JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jacksonville Jaguars made it through the first week of organized team activities and third-year receiver Marqise Lee is still healthy.
That’s not something to be taken lightly -- because it hasn't happened before.
Lee has never been completely healthy for the team’s offseason conditioning program or OTAs. He dealt with an ankle injury as a rookie and a knee injury last year and spent much of his time working off to the side rehabbing.
Not this year. Lee has been a full participant in the Jaguars’ first three OTAs and said he feels great.
"I have no issues," Lee said. "My body’s right, and that’s all I care about.
"My main focus was getting through this offseason healthy, and I feel great being out here."
Lee wasn’t able to spend the entire offseason in Jacksonville because he was back at USC taking classes to complete his degree, but he did make some of the throwing sessions with quarterback Blake Bortles and the other receivers at a local high school.
Bortles said Lee looked as smooth then as he did this week.
"He does a lot of things that there’s not a whole lot of people who can do," Bortles said. "The way he comes in and out of cuts and his speed and ability to run with the ball in his hands after the catch. He definitely has a lot of that added value. It’s cool to see him healthy and finally feeling good running around."
There’s a natural skepticism regarding Lee’s ability to stay healthy because of his injury history. After all, offensive coordinator Greg Olson did say seeing Lee healthy is as rare as catching a glimpse of an albino tiger at the zoo.
Lee fought a hamstring injury during the first half of the 2014 season and missed three games before finishing the season with 37 catches for 422 yards and one touchdown. After missing most of training camp, all of the preseason and six of the first eight games because of a hamstring injury in 2015, Lee finally got healthy and stayed on the field for the Jaguars’ final eight games last season.
Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley is cautiously optimistic Lee will finally be a consistent part of the offense.
"I don’t say, ‘Be healthy tomorrow.’ I just say, ‘Keep stacking them up,’" Bradley said. "I think that’s the idea. He had a good practice [Monday]. He showed it again today. So just keep building and control what you can control. I know that’s a cliché, but that’s really all he has to do. If he lives in that world, then we’ll be really good. He has something that we don’t have now -- his explosiveness and his speed -- so it’s important that he keeps progressing like he does."
Lee has caught just 52 passes for 613 yards and two touchdowns in two seasons, which certainly isn’t the kind of production the Jaguars had hoped for when GM Dave Caldwell selected Lee with the 39th pick in 2014. Allen Robinson (second round) and Allen Hurns (undrafted free agent) also joined the team in 2014 and have a combined 243 receptions for 3,656 yards and 32 touchdowns. The Jaguars drafted Rashad Greene in the fifth round last year to be the team’s punt returner, but he also caught 19 passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns and right now would be the team’s No. 3 receiver.
This is an important offseason for Lee if he’s going to become a significant part of the offense, but he’s not looking at it that way.
"My thing is just being healthy," Lee said. "That’s it. That’s all that’s going through my head. When Coach Gus asked me what’s my mindset, that’s all I worry about is staying healthy. Thus far it’s working as far as my plan, so I’m sticking to it."