Jacksonville Jaguars QB competition won’t end yet, Day 17 observations

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ cornerback room has pretty good depth.

The Jaguars did a good job of upgrading their cornerback room this offseason. Besides re-signing Tre Herndon and Sidney Jones, they locked up Shaquille Griffin in free agency and drafted Tyson Campbell. The Jags’ depth at the position has been put to test in recent weeks.

Second-year cornerback C.J. Henderson missed a good chunk of training camp after landing in the COVID-19/Reserve list in late July. Campbell took advantage of Henderson’s absence and got a big workload. The sophomore is back at practice and is vying for the starting job opposite Griffin but Herndon suffered an MCL strain. He will probably miss the Jags’ preseason game against the Saints and is week-to-week.

Once again, Campbell could get a significant amount of snaps in Herndon’s place. On the other hand, the coaching staff can also count on Jones. The 2017 second-round pick quickly became a key cog in the Jags’ secondary in 2020 and was enjoying a career revival before an Achilles injury cut his season short. He’s managed to stay healthy this year and could easily slide into a starting role.

Last season, injuries exposed Jacksonville’s lack of depth and inexperience at cornerback. They had to rely on undrafted rookie Luq Barcoo and Greb Mabin because they had nobody else to turn to. Depth is no longer an issue, as the Jaguars have shown they can withstand a few lesions this offseason. Although their cornerback group isn’t a strength per se, it won’t be a liability either in 2021.