alike in turn making everyone work harder? This seems to be the role of these undrafted rookies.

Most of these young players stand little to no chance of making the 53 man gameday roster, and most would be lucky to make the practice squad. Why? First things first, most simply aren’t as good as their drafted counterparts. There was something in their measurables, the way they played the game, character issues, that drove teams away. These same kind of factors apply to the late round draft picks as well. That’s why they fall past the first two rounds.

So if these undrafted guys aren’t even as good as the rookies the team DID draft, how in the world are they supposed to compete against NFL veterans? How could they possibly make the team?

Every season someone surprises us. Aaron Morgan, Kevin Rutland, Cameron Bradfield to name a few…granted they are not superstars, but all have the potential to contribute to the team in one way or another.

June 12, 2012; Jacksonville FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars tackle Cameron Bradfield (78) during minicamp at Florida Blue Health

Some positions are a logjam. I feel bad for Kevin Elliot, Chris Gilbert, and Mike Brown. The wide receiver position is as packed as I’ve seen it with the draft’s best wide receiver, a high priced free agent coming off the biggest season of his career, and several other incumbent veterans and NFL journeymen who have been in the league for a few years. The numbers simply are not in the undrafted guys’ favor.

The same principles apply to cornerback. Is there any possible way Antwon Blake and Antonio Dennard could even compete with even the 4th corner on this team? Especially when the Jags drafted CB Mike Harris in the 6th round of this year’s draft to do just that?

These are examples of camp bodies. Are they pointless? No. Are they more talented than you and I? Yes. Could some of these guys make the team?

I was up all night thinking about which UDFAs could step in and provide better depth, develop, and eventually give more than some of the guys already on the roster. How is this possible when these underdogs are obviously on the lower end of the 90 man training camp roster?

Some positions simply aren’t that crowded, that’s how. What happens at times is that some positions are very shallow, and the only thing an UDFA must do is simply beat out the 3rd or 4th man at his position. It certainly makes it easier if no one was signed in free agency or drafted at that position. It’s even better if the backup or rotational guy has been banged up for the last two years and hasn’t been on the field. Maybe one of the guys gets hit in the face with a beer bottle on Baymeadows. Hey, I’m just sayin.

So after racking my brain all night trying to figure out which one of these young players could make our roster stronger, I’ve singled out three players who I believe have a chance. Is it because they are amazing talents? I don’t know, the team doesn’t let out very much. These are just players that have a larger window of opportunity.

1. Matt Veldman, TE, North Dakota State:

June 12, 2012; Jacksonville FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Matt Veldman (85) runs during minicamp at Florida Blue Health

As of now the tight end position hasn’t seen any turnaround. Mercedes Lewis is a pro-bowler who must return to form. Zach Miller is a 6th round draft pick from the 2009 draft, and Zach Potter was signed off of the New York Jets practice squad in 2009. Colin Cloherty was signed late in the 2011 season when Miller hit IR. Matt Veldman is 6’7, 255 lbs.. In a nutshell he’s a huge target and his large build could give him more leverage as a blocker. If Veldman can block just as well as Potter and Cloherty, and become another pass catching option, he could be a very solid third tight end.

2. Jeremiah Brown, SS, Wagner: The safety position is much like the TE position in the sense that not much happened to it in the offseason. Dwight Lowery was re-signed, and the team got solid, not spectacular play from Dawan Landry. Behind the two starters, you have Courtney Greene; a 2009 7th round draft pick by the Seattle Seahawks who has bounced around the league. Greene can play both spots, however, and has been proven serviceable. Behind Greene is 2011 4th and 5th rounders, SS Chris Prosinski, and DB Rod Isaac. Isaac has seen little to no time on the field due to injury, and it seems as if the team isn’t too sure exactly what to do with him. Is he a safety? Is he a corner? Prosinski has seen more game action, but has mainly made his impact on special teams. I’m thinking the Jags will carry four safeties. Jeremiah Brown is a workout player who walked away with a contract. He runs a 4.40 which is pretty good speed. He’ll neeed it considering how fast he will have to get down the field on kick coverage. If Brown turns out to be just as athletic as Prosinski, but is better on the coverage teams, there could be a place for him.

3. Drew Nowak, DT, Western Michigan:

May 6, 2012; Jacksonville FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Andre Branch (90) and defensive tackle Drew Nowak (78) work out during rookie mini camp at Florida Blue Health

The Jags’ defensive line is…really, really good. It’s one of the bright spots on a team that went 5-11 last season. So how in the world does this Nowak kid have a chance to make the roster? Well, let’s take a look. Past Tyson Alualu and C.J. Mosley, the defensive tackle position is a question mark. Will Terrance Knighton, who has already had a tumultous offseason, be able to control his weight? D’Anthony Smith has basically been hurt his entire career. This could be like a 2nd rookie season for him all over again. What about Corvey Irvin and his massive tackle total of one in 2011? Nowak is 6’4, 292 lbs., and was named the MAC defensive player of the year with 83 tackles, 20 for a loss, and 8.5 sacks. He also recovered two fumbles and blocked two kicks. If he shows more than 2012 7th round pick Jeris Pendleton, look for Nowak to get in on the rotation if both Knighton and Smith can’t stay healthy again.

So there are my three rookie free agents who I believe could seriously push for a spot. Of course we’re all expecting Blackmon, Branch, and Anger to make an impact. It’d be nice to see Marshall, Harris, and Pendleton provide quality depth and play good special teams as well. Everyone hopes all the draft picks hit, but the more young guys who can play and make a positive impact, the better off this team will be in the future.

Are there any UDFAs that you think could make the roster? Let me know in the comments section!

-David R. Johns