Thanks to Brad Meester, the Jaguars haven’t had to worry about finding a starting center for quite a while.
That changed this year, though. Meester retired after a 14-year career and the Jaguars had to find a replacement for the middle of their offensive line. Their first choice was Mike Brewster, but he struggled so much in the first two preseason games that he wound up being waived off the roster entirely over the weekend. They then turned to Jacques McClendon for the third game and liked his work enough to hand him the starting job for the regular season.
“I don’t have any time to revel about that,” McClendon said, via the Florida Times-Union. “We came in and tried to attack this game plan for the Eagles. I’m really looking forward to making sure we’re on top of our P’s and Q’s and are ready for the game on Sunday.”
McClendon, a 2010 fourth-round pick, made the first two starts of his career at guard for the Jaguars at the end of last season and actually played more guard than center this summer. That should have the Jaguars line growing on the fly as they are starting rookie Brandon Linder at right guard, newcomer Zane Beadles at left guard and Luke Joeckel at left tackle after he opened his NFL career on the right side.
Quarterback Chad Henne will bear some of the brunt of any growing pains in front of him, which likely went into the thought process behind letting Blake Bortles begin his professional days on the bench.