Today was the final training camp practice at the Miller Electric Center for the 2025 Jacksonville Jaguars. The team will head to Miami this afternoon ahead of its joint practice (Thursday) and Preseason Week 3 game (Saturday) against the Dolphins.
Here are our notes from Day 18.
Practice Observations
No. 2 overall pick Travis Hunter practiced with the offense during individual drills and met with defensive coaches during team drills. However, he was held out of team drills for a third straight practice, as the team continues
to be cautious with his minor upper-body injury that held him out of the Week 2 preseason game. He seemed to be moving around just fine.
Starting cornerback Tyson Campbell was a full participant in practice for the first time since getting banged up in Week 1 of the preseason — a great sign for his Week 1 regular season availability. He was wearing an orange non-contact pinny, but it was good to see him back in action. He had tight coverage down the sideline against Brian Thomas Jr. on one rep.
Defensive tackles Arik Armstead and Maason Smith practiced in full again — they’d been out for much of training camp due to injuries. Wide receivers Josh Cephus and Eli Pancol were held out.
Parker Washington had the play of the day for the umpteenth time. He secured a long throw from Trevor Lawrence in the corner of the endzone against Jourdan Lewis toward the end of team drills.
Hunter “one big play a day” Long had a nice catch and run during team drills on a deep pass from Nick Mullens. Not that it’s a surprise, but the free agency pickup seems to have a firm grasp on the team’s TE2 role behind Brenton Strange.
De’Antre Prince had an interception off a dropped pass by Patrick Herbert.
With the team preparing for a road trip down I-95, it was a relatively light practice with few reps in team drills.
Presser Observations
Wide receiver Dyami Brown, offensive coordinator Grant Udinski, and defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile spoke with media after today’s practice.
A bar from Campanile: “I think the best teams are definitely player-led more than they’re coach-led. Coaches play a huge part in that, setting the stage of the culture, but the players play the game, the players win the game.”
“Toughness” is what new addition Khalen Saunders brings to the defense. “He is a really, really twitchy guy in my opinion. Watching him and all that, just watching him go through the drills and everything, he brings a level of physicality. I think he’s got tremendous block release, to be honest with you. When you watch him, he does a really great job of not staying blocked, hard to move inside in the interior. So, it’s always great to have a twitchy guy like that inside where you feel like you can still get some rush, even in early down action once he reacts to drop back or play action pass. He’s got a great personality too … He’s a great dude.”
Fellow defensive veteran/newcomer Jourdan Lewis also earned high remarks from Campanile. “He has been unbelievable for us just from a human being standpoint. He’s just a great guy, brings a great energy in our building every day. He’s such a competitor, and just a great guy. You love being around him. You love coaching him. His teammates love being around him. He’s, I don’t know how many years in now, what? Nine, ten years, eight years? Whatever. I mean, he’s laying out in practice, competing on every ball, and that’s just who he is. He’s a competitive guy. If he was working in an office building, he’d still want to be the best guy in there. That’s just the way he is. So, I think he’s kind of the epitome of what you’re looking for in terms of competitiveness and the culture you want to have in your building.”
Speaking of competitiveness, that’s the biggest aspect of what Campanile is looking forward to during Thursday’s joint practice. “I think it’s just great anytime you’re going against somebody else. It definitely raises the level of intensity … Joint practices always have a great energy, in my opinion. They’re usually physical or exciting and the guys are always excited to get out there competing against somebody else. I like that. I think it’s a good thing.”
Udinski had a similar sentiment. “I think it comes down to the competition. It’s great for the guys. An opportunity to compete against somebody else, against a different scheme, against different looks, against different pressures, and then ultimately, get an evaluation on us as an offense, us as a staff, how well coached we are, the players individually winning their one-on-one matchups. So, it can be a good benchmark really to see how you compete.”
When asked about rookie Jonah Monheim, who’s had impressive performances in the preseason, Udinski said, “It’s the added depth on the offensive line, which is always huge. I think [head coach Liam Coen] said you’re never comfortable with it, but it gives you a little bit more sense of security knowing that he can fill in at roles inside whether it’s guard or center. What he’s shown, not only from a mental standpoint, but a physical standpoint has been encouraging.”
As for what makes Dyami Brown a good fit for the offense: “It kind of goes back to the way he works and the way he’s tried to embrace his role … He’s asked to do a lot of different things that helps us stay balanced as an offense and gives him opportunities in the pass game because the more we can be a legitimate run threat with him in the game in different alignments and positions, the more opportunities he’ll have in the pass game.”
Brown said himself that balance is the key to Coen’s offense. “Just how complementary things are [is what stands out]. We don’t have just one focus on the pass or the run. We complement each other very well, especially with the guys that we have in the room in the offense that were brought into us. We all make things happen. We want to run for the pass, and we want to pass for the run. So, things like that that get this offense going.”
Brown is focused on “getting better, the one percent each day. Just focus on the same details that I need to work on, stay fundamentally sound. Don’t try to do too much or get out of the way of things. I just want to go out there and compete and be the best version of me.”
You can watch the full press conference here.
