This week, we asked Jacksonville Jaguars fans which player impressed them most in this year’s first preseason game.
A third of the respondants went with rookie left guard Emmanuel Pregnon.
With the caveat of it not being a true NFL game against the league’s top players and schemes… Pregnon looked really good!
It sounded like head coach Liam Coen was trying to slow down the hype train.
“Did some nice things,” he said on Monday of Pregnon’s performance. “Did some really nice things. Moved people in one-on-one situations, de-cleated a guy on a pull … He flashed. That was for sure. He flashed. He flashed in the joint as well when he got some opportunities with the ones, and he’s just continuing. It’s a process. It’s not something that we’re obviously trying to push. It’s just, hey, when the time comes, he’ll be ready. He’s trying to work through that and the continuity with the group. And you’re not seeing as much as he’s going to see, obviously, when we get going. So, pumping the brakes a little on it, but just for what he was able to do and the ops that he had, we were pleased with him.”
The Jaguars seemingly planned for Pregnon to “redshirt” this season before seizing a starting job as a second-year pro. With a slew of injuries hitting Jacksonville’s O-line, though, Pregnon has taken the bulk of first-team reps in practice this week — and continues to impress in such opportunities.
“Coach [Brian] Picucci, Coach [Shaun] Sarrett do a great job preparing him,” offensive coordinator Grant Udinski said Tuesday. “And he puts in a lot of extra work on his own time. I see him in here at the facility. I’ll take a stroll downstairs and it’s 10 o’clock at night and I’m expecting it’s only the cleaning crews around, but it’s Emmanuel rolling around through the locker room, just finishing up his recovery work. So, I probably don’t have enough good things to say about a guy like that.”
Safe to say that Pregnon is trending up! Hopefully, he’ll continue to flash in Week 2 of the preseason when the Jaguars host the Carolina Panthers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The good guys are 1.5-point underdogs, per FanDuel Sportsbook.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
