No process is linear, and with first-year head coach Liam Coen, the Jacksonville Jaguars will experience their fair share of growing pains in 2025. But they just had a practice so dreadful that it brought back memories of hometown hero Blake Bortles.
The Jags held a scrimmage on Day 15 of training camp, and the offense put on a subpar showing. Several beat writers took notice of how sloppy the unit looked and minced no words.
Day 15 of Jaguars training camp brought back memories of Blake Bortkles
John Shipley of Sports Illustrated reports that it wasn't a pretty sight, pointing out that drops and penalties plagued the offense through practice. Below's the skinny.
"At one point, the Jaguars had penalties on back-to-back-to-back snaps, an issue that quarterback Trevor Lawrence noted after practice has plagued the offense all camp," Shipley wrote. "The starting offense scored with relative ease on the first drive, but penalties and drops from a wide-ranging number of culprits set the starting unit back for the rest of the day. It felt like a struggle to get through the practice."
Throughout the day, Mia O'Brien of ESPN counted eight drops in total: Joshua Cephus (3), Brian Thomas Jr. (1), Hunter Long (2), Trent Irwin (1), and Austin Trammell (1).
O'Brien adds that there was a play with clear in which Thomas and Travis Hunter "ended up in the same 5-yard radius," and the ball sailed between them because of communication issues with Trevor Lawrence. Simply put, it was a bad showing all in all.
The harshest criticism of the Jaguars offense's performance might've come from Mark Long of the Associated Press, who said that this was the worst practice he's witnessed since Blake Bortles threw five interceptions back in 2018.
Worst Jaguars offensive practice I’ve witnessed since Blake Bortles’ five-INT night. At least 7 dropped passes, 10 penalty flags, several sacks and sloppiness all around.
— Mark Long (@APMarkLong) August 14, 2025
Bortles' five-interception debacle took place back in 2017. And while the "BOAT" ended up playing relatively well that year and even got a long-term extension, he was ultimately benched in 2018 and was gone the following offseason.
This is a long-winded way to say that the last thing you want is to be compared to Bortles. And if you do, it's because you did poorly.
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Liam Coen and the Jaguars must fix the drops and penalties ASAP
It's hard to picture Trevor Lawrence being as inefficient as Blake Bortles was late in his stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Having said that, head coach Liam Coen must operate with a sense of urgency if he wants to fix the issues that held back the offense in the preseason opener.
In the first two drives of the game, the Jags were flagged three times: Twice for false start, and one time for having too many men on the field. Based on Day 15 of training camp, they still have their work cut out.
Simply, the Jaguars cannot afford to waste so much offensive talent: Trevor Lawrence is the healthiest his been in a while and has shown noticeable progress when it comes to his mechanics. Their wide receiver corps could be one of the best in the league with Dyami Brown, Parker Washington, Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter in the fold. Last but not least, Jacksonville has three potential starters in Travis Etienne, Tank Bigsby, and Bhayshul Tuten.
Imagine being stacked with playmakers and not being able to take advantage of them because you cannot line up correctly. If anything, Day 15 of training camp should be a reminder that the Jaguars won't be able to beat anybody if they can't stop beating themselves.
The good news is that all the issues the Jaguars are dealing with can be fixed, but they must act fast or else run the risk of getting off to a sloppy start to the regular season.
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