Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Press Pass | Trent Baalke: "We're trying to keep the core together."

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Press Pass | Trent Baalke: "We're trying to keep the core together." · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: You answered the question right. You know, the last two years,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: you know, we've delved heavily into free agency and we're
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: at the point now where it's draft and develop, right. Um,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: we got a nice core, nice core of young players.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Feel really good about that group, with a good mix
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: of veteran guys with a lot of experience. That and
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the whole thing for us now is about the locker room,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: making sure we keep the locker room where we've got it. Obviously,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: pushing money is ideal, but you guys might have to
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: do some of that in this year. The cost, what
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: are the benefits? Well, the benefits are you get a
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: chance to keep a lot of good football players. And
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: you know, at some point most teams in the league
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: have had to do that. If you look at the
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: nun I think there's only one team that hasn't pushed
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: any money out into future years. You just got to
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: be very diligent in the decisions that you make and
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: who you make those decisions. Four. Trying to be if
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: you have a prospect that has a public intoxication charge
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: or what does that deal to your evaluation? How does
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: that factor into everything else that you're evaluating. You know,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: I think anytime there's a situation that the law has
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: been involved with, you look into it, you get as
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: much information as you can. Uh, it's hard to say
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: that it's going to affect everyone in the exact same way.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: A lot of it has to do with history, what
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: they've been through throughout their their careers, their lifetimes, so
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: a lot goes into it more than just one bad
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: decision by by a prospect. You talk about signing obviously, well, again,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: we're trying to keep the core together. And the core
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: is not just frontline players, it's guys at every level
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: of the fifty three, every every guy on that teams,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: and when you're talking about fifty three players, every one
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: of the those players is important. And CJ. And Jamichael
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: are two guys that are key guys in that locker room.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: They're key contributors not only on the on the field,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: but in the community, within the leadership of the team.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: So there's a lot of things that go into that.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: But we're glad that they're aboard for another two years
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: and looking forward, we've we've got a lot more work
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: to do. As you know, how different is this project
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: now you guys have twenty four the last couple of years.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: You guys obviously had the first picks. How different guys? Now,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Wait maybe that well, if we have the first pick
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: and three years in a row, you'd be someone else
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: standing here, right, So you know there's a transition. You know, obviously, uh,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: picking one, there's an advantage to picking one. There's obviously,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: as we know, a disadvantage to picking one. Uh. Now
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: we were sitting at twenty four. We've got to stack
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: the board appropriately and you know, look at what's available,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: and the decisions don't get any different, right, you're just
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: picking a later in the draft. There's some position groups
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: in this draft class I'm started together even know me
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: a long time, right, a couple of years. Yeah, I'm
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: not going to talk about the depth of the draft
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: in anyone position. It's not an advantage to us. But uh,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: like every year, there's there's strengths and weaknesses in the draft. Uh,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: positions that maybe have more depth. But the key again
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: is uh taking a look at what our needs are,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: but also factoring in best available as we stack the board.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: We want to stack the board true to the value
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: of the player, and then we'll make the decisions once
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: we get the board stacked. Frank you mentioned, you know,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: keeping back the word together when you have guys like
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: in Evan Ingram, Juwan Taylor who are probably going to
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: command you know, top money after positions, the bounce of
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: you know, wanting when to have them back, but also
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: knowing that they're going to be very expensive too when
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: having you know, making making sure you guys are sound
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: financially well. There's a win win in every deal, right,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: and you just got to find that. You know, we've
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: got a we've got an organization that players now want
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: to play for, and when you're in that situation, it's
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: a it's a great community. I think that the players
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: got a real taste of what that community can offer.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: If you look at the last two games of the year,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: how electric that stadium was and filled with Jaguar fans.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: You know, normally, you know, in the past is at
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: least since I'd been there, when we did have a
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: full crowd, it was probably leaned itself toward the other
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: toward the opponent. The last couple of games of the year,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: it wasn't that way. And I think the players seeing that,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: getting a feel for that. Us within the organization who
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: haven't been a part of it that long seeing that
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I was inspiring, you know, and it's our job to
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: put a product out there that the fans want to
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: come and see. And that's where we're at right now.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: In the build up of the two thy twenty three roster,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: you have the opportunity down some qualifications or some simulations.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Not knowing that process, I couldn't hear that. I'm sorry.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Number twenty four. You have the opportunity to move up
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: or down in some very niche commication a some qualifications
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: you look for, prospects for a trademarket value to move
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: up or background. Well, you just got to assess the
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: board and kind of where you're at. And now you
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: got twenty three picks that are gonna come off the board,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: and you start getting the feel for where you're gonna
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: be around pick eighteen nineteen and who might be available
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: and how many guys you got at that point. You know,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: I don't know that we're gonna be big movers and
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: trying to trade way up in the draft. Will we
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: move a little bit? We could? You know, it really
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: depends on how the board gets stacked, and right now
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: is way too early to tell what we're gonna do
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: exactly in terms of move up, move back. Well, you know,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: you never know what you got till you get them
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: on the field, right, you know. And Walk got a
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: great chance to go out there and show his value
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: as a player. Uh, you know, And it's a balancing act.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: You know, you got good good players. You got a
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: good young player in Juwan who played at a high level.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: You got a good young player and in a Walk
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: that played at a high level when he got an opportunity.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: So we're just gonna again assess the roster, talk to
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: the coaches, which we have a lot of collaboration back
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: and forth, and just try to make the best decision
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: for us. But you know, bringing Juwan back is something
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: that we would like to do. You can't get a
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: deal done with that. And he could be, he could be,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: he could be the team and well, I think you
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: know again, I think what you want and Evan, I
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: don't want to speak for them. Uh, they know how
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: we feel about them, and I think we know how
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: they feel about us. And there's a win win in
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: there somewhere. We just got to get to that. And
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: the negotiations are ongoing, and there's something that you know,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: they're not going to get finished today. Um, but we've
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: got a nice window here before free agency start, and
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: our goal is to try to close those deals within
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: that window. We give a part Cathley Roy round the parents.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: We were everybody else