NFL Notes: Jaguars, Packers, Steelers

Jaguars

Jaguars HC Doug Marrone says he has been “very happy” with DT Marcell Dareus in his first offseason with the team.

“I’m very happy with the way he’s worked, the way he has come into camp,” Marrone said, via Mike Kaye of First Coast News. “I think those are things he has done a much better job of than what maybe he had done in the past. I can appreciate that and see that in him.”

Dareus was traded to the Jaguars last year after it became clear that things weren’t working with the Bills.

According to Dareus, he and his teammates are continuing to push one another.

“I just want to do the best we can,” Dareus said. “We just push each other and let’s go. Give me what you got, I’ll give you what I’ve got and when you’re tired, just let me know and I’m right there to pick up where you left off and vice versa.”

Packers

Earlier this offseason, Packers HC Mike McCarthy went “back to Page 1 in the playbook.” However, OC Joe Philbin explains that the changes to the offense are more about refinement than “starting from scratch.”

“As I said to them in the first meeting we had on April 16, ‘If you look at historically what this offense has done in the 12 years that Mike’s been here, I think it’s third in the NFL. So that’s like in the top 10 percent of your business over a long period of time.’ So they’ve done a lot of great things here,” Philbin said, via Jason Wilde of the Wisconsin State Journal. “It’s been a process of refining, enhancing, tweaking, as opposed to, ‘Yeah we scrubbed it down.’ Yes, we went page by page. [But] we’re not starting from scratch here. These players in that locker room, they’ve done some great things.”

Steelers

Steelers RB James Conner says he has a lot to prove in his second year in the NFL.

“Didn’t really do much [last season] so I have a lot to prove,” Conner said, via Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. “I just needed to learn more, needed to grow more. I’m in the process of growing right now.”

“I haven’t proved anything yet,” Conner added. “Just another opportunity for me to prove to my coaches and earn respect from my teammates that I’m capable of playing on Sundays.”