JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Dwayne Gratz returned from a concussion to find himself fighting for his job.

Gratz was hurt Sept. 28 against the San Diego Chargers and missed last week's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. In his place, former seventh-round pick Demetrius McCray played well enough that coach Gus Bradley and defensive coordinator Bob Babich opened up the competition for the starting left cornerback spot in Sunday's game at Tennessee.

On Friday, Bradley announced that McCray would start.

Gratz, the team's third-round pick in 2013, is pretty confident he can win his job back, though.

"I can't control what they decide to do," he said. "I can only control my play and what I do on the field, so hopefully with my play it'll speak volumes and they'll feel comfortable enough to put me back out there."

Gratz hadn't been playing particularly well before his injury, getting benched for a bit in the Jacksonville Jaguars' 41-10 loss to Washington. He wasn't competing for balls and made several mistakes in which he was out of position. That didn't show the growth the Jaguars expected to see out of the former Connecticut standout.

Bradley is hoping the competition with McCray will spark Gratz.

"I think he's still learning," Bradley said. "He's pretty young. You look at corners around the league and sometimes it takes a little bit of time to figure things out. He's in his second year so the challenge is there more. He has a pretty good feel. I think a challenge like this is really good for him. I go back to the Cleveland game last year. We challenged him and he amped up his level of play.

"We'll see how he responds to this but he is a strong competitor and we're hoping that sometimes competition brings out the best in guys."

Gratz, who has 20 tackles and two pass breakups, said he has made strides from his rookie season and he's only focusing on improving.

"There's always going to be mistakes that you make but I think I did a good job with bouncing back from it and getting better," he said. "All Gus tells us to do is to get better and that's the way I think. I'm going to make a few mistakes but as long as I keep progressively getting better that's the big point."