The Jaguars had one healthy player fail to report for organized team activities last season and they had one player missing again on Tuesday as they kicked off this year’s sessions.
It has been defensive end Chris Clemons both times and the big difference this time around is that Clemons let the Jags know ahead of time that he wouldn’t be there. That didn’t make coach Gus Bradley sound any happier about Clemons’s absence, however.
“We’ve communicated and he continually communicates with [defensive line coach Todd] Wash; obviously we’d like to have everybody here, but we touched base and he knows our feelings,” Bradley said, via the Florida Times-Union. “I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘It’s OK for Chris Clemons [to not attend].’ We want everybody here. And he knows that. It’s a choice he’s made. It’s voluntary. We’ll take advantage of the time getting a look at other guys and see how they’re doing. I have faith in Chris Clemons. He’s never not come back ready to go. But I don’t want to assume that. I would like to see him back here, but we’ll work through it.”
With Dante Fowler already gone for the season, the Jags will certainly need Clemons to be at his best for the coming season. Bradley said that the team is working to get Clemons to change his mind about joining the team by “challenging him on” his feelings about the best way to prepare for the coming season, but added that there’s no word on whether he might be coming around.