How Jaguars' Grant Udinski honors Jacksonville on play-call sheet

During the myriad camera shots of Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator/preseason play-caller Grant Udinski in the Aug. 15 game against the New Orleans Saints, the back of his call sheet was noticeable.

The top half of a page appeared to be a picture of downtown Jacksonville.

It was.

Why?

“I had the extra space on the call sheet and I went back and forth on it thinking, ‘What do I put on it?’” Udinski told me last week. “I said, ‘OK, first, I have to put something on there that I enjoy looking at, and second, I wanted to do something Jacksonville.’”

For the Saints game, the picture was of the Main Street Bridge leading into downtown. For the Aug. 22 game against the Carolina Panthers, the picture was of the downtown area but from a different

angle.

Udinski handled the play-calling for the Jaguars in their first two preseason games and coach Liam Coen expects to divide the duties up among multiple assistant coaches Aug. 28 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Coen will re-assume the duties for the regular season.

Udinski said the call sheet picture is a “little thing reminding me to be grateful during the game. In coaching, you move around all the time and you don’t always get to choose where you go. It might sound cliché, but I’m so, so thankful I live here. I love Jacksonville so much and I’m so thankful to be with this organization.”

The second purpose of the pictures is serving as a stress reliever.

“When I’m all frustrated on the sideline, I flipped it over and looked at the picture and catch my breath,” Udinski said.

The Jaguars are Udinski’s fourth stop since his coaching career began in 2019 — one year at Baylor, two years with Carolina, three years with the Minnesota Vikings and now two years with the Jaguars. At the end of our brief chat about the call sheet, Udinski returned to his affection for Jacksonville.

“I can walk across the street (from the facility) and see a comedy show at Vystar (Veterans Memorial Arena) or go to a Jumbo Shrimp (baseball) game for $5 or drive over to Riverside and Five Points or go to the beach,” Udinski said. “I could go on and on about Jacksonville.”

DT Matt Dickerson not content

Before the Jaguars’ first preseason game, when it became clear defensive tackle Matt Dickerson’s roster spot/role was being cemented, I asked him if this was as secure as he’s ever felt in a camp.

“I never take anything for granted, honestly,” he said. “You never know what your position on the team is and being undrafted, I’ve always kept that as my mode-of-play. It feels like I have a lot of trust here, but at the same time, you need to keep the same intensity and act like nothing is guaranteed.”

This was before Dickerson was a healthy scratch for the first two Jaguars preseason games. On days when Arik Armstead sits out practice, Dickerson works with the first-team defense alongside DaVon Hamilton.

What a difference compared to last August when Dickerson was cut by the Miami Dolphins and signed to the Jaguars’ practice squad. He didn’t debut until Week 11 against the Los Angeles Chargers and I remember his surprise when I approached him a few days later, which was like, “You want to talk to me?” Yes, I did. He went on to play 11 games (including playoffs), make his first four career starts and record 10 tackles.

“Matt has done a really good job,” defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile said earlier in camp. “He’s come in just really physically strong at the point of attack and he’s a tough guy. He’s really what you love about our defense in terms of always doing his job. I love coaching the guy.”

Dickerson’s transaction log since entering the NFL with the Tennessee Titans in 2018 is equal parts extensive and murky. Best as I could tell, he’s been released a combined nine times by the Titans, Dolphins, Arizona Cardinals, Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs. He did win a Super Bowl ring with the Chiefs in 2024.

Dickerson re-signed with the Jaguars on Feb. 16, well ahead of free agency. When he returned for the offseason program, defensive line coach Matt Edwards challenged him to take the next step in at least two areas.

“Have more confidence in my play and own it, and lead by example,” Dickerson said.

For a journeyman, that had to be feel great to be given the latitude to lead.

“Absolutely,” said Dickerson, who had the play of practice on Aug. 23 when he intercepted a screen pass and stiff-armed running back Ameer Abdullah.

A first for OG Daniel Faalele

New Jaguars guard Daniel Faalele was at the New York Giants’ facility on Aug. 19, packed and ready to travel with his team to Fort Lauderdale and a joint practice/game against the Dolphins. Instead, he was traded to the Jaguars for a 2027 sixth-round pick and was in Jacksonville the next day.

“The hardest thing is just catching up to everyone else and learning the new verbiage and the new words and get all of that remembered,” Faalele told me after his first practice with the Jaguars on Aug. 23. “It’s a lot of change, being traded for the first time. I’m just focused on things one day at a time and on serving the team however I can.”

For now, Faalele will serve the Jaguars as a reserve guard.

Helping Faalele with the transition is his familiarity with center Robert Hainsey (teammate for one year at IMG Academy in Bradenton) and injured right guard Patrick Mekari (teammates with the Baltimore Ravens).

Faalele, grew up in Melbourne, Australia, and played at IMG and Minnesota before the Ravens drafted him in the fourth round in 2022. He started all 34 games in 2024-25, playing all 2,119 offensive snaps. But he was allowed to leave in free agency and signed with the Giants.

How does he use his 6-foot-8, 380-pound frame to his advantage?

“I just use my length and my size in the run game by using my low-pad level to get on them and move them out of the way,” Faalele said, boiling it down in simple-but-accurate terms.

Playing/not playing QBs

Barring the unforeseen, Coen will not play Trevor Lawrence in the preseason. Through the first two weeks (plus the Hall of Fame Game) in the NFL, 20 projected Week 1 starting quarterbacks have played, 10 have been healthy scratches and two (Indianapolis’ Daniel Jones and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes) have not played as they wrap up their injury rehabilitations.

How rare is it for a Jaguars Week 1 quarterback to sit out the entire preseason? It has never happened save for 2020, when the entire exhibition season was cancelled because of the coronavirus.

 In his first five preseasons, Lawrence had 46, 33, 16, 14 and 13 pass attempts.

Browns going with Deshaun Watson

Cleveland coach Todd Monken announced on Aug. 24 that Deshaun Watson will start at quarterback against the Jaguars in Week 1 on Sept. 13.

Watson is 7-0 all-time as a starter against the Jaguars (six wins with Houston and one with Cleveland). He debuted in relief at halftime of the Jaguars-Texans Week 1 opener in 2017, a 29-7 Jaguars win.

For his career, Watson has nine touchdowns, three interceptions, 1,651 yards and a 63.8 completion rate against the Jaguars.

In October 2018, recovering from lung and rib injuries and concerned about the cabin pressure of an airplane, Watson took a 12-hour van ride to Jacksonville ahead of a 20-7 win over the Jaguars.

Contact O’Halloran at [e-mail] or on X at @ryanohalloran. Listen to Ryan on 1010AM on Tuesdays (6:35 p.m. on “Into The Night"), Thursdays (1:15 on "XL Primetime") and Fridays (4-7 p.m.).

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: How Jaguars' Grant Udinski honors Jacksonville on play-call sheet