Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Press Pass | Trent Baalke: "Is there more? ...There is a lot more."

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Press Pass | Trent Baalke: "Is there more? ...There is a lot more." · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:00
Speaker 1: Um, A lot of UFAs that I talked to yesterday expressed,
0:05
Speaker 1: you know, wanting to come back and but you know,
0:08
Speaker 1: wanting to come back and getting a deal to come
0:11
Speaker 1: back are two different things from your perspective. Has there
0:13
Speaker 1: ever in your GM history than anything resembling what is
0:20
Speaker 1: referred to in the industry as a hometown discount, where
0:23
Speaker 1: a player might in some instances be willing to take
0:27
Speaker 1: a little less than he might be offered somewhere else
0:30
Speaker 1: because he doesn't want to leave the locker room. I
0:34
Speaker 1: think you can say at times that does occur, you know,
0:37
Speaker 1: does it occur across the board? No, Um, But you
0:41
Speaker 1: want to create an environment where they want to where
0:44
Speaker 1: they want to be, and Doug has done a great job.
0:46
Speaker 1: I think the entire staff has done a great job
0:49
Speaker 1: this This player group, it's a close knit group, and
0:52
Speaker 1: it's when you've got a situation like we have, it's
0:54
Speaker 1: it's tough to leave if you're a player. So hopefully
0:58
Speaker 1: that works to our advantage in getting them back. Whether
1:01
Speaker 1: that is reflective of the contracts or not, that's that
1:04
Speaker 1: remains to be seen. How important is it for you
1:07
Speaker 1: guys to retain these guys like Evan Ingram, Jelan Taylor,
1:10
Speaker 1: those core guys going into next year and beyond. I
1:13
Speaker 1: think you're always looking to keep as many players in
1:17
Speaker 1: the nest as you can. You know, you work hard
1:21
Speaker 1: to draft these guys or or to secure him through
1:24
Speaker 1: various methods, whether it's free agency or the draft and
1:28
Speaker 1: UH college free agency, a lot of different ways. These
1:31
Speaker 1: guys come onto the team, but once they've proven themselves
1:34
Speaker 1: not only on the field but in the locker room,
1:37
Speaker 1: those are the type the core guys you want to
1:39
Speaker 1: build around trying to work. In your opinion, you know,
1:45
Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of things to point to, but
1:47
Speaker 1: I don't think you point to anything greater than than
1:50
Speaker 1: Doug's influence as a leader. You know, when you have
1:53
Speaker 1: someone at the at the top that's as steady as
1:56
Speaker 1: Doug is, as fearless as he is, and really as authentic.
2:01
Speaker 1: You know, those are the three things that I think
2:03
Speaker 1: of when I think of the way Dougs led this
2:05
Speaker 1: organization in this football team. That really stand out and
2:09
Speaker 1: and people get behind that. You know, when you're authentic,
2:12
Speaker 1: you're the same guy every day, and you're fearless as
2:15
Speaker 1: a leader people, you know, players, staff, UH fan bases.
2:20
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's encouraging and it's engaging and where
2:27
Speaker 1: you think maybe the most improvement needs to be. I
2:30
Speaker 1: think Trayvon, like all these rookies, you know, it was
2:33
Speaker 1: a growing it was a season of growth, and you're
2:36
Speaker 1: always looking at young players and usually that step between
2:40
Speaker 1: year one and year two is the biggest jump that
2:42
Speaker 1: these guys have as players. But I think he did
2:46
Speaker 1: a lot of nice things, you know, and you know,
2:48
Speaker 1: like I talked to him a week ago, you know
2:51
Speaker 1: that that stat number that everybody has in their mind
2:54
Speaker 1: of sacks is in in a lot of ways, very overvalued.
2:59
Speaker 1: You know. There's a lot of ways to influence a game,
3:02
Speaker 1: and I think Trayvon, you saw him do it or
3:04
Speaker 1: whether it be the run or the past, he had
3:06
Speaker 1: an impact this year and it's only going to get
3:08
Speaker 1: better from here. Trying how voilable is the franchise tag?
3:11
Speaker 1: Knowing the financial situation you guys are in using it
3:14
Speaker 1: this off season. You know, I'm hoping we don't need
3:17
Speaker 1: to use it. I'm hoping that we can. Uh. You know,
3:21
Speaker 1: right now we're evaluating this team as as a staff.
3:25
Speaker 1: Doug in the rest of the coaches are going through
3:28
Speaker 1: a process and end of the season process that we
3:30
Speaker 1: have that we've set up. Our personnel staff is doing
3:34
Speaker 1: the same thing. Will join forces tomorrow and meet for
3:37
Speaker 1: most of the morning to really put a plan in
3:40
Speaker 1: place for how we're going to attack this offseason. Sometimes,
3:45
Speaker 1: I mean, people maneuver that thing so much, like how
3:47
Speaker 1: much is that going to hamper what you can do
3:49
Speaker 1: this offseason? Cash is more important than cap, right, there's
3:55
Speaker 1: ways to maneuver that the cap, and there's ways to
3:58
Speaker 1: extend things into the future, but you also got to
4:01
Speaker 1: be smart and diligent when you're doing that. So again,
4:04
Speaker 1: we're gonna look at all of our options. We're gonna
4:07
Speaker 1: meet as a staff tomorrow go through what we are
4:09
Speaker 1: wish list is. Then we'll sit down with ownership, will
4:13
Speaker 1: sit down with those that work on the cap and contracts,
4:17
Speaker 1: will sit down with them and and we have been
4:21
Speaker 1: but we'll have a final, final, final meeting with them
4:25
Speaker 1: to really get the ball rolling for the future. I
4:28
Speaker 1: know that you said you planned to, you know, me
4:29
Speaker 1: with everybody to kind of drish the off season plan,
4:31
Speaker 1: but how much of a priority is it for you
4:33
Speaker 1: to maybe have evaning or come back just considering it's
4:36
Speaker 1: kind of obvious to fit for both sides. Works that
4:39
Speaker 1: work out well, you know, obviously we'd love to have
4:42
Speaker 1: Evan back, you know, and Evan and I visited yesterday
4:45
Speaker 1: as he visited, went around the building and visited with everybody.
4:49
Speaker 1: I think it's mutual. Now we gotta make it happen,
4:51
Speaker 1: you know. So that's something that we're gonna work on
4:54
Speaker 1: with Evan and and all the other free agents that
4:57
Speaker 1: we have. We have a list of them that we
4:58
Speaker 1: gotta we gotta mode down one at a time. How
5:01
Speaker 1: much different is it to evaluated free agent like that
5:03
Speaker 1: somebody that you know fits and he's been in the building,
5:06
Speaker 1: as opposed to signing a guy to do you've been with.
5:09
Speaker 1: Well obviously that you're dealing with the known right versus
5:13
Speaker 1: the unknown, you know. And I think one of the
5:15
Speaker 1: things that we talked about with this free agent class
5:17
Speaker 1: this year in and last year's free agent class, you know,
5:20
Speaker 1: I think they've been two very productive classes, and it's
5:24
Speaker 1: weighed out in the production that they've had on the field,
5:26
Speaker 1: But there was a lot of work that went into
5:28
Speaker 1: that process and getting to know these guys as much
5:31
Speaker 1: as we could from a distance. Uh, The coaching staff
5:34
Speaker 1: was heavily involved. The personnel's staff was heavily involved, the
5:37
Speaker 1: support staffs were heavily involved, the trainers, the strength coaches.
5:41
Speaker 1: The more information you can get, the better your chances
5:44
Speaker 1: of getting what you what you believe you're getting. Right.
5:48
Speaker 1: Is this the off season that this franchise transfers away
5:50
Speaker 1: or transitions away from the free agent franchise and wards
5:53
Speaker 1: of the draft and develop your own And we talked
5:56
Speaker 1: about around every years. Has that really happened? Is now
5:59
Speaker 1: that moment? Yeah? I think it has to be that moment.
6:02
Speaker 1: First of all, we're up against the camp a lot
6:04
Speaker 1: more than we were the previous two years. We feel
6:07
Speaker 1: really good about the nucleus of young players that we
6:10
Speaker 1: have on the team. I believe we're the fifth or
6:12
Speaker 1: sixth youngest team in the National Football League right now.
6:15
Speaker 1: We have a yet a lot of young players on
6:17
Speaker 1: their first contracts, a lot of players overall on their
6:21
Speaker 1: first contracts, And as you transition into more guys that
6:24
Speaker 1: are on their second deals, it becomes more and more
6:27
Speaker 1: difficult to to use free agency is as a strong
6:30
Speaker 1: vehicle to improve your team. So we've got to look
6:33
Speaker 1: to the draft. We've got to look to developing the
6:35
Speaker 1: guys that are currently here and obviously retain as many
6:39
Speaker 1: of these guys as we can. And how would you
6:41
Speaker 1: evaluate where the offensive line is right now? Knowing Juan
6:44
Speaker 1: obviously will be a free agent, but also the guys
6:46
Speaker 1: who have here, Well, I think, you know, you never
6:49
Speaker 1: want to see guys get injured, but you know, when
6:52
Speaker 1: Cam went down, what injury does is create opportunity for
6:56
Speaker 1: for somebody else. And when, uh, when those guys went down,
7:00
Speaker 1: Ben went down, Chats stepped in and did an outstanding job.
7:04
Speaker 1: When Cam went down, uh, walk stepped in and did
7:08
Speaker 1: an outstanding job. So it gave us a chance to
7:10
Speaker 1: evaluate not only the front line guys, but the depth
7:14
Speaker 1: of our roster at that position, and we feel really
7:16
Speaker 1: good about it. I think coach Elsher has done an
7:18
Speaker 1: outstanding job of working with those guys and they're only
7:22
Speaker 1: going to continue to get better. The good thing is
7:24
Speaker 1: most of those guys are young. Most of them are
7:26
Speaker 1: on their first contract. Uh. You know, you've got a
7:28
Speaker 1: couple that our early stages of their second contract, and
7:32
Speaker 1: only Chat really is a guy that's up there in years,
7:35
Speaker 1: but you couldn't tell by the way he performed. You
7:38
Speaker 1: know this this year for us, he stepped in and
7:40
Speaker 1: did an outstanding job. You as a as a GM compartmentalized.
7:48
Speaker 1: There was so much calls for change in the organization
7:51
Speaker 1: and for shot to do things. And then we get
7:53
Speaker 1: team the celebration and YUFORI and everything that you felt,
7:57
Speaker 1: little vindication, little smile, celebration. You know, I don't look
8:02
Speaker 1: at it like that. I think, you know, we're paid
8:04
Speaker 1: to do a job, and that jobs to put the
8:07
Speaker 1: best product we can out on the field. And I've
8:10
Speaker 1: never listened to the noise. The noise doesn't determine the
8:13
Speaker 1: decisions that we're gonna make as an organization. And I think, uh,
8:18
Speaker 1: the best thing you can do when there's a lot
8:19
Speaker 1: of noises put your ear plugs in, you know, and
8:22
Speaker 1: just go about your job. And that's what we tried
8:24
Speaker 1: to do. And again it's there's never one person that
8:27
Speaker 1: makes these decisions. It's it's a group decision, organizational decision.
8:32
Speaker 1: Doug and I are very much involved together in this process,
8:36
Speaker 1: and we involve everybody underneath us to a to a
8:39
Speaker 1: the m degree. I mean, there's just a lot of
8:42
Speaker 1: collaboration that people don't don't see behind the scenes. You're
8:48
Speaker 1: pretty Humphrey watching Humphrey the other day is pretty clear
8:51
Speaker 1: the importance. What's what's the other side reporting. I think
8:57
Speaker 1: what you saw is a guy that's got a che
9:00
Speaker 1: us to have an outstanding career in the National Football League.
9:02
Speaker 1: He's highly competitive, he's smart, he's tough. Uh, he's got
9:07
Speaker 1: he's got the size, he's got the skill set to
9:09
Speaker 1: be a very good player in this league for a
9:11
Speaker 1: long time. You know, to come into this league and
9:14
Speaker 1: play in the middle of the offense, play the center
9:16
Speaker 1: position with all that has to go that mentally that
9:20
Speaker 1: goes into playing that position and to do as well
9:22
Speaker 1: as he did is a credit to him and and
9:25
Speaker 1: the work that he puts in. Uh, he's a prose
9:28
Speaker 1: pro at a very young age. I look at him
9:31
Speaker 1: as an old soul and I think the best is
9:34
Speaker 1: yet is in front of him. Someone who drafts and
9:38
Speaker 1: you have to project and looking at the Christian ball,
9:41
Speaker 1: what sort of much do you have what you're saw
9:44
Speaker 1: in him and what you got out of him. I mean,
9:46
Speaker 1: he's got a gratifying to a young player. Third round him. Well,
9:51
Speaker 1: I think you know, again, we spent a lot of
9:55
Speaker 1: time evaluating these guys and coach. Rauscher went to the
9:58
Speaker 1: school to the school visit with him. His old line
10:01
Speaker 1: coach at Kentucky used to work for us when when
10:04
Speaker 1: I was in San Francisco, So we had an inside,
10:07
Speaker 1: some real inside knowledgeist to the type of guy we
10:10
Speaker 1: were going to get. Uh and he's he's been everything
10:13
Speaker 1: and more than we imagined. You know, he's again. I
10:16
Speaker 1: can't emphasize enough their their ability to come in at
10:19
Speaker 1: a young age and be a pro from day one.
10:22
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes it takes these guys a little bit
10:24
Speaker 1: to learn how to be a pro. What it all involves.
10:27
Speaker 1: This game is a lot more mental than it is
10:29
Speaker 1: physical a lot of times. And for him to step
10:32
Speaker 1: into that role and excel the way he did, I
10:35
Speaker 1: think the future is very bright for him. You look
10:39
Speaker 1: at Trevor now is entering that elite kind of category
10:43
Speaker 1: of a QB in the NFL, and and either way,
10:47
Speaker 1: is there more the next step, the next stage, the growth? Well,
10:50
Speaker 1: I think he's certainly trending that way, and is there more?
10:54
Speaker 1: There's a lot more, you know, And I think Trevor
10:56
Speaker 1: would say the same thing. His his upside, his early
11:00
Speaker 1: to grow at the position from just a knowledge standpoint.
11:03
Speaker 1: You gotta remember, now, this is the third offense in
11:06
Speaker 1: three years that Trevor has played in counting his his
11:10
Speaker 1: senior year in college. So you go from that to
11:13
Speaker 1: a new system in the NFL, uh and then all
11:15
Speaker 1: of a sudden, it's a hit the reset button. We
11:19
Speaker 1: got another offense. So it's his third offense in three years,
11:22
Speaker 1: and it takes a while to master that. And I
11:25
Speaker 1: think you saw the development of him mentally as well
11:28
Speaker 1: as physically throughout the course of this season, and I
11:31
Speaker 1: think it's only gonna trend upward from there. Like, this
11:36
Speaker 1: guy's really good. A lot of times, you know, he
11:42
Speaker 1: just he does one thing about him. You know, he's
11:45
Speaker 1: really a lot like Doug in the sense that he's
11:48
Speaker 1: very steady, he's very even keel and and that's a
11:52
Speaker 1: marriage made in Heaven there because they relate to each
11:55
Speaker 1: other that way. They're both fearless, you know, Trevor doesn't
11:58
Speaker 1: fear anything, and they're and they're very authentic. So when
12:02
Speaker 1: you have leaders, you know, at the quarterback position, at
12:05
Speaker 1: the head coach position, that are like that, you know,
12:08
Speaker 1: everybody else just kind of falls in line. Try and
12:11
Speaker 1: you mention being up against the cap compared to years past,
12:13
Speaker 1: or at least you know, the past two years. How
12:15
Speaker 1: much do you envision having to restructure and perhaps take
12:18
Speaker 1: about of players then you have here in the past
12:21
Speaker 1: two seasons. Well, yeah, goodbyes are tough. You know, you
12:25
Speaker 1: want to keep as many of these guys as you can.
12:27
Speaker 1: Everybody understands that we're gonna do everything we can to
12:30
Speaker 1: make that happen. But if we're going to make that happen,
12:33
Speaker 1: something has to give. Everybody's got to give a little bit.
12:36
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, we had those conversations on the
12:40
Speaker 1: way out with the players and they understand that. And
12:44
Speaker 1: we've got a lot of work ahead of us in
12:45
Speaker 1: order to make this happen. But uh, you know, I'm
12:49
Speaker 1: pretty confident that we can do what we need to
12:52
Speaker 1: do structurally if we need to to sign the guys
12:56
Speaker 1: back that we need to bring back. Trying too much?
12:59
Speaker 1: Did it seem like there were guys open or restructuring
13:03
Speaker 1: because they are so about this group and this team. Well,
13:06
Speaker 1: restructuring is the easy part, right, restrict because that that's
13:10
Speaker 1: just semantics with the numbers and they it's not like
13:13
Speaker 1: you're taking money away from and they're just restructuring how
13:16
Speaker 1: they're getting it and when they're getting it. So that's
13:19
Speaker 1: that's never been the real issue in this battle. It's
13:21
Speaker 1: more getting the guys that are free agents under contract
13:25
Speaker 1: and something that they'll agree to, you know, resign the
13:29
Speaker 1: free agents and stuff like that. What's the different talents
13:31
Speaker 1: for you now in this offseason, going from the team
13:35
Speaker 1: before that was chasing the rest of the divisions being
13:37
Speaker 1: a team that Disney chase. Well, you know the good
13:41
Speaker 1: thing about that. At first of all, it's a lot
13:44
Speaker 1: easier to be the hunter than the hunted, right, And
13:48
Speaker 1: as you get better and and you become the hunted,
13:51
Speaker 1: the challenge gets gets harder. Right, You're gonna get every
13:55
Speaker 1: team's best when they show up in Jacksonville. Now, in
13:58
Speaker 1: the past they maybe thought this was gonna be an
14:00
Speaker 1: easy out. That's not no longer going to be the case.
14:04
Speaker 1: But I think the last part of this season really
14:08
Speaker 1: prepared this young group to understand that there's a real
14:11
Speaker 1: sense of urgency that goes into being a championship caliber team.
14:15
Speaker 1: You know, it just doesn't happen, uh, you know, and
14:19
Speaker 1: the players saw that, you know, you really see it
14:21
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. But because we were playing really playoff
14:24
Speaker 1: football for the last month of the season. You know,
14:27
Speaker 1: it was it was evident to them just how much
14:31
Speaker 1: urgency there is starting on Monday. You know, you don't
14:34
Speaker 1: wait till Sunday to get get excited about playing or
14:37
Speaker 1: get prepared to play. It starts on Monday. And as
14:40
Speaker 1: they understood, got to understand that better, we played better
14:44
Speaker 1: and hopefully not hope that that should carry over to
14:48
Speaker 1: next season for US. I think that given Doug and
14:53
Speaker 1: Trevor's mindset, that they'll enjoy being hunted. I think we'll
14:59
Speaker 1: all enjoy. But yes, you know, obviously, again the leadership matters,
15:04
Speaker 1: and you know, if if you're fearless and you're not
15:07
Speaker 1: afraid to be the hunted, then let's go. You know,
15:09
Speaker 1: but there's a lot of work to do. It's you
15:12
Speaker 1: can't just talk about it. You got to go do it.
15:14
Speaker 1: You know. We were able to to to get them
15:17
Speaker 1: to understand the urgency process. Uh and they they made
15:21
Speaker 1: that adjustment and did it very well and played at
15:23
Speaker 1: a high level. Now we got to go do it
15:25
Speaker 1: from the get go. We gotta you know, from the start,
15:28
Speaker 1: and that starts April seventeen for US with the off
15:31
Speaker 1: season program. Most likely adding Calvin Ridley this upcoming season.
15:35
Speaker 1: How would you evaluate the past catchers this past season
15:38
Speaker 1: and now moving into how would you evaluate how many
15:43
Speaker 1: different threats you guys have? Well, that's you know, that's
15:47
Speaker 1: really for the coaches to address. But obviously we feel
15:51
Speaker 1: very good about Kelvin and what he can bring to
15:53
Speaker 1: the organization and will bring to the organization. We feel
15:57
Speaker 1: really good about the guys that we have under on track.
16:01
Speaker 1: I thought that group this year, uh did a did
16:04
Speaker 1: an excellent job. But the most important thing is we're
16:07
Speaker 1: bringing We're gonna surround Trevor with the same cast of characters,
16:12
Speaker 1: if you will, you know, the same cast of receiving threats,
16:17
Speaker 1: the same running back core for the most Now we're
16:19
Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna always look to to you know, insert
16:24
Speaker 1: guys here and there. But for the most part, getting
16:26
Speaker 1: that core group back for a second year in the
16:29
Speaker 1: same offense with with with the same play caller obviously
16:32
Speaker 1: and all that that goes with it. I think that's
16:35
Speaker 1: going to really help Trevor take the next step and
16:38
Speaker 1: this team take the next step in terms of this year.
16:43
Speaker 1: Where is your seat? Say that again, Johns and you well,
16:51
Speaker 1: you're always looking at ways to improve as a as
16:55
Speaker 1: a unit, you know, and that's twofold, right. It's coverage
16:59
Speaker 1: that that helps pass rush, and it's pass rush that
17:02
Speaker 1: helps coverage. So we're gonna look at ways and and
17:05
Speaker 1: again over the next couple of days, especially tomorrow, when
17:08
Speaker 1: we get together with the staff, really sit down and
17:10
Speaker 1: talk about those things and what needs to be addressed
17:14
Speaker 1: and what's gonna get us to to where we want
17:18
Speaker 1: to be defensively sooner rather than later.