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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Do 23 plays constitute enough time for a left tackle and left guard who have never played together to be ready for the start of the regular season? The Jacksonville Jaguars are counting on it as that's the number of snaps that tackle Kelvin Beachum and guard Luke Joeckel received in last Sunday's win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
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It was the first action of the season for Beachum, who had missed the first two games as the team closely monitored his recovery from ACL surgery midway in the 2015 season when he was the starting left tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
When the Jaguars signed Beachum as a free agent in March, the thinking was that he and Joeckel would battle it out for starting honors at the left tackle spot, with the loser of this competition moving to guard.
It was expected to be one of the more competitive battles of training camp, although it never materialized. Beachum was relegated to the sideline and individual drills by the third practice of camp. That's where he's been ever since, only this week showing enough that the coaching staff inserted him into the lineup at the tackle spot, forgoing any competition between him and Joeckel.
It has to be a disappointment for Joeckel, who has openly said that he would prefer to play tackle. The problem is that Joeckel never showed enough in his first three years to lock down the left tackle spot.
He had a disastrous final game of the 2015 season, one in which he was fully or partially responsible for allowing the Houston Texans to record five sacks against quarterback Blake Bortles.
But Joeckel worked hard during the offseason and with Beachum on the sideline saw the majority of time at the left tackle spot, getting in some reps at the guard spot with the idea that if Beachum returned to the lineup late in the preseason, Joeckel would at least have spent some time at guard.
Jaguars coaches lauded Joeckel's work in training camp, calling it the best camp he's had since joining the Jaguars. Even with such strong words, it wasn't enough for Joeckel to retain his starting spot at tackle, instead moving to the guard spot for Sunday's game with Beachum's return.
"I just got to be ready for guard Week 1," Joeckel said on Tuesday. "That's the mindset I've taken all camp and all offseason, to be the best guard I can be and be the best tackle I can be. I feel like it's been a successful came and that I've done some good things. I've definitely improved on a lot of things, but I've got to be ready to go at Week 1 at guard.
"It's the first game I've ever played at guard, but definitely I've got to improve. (There) are a lot of things I can control and when you see that on tape, things you can control, you take some positives. I can go out and I can fix that. (Cincinnati) has a good defensive front. It's a good test but I've definitely got to get better by Week 1."
Joeckel said he hasn't reached out to any other guards around the league for advice.
"No, I really haven't," he said. "I just kind of am taking it my own way. I just try to keep that same mindset if I'm at guard or tackle. Just go out there and improve my craft."
Joeckel has benefited from having one of the elite line coaches in the league. Jaguars assistant Doug Marrone is well respected throughout the league and has held a head coaching job (Buffalo) for several years in addition to his numerous years as an offensive line coach. Joeckel said his relationship with Marrone is solid and that he's helped make the transition from tackle to guard a smooth one.
"He's such a detailed, technique-oriented coach," Joeckel said. "We've got things to fix. You've got things to work on every single day but that's pretty much every guy at every position on this line and every guy that's a backup. No one has the perfect technique. Everyone's constantly working on their technique, constantly fixing the little minute details to be the best they can be and that's what I've got to go out and do."
That's the extent of Joeckel's in-game action prior to the Jaguars' regular-season opener against Green Bay on Sept. 11. Bradley made it clear that neither Beachum nor Joeckel would play in the team's final preseason game in Atlanta on Thursday (7 p.m. ET). That means he'll have a week's worth of practice before the Packers' game for him and Beachum to fine-tune their playing side-by-side. Joeckel feels he'll be ready come the opener.
"I got some reps in practice and all that kind of stuff and had about a week-and-a-half in the middle of the training camp and got a lot of reps at guard during that time," he said. "At guard the one-on-one blocks aren't too much different than tackle. But it's different steps and all that kind of stuff. That's something that I've got to keep working on but practice will be good for that."
The Jaguars are counting on Joeckel being ready by that time. It won't be an easy task with the Packers bringing a stout, experienced defensive line. There will be no time for learning on the spot. The Jaguars are counting on their new left guard to be ready to play like a veteran and to act like he and Beachum have been a solid tandem for the past several years.
The success of the Jaguars' offense hinges on such.
