With the Jacksonville Jaguars roster now down from 91 players to 53, special teams coordinator Heath Farwell made his first media appearance to discuss the final roster and his experiences with his units. Here are some takeaways from Farwell’s media appearance as the team wraps up the preseason and prepares to release the first roster.
Full media availability
Cam Small
After an inconsistent 2023 season with Brandon McManus, the team signed kicker Cam Little to add more consistency to the unit. Coach Farwell discussed Cam’s performance so far this offseason.
“You know, the funny thing is, if you look back at preseason, the first kick we sent him out there was a 55-yard shot, and we didn’t even think twice about it. We just said, yeah, go for it. He wanted it. Let’s see how it looks. You know, unfortunately he missed it, but he hasn’t wavered since then. We haven’t seen any change in him. So the confidence in him and himself is tremendous, and we have just as much or even more in him.”
The rookie kicker has made 100% extra points, 6 of 7 field goals, and has shown a consistent ability to make kicks from up to 70 yards on the practice fields. His only miss was the aforementioned 62-yard attempt that missed to the right. Still, that miss hasn’t stopped Farwell from making more attempts from that distance during the regular season, as he explained:
“I mean, he’s got great leg strength. So I think those longer kicks of 62, 63 yards are possible, and that’s to his credit. I also think that when you get into situations right before halftime where it’s essentially a longer kick and you’re willing to do that, you can see some of those longer kicks. On a normal first-quarter field goal, you might not send them out for a 62-yard kick, but that’s just league-wide. You’d obviously play a little more conservatively and probably punt the ball or try on fourth down.”
Lessons learned from the kick-off rule change
With this year’s kickoff updates, Farwell was pleased with the progress his team has made in understanding and responding to the new format. With the Jaguars being a top return team in the preseason and also being in the top 10 in kickoff coverage, Farwell was optimistic about what he’s seen, but also noted that all teams are holding back a bit right now.
“We’ve been working really, really hard all offseason, learning, getting feedback from the players out there on the field, just doing trial and error stuff. And then obviously taking it into the preseason and seeing what it looks like in a real game and real live action at full speed. You get more testing and more knowledge on it. So we — I would say we did a pretty good job, you know, of learning from that. But I think the regular season is going to be completely different. Every team is going to have a lot of nuances that they’ve been able to keep under control as well as we have. So I think that’s a great sign, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that any factors are indicative of where we’re really going this week.”
He later continued:
“And like I said, we’ve got a lot more testing coming up over the next four weeks or so that’s going to be about things that I think I know, but there’s going to be some unknowns and how do we deal with those things and how do we adapt to those things. So — because there’s a lot of unknowns. You know, I look at the kick returns and even the kickoff schemes of teams around the league and there’s things that I haven’t even shown them yet. So those are — we’re learning as we go through the league, just like everybody else is. Everyone’s doing the exact same thing. So, yeah, I think we’re going to — we’re going to learn so much every week.”
Since the team had two longer returns in the preseason, there is a possibility that teams could simply opt for more touchbacks and give Jacksonville the ball at the 30-yard line, which Farwell addressed:
“I think it’s certainly possible. And I think it depends on the scheme and the philosophy of the organization. It also depends on the returners. I like our returners. There’s a good chance teams would be willing to do that. I hope that’s not the case. I’d love to cover some kicks. I’d love to get the returns going, too. So that’s the exciting part.
That’s what we want to see. That’s what the fans want to see. That’s what we want to coach. That’s what we love — that’s what we love to do. That’s why we’re here. So we hope that’s not the case. But I think because that drive start is out there at the 28-yard line, teams could potentially do that.”
The four most important ST injuries
With Dewey Wingard and Daniel Thomas suffering long-term injuries, Coach Farwell was asked about his core special teams guys and what impact their injury status may have had on the makeup of the roster.
“I mean, it was tough losing Dewey. We hope to get him back soon. I know he’s out for a while, but he’s been at all the meetings and super helpful in terms of the leadership qualities he’s always brought.”
Daniel Thomas was also out. Daniel is a great player for us. We hope he can play this week, you know, and hopefully the goal is to have full training from Monday. We’ll see how that looks next week. But as replacements we have a lot of good players. Tim Jones played Gunner.”
Later he returned to Jones:
“We love Tim Jones. Tim Jones has been fantastic. He’s super consistent. You know, he’s just always in the right place. He’s tough and physical. He’s a guy you can really compete with. Because he’s so versatile, he can play gunner on the outside, play vice, but also compete with a linebacker because he’s 215 pounds inside on punt return and kick return.”
The team has options available
Coach Farwell mentioned the possibility of some of the regulars playing on the teams as well, and explained that some guys have also considered playing on special teams.
“Jarrion Jones has been really, really good. Antonio Johnson is ready to play on special teams. So those guys play a lot on defense, we have a lot of guys that are kind of backups, even starters. You know, I have starters that wanted to play on special teams for us. You know, Andre Cisco is taking on some of those roles. So there’s a lot of guys that are ready to help us out, especially those starters.”
