Luke Joeckel looks out of his depth at guard so far

The Jacksonville Jaguars are hoping a move to guard can help revive Luke Joeckel’s career, but his first shot at the position was a complete disaster.

There were plenty of things to be worried about after the Jacksonville Jaguars underwhelming performance on Sunday night in their week 3 preseason game (just ask Blake Bortles), but no one came out looking quite as bad as Luke Joeckel.

In his first game as a guard in the NFL, Joeckel had the tough task of stopping All Pro defensive tackle Geno Atkins… it did not go well.

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While that’s only one play (a spectacularly bad one), it’s not the only one where Joeckel looked completely outmatched.

Again, it’s somewhat understandable for Joeckel to struggle in his first game at a new position against one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL, but it was virtually every play. The first team offense couldn’t really get anything going through the air or on the ground, a primary reason being Geno Atkins blowing up multiple plays.

Anecdotally, it appeared the Jaguars were intentionally running the ball in Joeckel’s direction to try and challenge him, but it’s hard to expect him to excel in such a tough spot.

As a tackle, Joeckel struggled most with power, specifically speed to power, so the logic of him playing better at guard was already somewhat faulty. It’s fair to try and see if he can perhaps play better in the interior with less athletic pass rushers, but it really never seemed like he was destined to be an above average guard. It’s only one game, but it looks like the same problems are going to persist.

Joeckel will probably get plenty of reps in the 4th preseason game to get him comfortable at guard, but it’s somewhat worrisome to know he’s probably going to start week 1.