T.J. Yeldon the perfectionist

Did the Jacksonville Jaguars knock it out of the park with T.J. Yeldon in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft?

We won’t know until the pads come on and the 2015 season officially gets under way, but right now I can’t help but smile when reading about the new Jags running back.

Take this excerpt on Yeldon from a piece over at Yahoo! Sports:

"Yeldon isn’t much of a talker. “He won’t say hardly anything,” said Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley. But he seems to be a learner. He has already become known here for intense preparation and perfectionism, becoming more than a little bit bothered when he makes any kind of error. “He has really good instincts,” Bradley said. “When he makes a mistake, he corrects it immediately. He’s very, very sharp,” Bradley said."

That quiet, nose to the grindstone approach to football is straight up charming. It’s the kind of football player the Jaguars need. He’s a perfectionist, working out at home in Alabama to get everything right and coming to Jags camp to perfect it. He’s a professional, knowing that he is expected to do a job for the Jaguars and that he is supposed to do it well.

You won’t see Yeldon trying to be the center of attention with the Jaguars. He isn’t trying to be the face of the franchise. He won’t come in disgruntled because he wasn’t a first-round pick like Maurice Jones-Drew did. T.J. Yeldon is happy to be in the NFL, he’s happy with the role expected of him by the Jaguars, and he’s happy to prove able.

His humble approach to a position filled with some larger than life personalities is a welcome bit of fresh air. It isn’t the recluse nature of Marshawn Lynch and it isn’t the bravado of

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the now-unemployed Chris Johnson. There’s nothing wrong with attacking your job with a chip on your shoulder like MJD did so successfully for the Jaguars, but if Yeldon is going to be the next great Jacksonville Jaguars running back, he’s already proving he’ll be his own man.

It may be a quiet success at running back for the Jaguars in coming years, but the perfectionist, professional, humble T.J. Yeldon will keep me smiling.

Can’t wait for football!

Next: T.J. Yeldon is the solution at running back

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