Latest / Jags A.M. / Ep. 69: 2024 Draft Class Superlatives | Jags A.M. Podcast
Transcript
- 0:17Speaker 1: Welcome to jag Zamine Kay Nannie Stevens. The twenty twenty
- 0:20Speaker 1: four draft is now behind us. Who get some new
- 0:21Speaker 1: players headed to Jacksonville and a whole lot to talk about.
- 0:25Speaker 1: Do have some breaking news off the top here though,
- 0:27Speaker 1: as a list of unsigned free agents as well as
- 0:30Speaker 1: some cuts to the team wide receivers. A Jones is
- 0:33Speaker 1: being cut as well as kicker Joey Slide. So, Brian,
- 0:35Speaker 1: that news coming out Brian Thomas Junior was their first
- 0:37Speaker 1: draft picks. That means they mean to cut to the
- 0:39Speaker 1: wide receiver room as well. Well, that made sense because
- 0:41Speaker 1: you're going to need to keep Devereux and de borrow
- 0:45Speaker 1: the Dune from Baltimore as a receiver because that's the
- 0:49Speaker 1: position that he plays as well.
- 0:51Speaker 2: And it's just a numbers game.
- 0:53Speaker 3: The Jaguars will save about five million dollars against the
- 0:55Speaker 3: cap in twenty twenty four, not that they needed to, John,
- 0:59Speaker 3: they've got lots of room.
- 1:00Speaker 4: Well it's yeah, it's uh. I don't love it. I mean,
- 1:03Speaker 4: I like Zay and I like what he brought. I
- 1:07Speaker 4: think it would have been good to have that option,
- 1:10Speaker 4: but in the cap era, when you're trying to save money,
- 1:14Speaker 4: roll out the future. It is a you know, it's
- 1:17Speaker 4: not a sign of our times. We've been in this
- 1:19Speaker 4: time forever. But it is a function of the salary cap.
- 1:22Speaker 4: You know, I let's not forget before he leaves, big, big,
- 1:28Speaker 4: big contributor to that twenty two teams a Jones. It
- 1:31Speaker 4: sort of shows you how tough it is to stay
- 1:33Speaker 4: in this league at the age that he's at flourishing
- 1:37Speaker 4: member of this team twenty two, flourishing member in twenty three.
- 1:39Speaker 4: Couple injuries, it's a tough leak.
- 1:42Speaker 3: Well, he left his memories too, right the two point
- 1:44Speaker 3: conversion against Baltimore in twenty twenty two that gave them
- 1:47Speaker 3: that win, that started the winning streak, and he had
- 1:49Speaker 3: a big one in Tennessee a couple of weeks later
- 1:51Speaker 3: where he just tight roped that.
- 1:53Speaker 2: Was caught by the pylon camp.
- 1:54Speaker 3: He leaves a lot of great memories in the fans'
- 1:58Speaker 3: minds if they think about what's a Joe might put
- 2:00Speaker 3: that team?
- 2:01Speaker 1: Good win, healthy, tough year last year, so roster casualty
- 2:05Speaker 1: as of this point, we're going to bring our guests now, though.
- 2:07Speaker 1: Trevor Sikhma from Pro Football Focus, of course, their lead
- 2:10Speaker 1: draft analyst, Tart, Thanks for joining us.
- 2:12Speaker 4: We got some news there.
- 2:13Speaker 1: We do want to talk about our first round draft pick,
- 2:15Speaker 1: Brian Thomas Junior, of course, and what that addition to
- 2:17Speaker 1: the offense is going to mean for Trevor.
- 2:20Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 2:20Speaker 5: You know, it's funny.
- 2:21Speaker 6: When I saw this pick, I was like, Hey, this
- 2:23Speaker 6: is a really good pick, and then I looked.
- 2:24Speaker 5: Up, Oh, I think they're going to be more vertical
- 2:26Speaker 5: on offense.
- 2:27Speaker 6: And actually the checks were pretty dang vertical last year
- 2:30Speaker 6: in their offense. When you look at you know, big
- 2:32Speaker 6: time throws, total yards, total attempts, passing.
- 2:36Speaker 5: Grade on throws that were twenty or more.
- 2:38Speaker 6: Yards down the field, they were top ten in all
- 2:41Speaker 6: of those categories. And so Brian Thomas Junior and the
- 2:43Speaker 6: addition of Gabe Davison free agency, that just puts their
- 2:46Speaker 6: foot on the gas even more for that being an
- 2:49Speaker 6: identity of their offense, Trevor Lawrence ha said a couple
- 2:52Speaker 6: of four thousand yard seasons, but I genuinely think that
- 2:55Speaker 6: with their offense now, the skill set that they have
- 2:57Speaker 6: at wide receiver and that mentality that we saw from
- 2:59Speaker 6: twenty twenty two, this could be a potential five thousand
- 3:03Speaker 6: yard passing season for Trevor Lawrence if he is fully healthy,
- 3:06Speaker 6: because we already know that's what they.
- 3:07Speaker 7: Want to do.
- 3:07Speaker 6: Now they just have the pieces to do that even better.
- 3:10Speaker 6: So like the draft pick, especially now that I went
- 3:12Speaker 6: and look back and said, this is exactly where they
- 3:15Speaker 6: were going, it's the type of player that allows them
- 3:17Speaker 6: to do that even more and more successfully.
- 3:19Speaker 2: Trevor has offensive line taken a step.
- 3:22Speaker 3: Back in terms of value for wide receivers because it
- 3:27Speaker 3: was a great offensive line draft and the Jaguars went receiver,
- 3:30Speaker 3: which it didn't seem like they needed to fill as
- 3:34Speaker 3: significantly as I thought offensive line. Or is Brian Thomas
- 3:38Speaker 3: just that special that he couldn't pass on it?
- 3:41Speaker 1: Now?
- 3:41Speaker 5: I think that it's a little bit of a combination
- 3:43Speaker 5: of both.
- 3:43Speaker 6: Right, Trent balk there the general manager, I think throughout
- 3:45Speaker 6: his general manager career, whether it's been in Jackson Mill
- 3:47Speaker 6: or his time in San Francisco.
- 3:49Speaker 5: Like he's going to gravitate towards athletes.
- 3:51Speaker 6: I mean the Mason Smith pick in the second round
- 3:53Speaker 6: is just more evidence to that. But when you look
- 3:55Speaker 6: at Brian Thomas junior, the size man six or three
- 3:58Speaker 6: two ten pounds, four three three speed, I mean that's
- 4:01Speaker 6: just pretty rare for that size and speed combination, so
- 4:04Speaker 6: you gravitate towards that. But I do think that we
- 4:08Speaker 6: are in an age where picking wide receiver, even over
- 4:11Speaker 6: something is what we thought is pivotal as offensive tackle
- 4:15Speaker 6: or offensive line in general. It is more common because
- 4:17Speaker 6: we are seeing such superstars come out from the receiver position,
- 4:20Speaker 6: and I think that goes all the way down to
- 4:22Speaker 6: the grassroots level, right You're seeing more seven on seven camps.
- 4:25Speaker 6: You know, these guys are getting involved in skill position
- 4:28Speaker 6: work way earlier in junior high, in high school, and
- 4:30Speaker 6: you're just developing more wide receivers nowadays. So there's just
- 4:34Speaker 6: a ton of these great skill position players that are
- 4:36Speaker 6: coming through year after year. So it's a little bit
- 4:38Speaker 6: of Okay, Brian Thomas and his unique athletic ability at
- 4:41Speaker 6: his size couldn't really pass that up.
- 4:43Speaker 5: But also it is just the fact that.
- 4:45Speaker 6: Wide receiver more often, like you said, is getting valued
- 4:49Speaker 6: as a premium position like pass protectors, like pass rushers.
- 4:53Speaker 6: So we're seeing that more and more. And obviously this
- 4:55Speaker 6: traf was a good state before.
- 4:57Speaker 4: And the Jaguars obviously focused on special teams a lot
- 5:00Speaker 4: late because of the new kickoff rules. Did you see
- 5:05Speaker 4: that as a major trend around the NFL, and it
- 5:08Speaker 4: seems to me like the league is really going to
- 5:10Speaker 4: be at a point this year of trying to figure
- 5:12Speaker 4: out what these new rules mean. They sort of think
- 5:14Speaker 4: they know and they're going to experiment with it, but
- 5:16Speaker 4: it might be a year or so before they really
- 5:18Speaker 4: figure out how best to take advantage of them.
- 5:21Speaker 6: Yeah, it's gonna be fun to watch this year, And
- 5:23Speaker 6: by fun, I mean some teams are maybe gonna be
- 5:25Speaker 6: a little disastrous and other teams are absolutely.
- 5:27Speaker 5: Going to hit a home run. And every team is
- 5:29Speaker 5: trying to take that third phase.
- 5:30Speaker 6: Of the game and make it into a plus for them, right,
- 5:34Speaker 6: something that's going to be very important. We've heard over
- 5:36Speaker 6: the years pass that old field position matters so much,
- 5:39Speaker 6: and that's such an important part of the game. It's
- 5:41Speaker 6: why kickers and punters and kick returners have been drafted
- 5:44Speaker 6: decently highly over the last couple of years, at least
- 5:46Speaker 6: every now and then.
- 5:47Speaker 5: But this is totally different.
- 5:48Speaker 6: Now you have an opportunity to pick a totally different
- 5:50Speaker 6: type of kick returner that could really be advantageous to
- 5:54Speaker 6: the game. I mean, you guys, know, everybody out there
- 5:56Speaker 6: watches the games over the last couple of years, every
- 5:58Speaker 6: single kickoff, they're just through in the back of the
- 6:01Speaker 6: end zone. I mean, that's how every drive is going
- 6:03Speaker 6: to start, right at the twenty five yard line.
- 6:05Speaker 5: Now it's a little different.
- 6:06Speaker 6: You have an opportunity to really make a difference and
- 6:08Speaker 6: flip the field a little bit more in your favor
- 6:11Speaker 6: with guys who can see the field.
- 6:12Speaker 7: A little bit more.
- 6:13Speaker 8: Right.
- 6:13Speaker 6: Kick returners used to just be all right, let's put
- 6:15Speaker 6: our fastest guy back there, have them receive the ball
- 6:18Speaker 6: and run as fast as he can, and hopefully our
- 6:20Speaker 6: blocking team will be able to get guys blocked up.
- 6:22Speaker 6: Maybe we can get a rushing lane and hit something
- 6:24Speaker 6: up the sideline. But now, with the contact window being
- 6:28Speaker 6: much closer together, kick return is much more about.
- 6:32Speaker 5: Seeing the field.
- 6:33Speaker 6: Like it's almost about running back vision at this point,
- 6:35Speaker 6: you know, what are you in space? So you're gonna
- 6:37Speaker 6: look at a lot of these numbers, these one cut backs,
- 6:39Speaker 6: these shifty wide receivers, these guys that make players miss
- 6:43Speaker 6: in open space. That's actually going to be prioritized, in
- 6:46Speaker 6: my opinion.
- 6:47Speaker 5: More than just straight line speed.
- 6:48Speaker 6: You want to be able to hit the home run,
- 6:50Speaker 6: but shoot if you can get an extra ten, five,
- 6:53Speaker 6: even five yards on a kickoff return because you just
- 6:55Speaker 6: see the field very well, you see the blocking very well.
- 6:58Speaker 6: That is incredible advantageous at a consistent level. So it's
- 7:02Speaker 6: going to be very interesting to see how these teams
- 7:04Speaker 6: kind of navigate those new kickoff roles.
- 7:07Speaker 1: Trevor, when we look at this class as a whole
- 7:09Speaker 1: for the Jaguars, Trent Balky definitely went for some size,
- 7:12Speaker 1: some physicality. That's something he talked about at the end
- 7:14Speaker 1: of last season. They weren't big enough, they weren't strong enough.
- 7:17Speaker 1: You see a lot of six to six guys. You
- 7:18Speaker 1: see a lot of three hundred plus pounders, maybe not
- 7:21Speaker 1: developed yet. But he definitely went for that, Let's get
- 7:23Speaker 1: these big people in here and try to train them up.
- 7:26Speaker 1: Is that advantageous by the numbers or is this kind
- 7:29Speaker 1: of a boomer bust with some of these guys.
- 7:31Speaker 5: Well, I think it's hell boom or bust.
- 7:33Speaker 6: Anytime you're talking about a draft pick, right, I think
- 7:35Speaker 6: sometimes that's a little unfair when you talk about general
- 7:38Speaker 6: managers or making selections, you just go, oh, this guy's
- 7:40Speaker 6: a boomer bust. There's no such thing as a guarantee
- 7:43Speaker 6: at the NFL level when you're talking about college kids
- 7:45Speaker 6: going to the pros. So everything's got a little bit
- 7:47Speaker 6: of a risk to it. But certainly when you look
- 7:49Speaker 6: at this draft for the Jaguars, at least for the
- 7:51Speaker 6: first couple of picks. Gil Brian Thomas Junior, very good
- 7:54Speaker 6: vertical threat, and I mentioned that unique size and speed
- 7:56Speaker 6: combination there from him. But you know, can he develop
- 7:59Speaker 6: and do a full, overall, well rounded wide receiver.
- 8:03Speaker 5: I think that is a question.
- 8:04Speaker 6: Now he's a younger guy, so you expect that he's
- 8:06Speaker 6: gonna get better, but really good off of a vertical plane,
- 8:08Speaker 6: but can he developed more nuanced in his route running
- 8:11Speaker 6: canny diversify his routree more than just those vertical routes
- 8:14Speaker 6: and things off of a vertical stem.
- 8:15Speaker 5: That's what you're looking to see.
- 8:16Speaker 6: So there's a little bit of risk there if he's
- 8:18Speaker 6: just a vertical wide receiver.
- 8:20Speaker 5: Yeah, okay, it was picked a little bit high, but
- 8:22Speaker 5: even for.
- 8:23Speaker 6: Just that, I like I said, the size, speed combinations incredible.
- 8:26Speaker 6: Mason Smith total projection, right, I mean, five star, number
- 8:29Speaker 6: one overall recruit at one point is able to play
- 8:32Speaker 6: as a true directman at LSU gets injured, Tears' his
- 8:34Speaker 6: acl which is a couple of plays into twenty twenty two,
- 8:36Speaker 6: and then this past year in twenty twenty three, you
- 8:38Speaker 6: could just tell there was a combination of he had
- 8:40Speaker 6: not played a lot of football and he's still trust
- 8:43Speaker 6: in that knee. Now he was able to play and
- 8:45Speaker 6: be fully healthy, which is good, but he's definitely a
- 8:47Speaker 6: projection there Jerry and Jones. I like from him because
- 8:50Speaker 6: over the last couple of years he sort of struggled
- 8:53Speaker 6: as an outside receiver, but then Florida State moved him
- 8:55Speaker 6: into the slot and he was excellent elite coverage grade
- 8:57Speaker 6: in our metric system. He was a top tier Select
- 9:01Speaker 6: grou slot receiver that we had in this class. And
- 9:03Speaker 6: I also like the addition to Jordan Jefferson and Javon
- 9:06Speaker 6: Foster as well. Those guys I think have a lot
- 9:08Speaker 6: of experience to them good depth players, and so that's
- 9:10Speaker 6: sort of how I saw those first couple of pictures
- 9:12Speaker 6: for the Jags.
- 9:13Speaker 1: Every second'm a Pro Football Focus lead draft analyst. Thank
- 9:15Speaker 1: you for joining us. You appreciate it.
- 9:17Speaker 4: Appreciate it.
- 9:18Speaker 2: Guys.
- 9:19Speaker 1: All right, stay with us here on jagsam coming back.
- 9:21Speaker 1: We're gonna go over some superlatives for the twenty twenty
- 9:24Speaker 1: four NFL Draft class. After the break, Move the.
- 9:36Speaker 5: Freight, Move the Freight.
- 9:37Speaker 1: Magellan Transportation voted the coolest office space in Jacksonville. You
- 9:41Speaker 1: can apply on line at Mageo Logistics dot com.
- 9:46Speaker 2: Hey, Jerry, how you doing, man?
- 9:49Speaker 6: Good?
- 9:50Speaker 4: Hey, congratulations, We're just gonna bring you right down the road.
- 9:56Speaker 9: Let's play bowl there.
- 9:58Speaker 7: Let's go.
- 10:01Speaker 10: Congratulations man, Here's here's here's our gimp Okay, congratulations.
- 10:15Speaker 6: That a couple of party.
- 10:22Speaker 10: Hey, remember we talked about the mall.
- 10:26Speaker 1: Congratulations man, Man, never get sick of hearing those calls.
- 10:36Speaker 1: That's third round pick Jarry and Jenkins out of Florida State.
- 10:39Speaker 1: Kind of left Trent Bok on Red.
- 10:41Speaker 7: Bear as well.
- 10:42Speaker 1: We didn't get a little excited at the party. But
- 10:44Speaker 1: we love those calls. We love you know, dreams coming
- 10:47Speaker 1: true for all of these draft picks, and it's exciting
- 10:49Speaker 1: to get the new players in.
- 10:50Speaker 4: Here, you guys. Yeah, And he's an intriguing guy. I
- 10:53Speaker 4: talked to h the four state secondary coach yesterday. Played
- 10:59Speaker 4: at a very high level out side. They moved him
- 11:01Speaker 4: inside last year because they felt like his experience and
- 11:04Speaker 4: his awareness inside, which you have to have to play
- 11:07Speaker 4: the nickel. Really took him to a different level. It's
- 11:10Speaker 4: what they need. I mean, he has the skill to
- 11:13Speaker 4: eventually move outside. It certainly sounds to me like he
- 11:17Speaker 4: will be the guy to beat in terms of the nickel.
- 11:19Speaker 4: It's a tough thing to move inside as a rookie
- 11:22Speaker 4: in the NFL and play the nickel. But you know
- 11:26Speaker 4: everything you hear about the kid. Great kid overcame a
- 11:29Speaker 4: lot of adversity early, which leads you to believe that
- 11:33Speaker 4: he can overcome what he needs to overcome to get
- 11:35Speaker 4: into the lineup. Great second day draft store.
- 11:39Speaker 3: Yeah, and they spent a lot of time with him
- 11:40Speaker 3: when he was at the local pro day because he
- 11:42Speaker 3: didn't work out. He stood on his combine in his
- 11:44Speaker 3: Florida State Pro day. And I talked to Doug yesterday
- 11:46Speaker 3: about him, and he sees his immediate contributor on special teams.
- 11:48Speaker 3: I mean, steps right in and it's a guy who
- 11:50Speaker 3: can be one of your better special teams coverage guys
- 11:52Speaker 3: right out at the gate.
- 11:53Speaker 1: Let's talk about some of our guys. We're going to
- 11:55Speaker 1: do some superlatives, like we're in high school once again.
- 11:57Speaker 1: We'll go over this twenty twenty four draft class with
- 12:00Speaker 1: start out with the first round pick, because why not,
- 12:02Speaker 1: Ryan Thomas, you and you're most likely to succeed because
- 12:05Speaker 1: the first round pick, so you better succeed.
- 12:07Speaker 4: But as we.
- 12:08Speaker 1: Mentioned, I mean, this is a great threat for Trevor,
- 12:10Speaker 1: and I think it's nice to mention as well. I mean,
- 12:12Speaker 1: a young player that can grow with Trevor, right, Like
- 12:15Speaker 1: there's they brought in some veteran receivers when they for
- 12:17Speaker 1: you know, when Doug came in and kind of overhauled
- 12:19Speaker 1: everything for Trevor to work with. But now it's someone
- 12:21Speaker 1: that you have locked up for the next couple of
- 12:23Speaker 1: years to grow with Trevor.
- 12:24Speaker 3: Really long arms and big hands. I mean you see
- 12:27Speaker 3: that when you see him reaching for it, which allows
- 12:29Speaker 3: him to go out and get that fifty to fifty ball. Clearly,
- 12:32Speaker 3: Johnny also has great body control because you see him
- 12:35Speaker 3: in the corner of the end zone or down the
- 12:37Speaker 3: sideline with a guy in coverage and still making the catch,
- 12:40Speaker 3: which will be great on third downs.
- 12:43Speaker 2: Right to be able to keep this team on the field, be.
- 12:46Speaker 3: Able to have to throw to a guy and know
- 12:48Speaker 3: that he can elevate and go get it.
- 12:50Speaker 4: Yeah, he has every tool. The thing that you hear
- 12:52Speaker 4: about him needs to develop or out running. Trevor talked
- 12:55Speaker 4: about it. That's big in the NFL. I mean it's
- 12:58Speaker 4: hard in the NFL to just be great based on
- 13:02Speaker 4: physical tools, which he has, so his task to reach.
- 13:06Speaker 4: You know, the thing said about him was outside the
- 13:09Speaker 4: top three. He had the skill set to be a one.
- 13:12Speaker 4: The development part will be the key for him bare
- 13:15Speaker 4: minimum this year. He comes in and strains the defense
- 13:18Speaker 4: and gives them, you know that magic for the thing
- 13:21Speaker 4: that I like, You've got Christian, You've got gave Davis,
- 13:24Speaker 4: who here's a great kid, and Evan Ingram. He doesn't
- 13:27Speaker 4: have to be the guy. I think a lot of
- 13:30Speaker 4: Jaguars and first round receivers in the past have failed
- 13:34Speaker 4: because they had to be the guy. Day one gives.
- 13:38Speaker 1: Him a little leeway to learn as he comes in.
- 13:40Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about Mason Smith Knacks. I actually got
- 13:42Speaker 1: to talk to Ethan Wad during this process when we
- 13:44Speaker 1: were doing draft picks and told me a little bit
- 13:46Speaker 1: about I'm gonna project here and call him the best
- 13:49Speaker 1: comeback story because if they hit, which is what they're
- 13:51Speaker 1: hoping for, he's dealt with an acl tair and then
- 13:54Speaker 1: last year said he didn't really feel that comfortable, but
- 13:57Speaker 1: ethan waan on the front office is hoping that when
- 13:59Speaker 1: they get him in the building can work with them.
- 14:01Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 14:01Speaker 11: I think as you watch the tape from this past season.
- 14:04Speaker 11: Early in the season, he was still kind of recovering
- 14:06Speaker 11: from that knee injury, but each week the tape got
- 14:08Speaker 11: better and better. And it also helps that we have
- 14:11Speaker 11: his defensive coordinator from college, Matthouse here in the staff
- 14:15Speaker 11: room as well, that I can really speak to his
- 14:18Speaker 11: ability and his character.
- 14:19Speaker 1: John that Matt House connection, the new inside linebackers coach,
- 14:23Speaker 1: was the defensive coordinator at LSU last year, and he
- 14:25Speaker 1: got a couple of his guys in the building for sure.
- 14:27Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm sure that helps when you're investing in a
- 14:32Speaker 4: player to be able to turn into a guy. So
- 14:34Speaker 4: what kind of kid is this? You know, beyond everything
- 14:36Speaker 4: they're telling me, you got somebody in the building they
- 14:39Speaker 4: can tell you, Yeah, I'm not BS and you. This
- 14:42Speaker 4: kid's x y Z. You know, Brian said it all weekend.
- 14:45Speaker 4: This kid has every trait. You're taking a guy later
- 14:49Speaker 4: in the second round who has a first round pick potential.
- 14:54Speaker 4: If everything goes right, is it boom or bust I guess,
- 14:58Speaker 4: but I completely agree with what Trevor said. I've never
- 15:01Speaker 4: seen a draft pick in the NFL. He's not boom
- 15:03Speaker 4: or bus so crystal bold business you take traits. He
- 15:07Speaker 4: certainly looks like he can be that tall, long, dominant
- 15:13Speaker 4: defensive tackle that when those guys hit, they have the
- 15:17Speaker 4: potential to be core defensive players and impact in a
- 15:21Speaker 4: lot of ways.
- 15:22Speaker 2: So the first thought that I had when they drafted.
- 15:24Speaker 3: Him was that the Titans took Jeffrey Simmons out of
- 15:28Speaker 3: Mississippi State a few years back and he had torn
- 15:31Speaker 3: his ACL and he knew he wasn't going to be
- 15:33Speaker 3: ready until his second year, and that has paid off
- 15:35Speaker 3: in spades for them. This guy has the same physical
- 15:39Speaker 3: profile as Jeffrey Simmons as Chris Jones terms of height
- 15:43Speaker 3: and length and strength. If the Jaguars can get some
- 15:46Speaker 3: sort of super production from this kid, if he can
- 15:49Speaker 3: reach his potential, what a great pick.
- 15:53Speaker 2: This could be.
- 15:54Speaker 3: Because when you watch the Titans play, Jeffrey Simmons is
- 15:56Speaker 3: the best player on their defense.
- 15:58Speaker 2: Sometimes he's the best player on the field.
- 16:00Speaker 3: So you're going for that lightning in a bottle with
- 16:02Speaker 3: a guy like this and hoping it pays.
- 16:04Speaker 1: Off big time six five and three hundred plus pounds.
- 16:07Speaker 1: I mean, obviously he'll also get to like that exactly,
- 16:10Speaker 1: and you're gonna get to work with, you know, and
- 16:11Speaker 1: Eric Armstead who's long and tall as well. So I
- 16:14Speaker 1: hope they can pick up some pointers on that line
- 16:16Speaker 1: there and develop as things go along. Let's go a
- 16:19Speaker 1: little later in the rounds. Let's go to Cam a little.
- 16:21Speaker 1: I think this is our most confident player, John, you
- 16:25Speaker 1: were you were hearing some of that zoom he had.
- 16:27Speaker 1: He thinks he's the number one guy in the class,
- 16:29Speaker 1: and when he spoke to me, he said he's excited
- 16:32Speaker 1: to get into camp and compete.
- 16:34Speaker 4: Yeah, look, why not. I mean, if if you have
- 16:38Speaker 4: a choice between a kid who comes in and really
- 16:41Speaker 4: thinks highly of himself and really doesn't at kicker, you
- 16:46Speaker 4: may as well think you're good and then not worry
- 16:49Speaker 4: about what happens if you show it. So you know,
- 16:54Speaker 4: it's the old cliche kickers. You sort of put him
- 16:56Speaker 4: in the corner and whatever they want to do, it's
- 16:58Speaker 4: okay because they're a weird ad bunch.
- 17:02Speaker 3: Until you need him to kick a game winning field goal.
- 17:05Speaker 3: That takes you to the next round of the playoffs,
- 17:07Speaker 3: like Roley Patterson. I mean, you couldn't have been in
- 17:09Speaker 3: the stadium that day, sure against.
- 17:11Speaker 2: The Chargers a year ago and not have thought, I
- 17:14Speaker 2: wonder what's going through his head?
- 17:15Speaker 1: Right?
- 17:15Speaker 3: Sure, so you want this kid to come and be
- 17:18Speaker 3: willing to swing his leg and give it his all.
- 17:21Speaker 3: He's got the leg strength to kick from sixty right.
- 17:23Speaker 3: Whether he's accurate from there or not in the National
- 17:25Speaker 3: Football League remains to be seen. But I think the
- 17:27Speaker 3: interesting part is they really like and both Doug and
- 17:30Speaker 3: Trent told me this yesterday, they really like his ability
- 17:33Speaker 3: to control the ball and drop it into that zone
- 17:36Speaker 3: because if it goes into the end zone, that's a penalty,
- 17:38Speaker 3: not a foul, but it costs you yards. So you
- 17:42Speaker 3: want to put the ball in a position where your
- 17:44Speaker 3: team can get underneath it in this new kickoff, and
- 17:46Speaker 3: they think he's got that kind of control.
- 17:48Speaker 4: And look, since Doug got here, they've sort of been
- 17:50Speaker 4: looking to solidify that kicker to get their six seven
- 17:54Speaker 4: year guy, whatever that is. So they took a draft
- 17:56Speaker 4: pick in what otherwise was not considered a great six
- 18:00Speaker 4: seventh round drafts. So you take that year and do
- 18:03Speaker 4: you have to kicker.
- 18:04Speaker 3: And you see, if you saw it, well, they said
- 18:05Speaker 3: he'th farwell out to work out all three of the kickers,
- 18:09Speaker 3: and this is the guy he came back raving about,
- 18:11Speaker 3: and he was the second kicker taking in that round.
- 18:13Speaker 2: So they got the guy that they wanted without having
- 18:15Speaker 2: to move up to get him.
- 18:16Speaker 1: You're that confident at twenty years old, the youngest kicker
- 18:19Speaker 1: to be drafted. So that's a good sign.
- 18:21Speaker 4: I can't even remember twenty much less if I was
- 18:23Speaker 4: confident that so long.
- 18:24Speaker 1: Ago, so long ago. Let's go back to some of
- 18:28Speaker 1: the big linemen. Jordan Jefferson. I'm gonna give him most
- 18:31Speaker 1: competitive because he got a little bit of an attitude.
- 18:34Speaker 1: I think we've all seen this video of him at
- 18:36Speaker 1: the Shrine Bowl tossing a helmet around football.
- 18:40Speaker 2: Is not a nice kid, but sometimes.
- 18:41Speaker 1: And that's what we need sometimes, right because how many
- 18:44Speaker 1: times would we say maybe a little attitude wouldn't help once,
- 18:47Speaker 1: it wouldn't hurt once in a while for this team.
- 18:49Speaker 1: And if you can have that on the line, maybe
- 18:51Speaker 1: you know him and Cam can. I think Brent from
- 18:54Speaker 1: Action News was saying that they should have a helmet
- 18:56Speaker 1: talks in competition.
- 18:57Speaker 7: Think they're they're so.
- 18:58Speaker 4: Adept at that.
- 18:59Speaker 3: Yeah, we've seen through the years around here with some
- 19:01Speaker 3: guys it's gotten him cut.
- 19:02Speaker 2: You hope he doesn't do that here, but you do
- 19:04Speaker 2: like the attitude.
- 19:05Speaker 3: And look, if you're in the trenches all day, you
- 19:08Speaker 3: got to keep that attitude alive.
- 19:09Speaker 4: Yeah, and he's a straight nose tackle. Now, I mean, like,
- 19:12Speaker 4: so you've brought in a guy who is sort of
- 19:14Speaker 4: your athletic guy. Next to him his nose tackle, You're
- 19:17Speaker 4: starting to see a little bit about what Ryan Nielsen
- 19:19Speaker 4: wants from his defense. Fourth round, right, so you can
- 19:25Speaker 4: get big. That's where you're supposed to get your big
- 19:29Speaker 4: run stuffer. If he's that, he was the strongest guy
- 19:33Speaker 4: at the Yeah. So combined again, it all goes back
- 19:36Speaker 4: to we talked all weekend about traits, and I'm more
- 19:39Speaker 4: and more considering the draft is such speculation. If you
- 19:42Speaker 4: draft guys with traits and they work out, they have
- 19:45Speaker 4: a chance to be high end. A lot of your
- 19:46Speaker 4: guys don't work out anyway, so you may as well
- 19:48Speaker 4: have the traits.
- 19:49Speaker 1: All right, We're gonna close things out with mister congeniality,
- 19:52Speaker 1: Jarion Jones, my personal favorite personality. He's gonna be a
- 19:56Speaker 1: team favorite for sure, I can just tell. And he's
- 19:58Speaker 1: also a huge Jag fan growing up. He talked about
- 20:01Speaker 1: that when we got him on the media call.
- 20:04Speaker 10: So when I was growing up, you know, I was
- 20:07Speaker 10: a big Maye Jones Drew guy like I was a
- 20:09Speaker 10: big Maurice Jones Drew guy like. I was a super
- 20:11Speaker 10: fan of him, you know, I was. I watched just
- 20:15Speaker 10: about I think every game that he played, you know,
- 20:18Speaker 10: And when Jalen went there from Florida State, like I
- 20:21Speaker 10: was tuning into every game, him playing inside outside, just
- 20:24Speaker 10: the way he brought.
- 20:25Speaker 2: Like what he brought to the game.
- 20:27Speaker 7: You know, I kind of fell in love with.
- 20:29Speaker 10: Jack watch Jalen was there, and especially while Mary's Jones
- 20:33Speaker 10: drewers they you know.
- 20:34Speaker 2: So just now me being.
- 20:35Speaker 10: Able to continue that Florida State pipeline and come in
- 20:38Speaker 10: and make plays and do what I do best, you know,
- 20:41Speaker 10: it's it's a blessing.
- 20:42Speaker 6: Man.
- 20:43Speaker 4: You have the number one thing he has in common
- 20:45Speaker 4: with Moys Shins. He's a big fan of Moys. I
- 20:52Speaker 4: love yeah, he h Yeah, that's the kind of kid
- 20:57Speaker 4: that gravitates to Morys.
- 20:58Speaker 2: In the third round, You're hoping to get a guy
- 21:00Speaker 2: that can come in.
- 21:01Speaker 3: And play, but you're also hoping to get a guy
- 21:04Speaker 3: that loves football because it's going to take a lot
- 21:05Speaker 3: of work to get him ready to go.
- 21:07Speaker 2: And it looks like he's willing to put that in.
- 21:09Speaker 1: And you heard him on that call earlier, emotional, obviously
- 21:12Speaker 1: excited to be picked, but he also said I'm ready
- 21:14Speaker 1: to go.
- 21:14Speaker 4: I'm a dog, let's go. Well, it was neat about
- 21:17Speaker 4: that quote. Is you really heard what's in it? For
- 21:21Speaker 4: a lot of guys draft weekend, all of said he
- 21:23Speaker 4: gets drafted and he realized he's going to get to
- 21:25Speaker 4: continue living his dream for X number of years, and
- 21:29Speaker 4: so many guys on draft weekend, you know, you know
- 21:32Speaker 4: it's ending at that point, so clearly he savors it.
- 21:36Speaker 4: You know, he's sitting there telling Doug, I love football.
- 21:39Speaker 4: Well that holy heck, I get to go play it
- 21:43Speaker 4: some more. Pretty cool.
- 21:45Speaker 1: Absolutely stay with us here, We're going to do some
- 21:47Speaker 1: ozone mail bag questions for you after the break here
- 21:50Speaker 1: on Jack's I am Jags Fans. You can get up
- 22:01Speaker 1: at fanatics dot com with all the latest Jags styles.
- 22:03Speaker 1: Shop now get today's special offer fanatics dot com officially
- 22:08Speaker 1: licensed everything.
- 22:12Speaker 7: Family.
- 22:13Speaker 8: Okay, then we've got ozone mailbag presented by fanatics, And
- 22:20Speaker 8: there's so many questions, John, and sometimes only you have
- 22:23Speaker 8: the answers.
- 22:25Speaker 4: Sometimes only I get the questions.
- 22:26Speaker 1: Oh, fair enough, you try to give us the answers,
- 22:28Speaker 1: and we do appreciate that. So our first question today
- 22:32Speaker 1: comes from Bradford from Orange Park.
- 22:35Speaker 4: And Uh, it was does Lawrence's fifth year option, uh,
- 22:40Speaker 4: which he and Travis etn got on Monday? Does that
- 22:44Speaker 4: preclude them from signing long term contracts? And I kind
- 22:48Speaker 4: of get the question. If you don't go into real
- 22:50Speaker 4: detail in a story, you said say, well, okay, well
- 22:52Speaker 4: they got the fifth year option. Well that means there's no.
- 22:55Speaker 4: The answer is no. You give the fifth year option
- 22:58Speaker 4: to basically secure the player. The team has the right
- 23:01Speaker 4: they can sign Trevor, Lawrence or a traves Et in
- 23:03Speaker 4: the long term deals whenever they so choose. I expect,
- 23:07Speaker 4: I've been saying for a few weeks. I expect the
- 23:10Speaker 4: Trevor deal at some point this off season to be done.
- 23:13Speaker 4: Travis is in a different situation because he's a running back.
- 23:16Speaker 4: It's a little more of a at this point in
- 23:19Speaker 4: the contract, fourth year year to year and then sort
- 23:22Speaker 4: of see what kind of a shorter term deal at
- 23:25Speaker 4: the end of that contract, what the numbers look like. Unfortunately,
- 23:29Speaker 4: it's a different terrain for running back and quarterback.
- 23:31Speaker 3: Just thought, Trevor's fifth year number is twenty five million
- 23:34Speaker 3: dollars and that's a big number, and a lot of
- 23:37Speaker 3: times in the first year of a new deal they
- 23:39Speaker 3: want to get that number lower so they have more
- 23:40Speaker 3: cap flexibility. So you'd probably like to see him get
- 23:44Speaker 3: a new deal done so that you can manage the
- 23:46Speaker 3: first year of that number.
- 23:48Speaker 1: It is something we see with quarterbacks a little closer
- 23:50Speaker 1: to training camp, ray a little later in the summer.
- 23:51Speaker 1: Things usually seem to come through before training camp.
- 23:54Speaker 4: Yeah, the mahomes Borough, like a lot of them have
- 23:58Speaker 4: been July, say, closer, much much closer the week before. Yep.
- 24:03Speaker 1: Our second question is a little bit about draft dogs. Right,
- 24:07Speaker 1: These guys all are great off the bus, but I
- 24:09Speaker 1: don't see any dogs I help them wrong. Do you
- 24:11Speaker 1: see any dogs?
- 24:12Speaker 4: Dog?
- 24:12Speaker 11: Yeah?
- 24:13Speaker 4: I was.
- 24:14Speaker 1: There's a lot of self proclaimed dogs, for sure.
- 24:16Speaker 4: I was a little intrigued by the question because I
- 24:18Speaker 4: got you know, I listened to three minutes of zoom
- 24:22Speaker 4: calls with these guys and watched the b roll, you know,
- 24:27Speaker 4: for five seconds of highlights. I I'm not good enough
- 24:32Speaker 4: to know that that means their dogs or not, because
- 24:35Speaker 4: dogs means you're yelling at people a lot or beating you.
- 24:38Speaker 4: I don't know. It's it sure seems like there's some confidence.
- 24:43Speaker 4: H But we'll find out if they're dogs once the
- 24:45Speaker 4: pads goals, you know. So, uh, it's great to yell
- 24:49Speaker 4: in the locker room with your teammate if you can't play,
- 24:53Speaker 4: your teammate's going all right.
- 24:55Speaker 3: Dog, You can't possibly know until you get them into
- 24:58Speaker 3: the fourth part of a game and you need to
- 25:00Speaker 3: make a play and they do where they don't.
- 25:01Speaker 4: Right, So you got to be a dog. You can't
- 25:02Speaker 4: just look and act like one.
- 25:03Speaker 1: Fair enough, we'll see when they get into game action.
- 25:06Speaker 1: Let's round things out with a little bit of an
- 25:09Speaker 1: hour later. Do you think most fans think of the
- 25:12Speaker 1: draft in terms of what can help the team win
- 25:14Speaker 1: this year, while most gms are thinking about what can
- 25:16Speaker 1: help the team win more so the following year.
- 25:18Speaker 4: Well, I think most fans are thinking absolutely about what
- 25:23Speaker 4: can help them win this year. The GM has to
- 25:25Speaker 4: have an eye on that. But as I wrote in
- 25:28Speaker 4: the text answer to this question, if the GM's not
- 25:30Speaker 4: looking past the year that he's drafting in, he's doing
- 25:35Speaker 4: a disservice to the team. You can't just draft for
- 25:38Speaker 4: that year. So yes, I think there's a huge disconnect
- 25:42Speaker 4: between that. I've said more and more in recent years
- 25:47Speaker 4: there's a been disconnected what fans because we build these
- 25:51Speaker 4: guys up so much in April and then talk about
- 25:54Speaker 4: them so much. There's this, oh, if they don't play
- 25:56Speaker 4: well Week one, they're terrible. The draft is really about
- 26:00Speaker 4: the second and fifth year of those guys career. I
- 26:03Speaker 4: don't say anything you get from rookies as gravy, but
- 26:06Speaker 4: in some cases it's as hard to come in and contribute.
- 26:10Speaker 3: This is why you have a coach who coaches the
- 26:13Speaker 3: team and a general manager who manages the roster, because
- 26:16Speaker 3: somebody has to have that macro view and to be
- 26:18Speaker 3: able to see three and five years down the road.
- 26:21Speaker 3: We have seen it where coaches make short term decisions
- 26:24Speaker 3: to win now because their jobs are so year to year,
- 26:28Speaker 3: and those aren't often the best long term decisions. The
- 26:32Speaker 3: best in recent memory here is the decision of twenty
- 26:35Speaker 3: seventeen to take Leonard Fournette instead of Patrick Mahomes.
- 26:39Speaker 2: How might that have been different.
- 26:41Speaker 4: Right, because Leonard Fournette was a very good player to
- 26:43Speaker 4: one playoff front. Yep, you sort of even knew then
- 26:48Speaker 4: that it was short term gain, long term pay.
- 26:50Speaker 3: One hundred percent, And it's so easy to look back
- 26:54Speaker 3: and have hindsight twenty twenty. But that is such a
- 26:57Speaker 3: glaring short term solution for the Jaguars. They knew that
- 27:01Speaker 3: they needed the running game to make Blake Bortles more
- 27:03Speaker 3: effective to play to the defense which they had built
- 27:06Speaker 3: and bolstered through free agency. And it was a good
- 27:09Speaker 3: decision because it got in the AFC title game, but
- 27:11Speaker 3: that only lasted a year if they'd taken Mahomes.
- 27:14Speaker 2: Who knows what might have been.
- 27:15Speaker 3: There's a lot of might there because you don't know
- 27:16Speaker 3: how things work out. But you have to have a
- 27:19Speaker 3: big picture of you with draft choices, because few and
- 27:23Speaker 3: far between are those guys that come in and just
- 27:25Speaker 3: light the place up as.
- 27:26Speaker 4: A rookie time.
- 27:27Speaker 1: We'll tell on this hard to judge a draft right away,
- 27:30Speaker 1: of course, that's what we've been doing all day, but
- 27:31Speaker 1: it'll take a while to see where these draft picks
- 27:34Speaker 1: end up. Stay with us for a little bit longer.
- 27:36Speaker 1: We talk about what's coming up, including rookie minicap.
- 27:50Speaker 7: Yoh, it was good, Bro, it was good.
- 27:53Speaker 9: Welcome to Jacksoville.
- 27:54Speaker 7: Man, appreciate it. Appreciate it. Excited to be there.
- 27:58Speaker 9: You can't wait beating it down here. Bro, it's gonna
- 28:00Speaker 9: be It's gonna be awesome. You love the guys. Can't
- 28:02Speaker 9: wait to have you brothers.
- 28:03Speaker 7: Yep, appreciate you.
- 28:05Speaker 2: How's the how's the knife and everything?
- 28:06Speaker 7: Good? Yeah, it's been going good so far. Excited families
- 28:10Speaker 7: in sight of everybody's here.
- 28:11Speaker 9: Man, I'm happy for I don't want to take too
- 28:13Speaker 9: what's your time? But yeah, I'm sure you got some
- 28:14Speaker 9: media stuff all that.
- 28:16Speaker 7: Yep, appreciate it though, bro.
- 28:19Speaker 9: Yeah, bro, all right, man, I'll see you soon. Enjoy
- 28:21Speaker 9: I know your probably can come down here tomorrow. Enjoy it, man,
- 28:24Speaker 9: soak it up. Congratulations, Tell your family, I said, what's up?
- 28:27Speaker 7: Yeah, wait to meet you, bro, got you appreciate your
- 28:29Speaker 7: fair them all right?
- 28:30Speaker 1: Roy Ever, long's talkings, new Target.
- 28:34Speaker 4: How's it going well? I just slayed twenty nine? Pretty good,
- 28:37Speaker 4: pretty good day, good day. That was cool though.
- 28:41Speaker 1: If anyone can relate, it's it's Trevor, I'm sure.
- 28:43Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 28:45Speaker 1: So we've got rookie Minniember. We're just discussing this the
- 28:47Speaker 1: end of next week, one of John's favorite times of
- 28:50Speaker 1: the year. We get these rookies in here and running
- 28:53Speaker 1: around twenty fifteen.
- 28:55Speaker 3: Dante Fower popped his ACL in the first ten minutes
- 28:59Speaker 3: we came in the camp, and so mini camp went
- 29:01Speaker 3: from being actually a physical endeavor to more of a.
- 29:04Speaker 2: Mental right, which is what it should be. It's guys
- 29:08Speaker 2: have been.
- 29:09Speaker 4: It's intro, it's here's where the bathroom is, so you
- 29:12Speaker 4: know when you come back next week you can get
- 29:14Speaker 4: to it. And no, and but here's how so that
- 29:17Speaker 4: you're not running around and having no idea what's going on,
- 29:20Speaker 4: you try to give rookies as many reps. They'll give
- 29:22Speaker 4: them some reps this weekend. You do OTAs, and you
- 29:25Speaker 4: bring them in early during training camp, training camp so
- 29:29Speaker 4: that by the time they get like a fourth read
- 29:31Speaker 4: on something, you're not walking around and going, wow, look
- 29:34Speaker 4: at the MEC.
- 29:35Speaker 3: But it is an important point because these guys have
- 29:37Speaker 3: been training for running forty our dashes and three cone
- 29:39Speaker 3: drills and bench pressing. They haven't been doing football stuff,
- 29:42Speaker 3: and so you put them on the field right away,
- 29:44Speaker 3: and they're not acclimated to it. So it's it is
- 29:47Speaker 3: much more about here's how we work, Here's how we meet,
- 29:50Speaker 3: Here's where everything is in the building, so that you
- 29:52Speaker 3: are more productive when training camp roles.
- 29:54Speaker 4: And strength guys and trainers have begged coaches for years
- 29:57Speaker 4: to realize, don't work these guys when they first get here,
- 30:01Speaker 4: for years that they didn't listen. Finally, over the last
- 30:03Speaker 4: couple of years, with some injuries like that, most teams
- 30:06Speaker 4: are doing it this way, which is basically, this is
- 30:09Speaker 4: an introductory orientation, if you will.
- 30:11Speaker 1: More than we won't say anything crazy from them in
- 30:14Speaker 1: mini camp. But is there any player in particularly you're
- 30:17Speaker 1: looking forward to seeing in person?
- 30:18Speaker 4: You look for athleticism, right, So, I mean, it'll be
- 30:21Speaker 4: cool to see Mason Smith because I'm sure you look
- 30:24Speaker 4: at him and say, well, that's that's what I thought
- 30:26Speaker 4: it was.
- 30:26Speaker 3: Well, Miles Cole, the came from Texas Tech, who's a
- 30:28Speaker 3: project in the seventh round. But talking to some of
- 30:30Speaker 3: these guys, these coaches yesterday, apparently Ryan Nielsen was banging
- 30:35Speaker 3: the table to get Miles Cole thought so much of
- 30:39Speaker 3: his traits.
- 30:40Speaker 4: Well, and the big thing you don't want is there's
- 30:44Speaker 4: what eight nine draftees, as a GM or a scout,
- 30:48Speaker 4: you don't want to be walking off the field that
- 30:50Speaker 4: many camp going, you know, which occasionally happened.
- 30:54Speaker 2: I've been here in the past.
- 30:55Speaker 4: So that's the big thing to get through that weekend.
- 30:58Speaker 4: They all want to get back to their office and
- 30:59Speaker 4: go alright, alright, okay, we're all right there. These guys
- 31:02Speaker 4: can at least line up so because it doesn't happen
- 31:05Speaker 4: as often as you used to, but occasionally happens.
- 31:07Speaker 1: All right, that's what we got mini camp headed. Next week,
- 31:09Speaker 1: we'll get all these rookies in the building. We appreciate
- 31:12Speaker 1: you joining us. We'll see you next week on JAG's Am.