Liam Coen has announced that the Jacksonville Jaguars’ starters will play in the team’s preseason opener against Pittsburgh.
Now, how long remains to be seen, but “everybody” will get snaps, which includes Travis Hunter playing both receiver and cornerback.
As the game unfolds, we know that ultimately, Coen wants to see the offense move the ball and the defense get stops. But with there still being a month until the regular season arrives, the Jaguars are still in the process of refining their play in the new offensive and defensive schemes.
So what does Coen hope to accomplish during Saturday’s game?
“What the evaluation will be will be fundamentals, alignment, assignment, obviously situational football is going to come up as we know,” Coen said. “We’re playing a physical team. A team that’s been known for physicality regardless of if their first guys are in or not. That’s just how they’ve played the game for a long time.
“So that will be a great test for all of our groups that are going to play to see where we’re at from a physicality standpoint. It’s live tackling that we all know it’s hard to get that in a practice setting at times. So I think that will be valuable for us as well.”
Coen would mention that with only one joint practice, he wanted the opportunity to get his team more competitive reps in a game environment, especially with a new scheme being implemented on offense and defense.
These in-game reps will also help further sort out any competitions that are taking place on the Jaguars roster, particularly along the offensive line.
“A lot of the guys want to play,” Coen said. “You got two new systems on both sides of the ball, the one joint (practice), as I mentioned, so it kind of–I’m not saying it ties your hands because you can do whatever you want, but everything leans that way as probably being the best thing for our team right now.”
Coen then later added, “We have moving parts and pieces on the offensive line,” Coen said of playing the starters. “Obviously, multiple different receivers, quarterback playing in a first-year system, all of that is what points to that.”
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: What will Liam Coen be evaluating in Jaguars preseason game v. Steelers?
Reporting by Paul Bretl, Jaguars Wire / Jaguars Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
