The second week of the preseason kicks off Thursday, continuing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Jacksonville Jaguars. Teams will be looking to see which players improve on their Week 1 performances and which players really grab hold of important roles. The PFF analysis team has all of the important battles and players to watch in this game:
Coverage by: Bill O'Brien
Position Battle: Jacquizz Rodgers/Charles Sims/Peyton Barber/Jeremy McNichols, RB
- Jacquizz Rodgers: Rodgers was the second running back into last week’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals behind Doug Martin and logged four carries for 11 yards along with one catch for five yards on just nine snaps. Rodgers struggled to find much running room and posted 1.75 yards after contact per attempt
- Charles Sims: Sims was the most efficient runner for the Bucs last week, rushing for 23 yards on just three carries while breaking two tackles on those three carries.
- Peyton Barber: Barber played the most of all of the Bucs running backs in Week 1, logging 17 snaps and seeing the most carries with eight, but he struggled with efficiency, rushing for only 21 yards.
- Jeremy McNichols: the rookie out of Boise State was the fourth running back to enter the game, but did receive the second-highest game grade among Bucs running backs with a grade of 64.8.
Players to Watch:
- Vernon Hargreaves, CB – Second-year cornerback Hargreaves had an up-and-down rookie season in 2016, but got out to a fast start in the first preseason game. The former first-round pick earned the highest grade of any player in last week’s game and allowed just 0.85 yards per coverage snap while intercepting one pass. Hargreaves looks ready to take a step forward in 2017.
- Kendell Beckwith, SLB – Beckwith came into training camp expecting to compete for the Bucs SLB. Last week’s game saw the former LSU Tiger struggle at times while logging the second-most snaps among Bucs linebackers with 34 defensive snaps. Beckwith came up with three tackles while missing three tackles as well, however, the rookie was tasked with a large role by playing on 19 snaps in run defense along with 15 snaps in pass coverage and will look to improve in his second preseason game.
Coverage by: Aaron Resnick
Position Battle: A.J. Cann/Patrick Omameh/Tyler Shatley, G
- As mentioned in the Jaguars preview last week, the team is looking to establish an identity running the ball and had uncertainty at both guard spots particularly when it came to run blocking. Of the returning Jaguar guards from 2016, the two with the highest overall grades in the preseason opener were Tyler Shatley at 78.3, and projected starter A.J. Cann at 72.0. Shatley had the highest overall run-blocking grade of the bunch checking in at 81.4.
- At this time Cann and Omameh are atop the depth chart.
Players to Watch:
- Corey Grant, RB – In 13 snaps played, Grant recorded a game grade of 85.0, which was the highest of all running backs in the first week of preseason action. On eight carries, Grant racked up 120 yards with a whopping 100 of them being after contact. His four missed tackles forced also tied for second among running backs this past week. While this might be viewed as an outlier against backup defenders, Grant has done this in the regular season as well. In his lone 2016 start, Grant recorded an overall grade of 84.5. In that game, he had 122 yards but 96 after contact, which was good for 5.3 yards after contact per attempt.
- Keelan Cole, WR – Cole, an undrafted rookie from Kentucky Wesleyan, played just 18 snaps in the preseason opener and only ran five of them in route, but ended up averaging a ridiculous 21.6 yards per route run. He hauled in two of his three targets for 108 yards, but that total was largely aided by his 97-yard touchdown, which also greatly contributed to his 68 yards after the catch. Cole's playmaking ability has been on display throughout training camp, so even with a deep receiving corps it would be extremely difficult to deny Cole a roster spot if he keeps playing at this level.
- Myles Jack, LB – Last week, Jack played 26 snaps after going through an offseason where he worked on converting to middle linebacker. They've already decided to pull the plug on that experiment, as he will play outside linebacker for at least this contest. With just 239 snaps as a rookie, preseason snaps regardless of position were going to be important for Jack. The outside is where Jack played the majority of his snaps as a rookie and his final two years at UCLA, so it will be interesting to see how his range and speed play at the position.
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