The Zay Factor: Trevor Lawrence's connection with free agent Zay Jones getting stronger

The first home offensive play of the Doug Pederson era for the Jaguars — albeit in the preseason — was a joy to all concerned, from the players who executed it to the fans who watched it last Friday at TIAA Bank Field.

A 32-yard pass from quarterback Trevor Lawrence to veteran wide receiver Zay Jones was the longest play from scrimmage in the 24-13 loss to the Cleveland Browns but it set the tone for the first team offense, which got three possessions and left the game after 25 snaps with a 13-0 lead.

Jones ran a stop-and-go pattern and shook some initial contact, leaving cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. a step behind. Jones caught a dart from Lawrence to midfield and the Jaguars eventually settled for a short Elliott Fry field goal.

But the point had been made: TLaw-to-Z could be a heck of a connection this season, and a pretty good hashtag.

Taking an early shot

"We had that planned ... first play of the game taking a shot," Lawrence said after the game. "You want to execute it, get some momentum. Zay actually got kind of held coming out of the break, so it was good to see him fight through the contact and go make the catch. It's always great when you can start that way, get some momentum, get on the ball and get them on their heels right away."

Jones later caught a 15-yard pass from Lawrence during the team's only touchdown drive of the game (Lawrence's 9-yard fourth-down flip to tight end Evan Engram) and was targeted two other times.

The game was a continuation of recent training camp practices that have seen Lawrence and Jones get more and more comfortable with each other, especially on medium-to-deep routes over the middle.

In the two practices before the game at the Episcopal School's Knight Campus, informal stats had Lawrence completing 11 passes for Jones in a combination of 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 periods, for three touchdowns. Jones caught 12 passes in three practices last week, with Engram next with seven and Travis Etienne with six.

Jones (6 feet 2, 200 pounds), who set NCAA single-season (158) and career (399) reception records at East Carolina, is also blocking well downfield. He had one memorable play on safety Andre Cisco during a practice that opened up a big gain for tight end Luke Farrell. Jones rode Cisco 10 yards downfield while Farrell broke loose.

Jones took game in stride

Jones was making a concerted effort after the Browns game to not get too over-the-top with his emotions.

"I did kind of feel the energy from the team, the crowd, and that was pretty cool," said one of the Jags' top free-agent signings, from Las Vegas. "It's a long process I'm not going to dwell on it too long because ultimately we know it's the preseason and we have to get better."

But Jones said there was reason to go home feeling pretty good about the first preseason start for most of the first-team offense.

"I think we did a decent job, honestly," he said. "I'm my worst critic, so I'm going to be my team's harshest critic and I think we did a good job. We're a long ways from where we want to be. We did some things very well, it was good to see Travis [Etienne] back out there, good to have the offensive line do the things they did. Trevor escaped the pocked, put the ball on the money and as an offense, we did a pretty good job."

Pederson wants balance in passing game

Pederson doesn’t build offenses around his quarterback relying too heavily on one receiver. During his Super Bowl season at Philadelphia in 2017, quarterbacks Carson Wentz and Nick Foles completed 10 or more passes to 10 receivers, 20 or more to five receivers and 10 caught TD passes.

It was Zay Jones against the Browns. On Saturday against the Steelers at TIAA Bank Field (7 p.m., FOX), it might be Christian Kirk, who signed the team's richest free-agent contract (four years, $72 million), held out against the Browns because of a minor ankle injury.

In other games, it very likely could be Engram, Etienne, returning wide receiver Marvin Jones or tight end Dan Arnold.

But Pederson enjoyed seeing Lawrence and Zay Jones establish their early association.

"To start the game down the field, those two connecting, Zay being new to the football team, it was good to see," Pederson said. "It's something that we can continue to build on and build upon ... it's just another piece that we can utilize, and it was good to see them connect a couple times tonight."

Contact Garry Smits at gsmits@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Trevor Lawrence's connection with free agent Zay Jones getting stronger