JAGUARS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR MIKE CALDWELL
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022
(On what he wants to see from the defense going against another offense this week) “Just see them being able to adjust to different things on the fly and going out there and competing, getting better, working on their craft, working on our techniques.”
(On if LB Devin Lloyd will participate this week) “He’s scheduled to go out there. We’ll see how he is. We’ll try to continue to progress him in and see what he can handle. We want to be precautious with him and just see what he can do out there.”
(On if he is excited to see Lloyd get back on the field) “It’s always good to see him. You saw him a little bit this spring in OTAs, saw what he can do a little bit, but training camp and the season is a little different. The speed picks up a little bit, but he’s doing a good job in the classroom, getting the mental reps, so hopefully it will continue to carry over.”
(On what he can bring to the defense that is different) “The talent that you saw coming out of college— athleticism, speed, length—he’ll hopefully be able to go out there and just make plays for us.”
(On if he is a unique player at the linebacker position) “He is. He has a unique ability to be able to cover and also pressure the quarterback. We like that about him, and with his length and all the tackles he made in college, you know he can play the run, so we just want to continue to see him go out there and find his niche and make plays for us.”
(On OLB Travon Walker) “We’ve been pleased with him. You see him in the run game, you see his physicality, and you see the pass rush ability. He’s able to work on his get-off and continue to improve, but when you really see him, you see him when he’s against a blocker, and he’s pushing the blocker back, he’s creating a new line of scrimmage, which is something we’re pleased with.”
(On the key thing for OLB Travon Walker going into this season) “This game, he’s played it all his life. The learning curve is just going against your new opponents. He has a veteran group in that outside linebacker room and D-line to be able to help him with the offensive tackles and different sets in the league, so once he understands that, he’ll be able to let his natural ability take over.”
(On if he ever did joint practices when he was a player and liked them) “Yes. I really did [like them]. It speeds things up, and the intensity is always going to be there because you’re going against a different group. We used to go to Plattsville. The Bears and you’re in the middle of nowhere and you’re with another team. Training camp back when I played was eight weeks long, and it was two padded practices a day, so you needed to break it up a little bit.”
(On if he sees his guys get excited to go out there as a team) “Always. Anytime you get an opportunity to go against a new running attack, a new passing attack, it gives you a barometer of where you’re at right now, and we’re going to continue to work trying to improve as a defense, and this is the next task for us.”
(On if he is starting to see more cohesiveness on the defense) “It’s still a work in progress. We’ve played some together, but not as much as we’d like to, but what we do in practice and what we do against our offense is really good work, and we’re down here this week just to continue that work.”
(On what about LB Foye Oluokun made him stand out) “Just like on offense, you need a signal caller that everyone looks to that can make everybody comfortable. He does that for us on defense. He came in, learned the system, learned the new terminology, and he’s been the guy out there getting guys lined up, and he’s like a security blanket. He’s comfortable with the system, and he allows everybody else to be comfortable also.”
(On if LB Foye Oluokun has delivered like he thought he would) “Without a doubt.”
(On how it has been getting the calls down to the field in the preseason so far) “Not bad. We can signal it or we can call it on the headset. We work it everyday in practice, and it’s been okay. Just continuing to work out the bugs just in case the system does go down, but no problems so far.”
(On the transition for him in his first season calling plays for the defense) “It’s a learning experience. You stand beside the signal caller, and you always have your thoughts in the head if you’re an assistant coach, and you say ‘I’d call this in that situation,’ but you never can see how it pans out, but now I do. Just continuing to learn and continuing to grow, talking to other coaches, trying to get their input on what they would do, but I’m going to make it me, and we’re going to roll with it that way.”
(On if he has started to determine if he wants to be upstairs or downstairs during the games) “No, I really want to be down there on the field so I can have a feel of the game, see what the guys are doing, being able to go over the different adjustments when needed.”
JAGUARS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR PRESS TAYLOR
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022
(On how it feels to see the offense go out there against another defense and how it changes his evaluation) “It’s always fun. Anytime you get to kind of test your systems, schemes, players, all that against another kind of unknown opponent is a great opportunity. You spend a little more time somewhat scheming, still not a game week there, because we still have these practices together, but you get a little bit of experimentation. We want to see if this works for us or not, and what better opportunity to run it against a different scheme, and you’re exposing your guys to another defensive system. We played against our group obviously, Vegas, Cleveland, Pittsburgh. We’ve seen a lot of different defensive schemes now, and you continue to hone in on what you want to do.”
(On if he can see the offense starting to come together especially after seeing both WR Christian Kirk and WR Zay Jones play) “Certainly. You start to see the guys in the roles you always kind of envisioned for them. We’ve gotten to see it in practice. We’ve had all our guys at our disposal certain days and been able to do that and what we’ve envisioned them doing. Obviously being able to go out, calling out a game plan, being able to see them operate and function coming out of a huddle, operating this against an unknown coverage on a third down and the chemistry they’ve already created with Trevor, it’s been fun to see.”
(On a throw to WR Marvin Jones in last week’s game) “Yeah, that was a great throw. That’s the ability that Trevor (QB Trevor Lawrence) has. You don’t go first overall if you don’t have some special skillset, and he obviously has that. You’ve seen that for a long time from him, and that’s what we’re excited to see and continue to help him grow with that, too.”
(On if anything is ever alarming to him) “No, none of it is alarming at all in any way, shape, or form. We’re exactly where we would like to be with Trevor at this point and time. Now we need to continue to move forward by the time we get to week one with everybody, as an offense, all of it. But we’re on track. We’ve got plenty of time. We can’t afford to waste any days, but we certainly have a lot of time.”
(On the objectives he had for QB Trevor Lawrence this summer) “It was more just mastering the system then developing chemistry and timing with all the new receivers. Really a lot of guys were new that had not played with him last year, guys that we’ll be expecting to (play), even Travis Etienne, who they obviously played together in college, but Travis wasn’t available to last year. That, then just handling everything. Breaking the huddle on time, understanding the play clock, understanding situations we’re putting him in practice, operating at the line of scrimmage, killing plays, changing plays, whatever that may be. That’s something you continue to see with him every single day, but that’s kind of a never ending process as a quarterback. You want to continue to master everything you can with the game”
(On what he has seen out of the right tackle position) “There’s been a good, I think, ebb and flow of this guy had a great day in this situation, this guy had a great day in this situation, one day a guys does a
great job in pass protection, another guy does a great job in run blocking, and you just kind of want to see both of them grow and push each other along the way, and that’s what we’ve seen so far. That’s why we’re not in any rush to make a decision. We’re not in any panic that we don’t have the guy in the building. It’s really the opportunity of maximizing who’s going to give us the best chance at that given week, who we’re going against this opponent, all that, so credit to those guys for the way they’ve prepared and pushed each other and competed with one another.”
(On if there is any concern over who would end up being the swing tackle) “That’s something that would kind of be down the line. We’re not going to give somebody a leg up or make somebody a backup because they’re a potentially better backup on the other side. We’ll play the guy who gives us the best opportunity at that position. Now, if something went on there, say somebody won the job and another guy was a better backup somewhere else, maybe there’s a rotation you have to do later on down the road if something happens, that would be there, but for the most part, we want to play the best five given that week.”
(On where they are at on the left guard spot) “They’re still competing, as well. Tyler Shatley has got a great opportunity. Ben (OL Ben Bartch) had played well. He deserved the opportunities with the ones to continue his evaluation process, then another part of that was getting Shatley a lot of center work, and that’s what we were able to do last week. By virtue of being able to evaluate him, it gave Ben an opportunity to play with the ones, because there are a lot of times guys play well with the unit they’re in. Competition ups as you move with the ones, you want to see if that continues. So far, he’s done a great job. They’re both competing really well at the position.”
(On if OL Cole Van Lanen is now a factor there) “We spent about an hour with him this morning just kind of talking through some things, and we’ll see where he’s at as we get out here.”
(On the challenge of getting RB James Robinson some reps but not going too hard) “It’s still, we’re working with Fergie (Head Athletic Trainer Jeff Ferguson) and the training staff. Wherever they are. If he can take reps, we’ll give him reps. We’ll respond to what they say the following day. You want to see how he responds to a good, heavy workload the next day, really, so it’s been nice getting him in there with the ones, breaking the huddle, running some runs, getting some pass protection looks with him, catching the ball in the backfield, it’s good to see, and that will continue moving forward into week one.”
(On if he feels comfortable seeing explosiveness from RB Travis Etienne Jr.) “Absolutely. That’s certainly something you expected to see with him. To see him really kind of trust his body coming off the injury and stuff, trust that he has that juice still, to see that is just reaffirming, but as well, it’s really what we expected from him and he expects of himself, so again, he’s I think right where he needs to be at this point in time.”
(On if there are any specific situations they plan to put QB Trevor Lawrence and the offense in this week) “Yeah, there’s a couple. We’ll have an end-of-half period, I think tomorrow, against these guys that we’ll get a chance to call it and see how we play. Again, the cool thing about these is you get a chance to compete with somebody else, but there are still restrictions on things. We’re not live in any of this. There will be some thud periods tomorrow, so the pads come off, and it backs down even a little more the following day, but we can script a bunch of red zone periods, we can script a bunch of third down periods where you’re getting good work, but in kind of a somewhat controlled environment which is a benefit for us.”
(On how much those planned situations can benefit a quarterback) “A lot, a lot. The other day we had a practice, I think on Wednesday, we had 30 third down plays. It’s not really an advantageous situation for the offense, and you’re going to have your losses, and you’re hoping, a great day would be 50% in a third down period. The next day we played the game, on whatever night that was (Saturday), and I think we were above 60% with our ones competing on third downs, so that work you specialize in at practice carried over to a game, and that’s good to see. Now, you continue to do that, and that’s the benefit of practice, we can put them in situations we want to see and continue to grow as an offense.”
JAGUARS QB TREVOR LAWRENCE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022
(On the first joint practice) “It was great just getting to go up against a different team. We’re used to going up against our guys. You see the same looks, but a lot of different things, our defense experimenting different things on you, then to come out here and really not do a whole lot of prep because you’re coming here to just get some work in and see different structures and all that, adjust on the fly. We have our base rules, but we’re putting them to the test. It really challenges us to communicate, especially up front, all the skill group, making sure we’re all on the same page. We’re seeing a bunch of different coverages than we are used to seeing from our defense, so it’s good. It challenges you. I thought we had a great day today, thought we brought a lot of intensity and looked sharp, so it was good.”
(On what changed in the mindset going into the later red zone periods as opposed to the later ones) “Every play is different. Every play we’re working something different. The defense is throwing a lot of different coverages out, so a lot changes from play to play. You’ve got to adjust, and I thought toward the end, after kind of seeing what they were doing, obviously they’re going to have some wrinkles, and they’re going to change it up every play, but you know what they want to do and how they want to play certain formations and whatever it is, so you’ve got a better idea, and timing is a bit quicker as you get used to it, so I thought that sped up a little bit, and I just thought guys did a good job of adjusting routes, getting open. I thought we looked sharp. We ran the ball great today, too, which was really good to see.”
(On what it’s like to be back in his home state) “I’m hoping so (to see family). I haven’t figured it out. Still working through the schedule to see if I can figure out any time. Hopefully if I can’t make it all the way home maybe my parents can come down here and we can grab some food or something, so we’re going to try to work something out. I’d love to see them, but yeah, it feels good to be back in Georgia. It seems so close. You hop on a plane, it’s like a 45-minute flight up here, so it’s close but just haven’t been back in a while, so it feels good.”
(On how long it takes for the offense to get on the same page with so many new guys) “I think it takes, it just depends. Depending on the group, the system, it can take longer. I just think when you’re installing a bunch of different plays and you see all these different looks, you’ve got to talk about each one, this concept versus different coverage. You’ve kind of got to wait until it happens to make some of the corrections. It’s hard. You can draw it all on paper, but when a guy actually has the rep, and you see it unfold, and you see a guy come out of a route a certain way and you know you want it a little bit different, you kind of have to work through that until you know it and you’re on the same page. We had a great rep today, me and Zay (WR Zay Jones). I won’t go through all the details and bore you guys, but just something we were talking about the other day, the little details of coming flatter on a certain route
versus a certain coverage and did just that and hit him on it. Just seeing all that stuff come together, it does take time, but I think our guys have done a good job of doing it pretty quickly.”
(On if he likes where he is personally now since the beginning of training camp) “I really like where I’m at. As far as offense goes, I feel really comfortable. I’m feeling more and more confident each day and feel really good with where I’m at with all the receivers, tight ends, running backs, protection. Our communication, especially me and Luke (Fortner) is getting really, really good, and we’re on the same page more and more, so I have a lot of confidence in that group up front, and I love where we’re at. I’ve said it before, it’s about getting better every week, so we’ll see where we’re at in a few weeks.”
(On his main goals coming into camp) “Individually I’d say, I said it before training camp even started, just try to limit turnovers, that’s a simple thing but obviously super important. You saw last year, we turned the ball over a lot. It’s hard to win games when you turn it over a lot. That was a big emphasis, then also just mastering the system. Going from one system to another and not having that carryover, I guess, from year one to year two, I really wanted to master the system and know the ins and outs and feel great about it come Week 1, and throughout training camp I really feel like I’ve done that. Obviously there’s more to do, but I feel really comfortable in the system.”
(On Head Coach Doug Pederson and Offensive Coordinator Press Taylor and their teaching styles) “Very conversational. I think it’s always, they see something a certain way, but they’re always picking our brains and seeing what we like because at the end of the day, it’s something that Coach Pederson, Press, Coach (Mike) McCoy, Jim Bob (Cooter), we’re the guys that are out there playing, so if we don’t like something a certain way, we’re not going to do it that way. So it’s always a conversation. They do a really good job of involving all the quarterbacks, and we all put our heads together, and I think we just gel really well.”
(On how his Cartersville and Georgia roots help shape him as a person) “Just having that small town, a lot of my life was kind of around football. Football is huge in Cartersville, and I just think growing up in that small town, it has a lot of character, that was a big thing. Mostly, I think a lot of who I am, my faith for one, but my family, and that has a lot to do with Cartersville, too, but the way my family raised me,
humility was always a really important thing. I think that’s kind of the staple of who I try to be. It’s mostly from my family but also coming from a small town, that’s a big part of that as well.”
(On if his hometown prepared him for Jacksonville) “Yes and no. You’re not near the water in Cartersville, the ocean anyways, but yeah, it has that feel to it, tight community. It’s a little different. Jacksonville is technically a really big city, so there’s a lot of land, but it has a little bit of the same feel. They are different.”
(On what it’s like managing so many different skillsets on offense) “That’s something that–my alert is always up, who’s in there. You’ve got to know your personnel. I think that’s the biggest thing in this game, knowing your matchups. It’s one thing, you can have a perfect play call, but you have to know where to go with the ball, who you like on the matchup. Knowing that, and, like you said, different guys do different things well, and I think that’s something that this coaching staff has done a great job of putting guys in certain positions and with personnels and different formations to get guys in a spot where they can succeed, and I think we’re always kind of figuring out more and more who’s good at what, but I think we have a pretty good idea right now, and I like where we’re at going into the last preseason game and going into week one.”
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Jaguars have acquired OL Cole Van Lanen via trade with the Green Bay Packers, the team announced today. Additionally, the team waived OL Wes Martin.
Van Lanen was originally selected by Green Bay in the sixth round (214th overall) of the 2021 NFL Draft. He appeared in one game in 2021 with the Packers.
Van Lanen played in 45 games with 19 starts at left tackle in his four seasons with the Wisconsin Badgers, with 18 starts in his final two seasons. He earned First-Team All-Big Ten honors as a senior in 2020 and was named Second-Team All-Big Ten as a junior in 2019. In 2018, he played in 13 games and helped the Badgers rushing attack post the sixth-most rushing yards (273.4) yards in the country and blocked for Doak Walker Award winner RB Jonathan Taylor. He attended Bay Port (Green Bay, Wisc.) High School and was named the Fox River Classic Conference Offensive Lineman of the Year as a junior and senior.
