Bryce Young Camp Update — August 23: Five of Six With the Guards Back

Bryce Young went five of six for 49 yards Friday night in Jacksonville and piloted a 58-yard touchdown drive with five first downs, per Mark Long at the Associated Press — one week after his preseason debut produced three straight three-and-outs. The variable that changed had names: starting guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis, who missed the Buffalo game, were back in the lineup, per Kole Noble at A to Z Sports, and Noble charted Young four-for-four on his second series with completions to Tetairoa McMillan and Jalen Coker before Jonathon Brooks finished the drive from the one. The honest frame goes on the record with the numbers: Jacksonville sat its entire starting group for the second straight week, so this came against backups, and lightning ended the game with two minutes left. Young's own measured read, per Long: "For us as a team, an identity, it was definitely a step in the right direction."

The louder Young evidence came two days earlier at the joint practice in Jacksonville, against the Jaguars' actual defense. Noble's notes had him hitting McMillan for two touchdowns among three catches in red-zone work alone, including a 20-yard score over coverage, with McMillan saying, "Bryce just puts it into a spot where only I can get it. He just made it easy for me." Dave Canales connected the two days afterward, per Josh Alper at Pro Football Talk: "That was great improvement. Really like seeing the run game go... I was really proud of the group in terms of just playing clean ball; five penalties, pretty clean day."

Protection was the input our June preview said Young's floor depends on, and the two preseason weeks have now run that experiment in both directions — three-and-outs behind backup guards, a touchdown drive behind the real ones. Small samples both times, pointing the same way: as the protection goes, so goes Young. What to watch: whether the starters play in Friday's finale against Houston, and whether Hunt and Lewis stay healthy through cut week. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._