Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / E.V.Podcast Ep. 1 | Tony Boselli on Jags' Approach to Building the 2025 Roster

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E.V.Podcast Ep. 1 | Tony Boselli on Jags' Approach to Building the 2025 Roster · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Sean made my dream come true when he named me
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Executive vice President of Football Operations.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: That's a guy I want to be in the bunker with.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: You know, his passion for the Jaguars, his support that
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: he shows right off the bat.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: You know, it's contagious. Tony taking over. His EVP impacts
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: not only the coach, but also impacts the front office.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: So look, he's in a very important and prominent role.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: There's some real, real wisdom to support and you know,
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: security when you're with him.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: At the end of the day. That's all I care about.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: James Glabs though, and Lamb cou and pom success. Tony
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: was born per this.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Welcome into a new venture we're starting on Jaguars Media.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: We're calling it the EVP Podcast. As you can imagine
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: from the title, the podcast is Executive vice President of
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Football Operations. A long title there, Tony Bcelli and Tony,
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: First of all, thanks for doing this. I think I
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: look forward to doing this as a way to have
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: fans get to know your insight football on off the field.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Thanks for doing I'm looking forward to This'd be great.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: It'd be good to kind of get caught up on
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: a regular basis and make sure our fans understand how
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: we're thinking about things and how we're going to do
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: things here at the Jacksonville Jaguars and the plan to
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: build a winning culture, winning organization and ultimately reached the
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: goal that we all have and that's the winner super Bowl.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: Have you had a chance to come up for air
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: and realize this is really yet?
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: This weekend was the first time getting back from the combine.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: This was the first time since I took the role.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: I guess my.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Official start day was February first, but was working a
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: little bit before that. This was the first time that
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: I spent a couple of days not doing a lot
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: of Jaguar stuff. Got back, I played golf for the
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: first time on Saturday morning.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: That was nice.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: It was good to get out there, and then took
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: some time at the house just to get a lay
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: of the land again because it was a sprint once.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: I took the job.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: But as I've told everyone, John, I mean, you know,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: it's not work if you love doing it right, and
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: it has not felt like one day of work yet.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: And while you're on that topic, I know when we
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: talked a little beforehand, talk about Angie support so far.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, she had to be a big thing. It was
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: a lifestyle choice.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: It was well, it was interesting because most people probably
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: don't know because the most interaction they had with me
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: was what I did with the Jaguars as far as
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: on game day doing the radio and then the show
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: on Monday night. But what they probably didn't know, I
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: was running a company in San Francisco that entire time,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: so it was already a heavy work schedule, a lot
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: of travel. The good thing was when I was home,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I was home working from the house, so I got
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: to spend more time with Angie and our one daughter, Angley,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: who's left at the house. This is a little bit different,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: so different work hours, leaving the every day. And obviously
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: she knows me and as we talked about it when
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Shod presented the opportunity, which was an amazing opportunity, really
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: a dream come true. First person I thoughd to was
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: her because it was going to change a little bit
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: kind of our cadence as a family and now you're
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: married to the NFL calendar. That's just the way it
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: works in the NFL. And she also knew that. She's like, listen,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: you're going to go over the top and everything you
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: because yeah, I mean shocking for anyone who knows me.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: So we sat down, had a long conversation, and so
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: she was all in and because listen, we'll be married
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: thirty years this year, and there's nothing that happens in
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: that household unless her and I are on the same page.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: It's just how we've operated our entire lives, our whole
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: married lives. And so her being bought in and being
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: as excited as I was about it was important for me.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: Probably my favorite quote that I've heard about you since
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: all this started was when Shad said he was born
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: to do this, and.
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: That really resonated.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: I thought that for a couple of years in our conversations,
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: just different stuff. I'm curious if you feel that way.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: I mean, obviously Hall of Fame left tackle going to
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: play football, yeah.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: But this feels it's always just felt right to me.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: So I've had a lot of jobs in my life,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: in jobs I loved, I love. I've been in healthcare
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: for a decade plus now we're running companies and enjoyed
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: every second of it. But this is the second job
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: that doesn't feel like a job. The first one was
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: a player and Obviously that was my dream growing up
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: playing in the NFL. This is the second dream job
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: that I've ever had, and whether I hope I was
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: born to do it, I shoh, it's right because that
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: means that we're going to have success and that I
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: can do my role effectively.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Which is just a piece of the piece of the puzzle.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Obviously, Liam is our head coach, is you know, critical,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: because all that matters is you've heard me say this,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: You'll hear me continue to say this is all that
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: matters is what happens on the grass because that's ultimately
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: what we're all defined by. In which I love about
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: the NFL. It's very immediate response, like Sunday happens you
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: had success or not, and the season you're evaluated based
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: on wins in law, and ultimately only one team gets
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: to really feel like, hey, we were successful this year.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: And adding Liam and then James over the last week
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: as the GM.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: You know, you got two guys there that I have.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Supreme confidence in that they're going to help lead this
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: organization to where we wanted to be and both have
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: obviously significant roles, and I have my role to support
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: and to make sure that we continue to do things
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: the right way as an organization, and the three of
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: us will be responsible for that and figuring this thing
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: out and making sure we're creating a winning culture, winning
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: team and doing things the right way.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: So Jaguars Happy Hour with Pete Prisco is all work.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: That was work. That was work. If you know Pete.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Spending any time with Pete's work, I was at the
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: combine with it was work.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Now, Pete's a great print. I'll miss that.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: It was one of my favorite things I did every
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: week during the season is two hours with Pete and
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: JP and and kind of reviewing the game and talking
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: about the state of the organization from our perspective. It
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: was a different perspective if I had though, because I
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: was outside the building and a lot of respects as
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: it should be.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: I mean that role.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: I was part of the media, internal media, but still
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: the media, and what we did there was evaluate what
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: we saw on the field and what we knew and
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: kind of like what I like to say is we
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: call balls and strikes from the stands.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: I am now in a much different role, have different responsibilities,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: and I think as our fans tune into this and
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: other opportunities to hear us talk about what we're doing
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: with the organization. Obviously it's going to be through the
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: lens of understanding it from a different perspective now and
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: what we're trying to achieve. So but still want to
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: communicate to our fans of what we're doing and how
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: we think about things and how decisions are made and
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: why we make certain decisions right.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Hopefully this forum will be able to do that. A
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: little bit impossible. Question is there's too many details, but
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: as as well as possible outline the process from maybe
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: that last Jaguars Happy Hour until EVP. Yeah, I know
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: it's got to be thumbnail because.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: But I was going to say how long is the podcast?
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Was a We're gonna do a three hour to you know,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Joe Rogan type podcast here.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Because it's a long story, and I think it really
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: goes back to it's been in the I don't want.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: To say it's been in the work for years, but
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Shod and I've had different conversations over the years, and
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: and I wanted to always play the role that Shad
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Mark lamping the leadership of this organization, felt I could
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: play the best help us move the ball down the field,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: and so We've always I've had a great relationship with Shod.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: He's someone I respect him mentally. I mean his obviously,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: everyone knows the story of how he got to where
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: he is, and I felt like I've could I've always
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: felt like I could learn a lot from him, and
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: so spending time with him, with Mark Lamping was always
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: really important to me.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: And then when this opportunity came.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: It kind of happened after the last game of the
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: season against the Colts, when that was done and Shot
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: and made the decision that he was going to move
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: on from Doug Peterson and that staff, him and I
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: had a conversation. He asked me, he said, hey, I'm
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: thinking about this as a possible role.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about it.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: After the coaching search gets done, and would you help
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: kind of behind the scenes initially in the coaching search.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: And I said, absolutely, anything I can do to help.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: And so we went through that process, and I think
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: everyone knows the story by now, you know. I think
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: it was a Tuesday morning it came out that Liam
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: wasn't going to come in for the in person interview.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: A couple hours later or so, it was announced that
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Shot had decided to part ways. With Trent Balky, and
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: at that point I became more involved in the coaching
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: search and we went through it and you know, we've
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: talked about this at length about Liam, and it was
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: clear to me that Liam was the right guy to
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: lead this team without a doubt, and obviously that's how
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Sean felt in the rest of the group that was
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: going part of that process. After that, in after the
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: press conference that Monday, Sead gave me a call and said, hey,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: this is what I'm thinking about executive vice president Football Operations.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Went through the kind of the specifics of the role
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: with the relationship, you know, all the terms and all
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, which was pretty easy, pretty straightforward,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: and I when he called me, I sat and listened
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: and obviously, you know, there's a party that just wants
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: to say yes right away.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Sure, But the other part.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Of me said, you know, I have a responsibility this
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: company I'm running. We just got done raising a bunch
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: of money from a couple of large venture capitalist firms,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: and I also need to talk to my wife. So
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: I asked it I'd go kind of twenty four hours
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: to kind of talk about this, and he, typical Shod,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: was gracious and said absolutely, let's talk tomorrow. So have
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: the conversation on the business side with the CEO and
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: founder of the company, a couple of one of the
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: board members, and then had a long conversation with Angie
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: and then the next day called Shad and said let's
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: do it. And that kind of kicked off the process
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: and from it was kind of hit the ground running immediately.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: Well you're already doing it in a way.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was already doing some of it, and then
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: now it was official. So started working with.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Liam and you know, you get a sense of who
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: people really are, you know, because it's one thing to say,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: you know, talk about communication and collaboration in an interview,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: but you could see immediately that's really who Liam is.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: And brought me in and helped wherever I could in
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: him getting his coaching staff put together.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: He was doing a great job.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: I think he put together a world class or coaching staff.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: You know how hard that is for a first time
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: coach to get that, because it's not like you just
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: get a pick whoever you want.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: Because it's fast and you're trying to deal with contracts.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Or under contracts and you have to that's permission is
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: it's a tough process and Liam did a great job there.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: But then we immediately went into the GM search, and
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: that GM search, we wanted to.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Do that the right way. Yeah, a process for that
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: big process. Give a lot of credit to Mark Lamping.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: He really could. Because I was brand new in the role,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: he would already had already been thinking about it. He
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: kind of brought me into the loop how they were
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: thinking about got my input. I thought they pretty much
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: had it ticked and tied really tightly, really good process.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, you know, you're looking at
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: fifty hours of interviews, right, you know, thirty of them.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: And that's just the interviews. That's not the talking afterward.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: That's not to talking after that's not the background, that's
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: you know, we're still trying to get some of the coaches,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: the final coaches done, so you're you're juggling a lot
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: of people's times and calendars and it's a lot of work.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: So we went through that process virtual first. We had
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: a you know, a number of people involved in that.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: I thought it was really it was done well and
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: got a lot of people's buying, which is important for me.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: And then we did the in person where Sean came
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: in and we had five in person, and that was
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: an intense few days.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: You have four hour interviews. You're diving deep.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: And we got through that next thing, you know, at
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: the combine, I mean and you look up and it's March, right,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: I'm like, well that was a fast month.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: I mean here we got you get to relax.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Or in free agency, yeah, I mean nothing big coming up,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: just free agency coming up and everyone's running around trying
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: to get that we have. You know, you have to
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: look at your roster first and foremost, and then you
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: have to overlay. You know, none of these things can
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: be done in the vacuum, at least I don't believe
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: if you want to be successful. So you have to
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: look at current roster, what's gonna be available in free agency,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: which is an ever moving target because you have guys
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: who are gonna get released at the league year and then,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: but you want to make sure you marry that up
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: with what's in the draft and where's the draft deep?
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: What's your draft strategy? You know, what kind of gaps
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: and holes do you want to fill? And so there's
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: a lot that goes into it, and you got to
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: kind of be very coordinated and strategic be as you
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: think through it.
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: Do you see uh, your role right now? Do you
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: see it evolving changing over time in terms of influence
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: on the field, in terms of just the conversations. I
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: assume as as James and Liam get more comfortable, you
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: guys will know what each part.
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: Needs to do.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think it will always evolve.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: I have no idea today what that means, to be
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: quite honest. I mean, I think it's what we have,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: What shot is laid out, and what we have all
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: kind of stacked hands on is very clear. I mean,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Liam is the head football coach, while all three of
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: us are you know, all report to shod as I
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: like to say, is we're gonna be head coach centric
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: and so Liam's kind of call it first among equals.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: But he's responsible for what happens on the grass, his staff,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: you know, set in the culture. He's going to be
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: the voice of this building and that's a non negotiable. Obviously,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: James is the GM player acquisition, player disposal, so think
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: of that as free agency called draft trades, cuts all
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: those things, and obviously working very tightly with the head
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: coach and understanding because You've got to make sure you
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: understand what how the type of football that Liam wants
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: to play, and Grant as though see in camp as
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: our decoordinator, and so that'll be a very close collaboration.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: And then my job is to overseeing all the supporting
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: staff and so you know, and James and I've talked
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: about it. Our job together is to make sure Liam
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: and his staff and our players have everything they need
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: to be successful because it goes back to the main thing,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: and that's on the field. And I think the simplest
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: way without getting into a bunch of minutia to view
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: me and my role is I'm the offensive lineman and
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: that's what I've always been to this organization.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: My job is to block, protect the quarterback, open.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Up holes, and to help move the ball down the
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: field so that somebody else can spike in the end
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: zone and have success. And that's how we're going to
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: approach this. Everything we do, the three of us will
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: sit down and talk through big strategic decisions and everything else.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: But I have the utmost confidence and James to build
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: our roster and the utmost confidence in Liam to build
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: a winning football team and call ball plays on.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: Sunday as in a few sentences, what about Liam deal Love, Well.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: Let's start with the x's and o's.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, just turn on the tape and look what
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: he's done everywhere he's been and highlighted last year top
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: five offense, top five and rushing top five and passing
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: and what people forget probably I think it was six
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: or seven games he'd have two of the best receivers.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: In football and he was still a fake personnel.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Change, big personnel change did with a rookie running back,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: really a rookie center, rebuilt that offensive line. They were
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: thirty second in the league the year before in rushing.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Just an outstanding job coaching. So that's so that's on
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: the offensive side, But being a head coach is more
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: than that. And so I think what's really jumped out,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: what jumped out of me, jumped out at me during
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: the interview and has been confirmed, is just the overall
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: leadership that he possesses, his ability to.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: Communicate, and that's the job more than play call, and
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: that is the job.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: And he has the ability, he has strong convictions of
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: how he wants it to look. He's able to communicate
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: that clearly and very concisely, which is really important. And
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: he has a presence about him, and you know sometimes
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: those leadership qualities you just don't know until you see him,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: and they're the intangibles, and he has that ability. So
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, and then if you kind of
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: wrap that all up with a lot of energy, I mean,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: this is a guy who has some energy. Now he's
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: he's you know, he's going to go and so I'm
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: really excited with what he's gonna be able to do
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: for this organization.
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: Same question about James.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Well, Liam and I joked around. He raised the IQ
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: of the front office quite a bit. Now some would
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: say with me and there it's a low bar, but
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: at least he raised it. He but he not only
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: has a very high IQ, he has what I would
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: say is a very high EQ. His understanding how to communicate,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: how to bring people along is really impressive and I
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: think you really got that in.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: The virtual interviews.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, this is a smart individual and
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: this is a guy who knows how to communicate and
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: build teams. It was clear about that. What really was
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: impressive during the in person was his evaluation of the roster.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: He's a real talent evaluator.
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: So stuff he was saying lined up with what you've
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: been seeing.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: I mean, just like you can see why the Rams
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: have had success the last couple of years as him
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: leading the college draft process for them and then him
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: taking us through and how he thinks about it. He
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: has a very high capacity to take in a lot
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: of different information, correlate that information, make sense of it,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: and then kind of deliver it and make decisions.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: And that's about his key thing for a GM he
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: can have because you have to communicate it all.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: That's exactly right. It's not just enough. It's not enough
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: just to be adept in evaluating. But now how do
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: you take that information and communicate it to the rest
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: of the constituents in the.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: Building, Because there's a lot of constituents, a lot.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Of constituents, and he does a great job. So I
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: could not be more excited about where we sit today.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: And listen, John, you've been around the league for a
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: long time. You're not gonna win any games today, but you.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: Sure can lose some games. You know.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: It's we're sitting here in March, you know, call this
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: phase one of this journey we're on. And I think
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: we've won phase one and that's great, but it doesn't
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: mean you're gonna have success. And I think what we
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: want to do this offseason is continue to win each
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: phase of this journey so that when we get on
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: the grass, we are ready to go execute.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: And have success.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: And we don't want to We don't want to do
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: anything that puts us behind the eight ball. And I
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: think so far we've done a great job. A lot
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: of credit to both James and Liam jumping in into
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: the deep end right away and getting to work immediately.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: Can you feel there was so much talk with the
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: combine about the synergy, talk about the north star of
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: the Rams. In fact, they've been around each other and
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: around the same thing. Do you feel that and if so,
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: is there an example of how you feel it?
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think I think one of the things
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: that's been good is there's a little bit.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: They're comfortable because they had a relationship before.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: But at the same time in completely different roles when
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: they knew each other before. Sure, I mean Liam was
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: a start off as a position coach, came back as
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: the OC. James has had several roles in the organization.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you exactly what stage he was at
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: when Liam was there.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: I think he was a director of scouting strategy. He
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: is close, but not the guy.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: That's exactly right. So that's one relationship when they are
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: in the rams. This is a completely different relationship. Now
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: now they are the three of us are in this together,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: and so it's really a marriage, and so there's going
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: to be a learning curve.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Listen.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: The key is that we need to build a really
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: strong relationships with each other. And I said this in
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: the press conference, and great relationships are built on trust.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: And the only way you established those type of relationships
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: is it takes time and you got to go through
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: the fire together and you've got to have those hard conversations.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: You have to, you know, make sure you're not getting
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: into a situation where it's a bunch of group think
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: everyone's agreeing to agree. I don't think that's going to
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: be an issue, knowing Liam and James and I know
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: me not a lot of not a big group think guy,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: not afraid to share an opinion, and so, but that
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: that's gonna take time enough to develop that we're gonna
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: have to strengthen those relationships.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: Which we will. We're all committed to it.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: And ultimately, no matter what I say today, the proof
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: is gonna be in the pudding.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, we got to go execute.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: We got to go show first and foremost shot and
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: that he has trusted us to do this. We got
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: to go prove to him that he made the right
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: bet in the three of us. And then ultimately we
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: got to prove it to the whole organization, our players,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: and then at the end of the day, our fans
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: and our sponsors and our partners that when they come
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: to games at ever Bank or they tune on tune
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: into a road game, that they see a product they're
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: proud of, and that this is a team that's gonna
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: be you know, tough, smart, discipline, going to play the
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: game the right way.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: And that's what we're playing on, playing on building.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: Quick final too, any thoughts from the combine. It was
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: your first time since you went as a player, right?
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: No, I went one other time, the first year Tom
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: was here and I think it was twenty seventeen. Ok,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the first year I went for a few days around
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: the offensive line, right, but never in this role obviously
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: or in this It was much different.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: It was good.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: I thought our team did a great job. I was
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: really proud of the whole organization, how they represented us
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: at the combine, whether that's from you know, the production
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: team and you guys. I thought that was really well done.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: I think our scouts were prepared, our coaches came in,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: we got a lot of work done.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: We treated it as a work week. Sure, so we
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: started through free agency.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: So I was really pleased overall with the effort and
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: how everyone was prepared and we got things done. So yeah,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: it was good overall. I think we accomplished what we
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: wanted to and that's a positive.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: Without giving away anything because you won't the next week
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: prepping for free agency and then anything fans can expect
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: in freegency, not specifics, but active passive.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: How would you.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the way I would think about everything
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: we're gonna do is we're gonna make decisions that make
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: us a better football team. And whether that's super active
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: in free agency or not, I think that's gonna be
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: a year to year thing. I don't think there's an
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: overall philosophy saying, hey, we're not gonna be inactive in
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: free agency or we're gonna spend every dollar we can
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: in free agency. That's not I think that's the wrong
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: way to approach it. The right way to approach free
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: agency and the college draft is making decisions that makes
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: you better on the field. And I think the commitment
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: you have from us as a leadership team is we're
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: every decision we make is it good for the Jacksonville
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Jaguars and does it help us win football games? If
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: it doesn't do those two things, why are we doing it?
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: And so that's our.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Approach to free agency. We're gonna we're gonna attack free agency.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: We're gonna get after it. We'll compete, you know, listen,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: And I think most people know that. So you can
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: have the greatest plan and you can plan out and
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: have all these great ideas going in the free agency.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: It's a little bit of the wild wild West.
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: Because the players three change a lot.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: The players gonna choose what they want to do too.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: So you can offer a great deal and you think, hey,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: we want X player and we got this great plan
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: for them, and man, it's Jacksonville's Florida. It's this money
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: and all the stuff that goes into it. And they
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: can look at you and say, I'm good, I'm gonna
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: go to I'm gonna go to the Rams right going
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: to go to Baltimore wherever they go. So but we
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: will have a very good plan and we've started working
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: on that last week.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: I will continue this week and we'll go in.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: We'll be ready to execute and uh and we'll go
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: compete and try to get the guys we want and
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: uh and we'll But I think that for the fans,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: I'd worry less about whether it's early late, big money
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: not a big.
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: Money, they're gonna worry if it's not early.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: They shouldn't go.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: You got to have to give us, give us some time,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: have confidence that what we are doing we view is
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: the best for this organization to win football games, because
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: that's all it matters. As if you're a fan, listen
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: to this right now. All you care about the end
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: of the day is having success in winning. Don't get
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: hung up on whether we won the off season or not.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Like they should all know that we plan on winning
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: every phase. But how we judge winning and losing might
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: be a little bit different because we're working with more
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: information and we have a very specific plan we're trying
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: to execute against and we can't share all that with
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: everybody because then we we get we're at a competitive
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: disadvantage in the league. So but know that we are organized,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: we're ready to go, and we're going to get after it.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: Come free agency in our way, and we're going to
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: do it the right way.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: The last segment, because I'm a clever guy who, yes.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: You are clever, I've brought the oar. You're very clever.
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: Well, the last thing we're going to do, we're calling
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: it the bow zone, and it gives you a chance
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: to answer the questions.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: Okay, as long as it's not the bozo.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: Well it's the bozone with the bozo asking questions about that.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: That's rare.
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: And before your EVP, I would have called you the bozo,
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: but not anymore than.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: For the respect. I know behind closed doors that's not
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: the case.
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: But that's a little bit publicly.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: I appreciate it.
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: Uh JK from New York and for Indina beach rights
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: and this is sort of softball for you. Your first
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: one is Tony Bisselli, the left tackle of the Jags
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: football operation.
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: And I think you already answer the question.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's my Yeah, I think that's how I view it.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, at the end of the day, I have
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: one goal when I took this job. Really one goal
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: is to bring it, to bring a Super Bowl here
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: to Jacksonville, to have the Lombardi Trophy in our building,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: meaning we won the whole thing, and that's that's my goal.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: That's what I want for this organization. I want us
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: to be viewed as the premiere organization in the NFL,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: and everything we do on the field in this building,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: I think that's the standard, and that's you know, that's
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: my only goal.
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: Michael from Orange Park, Florida, Rites Zone. You recently said
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: it will take two or three years to get to
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: the level of the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: because there's still roster building to be done. Why don't
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: you ask one of the new leaders if they agree
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: with that. Well, I thought, since you're one of the
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: new leaders, and to preface, what I meant was getting
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: to a super Bowl level, and again, curious how you
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: see it.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm less concerned about the time frame because I
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: think when you put timeframes on it, you almost set
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: yourself up for both disappointment but kind of give yourself
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: maybe an easy way out, because to me, it's like
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: what we should be worried about is twenty twenty five,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: and the goal every year is to win a super Bowl.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's how we're approaching it now. Whether we're
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: gonna win the super Bowl this year or next year,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: the year after, I have no idea. There's so many
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: things that go into it. We haven't even started free agency,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: we have the draft, we haven't got our players back here.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Liam and our staff are just starting to do the work.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: I mean they've been at it since they got hired,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: but I mean there's a lot of work to be done.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: And then in the NFL, you never know what's gonna happen.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Guys get hurt, you know, opportunities come, players peak at
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: certain times, and out of nowhere, you're sitting there in
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: the playoffs and.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: You have a chance.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think anyone in ninety six thought
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: we were going to be a team competing and go
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl, correct, And we were, you know,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: in the red five minutes away from tying up and
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: possibly sending it overtime.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: And so, you know, I don't know when it's gonna happen,
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: but I know this.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Is that that's what we're competing for, and that's what
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: we're striving for, and that's how we're going to make.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Decisions here, so timeframe, I have.
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: No idea, Tony.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: I appreciate you doing this. I'm looking forward to this.
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: I think it's gonna be great things for the fans.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: Thank you very much for doing the Eve ep podyast.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you Ozon. I appreciate it.
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: Mhm