JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars return 10 of 11 starters on defense. The one departure is at middle linebacker, where Paul Posluszny retired in March.
Replacing Posluszny is not a one-man job. From a leadership standpoint, Telvin Smith is stepping up. Already a leader, he is now the "old" veteran in the room. On the field, the plan is to have Myles Jack move into the middle linebacker position and stay on the field on passing downs.
It was the same kind of plan the Jaguars had at this time last year, but early in preseason, the team scrapped that idea and left Posluszny at middle linebacker. This year, the job will be Jack's, but he's been limited in the team's voluntary organized team activities this year. On Monday, he worked in individual drills for the first time at OTAs.
"Right now, we've got to make a decision (that) comes down to 'Do we want to you know put him out there now?' He's done so well, and see where it goes," Marrone said. "Obviously, there's risk with anyone that's out there, but I think we're probably looking to see him out there for the mandatory mini-camp. We haven't made a final decision on it yet. If he wasn't out there for the mandatory mini-camp, it's solely my decision. It wouldn't be a medical decision."
Jack, became the focus of an offseason battle cry for Jaguars fans when he was ruled to be down after taking the ball away from the Patriots in the AFC championship game. Replay later showed that "Myles Jack wasn't down."
Another of the returning defensive starters, defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, received praise Monday from Marrone.
"One of the things that I see, which is amazing is that every day, he comes with a genuine purpose to really improve his game," Marrone said. "I've been around a lot of offensive line and defensive linemen and a lot of great ones and he reminds me of some of those players that come in, and really focuses in on what he wants to work on, goes out there and he's very competitive. Now that I've been around him for for some time, I think it's very easy to see why he is so successful. You know why he's had success in this league and why, I think, he'll continue to have success initially because of the work that he puts in."
Jaguars OTAs continue Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The mandatory mini-camp is scheduled for June 12-14. None of the sessions are open to the public.