It’s back to football on Thursday night with the NFL Hall of Fame preseason game featuring an AFC showdown between the Las Vegas Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars. The Raiders are poised to be a legitimate contender after acquiring two impact players on both sides of the ball in All-Pro wideout Davante Adams and sack-monster Chandler Jones.
Meanwhile, the Jaguars boosted their thin offensive skilled positions by adding tight end Evan Engram and receiver Christian Kirk. The starters aren’t likely to see many snaps, if any at all, but this will be an interesting battle between two teams that desperately need their depth tested.
If you were hoping to see the reunion of Clemson teammates, Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne, you’re going to have to wait a little while longer. Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapaport, both the star quarterback and running back have been ruled out for Thursday’s game.
Bummer.
It’s not surprising considering Etienne is coming off a season-ending injury, and Lawrence was running for his life last year behind a patchwork offensive line. The hope is the unit doesn’t experience a serious case of déjà vu in 2022. They also better hope Chandler Jones isn’t in uniform at any point in the Hall of Fame game because it’ll probably mean pain for whoever takes snaps under center.
Speaking of the quarterback situation behind Lawrence, it’ll be a revolving door of C.J. Beathard, Jake Luton and Kyle Sloter. Beathard has experien ce working in his favor, and Sloter is just coming off a season where he nearly led the New Orleans Breakers to a USFL championship appearance in his first year with the pro league.
Meanwhile, Luton threw more interceptions than touchdown passes in the three games he started last season.
The good news for the Jaguars is the fact that the Raiders defense averaged the least interceptions per game last season. Jacksonville’s offense as a whole is also hoping to be more efficient with Doug Pederson as the head coach. They can finally close their eyes and pretend like that whole Urban Meyer thing never happened.