When the Jaguars made Luke Joeckel the second overall pick of the draft, it meant a couple of big transitions for the offensive tackle.
He had to make a move to right tackle after playing on the left side at Texas A&M while also adapting to the step up in speed and competition that comes with moving to the NFL. The transition wasn’t made any easier when Joeckel missed some time with a hip injury this summer, but he has been well enough to take every snap through the first two games of the season.
That’s meant plenty of opportunities for Joeckel to make mistakes. Joeckel was flagged for two false starts against the Raiders in Week Two and has been beaten for a pair of sacks, mistakes that the rookie blames on the kinds of mental errors that he’s never made in the past.
“I can’t have the mental stuff,” Joeckel said, via the Florida Times Union. “Physically, I feel good and feel like I’m getting better every week. But I have to get over the mental errors and have to take more preparation time watching film and clear my mind. Clear my mind and play football. I’ve never been a Mental Error Guy but there are a lot of things going on.”
It’s just two games and there’s no reason to think that Joeckel won’t be able to clean things up once he’s more experienced with the professional game. For now, though, it’s just one more item to put on the list of problems with the Jaguars offense.