With injuries and suspensions leaving the Jaguars short at wide receiver, they really don’t need one of the guys who is actually playing to be only intermittently engaged in the proceedings.
That’s what Jaguars coach Gus Bradley thought of rookie Marqise Lee’s performance in the team’s first preseason game on Friday night, though. Lee played 16 snaps without a catch or a target and Bradley said after the contest that Lee’s effort wasn’t up to snuff.
“I think that’s one of those things we’re looking at -- it’s the consistency. Run your routes [like the football] is coming to you. You can’t change speeds. You can’t choose when and when not to. I’ve told you before that I’ve seen him switch to where he’s more focused,” Bradley said, via the Florida Times-Union. “I’d like to visit with him about what happened [Friday]. He did play good, but he could have done some things even more precise. It wasn’t exactly where we need him to be.”
Cecil Shorts has started running in his return from a hamstring injury and his return to action would take some of the pressure off of Lee to lead the passing attack. Given the overall state of the receiving corps, however, the rookie is going to have to contribute a lot early and he’ll need to be more engaged if those contributions are going to be positive ones.