Chris Rodriguez Jr. Camp Update — August 23: Consistent Yards Between the Tackles

Chris Rodriguez Jr. spent Wednesday's joint practice doing the thing on his contract: gaining consistent yards between the tackles against Carolina's defensive front, per John Shipley at Jaguar Report, in a session where the running game was Jacksonville's most impressive unit. Liam Coen's assessment of the group afterward, at the team's website: "I was pleased with the way the backs were hitting the holes." Two joint practices, two weeks of downhill work against external fronts — the foot that cost Rodriguez the entire offseason program has now held up through the most physical stretch of camp without a single injury mention.

He then sat Friday's 34-to-17 loss to the Panthers, named on John Oehser's list of resting front-liners at the team's website alongside Trevor Lawrence and the rest of the starting cast. For a veteran signed in March who spent the spring rehabbing, being handled like a settled starter is quiet but real information. The backup backfield carried the game instead, 33-year-old Ameer Abdullah leading with 45 yards on six carries.

The other half of the committee had its own week, and honesty requires the note: Bhayshul Tuten turned in what Shipley called his best practice of the season in the same Wednesday session. The co-starter arrangement Jacksonville lists is currently two backs stacking good days side by side rather than either one pulling away.

Back in June we previewed Rodriguez as a signing with one plot twist — a foot surgery that erased his spring — and the file since has been the foot cooperating on schedule while the role trends larger than the short-yardage sketch we drew. Nothing this week bent that line.

What to watch: whether Rodriguez gets goal-line and short-yardage packages whenever the starters next take game snaps, and what the backfield behind the two co-starters looks like after next Sunday's cutdown to 53. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._