Latest / Jags A.M. / Ep. 70: 2024 Schedule Predictions | Jags A.M. Podcast
Transcript
- 0:16Speaker 1: Welcome into dag Ziyam. I'm kindan a Stephens here with
- 0:19Speaker 1: Brian Sexton and John Ogier as we get ready for
- 0:21Speaker 1: rookie Mini Caamp a little later on in the week.
- 0:24Speaker 1: But if you want to talk a little bit about
- 0:26Speaker 1: some moves that have been made since last week, our
- 0:28Speaker 1: first big thing, Number one is the wide receiver room.
- 0:31Speaker 1: At the beginning of last week's show, we told you
- 0:32Speaker 1: about Jay Jones being released, and of course you know
- 0:35Speaker 1: Brian Thomas Jr. Was that first round pick. So, Brian,
- 0:38Speaker 1: how different is this wide receiver room going to be
- 0:40Speaker 1: this year? With also the legit of Calvinism.
- 0:43Speaker 2: I really can't speak to Ridley as much. Knowing Zay
- 0:46Speaker 2: like I did and understanding the dynamic that existed between
- 0:51Speaker 2: Kirk and Jones and the quarterback. I think it's going
- 0:55Speaker 2: to be interesting to not have Jones there. He was
- 0:57Speaker 2: one of those guys that you could always count on.
- 1:00Speaker 2: I mean, it just seemed the most difficult throws Jones
- 1:03Speaker 2: was there. And I go back to that game winning
- 1:05Speaker 2: or department game time drive against the Cowboys when Trevor
- 1:09Speaker 2: rolled out to his left and just knew right where
- 1:11Speaker 2: to put the ball. There's just a chemistry that existed there.
- 1:16Speaker 2: I don't think that the Ridley chemistry, you know, ever
- 1:19Speaker 2: even approached that. So now you've got Christian Kirk and
- 1:22Speaker 2: Evan Ingram who's not in the receiver's room, and you're
- 1:25Speaker 2: going to try to integrate Brian Thomas. It's gonna be
- 1:28Speaker 2: a storyline to watch, for sure.
- 1:29Speaker 3: John was a guy when young and new receivers weren't
- 1:33Speaker 3: quite sure what was going on could look to him,
- 1:35Speaker 3: and he knew exactly where every receiver on the field
- 1:38Speaker 3: was supposed to be, regardless of position. Look, I said
- 1:42Speaker 3: last week, I hoped against hope. I guess that they
- 1:44Speaker 3: would keep saying I liked cover him, like being around him,
- 1:47Speaker 3: and I thought he gave you something at the same
- 1:49Speaker 3: time when he was not healthy in twenty twenty four,
- 1:52Speaker 3: I mean in twenty twenty three, he really wasn't there
- 1:54Speaker 3: to give that to you. In the NFL sometimes you
- 1:56Speaker 3: had to move on, but well it looked different. Yeah,
- 1:59Speaker 3: but it's gonna to be a room where everybody outside
- 2:03Speaker 3: the rookie really needs to be on the same page,
- 2:06Speaker 3: and then they bring the rookie along.
- 2:07Speaker 2: You know, A word to describe it was joy. I mean,
- 2:09Speaker 2: this guy loved to come to work, He loved to
- 2:11Speaker 2: be in the locker room around his teammates. Who's going
- 2:14Speaker 2: to be that lighthearted guy. We don't know Brian Thomas's
- 2:16Speaker 2: personality yet. Christian Kirk is a very low key, serious performer.
- 2:21Speaker 2: I don't know who's going to be that guy that
- 2:23Speaker 2: keeps it loose and fun, especially guy in the fourth
- 2:27Speaker 2: quarter when it's tight and a play needs to be made.
- 2:30Speaker 4: Who's that guy? I guess we're gonna find out.
- 2:32Speaker 1: Well, we do have Gabe Davis, and we know he
- 2:34Speaker 1: can make some big plays as to what we've seen
- 2:36Speaker 1: in Buffalo, so that's always an option. Our second big
- 2:39Speaker 1: thing this week is look at him because as we mentioned, John,
- 2:42Speaker 1: I know this is your favorite time of year, but
- 2:44Speaker 1: what can you take away from rookie camp when all
- 2:46Speaker 1: the young guys come in and kind of see how
- 2:47Speaker 1: things are laid out?
- 2:49Speaker 3: Nothing? And when I say that, I mean what's going
- 2:53Speaker 3: on on the field, whether this guy is beating this
- 2:56Speaker 3: guy or catching touchdowns and any anything away. What you
- 3:00Speaker 3: don't want to see is guys where the scouts are
- 3:03Speaker 3: coming off the field going to know about that one
- 3:07Speaker 3: and that doesn't happen very often.
- 3:08Speaker 4: Anymore.
- 3:08Speaker 3: But basically this should be a week is what I'm
- 3:11Speaker 3: getting at, Brian, where you're just showing guys what it is,
- 3:15Speaker 3: what the NFL is. Okay, we'll see in a week
- 3:18Speaker 3: when OTAs start, we'll go over this again, go over
- 3:20Speaker 3: it again in training camp. This should be an initiation,
- 3:25Speaker 3: and I don't think you want to read too much
- 3:27Speaker 3: into it. If some kid doesn't look quite ready yet.
- 3:30Speaker 2: Oh, it's practice for practice, Kai, I mean, this is
- 3:32Speaker 2: where you're going to show these guys how you work
- 3:34Speaker 2: and what the expectations are, and just get them familiar
- 3:37Speaker 2: with the schoolhouse, so to speak. It's kind of a
- 3:39Speaker 2: first day of school experience for them. Know where the
- 3:41Speaker 2: bathrooms are and know where the lunch room is, understand
- 3:44Speaker 2: where the locker room is and the.
- 3:45Speaker 4: Quickest way out to the field.
- 3:47Speaker 2: There was a situation years ago where the Jaguars in
- 3:50Speaker 2: nineteen ninety seven drafted an offensive lineman out of Colorado
- 3:53Speaker 2: State who walking off the practice field. One very high
- 3:57Speaker 2: profile offensive lineman once was heard say who is that guy?
- 4:02Speaker 2: He can't play at all? And you don't want that.
- 4:06Speaker 2: You want everybody to look the part.
- 4:07Speaker 1: I can't imagine what lineman would have said that I
- 4:10Speaker 1: had might know him pretty well. Maybe our first, our final,
- 4:13Speaker 1: big thing today is going to be final additions. So,
- 4:16Speaker 1: because the draft is over, free agency obviously behind us,
- 4:19Speaker 1: is this the roster set that we're going to look at.
- 4:21Speaker 1: I'm sure if he talks to the GM, they'll say
- 4:23Speaker 1: they're always looking for players. But Brian, do you think
- 4:25Speaker 1: this is kind of the roster we're going to see
- 4:26Speaker 1: going into the season with as much.
- 4:28Speaker 2: Money as they've got under the salary cap. I don't
- 4:30Speaker 2: think they're going to limit themselves if there's somebody out
- 4:33Speaker 2: there that makes sense.
- 4:34Speaker 4: If there's someone that's cut during.
- 4:36Speaker 2: Training camp, you'd have to look at very specific positions,
- 4:39Speaker 2: and I think on the defensive side of the ball entirely.
- 4:42Speaker 4: A quarterback or a pass rusher.
- 4:45Speaker 2: Who can help that with Ryan Nielsen, and someone gets
- 4:48Speaker 2: cut somewhere he's been along the way Atlanta, maybe there
- 4:51Speaker 2: would be a guy there, So I would say, no,
- 4:53Speaker 2: I think there's still a guy or two here that's
- 4:55Speaker 2: going to come on and be a big time contributor
- 4:59Speaker 2: at some point.
- 4:59Speaker 3: This Yeah, it's essentially the final roster obviously, But as
- 5:03Speaker 3: Brian said, Trent Balkey likes to leave room for one
- 5:09Speaker 3: mid season move, a trade deadline move one way or
- 5:12Speaker 3: the other. And I do think no matter what happens
- 5:18Speaker 3: with Trevor Lawrence's contract later, with whatever contracts they still
- 5:20Speaker 3: have to get done, they'll leave room to make at
- 5:23Speaker 3: least one either mid season or training camp acquisition.
- 5:26Speaker 2: They really have managed the salary cap exceedingly well. When
- 5:29Speaker 2: they started this process of free agency, I wasn't sure
- 5:32Speaker 2: because of Josh Allen's contract that they'd be able to
- 5:35Speaker 2: be as aggressive as they were, and now to set
- 5:38Speaker 2: themselves up with as much room as they've got, they've
- 5:41Speaker 2: done a really good job.
- 5:42Speaker 4: With the cap this year.
- 5:43Speaker 1: Good to have options and that flexibility going into training
- 5:45Speaker 1: camp and the season. Stay with us here on Jagsam.
- 5:48Speaker 1: As we come back, we're going to look ahead and
- 5:50Speaker 1: do our schedule predictions for the upcoming season. Move the freight.
- 6:07Speaker 1: Move the freight. Magellan Transport voted the coolest office space
- 6:10Speaker 1: in Jacksonville. You can apply online at www dot Magellan
- 6:13Speaker 1: Logistics dot com. Welcome back to jag Zam. As I mentioned,
- 6:20Speaker 1: we're gonna look ahead to the schedule now. Schedule usually
- 6:23Speaker 1: comes out first to second week in May. We don't
- 6:25Speaker 1: have an exact date for that just yet, but we
- 6:26Speaker 1: do wanna get ahead of things and kind of predict
- 6:28Speaker 1: a little bit. We'll play predictor and try to figure
- 6:31Speaker 1: out exactly what's going on. We're not always right, but
- 6:33Speaker 1: we do try once in a while. So we all
- 6:36Speaker 1: took our best guess at what we think some of
- 6:38Speaker 1: the Marquee dates on the schedule are gonna be. We're
- 6:40Speaker 1: gonna start out with the season opener. We all have
- 6:43Speaker 1: a theme here. It's not always true, but sometimes it is.
- 6:47Speaker 1: We all stayed within the division for our season opener.
- 6:49Speaker 1: I went with the Colts. I'm gonna copy last year.
- 6:51Speaker 1: I think it'll be home this time though, one of
- 6:54Speaker 1: our home games. But you guys have any reasoning on
- 6:57Speaker 1: why you pictures or just kind of going within the division.
- 7:00Speaker 2: That that Texans Jaguars rivalry is quietly, you know, a
- 7:05Speaker 2: budding marquee rivalry. It doesn't have the status yet because
- 7:09Speaker 2: neither team has made a deep playoff run.
- 7:12Speaker 4: But watching what CJ. Stroud did last.
- 7:14Speaker 2: Year and the division came down to the last game
- 7:17Speaker 2: and the rookie took it over the more veteran quarterback,
- 7:19Speaker 2: I think the league would look at this game and
- 7:21Speaker 2: say it would be a four o'clock game. I think
- 7:25Speaker 2: it's in Houston, to be honest with you, and it
- 7:28Speaker 2: could be something that could be really compelling.
- 7:31Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree with Brian about the Texans rivalry. I
- 7:36Speaker 3: kind of just leaned the other way that maybe they
- 7:38Speaker 3: wouldn't put that as the opener because they think both
- 7:42Speaker 3: games will be so important for the division race, but
- 7:44Speaker 3: it can easily be the opener. I just kind of,
- 7:46Speaker 3: you know, and looking at this, you're really guessing on
- 7:49Speaker 3: how they're gonna think because a lot of times it
- 7:52Speaker 3: comes down to what.
- 7:53Speaker 4: Every game's left.
- 7:55Speaker 3: They're not actively thinking about how to do the Jaguars
- 7:58Speaker 3: every day or do bad things with the Jaguars, which
- 8:02Speaker 3: is what most fans will think on Thursday. So I
- 8:05Speaker 3: went with Tennessee just because I think it'll be a
- 8:08Speaker 3: division game. I think generally the league sort of likes
- 8:11Speaker 3: putting division games in the opener when they can. They've
- 8:14Speaker 3: done the colt so often is the opener, and I
- 8:18Speaker 3: don't think they'll do the Texans. So guess what the
- 8:21Speaker 3: Titans are the team that's left to take. So that's
- 8:23Speaker 3: why I went that directly.
- 8:23Speaker 1: One other option, let's look at some of what we
- 8:26Speaker 1: predict for London. Obviously last year they played two games there.
- 8:29Speaker 1: We haven't had that confirmed. There is rumors, there's reports
- 8:32Speaker 1: that there could be two games there this year, and
- 8:35Speaker 1: if there are two games, we do know that one
- 8:37Speaker 1: of those would be against the Bears. So we each
- 8:38Speaker 1: have our predictions if there are two games, that's what
- 8:41Speaker 1: we're going with. The prediction that if there are two,
- 8:43Speaker 1: who we think the opponents would be. So, John, who
- 8:46Speaker 1: did you have for yours.
- 8:47Speaker 4: With the Bears?
- 8:48Speaker 1: Yea?
- 8:49Speaker 3: And we should clarify the reason that that would be
- 8:54Speaker 3: is when you look at the potential road games, sure,
- 8:57Speaker 3: there's really only one that could be and so I
- 9:01Speaker 3: went with Chalk there. I went with Cleveland. I don't know.
- 9:05Speaker 3: I mean one of the reports said the most likely
- 9:08Speaker 3: were either Cleveland or New England. I went with Cleveland
- 9:12Speaker 3: because it kind of feels like they would try to
- 9:15Speaker 3: put what might be perceived as the better game over there,
- 9:19Speaker 3: but that could be one.
- 9:22Speaker 2: I know that they had a strong Patriots contingent in
- 9:27Speaker 2: Germany last year, even though neither the Colts know, the
- 9:29Speaker 2: Patriots were very good at the end of the year.
- 9:32Speaker 2: So I went with the Bears for the reasons that
- 9:34Speaker 2: you both enumerated, and I went with the Patriots because
- 9:37Speaker 2: obviously they have a huge fan base and an international
- 9:40Speaker 2: following from all of the Brady years, and I just
- 9:43Speaker 2: think as many times as they can get the Patriots
- 9:45Speaker 2: in front of a European audience, they're going to want
- 9:47Speaker 2: to do it. And without Bill Belichick there to put
- 9:49Speaker 2: the brake on it because it doesn't fit, you know,
- 9:52Speaker 2: his mantra, I think with a young coach and potentially
- 9:55Speaker 2: a new GM, I think that this is a situation
- 9:59Speaker 2: where they can coax them over and take advantage of
- 10:01Speaker 2: their immense popularity.
- 10:03Speaker 1: They had marketed very well internationally, so wouldn't be surprised.
- 10:05Speaker 1: I went with similar thought process. I went with the
- 10:08Speaker 1: Jets for my Bears, of course, and we mentioned if
- 10:10Speaker 1: there is an extra game, it would be that I
- 10:12Speaker 1: went with the Jets as well, because I'm thinking Aaron Rodgers.
- 10:15Speaker 1: I know when we go there, there's jerseys of every
- 10:17Speaker 1: color and every team, but Green Bay is always represented
- 10:19Speaker 1: very well. And I know Aaron's not there anymore, but
- 10:22Speaker 1: I think some of that might carry over, so I
- 10:23Speaker 1: think that's there's some pull there. So that's where I
- 10:26Speaker 1: went with my choices on that there's.
- 10:27Speaker 4: A lot of optimism this year. There always is when
- 10:29Speaker 4: you're doing with the Jets.
- 10:30Speaker 2: I mean there are always people that seemingly nonsensically jump
- 10:34Speaker 2: on board. I mean, you've got a foty year old
- 10:35Speaker 2: quarterback coming back with a bad achilles and yet I
- 10:38Speaker 2: have seen people put the Jets at the very top
- 10:40Speaker 2: of the AFC.
- 10:42Speaker 4: So it would make sense to put the Jets in London.
- 10:45Speaker 1: It would. Now let's look ahead to primetime. So last
- 10:48Speaker 1: year we had quite a few we if there's any football,
- 10:50Speaker 1: Sunday night football, Monday night football. Obviously the London games
- 10:54Speaker 1: are technically primetime as well, because they're the only games
- 10:56Speaker 1: on where do we think they're going to end up? Here? John,
- 10:59Speaker 1: I know you went with two. I think for yours. Yeah,
- 11:03Speaker 1: everyone's promised one includes Thursday.
- 11:05Speaker 3: Yeah, everyone's promised. Why I went with the Texans for
- 11:08Speaker 3: the early reason. I think over the course of the
- 11:11Speaker 3: next five years, this game will be on primetime twice.
- 11:15Speaker 3: At some point it'll be a four o'clock. Yeah, he's
- 11:17Speaker 3: going to turn into the rivalry Brian's talking about. So
- 11:20Speaker 3: if I looked at the schedule, it would seem logical
- 11:23Speaker 3: that that would be one. They would consider the Dolphins.
- 11:26Speaker 3: Both teams had winning records last year. Meet JAG's nine
- 11:28Speaker 3: and eight, Dolphins like eleven and six, it would make
- 11:31Speaker 3: sense to get that on primetime. It was on primetime
- 11:34Speaker 3: on a Thursday a few years back. The state rivalry
- 11:37Speaker 3: thing might give it a little percentage edge over some
- 11:42Speaker 3: other rivalry. Those two made a little bit of sense.
- 11:46Speaker 4: But there's a bunch that could be.
- 11:48Speaker 1: Where'd you go with yours, Brian, I think you had
- 11:49Speaker 1: a couple of more.
- 11:50Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I had three. I don't wait for
- 11:53Speaker 4: you to put them up because I've forgotten.
- 11:54Speaker 2: I went with the Texans, and if they play a
- 11:57Speaker 2: four o'clock game in Houston, and then I would think
- 12:01Speaker 2: this would be, you know, maybe the season finale something
- 12:03Speaker 2: like that. I like the Dolphins for the same reason
- 12:06Speaker 2: that you do. You know, two teams with winning records
- 12:09Speaker 2: in Florida. I mean, it could be a Thursday, could
- 12:11Speaker 2: be a Monday. There's lots of opportunities for that. And
- 12:14Speaker 2: I think the Packers game could be a primetime game.
- 12:17Speaker 4: Here. You've got an exciting young quarterback in.
- 12:19Speaker 2: Jordan Love who you know, pulled off a huge upset
- 12:23Speaker 2: in the playoffs and of course, the Packers are always
- 12:25Speaker 2: a great draw in primetime, and the league likes quarterback matchups,
- 12:29Speaker 2: and I think they're going to gamble and go back
- 12:31Speaker 2: to Trevor Lawrence. They didn't have a lot of success
- 12:33Speaker 2: in primetime last year, but I don't think that takes away.
- 12:37Speaker 2: I think that would be an end of the season
- 12:38Speaker 2: kind of thing because it'd be in the flex schedule
- 12:40Speaker 2: with a small market like Jacksonville. But I could see
- 12:42Speaker 2: all three of those.
- 12:43Speaker 1: I have one similar to you guys, I want with
- 12:45Speaker 1: the Dolphins. I could definitely see that being like a
- 12:47Speaker 1: Thursday Monday night something, just because of proximity and the records,
- 12:50Speaker 1: as John mentioned. But then I straight a little bit.
- 12:53Speaker 1: We are going to Buffalo this season, hopefully if it's
- 12:56Speaker 1: a primetime game that is in the fall and not
- 12:58Speaker 1: in January, because I don't think that be very fun.
- 13:01Speaker 1: And then this is a little bit different. I think
- 13:02Speaker 1: the Lions primetime in the sense it's Thanksgiving wouldn't be
- 13:06Speaker 1: in the evening, but it would be on Thanksgiving. The
- 13:08Speaker 1: Jaguars are the only team to never have played on Thanksgiving,
- 13:11Speaker 1: So if there's a chance this is the year, I
- 13:13Speaker 1: don't know if the lead cares about that, but if
- 13:15Speaker 1: they do, this would be the year to do it
- 13:17Speaker 1: and play to turn and Thanksgiving.
- 13:19Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there's a good chance that that happened.
- 13:21Speaker 3: I say a good chance, the realistic chance that happens.
- 13:24Speaker 3: I didn't put it on there because I just didn't
- 13:25Speaker 3: really think that as a primetime game. If you think
- 13:27Speaker 3: that's primetime, then absolutely, I think that could happen.
- 13:30Speaker 1: It's definitely primetime for eating turkey and stuffing, and you
- 13:32Speaker 1: watch football.
- 13:33Speaker 3: Technically prime time is.
- 13:37Speaker 4: Night, so it's a barkie game though.
- 13:40Speaker 3: Marquy, Yes, but I will go prime time for turkey
- 13:45Speaker 3: at noon on Thursday, fair enough.
- 13:46Speaker 2: And besides just the lines, there's always the opportunity that
- 13:50Speaker 2: a Jaguars game could be put on that in that
- 13:53Speaker 2: wild card Thursday night, sure, because they've not announced to
- 13:56Speaker 2: the teams would be for that yet.
- 13:58Speaker 1: Yes, let's look at what we think our regular season
- 14:01Speaker 1: finale will be for this year, because that's all of us.
- 14:05Speaker 1: That's kind of where I went with mine, in the
- 14:06Speaker 1: sense of I didn't put this in my primetime necessarily,
- 14:08Speaker 1: but I know kind of when they flexed that Titan
- 14:10Speaker 1: game the other year at the end of the season,
- 14:12Speaker 1: That's what I could see for the Texans game, because
- 14:14Speaker 1: I think they always kind of want a division game
- 14:15Speaker 1: at the end, you know, if it's gonna decide the division.
- 14:19Speaker 1: I think that matchup against the Texans is gonna be
- 14:21Speaker 1: a big one, and that's something I could see where
- 14:23Speaker 1: they have the flex availability there for to put that
- 14:26Speaker 1: in a in a time frame when a lot of
- 14:28Speaker 1: eyes can be on the TV.
- 14:31Speaker 3: Yeah, I went with the Colts as because I think
- 14:33Speaker 3: it'll be division I kind of think they might get
- 14:36Speaker 3: the Texan stuff out of the way. I think it
- 14:37Speaker 3: could easily be the Texans. My only hesitancy with picking
- 14:42Speaker 3: the Texans is I kind of wonder if the league
- 14:46Speaker 3: doesn't sort of think that they're the favorites and might
- 14:49Speaker 3: put them against somebody else if they thought that at
- 14:52Speaker 3: the end of last season meant Jacksonville's declining. I don't
- 14:55Speaker 3: believe that, but sometimes that might play in the play
- 14:58Speaker 3: in in in how they schedule games.
- 15:00Speaker 4: I want with the Raiders.
- 15:01Speaker 2: Just as a throwback, twenty years ago, the Jaguars went
- 15:04Speaker 2: to Oakland to play the Raiders in the season finale
- 15:07Speaker 2: with the playoffs on the line, and they got beat.
- 15:10Speaker 4: By a field goal at the end.
- 15:11Speaker 2: So I just harken back to that and think, well,
- 15:14Speaker 2: maybe they'll put the Raiders out of this year.
- 15:16Speaker 4: We're guessing. So this is true.
- 15:17Speaker 1: We are all guessing, and hopefully if that is true,
- 15:19Speaker 1: it's a different finish this time around.
- 15:21Speaker 4: Well it's a different city, that's true.
- 15:23Speaker 1: All right, stay with us. We're gonna come back and
- 15:24Speaker 1: do ozone mail bag as we get all of our
- 15:26Speaker 1: questions answered by John. After the big Jags fansy can
- 15:43Speaker 1: gear up at fanatics dot com with all the latest
- 15:45Speaker 1: Jag styles. Shop now and get today's special offer at
- 15:48Speaker 1: fanatics dot com. Officially licensed everything in Frittly, Oh, rolling
- 16:00Speaker 1: on in love? Your caricature looks just like it?
- 16:04Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess it does.
- 16:06Speaker 1: We ask the questions here this week. Interesting. I mean
- 16:09Speaker 1: we talked a little bit about this, but first questions
- 16:11Speaker 1: from Sean. He wants to know, would you say the
- 16:14Speaker 1: Jaguars have more depth than last year or about the same.
- 16:19Speaker 4: It's hard to say.
- 16:20Speaker 3: I guess they have a little more.
- 16:24Speaker 4: Depth.
- 16:24Speaker 3: Is such a weird thing in the NFL because if
- 16:26Speaker 3: you get an injury to it a particular position, then
- 16:32Speaker 3: all of a sudden you don't have depth. It can
- 16:33Speaker 3: be a perception thing. Meaning remember twenty twenty two, Brian,
- 16:37Speaker 3: nobody thought they had any depth, no, and they were
- 16:39Speaker 3: able to withstand two significant injuries on the offensive line
- 16:42Speaker 3: and a couple in their places and they were fine.
- 16:46Speaker 3: Last year they thought they had depth, they got two
- 16:50Speaker 3: injuries at receiver and one at quarterback and the season
- 16:53Speaker 3: went down the tubes. So it's really all about where
- 16:56Speaker 3: you get injured in specific spots. I didn't really think
- 17:00Speaker 3: that injury to Christian Kirk would affect them that heavily,
- 17:03Speaker 3: and it just seemed to waylay them. So yes, I
- 17:06Speaker 3: think they're deeper. I think they have good depth going in.
- 17:10Speaker 3: I worry a little about some key players having a
- 17:13Speaker 3: lot of miles on the tires on the offensive and
- 17:16Speaker 3: defensive line, but going into the season, I think it's
- 17:20Speaker 3: a deep team. I think it's well constructed, even though
- 17:22Speaker 3: they might add a player too.
- 17:25Speaker 1: Well.
- 17:25Speaker 2: You know, last year, I think we thought that there
- 17:28Speaker 2: was a lot of depth on the offensive line.
- 17:29Speaker 4: There were certainly a lot of bodies.
- 17:31Speaker 2: And then remember in Detroit they lose Josh Wells, who
- 17:34Speaker 2: was going to be that swing tackle for them, and
- 17:36Speaker 2: it seemed like it unraveled from there.
- 17:38Speaker 4: There were injuries.
- 17:39Speaker 2: With Cam there were several injuries at left guard, and
- 17:44Speaker 2: it just they never got any traction whatsoever. So it's
- 17:46Speaker 2: easy to look and say, oh, yeah, we've got depth
- 17:49Speaker 2: in the second week in May, but by the time
- 17:51Speaker 2: you get to the start of the regular season, all
- 17:54Speaker 2: of that depth is evaporated.
- 17:56Speaker 3: And clarify something, no team has the depth to withstand
- 18:01Speaker 3: two or more injuries at I mean I say nine,
- 18:06Speaker 3: it's rare. It's very difficult to withstand or run on
- 18:09Speaker 3: injuries at a position group, especially the secondary, because usually
- 18:12Speaker 3: once an injury happens and you get too then all
- 18:15Speaker 3: of a sudden, it's.
- 18:16Speaker 4: Katie bar the door.
- 18:17Speaker 2: But there are a couple of places right in the
- 18:18Speaker 2: secondary with the two young corners they drafted. If one
- 18:20Speaker 2: of those guys all of a sudden becomes a contributor,
- 18:22Speaker 2: whether that's Nickel or having to take some significant time
- 18:26Speaker 2: for an injury to Ronald Darby, and up front right,
- 18:29Speaker 2: if one of those two young defensive tackles has to
- 18:31Speaker 2: work their way into a rotation that seems like it's
- 18:34Speaker 2: got a lot of bodies, then.
- 18:35Speaker 4: You could have depth. But it's so tough to know.
- 18:37Speaker 3: If the league gets set up so that they don't
- 18:39Speaker 3: want teams to have depth.
- 18:40Speaker 4: Right, that's what free agency is.
- 18:42Speaker 1: It's parody, and we'll figure out a lot once the
- 18:44Speaker 1: rookie's get in here too, about who's going to be
- 18:46Speaker 1: of service to the team right away. Our second question
- 18:49Speaker 1: about the offensive line is Rogs Paul from Lake City says,
- 18:52Speaker 1: as a veteran center and a fourth rounder really change
- 18:55Speaker 1: our line that much? I see a line that is
- 18:57Speaker 1: one or two injuries away from being ineffective. Again, obviously
- 19:00Speaker 1: we can't count for injuries, but yeah.
- 19:02Speaker 3: Plays in the I was saying before, Yeah, I think it.
- 19:07Speaker 3: If Mitch Morse is better than Luke Fordner and you
- 19:11Speaker 3: get interior solved, and remember everybody talks about they'd make
- 19:18Speaker 3: enough changes. I think the team considers Ezra Cleveland a change.
- 19:21Speaker 3: I don't think there's a belief that we saw the
- 19:25Speaker 3: complete Ezra Cleveland experience last year.
- 19:29Speaker 4: So that would be two.
- 19:33Speaker 3: If they get that interior offensive line fixed and it's
- 19:38Speaker 3: not and you're able to run for half a yard
- 19:41Speaker 3: more Carrey, then I do think the offensive line is
- 19:44Speaker 3: better in terms of if you get a couple of
- 19:46Speaker 3: injuries away. I would say this every team, ideally in
- 19:55Speaker 3: the NFL, you want seven or eight good offensive linemen.
- 19:59Speaker 3: Most teams have trouble fight and five. So yes, they're
- 20:03Speaker 3: probably an injury or two away from not being as
- 20:06Speaker 3: good on the offensive line. There might be two or
- 20:09Speaker 3: three teams in a league that aren't that way.
- 20:12Speaker 1: I think it's also important to mention you do want change.
- 20:14Speaker 1: I think they definitely need to make change to that line,
- 20:16Speaker 1: but you don't want four out of new five new
- 20:19Speaker 1: players on your offensive line.
- 20:20Speaker 3: There is it's not realistic to try to do that.
- 20:23Speaker 2: What if the change is that Walker Little and Cam
- 20:25Speaker 2: Robinson are both available.
- 20:26Speaker 4: For sixteen games this year?
- 20:28Speaker 2: That's huge, right, I mean that has changed that neither
- 20:30Speaker 2: one of them were last year. So what if what
- 20:32Speaker 2: you do in the off season, the way that they train,
- 20:34Speaker 2: the way that they change their diet. What if that's
- 20:36Speaker 2: the change that keeps them on the field the entire time.
- 20:39Speaker 2: And what if the young kid from Missouri all of
- 20:41Speaker 2: a sudden looks like he's a guy that you could
- 20:43Speaker 2: count on if there is an injury. So you've got
- 20:46Speaker 2: four offensive tackles, now, two of them didn't play a
- 20:48Speaker 2: full season, and Anton Harrison, who's coming off he's probably
- 20:51Speaker 2: the most consistent offensive lineman they had as a rookie.
- 20:54Speaker 2: There's plenty of change. It just isn't all names and numbers.
- 20:58Speaker 1: And I think that's important to remember. It's a good point.
- 21:00Speaker 1: Our final question for you, John is from a fellow John,
- 21:03Speaker 1: and he says, the addition of Darnell Savage and Jariin Jones,
- 21:06Speaker 1: how do you foresee Antonio Johnson's role in the upcoming season?
- 21:09Speaker 1: Have to keep that production on the bench.
- 21:11Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's hard right now. I think we'll know
- 21:15Speaker 3: more in a couple of weeks. I'm not a big
- 21:18Speaker 3: hey I look forward Ota guy, but I think it
- 21:20Speaker 3: will be interesting to see and maybe get some sort
- 21:24Speaker 3: of a feel for how they're gonna play the safety position.
- 21:27Speaker 3: There's talk with Darnell Savage and Antonio Johnson playing you know,
- 21:31Speaker 3: Nickels safety, Where does do he wingerd fit in. I
- 21:35Speaker 3: don't really have a great feel yet for exactly where
- 21:38Speaker 3: Antonio is gonna line up. My sense from talking to
- 21:42Speaker 3: people about this defense is that the safeties are all
- 21:45Speaker 3: gonna have roles and there might be some switching back
- 21:50Speaker 3: and forth between Nickel and big safety and big Nickel,
- 21:53Speaker 3: you know. So I think this is TBD, but he's gonna.
- 21:57Speaker 4: Have a role. I think he's a start.
- 21:58Speaker 2: I think he with Andre Cisco will start, and then
- 22:00Speaker 2: you'll see Darnell Savage playing with Jari and Jones or
- 22:03Speaker 2: whoever the other Nichol is going to be.
- 22:05Speaker 4: I think his talent is too good and his potential is.
- 22:08Speaker 2: Too high to put on the bench, and he takes
- 22:11Speaker 2: ray Sewn Jenkins spot and the.
- 22:13Speaker 4: Starting line up.
- 22:14Speaker 1: It remains to be seen, but I think there'll be
- 22:15Speaker 1: a lot of rotation on defense, especially if they're gonna
- 22:17Speaker 1: play running gun as we've described, you know, playing Manda
- 22:20Speaker 1: Man all day, you're gonna need a lot of players
- 22:22Speaker 1: in there stay fresh and healthy. So it remains to
- 22:24Speaker 1: be seen. Coming up after the break, we'll preview our
- 22:28Speaker 1: rookie mini camp with what's coming up the rest of
- 22:29Speaker 1: the week.
- 22:43Speaker 5: For me, it's a well, just completing my game. I
- 22:45Speaker 5: was going to my four years kind of like you know,
- 22:47Speaker 5: you think about like a senior in high school, like
- 22:48Speaker 5: you're supposed to You're supposed to know what to do now,
- 22:50Speaker 5: you're supposed to do everything right, supposed to shore the guys.
- 22:52Speaker 5: So I'm looking to be a leader and just like
- 22:54Speaker 5: I said, take the next step.
- 22:56Speaker 1: Out of way. The safety Andre Cisco entering his fourth season,
- 23:00Speaker 1: final year of his contract, believe as well. So just
- 23:02Speaker 1: talking a little bit about that. He's now kind of
- 23:04Speaker 1: after the movement we've seen in the defensive back room,
- 23:07Speaker 1: he's a more of a veteran presence this year.
- 23:09Speaker 3: Well, he's he and Tyson Campbell are the most tenured
- 23:13Speaker 3: guys back there outside of Dewey. So yeah, it is
- 23:18Speaker 3: an important It's an important year for him. He has
- 23:21Speaker 3: been very very close to being very very good at times.
- 23:25Speaker 3: He's also got a step to take before he's what.
- 23:30Speaker 4: He wants to be.
- 23:31Speaker 3: So I think it's a big year for him.
- 23:32Speaker 1: Cisco and Campbell. Consistency definitely gonna be big for them,
- 23:34Speaker 1: and staying injury free. Of course, as always, I know
- 23:38Speaker 1: rookie Minni camp. We don't get a ton out of that,
- 23:40Speaker 1: but we will see them. They head into camp on Thursday,
- 23:43Speaker 1: I believe, Johnny. Just you just heading out and make
- 23:47Speaker 1: sure everybody can run around.
- 23:49Speaker 3: I exaggerate, I say every year with these things, not
- 23:54Speaker 3: to get worked up. If you see media reports of
- 23:58Speaker 3: this guy isn't what I thought.
- 23:59Speaker 4: He would be.
- 23:59Speaker 3: This I ran this wrong route. He didn't look the part. Whatever.
- 24:04Speaker 3: Just don't get too hyped up about little things that
- 24:07Speaker 3: you see. But you do want to see guys that
- 24:09Speaker 3: look like they belong and that's what you're sort of
- 24:11Speaker 3: going out there to see. Brian Thomas, does he look
- 24:14Speaker 3: the part? You want guys to look the part. Just
- 24:17Speaker 3: don't get overly worried if they don't shine on the
- 24:22Speaker 3: first two days that they're out there.
- 24:24Speaker 1: Brian, what are you looking forward to this week?
- 24:26Speaker 4: Nothing?
- 24:28Speaker 2: Worky minute camp is just from our perspective, offers you nothing.
- 24:32Speaker 2: It's all hype, not to coaches, not to the players,
- 24:36Speaker 2: but it's conclusions nothing. By the time we get to
- 24:41Speaker 2: OTA's no one remembers rookie minicamp. The only rookie minute
- 24:45Speaker 2: camp I remember is twenty fifteen because Dante Fowler Junior,
- 24:48Speaker 2: the third pick in the draft, popped his ACL in
- 24:51Speaker 2: the first ten minutes, and I.
- 24:52Speaker 4: Thought, why are we out here with these guys. I'm
- 24:54Speaker 4: gonna get him hurt.
- 24:54Speaker 2: They haven't been training for this, and now all of
- 24:56Speaker 2: a sudden, you go from training to run a forty
- 24:58Speaker 2: or bench you know, two twenty five. I've had ver
- 25:00Speaker 2: many times you can to actually getting into pass rest drills.
- 25:04Speaker 2: This doesn't make any sense and they know that too.
- 25:06Speaker 2: There's a fine line that they'll walk with these guys
- 25:09Speaker 2: this week so that they are ready to come back
- 25:12Speaker 2: for whatever off season they're a part of and mini
- 25:14Speaker 2: camp and be ready to go for training camp. So
- 25:17Speaker 2: from that perspective where it's all just about being smart
- 25:19Speaker 2: and safe, what are we going to get from it?
- 25:21Speaker 1: That is the prime thing staying safe. Of course, we're
- 25:24Speaker 1: gonna hear from some of the coaches, the coordinators this week,
- 25:26Speaker 1: I believe as well, and perhaps Matt House as well,
- 25:29Speaker 1: who has that LSU connection with all of our draft picks.
- 25:31Speaker 1: That House, So stay with us. We'll check them with
- 25:34Speaker 1: you next week and let you know all things that
- 25:35Speaker 1: go down here on Jacks.
- 25:36Speaker 4: I am