Latest / Duval Daily: A Jacksonville Jaguars Podcast / Ranking the Jaguars Starters
Transcript
- 0:00[SPEAKER_00]: Jacksonville, Jaguar fans, welcome in to Duval, daily presented by GenJag.com and fueled by brass tax coffee right now.
- 0:05[SPEAKER_00]: We are tier ranking every single one of the Jaguars starters on offense and defense.
- 0:12[SPEAKER_00]: And on offense, we're doing 11 personnel, which is three whiter severs, one tied in, one running back.
- 0:20[SPEAKER_00]: That was the Jaguars.
- 0:22[SPEAKER_00]: Most utilized.
- 0:25[SPEAKER_00]: You know, personnel grouping last year.
- 0:27[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what we're rolling with.
- 0:28[SPEAKER_00]: And during this year, I think it will still be the most utilized personnel grouping.
- 0:32[SPEAKER_00]: Although, I think there will be more variation with the personnel groupings.
- 0:37[SPEAKER_00]: And there was last year with the Jaguars.
- 0:39[SPEAKER_00]: I think they've clearly.
- 0:40[SPEAKER_00]: a leaned into that with adding more tight ends, et cetera.
- 0:44[SPEAKER_00]: And then defensively, nickel is how we're doing the starters.
- 0:49[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, you could throw Dennis Gardeck in there as a player who's going to play a lot.
- 0:53[SPEAKER_00]: You could throw a third safety in there as a player who's going to play a lot.
- 0:56[SPEAKER_00]: But when it comes to the starters, we're just doing 22 starters, 11 on defense, 11 on offense, 11 personnel, for the offensive side, nickel personnel, for the defensive side.
- 1:06[SPEAKER_00]: I'm excited to get into it.
- 1:07[SPEAKER_00]: You know, all these...
- 1:09[SPEAKER_00]: National outlets put together rankings not including the jag wars players blah, blah, blah.
- 1:15[SPEAKER_00]: Well, this one's all jacks players.
- 1:17[SPEAKER_00]: So let's get into it.
- 1:18[SPEAKER_00]: Really appreciate y'all being here.
- 1:19[SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoy the content, please like and subscribe, can also check out jingjag.com.
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- 1:26[SPEAKER_00]: You can also hit that hype button, helps out a ton.
- 1:29[SPEAKER_00]: And if you want to drop your rankings in the comment section below, you can definitely do that.
- 1:34[SPEAKER_00]: And I did say tier ranking, I think tier ranking is pretty important.
- 1:38[SPEAKER_00]: It's really in my mind more important than actually, you know, the numerical rankings, actually grouping these players into what I believe they are, and so we're going to dive into that.
- 1:49[SPEAKER_00]: And we'll start at the, actually, we'll start at the bottom for fun.
- 1:52[SPEAKER_00]: Let's start at the bottom.
- 1:54[SPEAKER_00]: The Jaguars in my opinion have three replacement level starters.
- 2:00[SPEAKER_00]: At 22, I have Patrick McCarry.
- 2:03[SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about McCarry a lot.
- 2:05[SPEAKER_00]: I think that at his best, he's a serviceable starting guard.
- 2:09[SPEAKER_00]: I think most of his starting offensive linemen, I should say.
- 2:13[SPEAKER_00]: Most of his career, he's been a swing man, five position flex type of guy, and the Jaguar has paid him to be more than that.
- 2:21[SPEAKER_00]: In year one, it didn't look like that was a good deal overall.
- 2:26[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously he was battling through injury,
- 2:30[SPEAKER_00]: To this point, from what we've seen from him on the field, I think Patrick McCary is a replacement level starter.
- 2:37[SPEAKER_00]: At 21, we have Eric Murray, who the Jaguars, they paid as a replacement level starter, really.
- 2:43[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they did not give him a ton of money last year.
- 2:46[SPEAKER_00]: They wanted to bring him in for stability, for his smarts, for the way he plays the game.
- 2:52[SPEAKER_00]: And I honestly think he's done a decent job for the Jaguars.
- 2:58[SPEAKER_00]: Eric Murray at safety.
- 2:59[SPEAKER_00]: I still think he's a replacement level starter.
- 3:04[SPEAKER_00]: I just don't think that all the tools and the consistency down to down is quite good enough for Eric Murray to be in the tier higher than this.
- 3:14[SPEAKER_00]: And my tier's are replacement level, unproven, solid, proble talent plus good production and then all pro talent plus good production.
- 3:24[SPEAKER_00]: So three replacement level players, Patrick Winkary, Eric Murray and
- 3:29[SPEAKER_00]: I also have Robert Hainesy here, look, you know, on his best days, he is very solid.
- 3:36[SPEAKER_00]: I think on his worst days, you don't really want him on the field.
- 3:40[SPEAKER_00]: And some of his worst games do happen against really good talent, which is no big surprise, but I think you would like to find someone if you were considering them a solid starter or like anything more than that that could be a little bit more consistent in those situations.
- 3:55[SPEAKER_00]: then Robert Hainesy has and look, Hainesy, I think, from a work ethic and leadership and communication standpoint, great player to have.
- 4:03[SPEAKER_00]: But when it just comes to executing in between the whistles and doing a good job against a really good opponent, I think Hainesy really is a replacement level starter.
- 4:16[SPEAKER_00]: Unproven.
- 4:17[SPEAKER_00]: Unproven for me, there's two players in this grouping.
- 4:21[SPEAKER_00]: It is at 19, I have Basel Tutan.
- 4:24[SPEAKER_00]: And at 18, I have Ventral Miller.
- 4:26[SPEAKER_00]: Both of these players got run last year.
- 4:28[SPEAKER_00]: Ventral mostly when Devon Lloyd was hurt, and he played well, but I think it's fair to say that you still have a somewhat unproven starter.
- 4:36[SPEAKER_00]: Same thing with Basel Tutan, who
- 4:38[SPEAKER_00]: was a complimentary back to Travis ET and last year most of the season didn't get as much run as a starter would.
- 4:46[SPEAKER_00]: So I think both of those guys are somewhat unproven.
- 4:49[SPEAKER_00]: You could also say is basal to an even the starter technically.
- 4:52[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
- 4:53[SPEAKER_00]: We haven't even seen Chris Rodriguez on the field yet at running back.
- 4:57[SPEAKER_00]: So those are my two unproven starters.
- 5:00[SPEAKER_00]: Then we get into the group of solid starters, and this is a very, very good group in my opinion of solid starters for the Jaguars.
- 5:12[SPEAKER_00]: And at 17, I have Monterey plus to round.
- 5:15[SPEAKER_00]: I think he could easily be at the top of this list.
- 5:19[SPEAKER_00]: I think, when I say list, I mean, the solid grouping.
- 5:24[SPEAKER_00]: I think you could even put him in the proble talent plus good production grouping.
- 5:28[SPEAKER_00]: specifically in this scheme.
- 5:32[SPEAKER_00]: I think in a scheme where you're going to run more man coverage, he's not even a starter.
- 5:38[SPEAKER_00]: So classifying Buster round is a little bit difficult because he is
- 5:49[SPEAKER_00]: solid at worst.
- 5:51[SPEAKER_00]: Very, very good player.
- 5:52[SPEAKER_00]: Like this group of solid players, I think is very good.
- 5:55[SPEAKER_00]: And like, could Buster Brown make the probeal?
- 5:58[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
- 5:59[SPEAKER_00]: Do I think he has like legitimate probeal talent compared to the rest of the league?
- 6:03[SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't say that just from a pure talent standpoint, but I think in this scheme with the way he plays the toughness he brings,
- 6:12[SPEAKER_00]: The instincts he brings as a zone corner, yeah, I think Monterey Brown is solid at worst.
- 6:19[SPEAKER_00]: I have Devon Hamilton at 16, and Devon Hamilton's another one where in a specific scheme he might not work as well, like in a scheme where you just want your defensive front to pin their ears back and go.
- 6:33[SPEAKER_00]: and get up field, that's not what you're asking to want Hamilton to do.
- 6:36[SPEAKER_00]: But in the Jaguar's defensive scheme, where they're literally asking him to be the anchor of the best run defense and football, he's doing that at an extremely high level.
- 6:47[SPEAKER_00]: Not ever going to be a big time past production guy, right?
- 6:50[SPEAKER_00]: But,
- 6:51[SPEAKER_00]: as a run defender, as a nose tackle who can hold up at the point against double teams, eat up blocks and just be stout at the line and also offer a little bit of playmaking here and there, Devon Hamilton, a very, very solid player.
- 7:06[SPEAKER_00]: At 15, I have Jordan Lewis, a little bit of forgotten player because of the injury he suffered last year, Jarian Jones coming on, all that stuff.
- 7:14[SPEAKER_00]: But I still think Jordan Lewis is the starting nickel for the Jaguars win healthy.
- 7:20[SPEAKER_00]: still waiting to see him on the practice field.
- 7:23[SPEAKER_00]: During training camp, hopefully coming up soon, you'll be able to see him soon, but Jordan Lewis, I mean, that was one of the best offseason and training camps I've ever seen by a nickel player last year.
- 7:34[SPEAKER_00]: He was always getting his hands on the football.
- 7:37[SPEAKER_00]: He's a very good nickel.
- 7:39[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's very solid in this defense.
- 7:42[SPEAKER_00]: At 14, I have Ezra Cleveland, very, very solid guard.
- 7:46[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think he's playing at a proble level.
- 7:48[SPEAKER_00]: I don't necessarily think he has proble talent, but he played at a really, really consistent level for the Jaguars in 2025 at Left Guard at 13.
- 7:59[SPEAKER_00]: Jacobi Mars, yes.
- 8:01[SPEAKER_00]: Jacobi Mars, who somehow his arrival just that professional in the room, the ability to run the right routes and catch the football elevated the, it was a,
- 8:15[SPEAKER_00]: In my opinion, it was a confluence of events.
- 8:17[SPEAKER_00]: It was Jacobi Myers arrival.
- 8:19[SPEAKER_00]: It was Trevor Lawrence getting comfortable.
- 8:20[SPEAKER_00]: It was Liam Cohen, really motivating Trevor the right way to kind of let it rip.
- 8:29[SPEAKER_00]: It was Parker Washington stepping up.
- 8:31[SPEAKER_00]: It was
- 8:34[SPEAKER_00]: Breton Strange returning to the lineup.
- 8:35[SPEAKER_00]: There were so many different things, but Jacobi Meyer has helped out so much, and I still think that he is just like an incredibly solid wide receiver to have on the field a very useful player.
- 8:47[SPEAKER_00]: And up next at 12 is COVID-19.
- 8:54[SPEAKER_00]: You might, I mean, you might say he's unproven, but to me what he showed when he was the Jaguar starting left tackle last year, he proved enough to get paid.
- 9:03[SPEAKER_00]: by the Jaguars.
- 9:04[SPEAKER_00]: As a starter, he's at number 12 for me and as long as he's healthy and playing the way he played last year, the Jaguars have a really good tackle duo.
- 9:14[SPEAKER_00]: The next year group for me is Pro Bull Talent Plus Good Production.
- 9:18[SPEAKER_00]: At number 11, Eric Rarmstedt, Eric Rarmstedt was producing at an extremely high level prior to injuring his hand last year.
- 9:26[SPEAKER_00]: He was near the top of the league when it comes to defensive tackles in both pressures and sacks.
- 9:32[SPEAKER_00]: If he would have finished the season the way he started the season, he could have been a pro-bola.
- 9:38[SPEAKER_00]: Easily.
- 9:39[SPEAKER_00]: And again, I personally blame injury for that.
- 9:43[SPEAKER_00]: Whether or not you agree, that's up to you.
- 9:45[SPEAKER_00]: I think Eric Armstrong's dead, you could make the argument is just a solid starter, but throughout most of his career, I think he's played close to at a proble level.
- 9:54[SPEAKER_00]: I think he has proble talent.
- 9:55[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that you'll see that on display this year when fully healthy.
- 9:59[SPEAKER_00]: This is the first healthy off season he has had since arriving in Jacksonville.
- 10:06[SPEAKER_00]: At number 10,
- 10:08[SPEAKER_00]: FOIA Lewakon, yes, I believe FOIA Lewakon has proble talent and very good production.
- 10:13[SPEAKER_00]: I think he is just so good at being a complete linebacker, being a leader, he's a good run defender, he's good in past coverage, he makes a ton of tackles, he's good at blitzing, FOIA Lewakon, I believe, is a proble talent linebacker even if he does not get the amount of respect he deserves nationally, FOIA Lewakon very, very good player.
- 10:37[SPEAKER_00]: At number nine, Parker Washington.
- 10:40[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Parker, what a back half of 2025 Parker Washington had.
- 10:45[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, I think the sky could be the limit for him.
- 10:51[SPEAKER_00]: The way he's able to threaten all three levels of the field, come down with contested catches, get open, and also, minutes with the ball in his hands as a yak guy.
- 11:02[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Parker Washington, absolute stud last year.
- 11:07[SPEAKER_00]: Antonio Johnson at number eight.
- 11:09[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, Antonio Johnson just a head of Parker Washington, because I think they're right.
- 11:16[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they're obviously in the same tier for me, and they're very, very close.
- 11:20[SPEAKER_00]: I think Antonio Johnson has a little bit more of a prototypical skill set.
- 11:26[SPEAKER_00]: bigger.
- 11:26[SPEAKER_00]: He's got great length.
- 11:28[SPEAKER_00]: He's got good speed for his size.
- 11:30[SPEAKER_00]: He, uh, I mean, as productive as Parker was, I mean, getting five interceptions in the amount of time that Antonio Johnson was on the field last year, absolutely incredible.
- 11:39[SPEAKER_00]: He was a really good run defender as well.
- 11:41[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't having the mental mistakes that you saw from him earlier on and look a lot of people have mental mistakes in a Ryan Nielsen defense.
- 11:48[SPEAKER_00]: It's just as what it is.
- 11:49[SPEAKER_00]: not so much last year with Anthony Campanylee at the helm on defense.
- 11:54[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, Antonio Johnson really, really good.
- 11:57[SPEAKER_00]: I have Brian Thomas Jr. here.
- 12:00[SPEAKER_00]: He's an all-pro talent, but you've seen one season of incredible play, one season of disappointing play.
- 12:08[SPEAKER_00]: How do you reconcile that?
- 12:10[SPEAKER_00]: Where do you rank that?
- 12:11[SPEAKER_00]: I've decided to put him at number seven with
- 12:19[SPEAKER_00]: You just need to see him get back to being that type of player.
- 12:23[SPEAKER_00]: He can do everything on the field.
- 12:25[SPEAKER_00]: You just gotta see it again for Brian Thomas Jr. And you know, playing healthy, playing with a refreshed mindset, a little bit more maturity, I think he's going to serve him very, very well.
- 12:36[SPEAKER_00]: At number six, probably talent plus good production.
- 12:39[SPEAKER_00]: Britain's strange.
- 12:40[SPEAKER_00]: Another very, very balanced player, another young player.
- 12:43[SPEAKER_00]: Just got a new contract from the jag wars.
- 12:46[SPEAKER_00]: I think that,
- 12:47[SPEAKER_00]: you know, he could potentially be in all pro talent with great production.
- 12:51[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's going to be kind of difficult for him to ever have like a 1,000-yard receiving season or you know, Evan Ingraham, you know, setting records for catches in a season.
- 13:04[SPEAKER_00]: Just for one, the Jaguars are going to use him in more ways than that for two.
- 13:07[SPEAKER_00]: There are so many mouths to feed in Jacksonville.
- 13:10[SPEAKER_00]: But I think Britain's strange
- 13:12[SPEAKER_00]: gets open better than anybody expected him to ever be able to get open against man and zone coverage comes down with contested catches well good yak guy places butt off in the run game and blocking in all that good stuff and so he comes in at number six for me and then we get to the all-protellent plus great production and yeah I have not mentioned Travis Hunter yet I'm mentioning him right now I think at corner back Travis Hunter is already in all-protellent and
- 13:40[SPEAKER_00]: Even though he only had 150 reps ish last year, maybe a little bit more than that, maybe a little bit less.
- 13:46[SPEAKER_00]: Those reps at corner were awesome for Travis Hunter.
- 13:48[SPEAKER_00]: He looked so, so good.
- 13:50[SPEAKER_00]: I think he already belongs in this tier.
- 13:54[SPEAKER_00]: And, I had to the fact, he's also going to play wider, silver.
- 13:57[SPEAKER_00]: Number four, I have Trayvon Walker.
- 14:01[SPEAKER_00]: I think Trayvon, again, kind of like Eric Garam said, when healthy is better than he showed last year.
- 14:07[SPEAKER_00]: He had two straight double digit sex seasons before last year.
- 14:10[SPEAKER_00]: He was dealing with a broken hand and a knee injury last year, playing through it, playing his butt off.
- 14:16[SPEAKER_00]: Think you're gonna see him get closer to being a dominant force out there in 2026.
- 14:23[SPEAKER_00]: I really do expect to see that from him.
- 14:25[SPEAKER_00]: and I'll say the same thing about Anton Harrison.
- 14:28[SPEAKER_00]: Harrison wasn't dealing with what Walker was dealing with last year and he actually played better than Walker last year, but I think Anton Harrison at Wright Tackle has all the ability to be a top tier tackle in this league.
- 14:40[SPEAKER_00]: The athleticism, the length.
- 14:42[SPEAKER_00]: the demeanor and now thanks to Liam Cohen and this coaching staff, I think the work ethic has developed to a point where he can get to that level of consistency on a day-to-day basis and really dominate on the right side for the Jaguars at right tackle.
- 14:56[SPEAKER_00]: At number two, Josh Heinz Allen, he is just over the last five years the most consistent player the Jaguars have had.
- 15:13[SPEAKER_00]: Um, password sure.
- 15:14[SPEAKER_00]: He is an elite run defender and just a great hustle player team captain leader, everything you want him to be.
- 15:22[SPEAKER_00]: Only thing you want to see this year, a little bit more sacks, but you can say that about pretty much everybody we've talked about so far on the defenses out of the ball.
- 15:30[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that you should expect that, honestly.
- 15:33[SPEAKER_00]: Um, at number one,
- 15:35[SPEAKER_00]: Leave's only one player.
- 15:36[SPEAKER_00]: Trevor Lawrence, former number one overall pick MVP finalist, almost 40 total touchdowns last year.
- 15:42[SPEAKER_00]: I think 38 or 39.
- 15:43[SPEAKER_00]: What an unbelievable year it was for him, especially down the stretch.
- 15:48[SPEAKER_00]: I think Trevor Lawrence is going to lead this team by example.
- 15:53[SPEAKER_00]: He is going to play.
- 15:57[SPEAKER_00]: so much better than anyone expected, you know, following like week six, week seven last year where people are like, it's time to give up on Trevor Lawrence, right?
- 16:06[SPEAKER_00]: No, it is time for Trevor Lawrence to ascend to being what he has always had the ability to be.
- 16:12[SPEAKER_00]: It just took a little bit of more consistency around him.
- 16:17[SPEAKER_00]: A lot better coaching, you know, I feel like he got coached at a
- 16:25[SPEAKER_00]: his first year, second, third year, you had better coaching.
- 16:31[SPEAKER_00]: It started falling off, and then Liam Cohen comes in, and now you're getting like the highest level coaching, you can probably get outside of maybe like a Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan in my opinion on the offensive side of the ball.
- 16:44[SPEAKER_00]: So that is absolutely amazing for Trevor Lawrence to finally get a great coach and a great coaching staff.
- 16:51[SPEAKER_00]: on offense around him.
- 16:53[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I think he's skies the limit for what Trevor can be this year.
- 16:57[SPEAKER_00]: So I think the Jag war is you look at this starting group.
- 17:00[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's really good.
- 17:02[SPEAKER_00]: Seventeen players that I feel really, really good about two one proven starters and three players that I do think are replacement level starters in Robert Hainesy.
- 17:15[SPEAKER_00]: Eric Murray and Patrick McCarrey.
- 17:16[SPEAKER_00]: Now one thing you can say about the replacement level guys.
- 17:20[SPEAKER_00]: Hainesy and Murray both played pretty well last year.
- 17:22[SPEAKER_00]: McCarrie didn't play all that well.
- 17:23[SPEAKER_00]: But Hainesy, do they have a replacement?
- 17:26[SPEAKER_00]: I think they potentially do.
- 17:27[SPEAKER_00]: And Jonah Monheim, Eric Murray, do they have a replacement?
- 17:32[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, they've got Antonio Johnson, right?
- 17:35[SPEAKER_00]: They also have Caleb Ransal and Jalen Husky and Rayon Lane, who they've drafted all three of those guys over the last couple years.
- 17:45[SPEAKER_00]: And at right guard, we talked about it earlier today.
- 17:47[SPEAKER_00]: They've got multiple replacement options for Patrick McCarrie, whether it be Wyatt Mylem, Emmanuel Pregnant.
- 17:55[SPEAKER_00]: even walker little I think played better than patchman carry at guard last year so yeah you've got options uh... think this is a very very good group overall and there's just a couple couple places where you might want to have like instead of a solid player and elite talent instead of air placement level player a solid player but
- 18:16[SPEAKER_00]: I think that they've done a really good job putting together this roster, and there is good depth beyond these starters that we've talked about.
- 18:22[SPEAKER_00]: And players that will make an impact that aren't starters that I'm fired up about.
- 18:27[SPEAKER_00]: Nate Borkerture, Dennis Gardek, Caleb Moran saw, just a name a couple.
- 18:36[SPEAKER_00]: Really appreciate y'all tuning in.
- 18:37[SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoy the content here, please like and subscribe.
- 18:40[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all have a good one.