Because he signed his contract Monday, Jaguars wide receiver Justin Blackmon isn’t allowed to practice in pads until Thursday.
The Jags won’t be in pads that day because they are playing the Giants on Friday night, a game that Blackmon will miss as a result of his protracted contract negotiations. That means he’ll have his first full practice on Sunday with the intention of making his preseason debut on August 17 against the Saints. That’s not much time on the field for Blackmon and the Jaguars are trying to fill it up as much as possible.
Vito Stellino of the Florida Times-Union reports that Blackmon spent time at Tuesday’s practice catching passes by himself with the team’s quarterbacks while the rest of the Jaguars practiced special teams and coach Mike Mularkey said that the team is going to bombard Blackmon with the information he missed while finalizing his contract. Mularkey feels comfortable with that compressed timeframe because he says Blackmon showed a deeper commitment to his work after his DUI arrest this spring.
“We will know by how fast his progress happens in this camp,” Mularkey said, via the team website. “I believe even since the incident his approach to everything he’s doing on the field and in the meetings was different after the incident. That was a good thing.”
If Blackmon works fast, the Jaguars will breathe a little bit easier heading into the season.