Latest / Jags A.M. / Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 144 | Jaguars 2025 Draft Grades

Transcript

Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 144 | Jaguars 2025 Draft Grades · Jags A.M.

0:18
Speaker 1: Jacksonville, Jack Lars and like t Travis Hunter, roar receiver defensive.
0:23
Speaker 2: Back in Colorados, the boldest of bold moves to kick
0:36
Speaker 2: off the draft and the James Gladstone era here in Jacksonville.
0:39
Speaker 3: Welcome.
0:40
Speaker 4: I'm Cannannie Stevens to Jagsam this morning. Brian Sexton, John
0:43
Speaker 4: Osier with me. As we have a lot to discuss.
0:45
Speaker 4: We were here all weekend for the draft and a
0:47
Speaker 4: lot of new faces coming to toat We'll start off
0:49
Speaker 4: with big things. Bold moves got as bold as you're
0:52
Speaker 4: going to get Brian off the b We knew they
0:54
Speaker 4: weren't going to be scared to do it, but trading
0:56
Speaker 4: up to get Travis Hunter the boldest move in franchise history.
1:00
Speaker 3: I think fair to say.
1:00
Speaker 5: Without a doubt. Look, I've done this for thirty one years, right,
1:04
Speaker 5: that was my thirty first NFL Draft. I've never seen
1:06
Speaker 5: a player be the best player at wide receiver, best
1:09
Speaker 5: player at corner, and the best overall player. It's the
1:11
Speaker 5: triple crown, except I've never even seen a triple before.
1:14
Speaker 5: I mean, I've seen the best quarterback and the best
1:17
Speaker 5: player in the draft. Right, It's just the Jaguars were
1:20
Speaker 5: sitting at five in a unique year where both the
1:23
Speaker 5: top team and the number two team didn't want the
1:26
Speaker 5: best player in the draft, why not swing for it
1:30
Speaker 5: and get a guy that you believe can be a
1:31
Speaker 5: Hall of Famer. You gotta take moves like that. They
1:34
Speaker 5: found a way to get it done. I really enjoyed it.
1:37
Speaker 6: Look, it's a tone setting move.
1:40
Speaker 7: It's a risky move because you're giving up so much
1:43
Speaker 7: capital to go get it, but it's also a move
1:46
Speaker 7: where everybody's on board, and I think what it shows
1:49
Speaker 7: more than anything they've been talking since they got here,
1:53
Speaker 7: meaning Tony vassellly, Liam Cohen, and James Gladstone about being
1:58
Speaker 7: aligned and since the draft talking to different people. This
2:03
Speaker 7: really did take alignment, meaning you had to make sure strength, staff,
2:08
Speaker 7: assistant coaches, whatever, knows what.
2:10
Speaker 6: The plan is going to be for this guy.
2:11
Speaker 7: And everybody's on board, and everybody's willing to be that
2:15
Speaker 7: team that sort of puts itself out there to go
2:18
Speaker 7: do this. So New eraon douvall Right.
2:21
Speaker 5: Well and listen, that's what everyone wanted, right. I Mean,
2:24
Speaker 5: I'm assuming that most people who are watching this are
2:26
Speaker 5: on board with this move. But if you were not,
2:29
Speaker 5: you wanted something different. The previous general manager probably doesn't
2:33
Speaker 5: make this move. He doesn't like to give up picks.
2:36
Speaker 5: You wanted something different, man, You got something different, and
2:39
Speaker 5: you got it in spades. You got a guy who
2:41
Speaker 5: was willing to take the boldest of moves, as Kay
2:44
Speaker 5: said right off the top, in one of the boldest moves,
2:46
Speaker 5: if not the boldest move in franchise history.
2:49
Speaker 4: Bit of a one to eighty, but a good one.
2:50
Speaker 4: Let's go to big thing number two, which is two
2:52
Speaker 4: for one. Obviously, Travis Hunter is going to play on
2:54
Speaker 4: both sides the football. But John versatility was something they
2:57
Speaker 4: focused on in this draft. A lot of these players
2:59
Speaker 4: play multiple positions or have played a position in college
3:02
Speaker 4: and they think can play a different position at the
3:05
Speaker 4: NFL level. That was clearly an important characteristic to GM
3:08
Speaker 4: James Gladstone.
3:09
Speaker 7: Yeah, I was gonna say, with the exception of the
3:11
Speaker 7: running backs, but even the running back Tooton can return kicks.
3:16
Speaker 6: The offensive lineman. It's getting to the point where if.
3:19
Speaker 7: You're not a top five offensive lineman pick, you better
3:23
Speaker 7: be able to sort of play a lot of positions
3:25
Speaker 7: when you first coming in the league anyway, But yeah,
3:28
Speaker 7: it's about versatility. McLeod the linebacker can do multiple things.
3:35
Speaker 7: He's going to play that buck position, which is a
3:37
Speaker 7: versatile position.
3:38
Speaker 6: That's what they wanted.
3:39
Speaker 7: And again, if you're going to set a tone for
3:42
Speaker 7: a draft with versatility, run, it's Travis Hunter, who's versatile
3:46
Speaker 7: as any player has been in sixty five years.
3:48
Speaker 5: And let me just touch on that off the top.
3:51
Speaker 5: He's a guy who people are wondering can he do both?
3:54
Speaker 5: And there's lots of conventional wisdom that says that in
3:57
Speaker 5: the NFL you can't, because the density of playing just
4:01
Speaker 5: wide receiver alone or just cornerback alone is so much
4:04
Speaker 5: greater at the NFL level. He was so much more
4:07
Speaker 5: gifted than most of the players that he lined up
4:08
Speaker 5: against in college football. He didn't have to spend the
4:12
Speaker 5: sort of energy intellectually and physically that he's going to
4:15
Speaker 5: have to at the NFL level. So that's conventional wisdom.
4:18
Speaker 5: But you're spending a little time with him on Thursday
4:20
Speaker 5: night in Green Bay. I don't doubt his ability to
4:23
Speaker 5: do it. I don't know that he can play the
4:24
Speaker 5: number of snaps he played almost every snap in Colorado,
4:28
Speaker 5: but I think he can play a significant role on
4:30
Speaker 5: both sides. Of the ball, and so today, I think it's.
4:32
Speaker 3: Going to be an evolving situation.
4:34
Speaker 4: I'm excited to see how they utilize him and how
4:36
Speaker 4: that progresses as the season goes along. Our final big
4:39
Speaker 4: thing today is going to be take what's given. Now,
4:41
Speaker 4: we know a lot of the draft is about how
4:43
Speaker 4: the board falls and what they addressed. Jim James Gladstone
4:47
Speaker 4: addressed taking not necessarily the need of the team, but
4:49
Speaker 4: what's available.
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Speaker 1: The board always fallows certain ways, and you're not going
4:54
Speaker 1: to reach because of what might be a perceived need.
4:58
Speaker 1: So you're always going to take the players that you
4:59
Speaker 1: feel like are going to put the team in the
5:02
Speaker 1: best interest moving forward, and you don't want ever sort
5:06
Speaker 1: of lean heavily into just one idea of best player
5:10
Speaker 1: available and needed some version of balanced dynamic that comes
5:15
Speaker 1: with that.
5:17
Speaker 4: Brian, They certainly addressed some needs on this team or
5:19
Speaker 4: perceived needs by this new iteration in the front office
5:22
Speaker 4: and coaching staff. But I know some people are like,
5:24
Speaker 4: why didn't you go defensive tackle route? Why wasn't that
5:27
Speaker 4: looked at it all? And James Wotson basically said, we
5:30
Speaker 4: didn't see what we wanted at those points, so we'll
5:32
Speaker 4: kind of address it at a different point.
5:34
Speaker 5: Well, rather than the age old you know, best available
5:36
Speaker 5: player and who doesn't need a great player wherever you're at,
5:39
Speaker 5: and the fact that this team had a lot of holes.
5:41
Speaker 5: What we don't know kai is what they tried to do.
5:45
Speaker 5: We know the trades that they were able to execute
5:47
Speaker 5: moving back and forth. We don't know who they called
5:50
Speaker 5: to try to move up to be in a position
5:52
Speaker 5: to take a defensive tackle, who said no, or who
5:54
Speaker 5: took someone else's offer, or who wanted too much. Because
5:58
Speaker 5: they didn't take one where they were means that they
6:01
Speaker 5: didn't like where they were or what was there where
6:04
Speaker 5: they were. It doesn't mean they didn't try to address
6:07
Speaker 5: the issue at defensive tackle.
6:09
Speaker 7: There may be no bigger disconnect between how most people
6:13
Speaker 7: view something in the NFL and how it really works
6:16
Speaker 7: in the draft. I was ecstatic after the draft to
6:21
Speaker 7: see that they didn't get an edge rusher.
6:23
Speaker 6: And here's why now that they don't need one.
6:26
Speaker 7: That's not a weakness, but it showed me that they
6:29
Speaker 7: really do stick true to the board.
6:31
Speaker 6: There were edge rudgers.
6:33
Speaker 7: That that they like, particularly one somewhere in like the
6:35
Speaker 7: second or third round. Is my understanding didn't get him
6:38
Speaker 7: didn't work out. We've been around gms who automatically at
6:42
Speaker 7: that point the next round would be saying, get me
6:44
Speaker 7: an edge rusher, and if you do that, that's the
6:48
Speaker 7: quickest way toward errors.
6:50
Speaker 6: The fact that they didn't press.
6:51
Speaker 7: That and then went out and got I'm gonna watch
6:54
Speaker 7: his name on Sunday because Emmanuel Oh by, thank you.
7:00
Speaker 7: The fact they went that route shows me that when
7:03
Speaker 7: they say they're going to be true to a board
7:05
Speaker 7: and true to their value strategy, that they're going to
7:08
Speaker 7: do that, that really bodes well for the franchise. Even
7:12
Speaker 7: if people may not grasp why you didn't fill a need.
7:15
Speaker 3: Stay with us here on Jagsam. We got more on
7:17
Speaker 3: that first round draft pick. Travis Hunter exam brought to
7:26
Speaker 3: you by Fresh from Florida. It's always in season.
7:31
Speaker 8: It's capacity to ignite belief, right belief in ourselves, belief
7:36
Speaker 8: in others, right belief in achieving what many may deem impossible.
7:43
Speaker 8: Travis Hunter, he embodies belief right. He's a rare person,
7:49
Speaker 8: he's a rare player, but he's also a reminder that
7:53
Speaker 8: the boundaries of the game of football were built to
7:57
Speaker 8: be challenged, and so the decision to select him was
8:02
Speaker 8: actually a statement, a statement for how we plan to
8:06
Speaker 8: move who we are, and we want him to be
8:10
Speaker 8: nothing more than him because when he is, he elevates
8:15
Speaker 8: the space around from the football field to the city,
8:20
Speaker 8: to the game of football itself. Travis Hunter is who
8:24
Speaker 8: we've been hunting up.
8:28
Speaker 3: Talk about an introduction.
8:29
Speaker 4: If Travis Hunter wasn't ready to run through a wall
8:31
Speaker 4: after hearing all that and expectations for him, I think
8:34
Speaker 4: he's pretty excited to be in Jacksonville.
8:37
Speaker 6: I wish James wasn't so meek.
8:39
Speaker 4: You know, he really is just so soft spoken, doesn't
8:42
Speaker 4: say anything with his chest.
8:43
Speaker 6: You know, look.
8:46
Speaker 7: This, I've never really seen anything like this with James
8:50
Speaker 7: Gladstone's willingness to sort of say here's what we're thinking.
8:54
Speaker 7: The NFL that I've been around, Brian has always had
8:56
Speaker 7: that thing of secretive where they would say something in
8:58
Speaker 7: a draft room right out and say, well, we don't
9:00
Speaker 7: want to get burned by saying this about this player.
9:04
Speaker 7: James Gladstone has the conviction of his beliefs, the confidence
9:09
Speaker 7: to move forward with it, and really there's a core
9:13
Speaker 7: of confidence there that allows him to say things like
9:16
Speaker 7: we think this kid's going to be a transitional player
9:18
Speaker 7: or a transcendental player.
9:21
Speaker 6: I like it. I'm getting used to it.
9:24
Speaker 7: And the whole theme of the weekend is so obviously
9:28
Speaker 7: this wants to be a bold franchise, and they did
9:31
Speaker 7: that with the first pick. It's an unbelievable tone to set.
9:34
Speaker 3: Roy.
9:34
Speaker 5: Listen, if you ever wonder why they keep things so
9:37
Speaker 5: secretive and quiet. Now you know, we've been told that
9:40
Speaker 5: it was a seventeen day window that they had this
9:42
Speaker 5: thing done. And just a little side story. I'm in
9:45
Speaker 5: the media room at the convention center there in Green
9:49
Speaker 5: Bay and Dylan, who is our PR representative, up there,
9:54
Speaker 5: and here comes the whole team from Cleveland and they're
9:57
Speaker 5: pr and social people and one of the guys is
9:59
Speaker 5: carrying the football with a great, big number two in
10:02
Speaker 5: a graffiti style on it. I mean they thought that
10:05
Speaker 5: they were taking Travis Hunter. They were all excited about it.
10:08
Speaker 5: I almost went over today, We'll take that from you,
10:11
Speaker 5: because it didn't take them out at that At that time,
10:14
Speaker 5: I knew and maybe they didn't what was happening. It
10:17
Speaker 5: was just interesting to me that the Browns were the Titans.
10:20
Speaker 5: John and the Browns passed on a player that the
10:23
Speaker 5: Jaguars believe will not only be a Hall of Fame
10:26
Speaker 5: caliber player over the course of his career, but will
10:28
Speaker 5: also be a guy that can transition the game. Why
10:32
Speaker 5: do you take anyone else?
10:33
Speaker 6: I get it.
10:34
Speaker 5: You know, they needed a quarterback in Nashville and they
10:36
Speaker 5: think that Mason Graham fits their personality. Man, I still
10:40
Speaker 5: can't believe the best player, the best corner, the best receiver,
10:43
Speaker 5: the best player was not good enough or didn't fit
10:47
Speaker 5: in Nashville or Cleveland.
10:48
Speaker 7: Well, and even beyond sort of how he's with the media.
10:52
Speaker 7: Maybe when you were a kid and if you bought hystereo,
10:54
Speaker 7: you worried if your friends would.
10:56
Speaker 6: Like it or not?
10:56
Speaker 7: Right, I mean, that was the most important part of
10:58
Speaker 7: the person, to get your car. The kids at school
11:00
Speaker 7: have to, uh, like what I got. I get feeling
11:03
Speaker 7: that Gladstone would probably go and buy a car and
11:06
Speaker 7: not give a rats but what the other kids thought
11:10
Speaker 7: of it? Because he believed it's the right thing to do.
11:13
Speaker 7: And this pick took guts because if in two years
11:18
Speaker 7: it doesn't work, it's, oh, what an idiot. But he
11:23
Speaker 7: believes in it. The franchise believes in it. They're they're
11:27
Speaker 7: seeing it in a unique way and then not afraid
11:32
Speaker 7: to follow it because a lot of people in this
11:34
Speaker 7: league would have been afraid to make that move even
11:36
Speaker 7: if they wanted to.
11:37
Speaker 6: So buckle up, buckle up.
11:40
Speaker 4: I think it's interesting to point out we talk about
11:42
Speaker 4: we're kind of used to that secrecy angle. Obviously, they
11:44
Speaker 4: kept a secret for quite some time and close enough
11:46
Speaker 4: to the best that it didn't leak out, which in
11:48
Speaker 4: today's media is pretty crazy. But then also just being
11:51
Speaker 4: honest about they said they were gonna make mold moves
11:53
Speaker 4: and they have made bold moves, and I don't think
11:55
Speaker 4: we're necessarily used to hearing that around here and then
11:58
Speaker 4: the follow through and very much intentionally saying how they're
12:03
Speaker 4: going to act and operate and then doing that exact
12:05
Speaker 4: same thing.
12:06
Speaker 5: So it's a new generation. I've said it before. I
12:09
Speaker 5: call them the hedge Fund group, right. I mean, they're young,
12:12
Speaker 5: they're data driven, they're aggressive. They're willing ki to take
12:14
Speaker 5: conventional wisdom and set it aside for a move that
12:18
Speaker 5: the data and their aggressive posture says works. You know
12:21
Speaker 5: for guys like us who've seen conventional been around conventional
12:25
Speaker 5: and you too hopes in conventional football thinking it's I
12:29
Speaker 5: want to say it's radical, but it's very different. It's
12:32
Speaker 5: not hard to get used to. It's not hard to
12:34
Speaker 5: get used to something that says we're going in a
12:36
Speaker 5: different direction from a four and thirteen football team, right
12:40
Speaker 5: from one that what if they wont they're five and
12:42
Speaker 5: seventeen in their last twenty three regular season games. Yeah,
12:45
Speaker 5: let's go. And let's not just go John, let's go
12:48
Speaker 5: all in with both feet into.
12:50
Speaker 6: The deep end. Yeah. And something that I think.
12:55
Speaker 7: Since we've met James Gladstone on this set and been
12:58
Speaker 7: around them a little bit. I'm not gonna say where
13:00
Speaker 7: hanging out at the beach, but we have gotten a
13:03
Speaker 7: fuel for him. I think if you watch him on TV.
13:06
Speaker 7: I got this text with somebody in the media send
13:10
Speaker 7: I wish he just didn't talk like a cult leader, right,
13:12
Speaker 7: you know, but but he has a unique way of
13:16
Speaker 7: speaking that I don't necessarily know translates into who he
13:22
Speaker 7: really is.
13:22
Speaker 6: I had somebody yesterday tell me, well, this is a
13:24
Speaker 6: football guy.
13:24
Speaker 7: Now, he played football and he's competitive, and so I
13:29
Speaker 7: don't know if that part necessarily gets through and you're
13:32
Speaker 7: watching him, but the football people in the BI I mean,
13:38
Speaker 7: this guy was born to be a GM and you
13:41
Speaker 7: could sort of tell he's living his life and he's
13:43
Speaker 7: been ready for this moment. The more you're around him,
13:48
Speaker 7: the more you realize this is a different cat leading
13:50
Speaker 7: the Jaguars and it's gonna be fun to watch. And
13:53
Speaker 7: I'd be stunned if this isn't successful.
13:56
Speaker 6: I don't know about next.
13:57
Speaker 7: Year, but under his leadership, that vision, in that organization.
14:02
Speaker 6: This is a different thing going on.
14:04
Speaker 5: And if it is, who cares what he says, it's
14:06
Speaker 5: what he does sure.
14:08
Speaker 4: And I think we also have to remember at this
14:09
Speaker 4: point of the progression, they're still trying to set that tone.
14:13
Speaker 4: They're still trying to say exactly what the Jaguars are
14:15
Speaker 4: going to be going forward. So yes, we hear him
14:17
Speaker 4: a lot, and you know, repeated phrases, intangibly rich and
14:21
Speaker 4: some other things, But a lot of that is because they.
14:24
Speaker 3: Want to be on the same page. If you're saying
14:27
Speaker 3: the same things.
14:28
Speaker 4: That's how you know that that's truly where they're all at.
14:31
Speaker 4: Let's talk a little bit more about Travis Hunter, because
14:33
Speaker 4: I'm having some fun with this. So from what we've
14:35
Speaker 4: heard so far, he'll play or they're going to start
14:37
Speaker 4: him out on offense and then kind of work him
14:39
Speaker 4: into defense, which is a little bit different than a
14:41
Speaker 4: lot of people had predicted. Some of the scouts and
14:44
Speaker 4: analysis was that he would play mostly defense and then
14:48
Speaker 4: minor on offense.
14:49
Speaker 3: But we're seeing opposite of that, which is kind of cool.
14:50
Speaker 5: Well, maybe you heard Jeff loghim and say this. I
14:54
Speaker 5: rely on his instincts on this. He told me that
14:56
Speaker 5: he believed that Travis Hunter has hall of ability as
15:01
Speaker 5: a wide receiver. In fact, he told me and our
15:03
Speaker 5: audience I'd get a show with him that he thought
15:05
Speaker 5: that this was a guy who was maybe the best
15:08
Speaker 5: receiver he had ever watched on tape. He just makes
15:11
Speaker 5: it look easy. His thought was that the disparity between
15:15
Speaker 5: Travis Hunter and all the other receivers was wide at corner,
15:19
Speaker 5: it was much more narrow. He thought he was very good,
15:22
Speaker 5: obviously the number one overall guy, but it wasn't that
15:25
Speaker 5: he was far and away the better corner. Now, I've
15:28
Speaker 5: seen different opinions on that. Obviously, when you've got a
15:31
Speaker 5: guy that plays both ways, everyone's gonna have a different opinion.
15:33
Speaker 5: But I trust log him in on this one. And
15:35
Speaker 5: I've been watching the game film and I see a
15:38
Speaker 5: receiver that looks like I don't know, Yeah, I mean,
15:42
Speaker 5: he could be as good as anybody that you want
15:43
Speaker 5: in the league.
15:44
Speaker 6: A key is going to be.
15:47
Speaker 7: And this is what Bucky Brooks said on some shows
15:50
Speaker 7: on with him. He does need to get more polished.
15:53
Speaker 7: He's not coming out as a absolute at a top
15:59
Speaker 7: ten Henry Eller type route runner yet.
16:02
Speaker 6: But.
16:03
Speaker 7: Is so is so scary to defenses that he's gonna
16:07
Speaker 7: strain it.
16:09
Speaker 6: He will need to work.
16:11
Speaker 7: To polish as an NFL receiver. My understanding is it's
16:15
Speaker 7: going to be seventy five percent offense at first, meaning
16:19
Speaker 7: practicing and working with the offense multiple days a week
16:23
Speaker 7: and then learning maybe defensive packages to be on the
16:28
Speaker 7: field when the other team is in passing situations, something
16:32
Speaker 7: along the that's not exact.
16:34
Speaker 6: That's the vibe that I get from listening to press conferences.
16:38
Speaker 6: They will figure out a way to make work.
16:40
Speaker 7: The one thing I did here yesterday was, look, it's
16:43
Speaker 7: gonna be full time offense, working toward defense first year.
16:49
Speaker 6: But this kid wants to be on.
16:50
Speaker 7: The field every play. They're gonna have to hold him
16:53
Speaker 7: back from doing that. And there's no reason in the
16:55
Speaker 7: future if he shows he can do it.
16:56
Speaker 6: They'll let him do it.
16:57
Speaker 5: Can you imagine those strategically Again, probably not this year,
17:00
Speaker 5: but at some point in his career where you just
17:03
Speaker 5: pop him in and he starts right. You're playing the
17:05
Speaker 5: Minnesota Vikings and Henry Ellard and you're trying to get
17:07
Speaker 5: ready and you don't know that here comes Travis Hunter
17:10
Speaker 5: and he's going to start at corner. You game planned
17:12
Speaker 5: because you think you're going to see Monteric Brown and
17:15
Speaker 5: instead you're getting Travis Hunter. I mean strategically, you can
17:17
Speaker 5: do some things with him that we've never seen done before.
17:22
Speaker 5: That alone is a transition in the game, changing the game,
17:27
Speaker 5: which is what Gladstone said he could do.
17:28
Speaker 7: And the one overwhelming thing they said is people who've
17:32
Speaker 7: played football and understand what it takes physically to do it,
17:37
Speaker 7: they're blown away by even watch them in Colorado be
17:40
Speaker 7: able to run a sixty five yard route on one play,
17:43
Speaker 7: come off, drink a sip of water, and go out
17:44
Speaker 7: and be playing at a high level on the next play. Now,
17:47
Speaker 7: will that be after the massaged a bit in the
17:51
Speaker 7: NFL with the physicality, maybe, but they've never seen anything
17:56
Speaker 7: like that in college. So what will look like in
18:00
Speaker 7: the NFL. That A's alway said what everybodys waiting to see.
18:02
Speaker 5: You grew up in New England. I mean, how many
18:04
Speaker 5: times did you watch the Kenyon Runners during the Boston
18:06
Speaker 5: Marathon run these two hour marathons and come across the line, right,
18:10
Speaker 5: I mean you're like not even Yeah, it's sweating. There's
18:13
Speaker 5: just there's some people on earth that can do things
18:15
Speaker 5: physically that other people can't, and maybe he's that guy.
18:19
Speaker 3: And very exciting on offense.
18:21
Speaker 4: At Colorado, his main role was on defense and then
18:24
Speaker 4: he was kind of going in on offense and playing
18:26
Speaker 4: with what was given to him. So if he takes
18:28
Speaker 4: all of his time and focuses, you know, seventy five
18:30
Speaker 4: percent of his time and is focusing on offense and
18:32
Speaker 4: learning routes and becoming better, he was already the best
18:35
Speaker 4: wide receiver in college last year without that, so it's
18:38
Speaker 4: very exciting to kind of predict.
18:40
Speaker 3: What that might look like on the next level.
18:42
Speaker 4: Well, that's a lot of exciting things and we are
18:44
Speaker 4: very excited to see Travis Hunter take the field. But
18:46
Speaker 4: before that, we're going to talk about some of the
18:47
Speaker 4: other picks in this draft. Coming about the break move,
18:59
Speaker 4: the freight Move the freight Magellan Transport voted the coolest
19:02
Speaker 4: office space in Jacksonville. You can apply online at Magellan
19:04
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19:07
Speaker 9: I honestly haven't even thought that far, you know, Like
19:10
Speaker 9: I honestly it's really got to be a completely one
19:13
Speaker 9: day at a time approach. Like a yeah, you're always
19:16
Speaker 9: feeling like you're adding levels of competition and depth to
19:20
Speaker 9: the to the roster. Is exactly what we did. We
19:22
Speaker 9: do feel like we got, we got better and improved.
19:25
Speaker 9: We will not have a clue until we do this
19:27
Speaker 9: thing more than a week here, you know, in terms
19:30
Speaker 9: of being on the grass, because we haven't even been
19:32
Speaker 9: able to truly play football yet. So the focus is
19:36
Speaker 9: so deeply rooted in the culture, the way that they're
19:39
Speaker 9: going to play, our style of play, teaching those elements,
19:42
Speaker 9: and now we have to go and get an entire
19:44
Speaker 9: rookie class onboarded. I mean, that's a lot of work.
19:47
Speaker 6: So the focus is.
19:48
Speaker 9: So tight right now that probably haven't even thought that
19:52
Speaker 9: far ahead.
19:53
Speaker 3: It's a good point.
19:54
Speaker 4: We've had a lot of changes, a lot of additions,
19:56
Speaker 4: but they still been taking.
19:57
Speaker 3: The football field and playing football. Yet there's still.
20:00
Speaker 5: Running around and the big question is for him is
20:02
Speaker 5: the quarterback?
20:03
Speaker 6: Right?
20:04
Speaker 5: I mean, we're all excited about Travis Hunter and what
20:06
Speaker 5: he brings, and it comes back to can Liam and
20:10
Speaker 5: his staff unlock Travis or part of me, Trevor Lawrence's ability.
20:15
Speaker 5: Can they get him to a position where all the
20:17
Speaker 5: things right footwork and technique, but comfort level and understanding
20:21
Speaker 5: and just let him go and play and be the
20:23
Speaker 5: quarterback that we all know, or at least some of
20:26
Speaker 5: us believe is still in there and let him be
20:29
Speaker 5: his best.
20:29
Speaker 7: Yeah, we're gonna see no matter what happens next year
20:32
Speaker 7: is a more disciplined team with more speed on the outside.
20:37
Speaker 6: And I think no matter what.
20:38
Speaker 7: Happens with Trevor, they're gonna be able to run better
20:41
Speaker 7: because if nothing else, they're more committed to it. When
20:44
Speaker 7: you say something as a theme, you're gonna see that
20:47
Speaker 7: and they believe they're gonna be able to run better.
20:49
Speaker 7: So I think you're gonna get to that six seven win.
20:53
Speaker 7: You know there are four last year, so I think
20:54
Speaker 7: that gets them better. And then at that point, how
20:58
Speaker 7: much they accelerate and how quickly how it looks the
21:01
Speaker 7: big moments are going to depend on Trevor and any
21:07
Speaker 7: franchise in the league with a quarterback with potential who's
21:10
Speaker 7: trying to reach it is saying that exact same thing.
21:13
Speaker 6: That's the storyline here.
21:15
Speaker 4: He's gonna have all of the options now, at least
21:18
Speaker 4: on offense. Got a new additions to the running game,
21:21
Speaker 4: and obviously a ton of additions on the offensive line.
21:23
Speaker 4: I think this offensive line might look completely different than
21:25
Speaker 4: what we've been used to see.
21:27
Speaker 7: Yeah, and frankly, no idea how it's gonna look. I mean,
21:31
Speaker 7: all the projections for offensive line on this team.
21:35
Speaker 6: If you think you know who's starting, you probably don't.
21:41
Speaker 5: Know who starts. Well, probably know who the center is though, right,
21:44
Speaker 5: most likely yeah, yeah, and Z from Tampa.
21:48
Speaker 7: There are five one would thinks on the line that
21:53
Speaker 7: look logical. But my understanding is Mylain was brought in
21:57
Speaker 7: for a reason. Fred Johnson was brought in for reason.
22:01
Speaker 7: Training camp. Usually when people say, hey is open competition
22:05
Speaker 7: and training camp in the NFL, you go yeah, right,
22:08
Speaker 7: and you're right down the starters.
22:10
Speaker 6: It's worth watching this year.
22:11
Speaker 4: Take a look at some of the picks that they
22:13
Speaker 4: actually made, because as a class, there's about nine of them.
22:16
Speaker 4: They addressed some specific positions. Obviously two running backs. They
22:20
Speaker 4: took a couple of linemen Wymeland we already mentioned early on,
22:24
Speaker 4: and then some of the defensive players. Caleb Bransop played,
22:27
Speaker 4: you know, nickel corner. They kind of project him as
22:30
Speaker 4: being a safety for this team. And also Jack Kaiser
22:34
Speaker 4: plays linebackers. Was at Notre Dame for six years, I
22:38
Speaker 4: think it was, but I heard mentioned a couple of
22:41
Speaker 4: different times from Gladstone and others.
22:43
Speaker 3: In the Senior Bowl.
22:44
Speaker 4: He's playing safety out there, just to help out Phil Spots.
22:47
Speaker 5: You know, when when I saw some of these things
22:49
Speaker 5: come in Kai the two linebackers back to back, right,
22:51
Speaker 5: and I know McLeod's more of an edge rusher, but
22:54
Speaker 5: you've got Devin Lloyd and Chad Mooma, who were first
22:59
Speaker 5: in third round picks that are in the expiring years
23:03
Speaker 5: of their contract, right, So you see the future there.
23:05
Speaker 5: They're moving into the future. You see Hunter and Ransaw
23:09
Speaker 5: and Lane and you think, well, you know, they're moving
23:12
Speaker 5: into the future. They're not thinking about just this year.
23:15
Speaker 5: They are thinking about transitioning to their guys and it's
23:20
Speaker 5: obvious those are positions where they desperately need new guys.
23:23
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think on the other side that buck position
23:26
Speaker 7: we talked about. It is a little bit of a hybrid.
23:28
Speaker 7: It's what Devin Lloyd has sort of. Coaches have been
23:32
Speaker 7: trying to get him in a position to play, which
23:34
Speaker 7: is sort of that, you know, base on the early
23:38
Speaker 7: downs and then with a little bit of pass rush ability.
23:40
Speaker 6: That's what they think McLoud can do.
23:42
Speaker 7: Those two guys will be at that spot, and I
23:45
Speaker 7: think the guy at watching their in training camp is
23:46
Speaker 7: going to be ransaw because if there was a need
23:52
Speaker 7: position going into the draft on this team of a safety,
23:55
Speaker 7: third round safeties can start and I think that they
24:00
Speaker 7: would like a lot of these rookies to win jobs,
24:03
Speaker 7: but they're going to have to win jobs.
24:05
Speaker 3: Well.
24:05
Speaker 5: It's notable that at the post draft news conference, Gladstone
24:10
Speaker 5: and Cohene were both asked have you decided on the
24:12
Speaker 5: fifth year option for Devin Lloyd? And they had not,
24:15
Speaker 5: which I thought was telling that they were moving into
24:17
Speaker 5: this new spot.
24:18
Speaker 4: I'm gonna have to earn it all, right, Brian. If
24:20
Speaker 4: you're gonna give a letter grade for this draft class
24:23
Speaker 4: as a whole, where would you go with it? And
24:24
Speaker 4: who's someone you're watching specifically? Non Travis Hunter. We're all
24:27
Speaker 4: watching Dravis Hunter.
24:28
Speaker 5: Right, No, listen to me, this is an a because
24:31
Speaker 5: they were willing to be bold and go get the
24:32
Speaker 5: best player in the draft, and then you know, you
24:35
Speaker 5: watch them work through some scenarios. John mentioned earlier they
24:38
Speaker 5: were interested in a pass rusher. It was the kid
24:40
Speaker 5: from Louisville who went early in the third round. And
24:43
Speaker 5: then you saw them back up from where they were
24:45
Speaker 5: at seventy to eighty eight and one hundred and two
24:48
Speaker 5: and then up. They were clearly working the board and
24:51
Speaker 5: had a great plan. I like mylam who is who
24:54
Speaker 5: I am focused on, because he was one of the
24:56
Speaker 5: best offensive linemen in the Big twelve conference and played
24:59
Speaker 5: left tack and when you look at his laundry list
25:02
Speaker 5: of accolades, I mean he's the player of the week
25:04
Speaker 5: week in and week out, you know, first team all
25:07
Speaker 5: Big Twelve. So I think this is a guy and
25:09
Speaker 5: John just hit on it. He's moving inside to guard.
25:12
Speaker 5: But from what I hear as well, I mean he's
25:14
Speaker 5: going to be a factor in year one. This is
25:15
Speaker 5: not a developmental guy. This is a guy that they
25:18
Speaker 5: believe can get better by being on the field. So
25:21
Speaker 5: I thought it was a great draft. No reason to
25:23
Speaker 5: back off. I'll go with the A.
25:24
Speaker 7: Yeah, I thought it was a great draft too. I'm
25:26
Speaker 7: giving it a B plus because I mean.
25:29
Speaker 3: That's basically an A from John Well.
25:31
Speaker 7: I want Besselia to come down and say, where'd you
25:32
Speaker 7: give it a B plus? You know, and so I
25:35
Speaker 7: can fight with him on it. But yeah, I didn't
25:40
Speaker 7: want to give it an A because there is a
25:42
Speaker 7: little bit of acknowledged risk with Travis Hunter. So I
25:45
Speaker 7: guess I didn't give it an A because I kind
25:47
Speaker 7: of wanted a discussion point on it.
25:49
Speaker 6: But I love the draft. I love the whole attitude
25:51
Speaker 6: in it.
25:51
Speaker 7: I'm not good enough at knowing players to know if
25:54
Speaker 7: if the fifth pick was a great pick or.
25:57
Speaker 5: Not, neither of mine.
25:58
Speaker 7: I do know Tuton is a really player, and that's
26:00
Speaker 7: what I'm going to talk about. He's really fast, and
26:04
Speaker 7: I think the key that you heard in the post
26:07
Speaker 7: draft press conference was when Liam talked about UH being
26:13
Speaker 7: a explosive change. You know that they now were a
26:17
Speaker 7: more explosive team. Their quick strikeability is what I'm looking
26:20
Speaker 7: for that he used UH.
26:22
Speaker 6: He gives he changes.
26:25
Speaker 7: That dynamic form, Dammy Brown changes that dynamic form.
26:27
Speaker 6: Travis Hunter.
26:28
Speaker 7: Those to me are the three guys that change that dynamic.
26:31
Speaker 7: When Liam talked so much about that in the press or,
26:33
Speaker 7: I said, Okay, this is a guy. Uh, he's gonna
26:37
Speaker 7: matter next year. And I want the seventh round center
26:41
Speaker 7: to be good because I want to be able to
26:42
Speaker 7: say Monheim steamroller.
26:46
Speaker 5: The phrase that I heard from from Liam was score
26:49
Speaker 5: from long distance.
26:50
Speaker 6: Right.
26:50
Speaker 5: He must have said that three times in his post
26:53
Speaker 5: draft news conference. And that's who the kid is here
26:55
Speaker 5: is right, Well, that's what he and Travis Hunter are
26:57
Speaker 5: both at. And Diammy Brown appears to be that guy too,
27:00
Speaker 5: and we saw that Brian Thomas is certainly that guy.
27:03
Speaker 5: Now you put this kind of a threat in the
27:05
Speaker 5: backfield guy, all of a sudden, the safeties can't be
27:07
Speaker 5: too deep, right, they can't be looking to be over
27:10
Speaker 5: the top on Brian all the time. So this really
27:14
Speaker 5: does unlock a lot of things.
27:16
Speaker 7: And before you lose side of it, you know, I
27:18
Speaker 7: think this. I think Touton changed the offensive is going
27:21
Speaker 7: to change the offensive backfield dynamic. I don't know who
27:24
Speaker 7: starts out of what I think they're going to play three.
27:27
Speaker 7: I think they would love for Travis etn to be
27:31
Speaker 7: the receiver runner combination that he's shown, but I think
27:36
Speaker 7: overall the important thing about the backs if you think
27:40
Speaker 7: if you close your eiz.
27:41
Speaker 6: Anything about the big plays.
27:42
Speaker 7: In the last couple of years, Travis has had a
27:44
Speaker 7: bunch tank has shown he can go the distance. I
27:48
Speaker 7: don't know that they have touton level speed right, but
27:51
Speaker 7: they have three guys who in the right situation can
27:54
Speaker 7: pop it. So I think that it's going to be
27:56
Speaker 7: interesting to see how this team uses backs well.
27:58
Speaker 5: I think that etn too years ago he was an
28:00
Speaker 5: eleven touchdown guy. If they can figure out a way,
28:03
Speaker 5: can we use the term unlock to find a spot
28:05
Speaker 5: for him in the offense where it unlocks that speed
28:07
Speaker 5: and that I don't think you can hand off to
28:10
Speaker 5: him and expect him to run between the tackles, but
28:12
Speaker 5: find a way to get him in motion and get
28:14
Speaker 5: him the ball when he's running. I think you could
28:17
Speaker 5: have something well.
28:18
Speaker 6: And in the modern NFL.
28:22
Speaker 7: Twenty years ago, that role for a back might be
28:25
Speaker 7: seen as oh, well, we're putting him over in this role. Well, now,
28:30
Speaker 7: in the NFL, guys who can run and catch with
28:34
Speaker 7: equal which I think Travis has in him, he does
28:37
Speaker 7: can go make a lot of money. Yeah, because that's
28:39
Speaker 7: a weapon I don't think.
28:40
Speaker 4: It's necessarily indictment on Travis either. He's entering the final
28:43
Speaker 4: year of his contract. We know how running backs kind
28:46
Speaker 4: of go in the league. And also pushing him a
28:48
Speaker 4: little bit because, as we've seen, having that competition in
28:51
Speaker 4: any room is going to increase your chances of being better.
28:54
Speaker 4: He's kind of playing for a contract at this point,
28:56
Speaker 4: whether he or elsewhere, So having that ability and pushing
28:59
Speaker 4: him a little bit, I think for me it was
29:00
Speaker 4: exciting to see this draft. We hear intangibly rich, What
29:03
Speaker 4: does that mean? We're seeing what the intangibles are that
29:06
Speaker 4: they value. It's speed, it's toughness.
29:10
Speaker 3: That ability.
29:10
Speaker 4: When you talk to Milum and he's just saying, you know,
29:12
Speaker 4: I haven't allowed a sack as a starter.
29:14
Speaker 3: I don't plan on doing that at the next level.
29:16
Speaker 3: I'm going to protect Trevor.
29:17
Speaker 6: That is my goal.
29:19
Speaker 4: I joke with JP all the time. He sits next
29:21
Speaker 4: to me, you know, let's talk ball, Like, let's stop
29:23
Speaker 4: all this other stuff. But these guys actually love ball
29:25
Speaker 4: and that's all they want to talk about.
29:27
Speaker 3: And you're talking.
29:28
Speaker 4: Even when I talk to Tuton as well, he's talking
29:31
Speaker 4: about pass pro is something he likes to focus on
29:33
Speaker 4: as well. So having those players that want to get
29:36
Speaker 4: down and dirty and kind of do the little things
29:39
Speaker 4: and they want to play football at whatever cost that is,
29:41
Speaker 4: So that changes the.
29:43
Speaker 3: Character of your tea when you're talking about changing the culture.
29:45
Speaker 7: Yeah, and we've talked about Gladstone a lot, but this
29:47
Speaker 7: is the moment that you talk about the GM Kay
29:50
Speaker 7: you joked earlier about you know, always saying the phrases,
29:54
Speaker 7: always saying intangibly rich. I know fans that's sort of
29:57
Speaker 7: become a meme than it's a meme, a meme guy Brian,
30:01
Speaker 7: but not so. But I do know there what Kay
30:06
Speaker 7: said earlier is important. There's a method of that madness
30:08
Speaker 7: of he always.
30:09
Speaker 6: Talks about intangibly rich.
30:11
Speaker 7: He always talks about having those traits in the bucket
30:13
Speaker 7: and leaning into that during the pick. If you're gonna
30:17
Speaker 7: have something be a franchise wide theme, which clearly this
30:21
Speaker 7: kind of player is. You want the scouts, you want
30:25
Speaker 7: the coaches, always talking about that in the forefront of
30:28
Speaker 7: your mind. It's easy to talk about wanting a certain
30:31
Speaker 7: kind of guy, But if you're not always thinking about it,
30:34
Speaker 7: then it's easy when decisions get made to forget about
30:36
Speaker 7: that key point. It's safe to say around here you
30:41
Speaker 7: do not forget that they want that kind of player.
30:43
Speaker 6: And I think that's been why you heard that so much.
30:47
Speaker 5: And I think it's important to go back to the
30:48
Speaker 5: top with Travis real quick on this one. He is
30:51
Speaker 5: intangibly rich, not because he can play two positions, but
30:54
Speaker 5: just a quick story. I was talking to him at
30:55
Speaker 5: the play sixty event on Wednesday where they get the
30:58
Speaker 5: players who are there with some of the local high
31:00
Speaker 5: school kids and some special Olympians, and you know, they're
31:04
Speaker 5: just besieged by people that want to talk to him,
31:06
Speaker 5: and kind of at the end, I decided to go
31:08
Speaker 5: and have a conversation, just a quick conversation, and I
31:10
Speaker 5: think it was great. Well, he came into the area
31:12
Speaker 5: after the Jaguars picked him where I was waiting to
31:14
Speaker 5: get the first interview with him, and he pointed, he goes, hey,
31:17
Speaker 5: did you think we'd be doing this today? Nice to
31:19
Speaker 5: see you again. Well, listen, that might seem like a
31:21
Speaker 5: really small thing, but at a connection that's rare. It's
31:23
Speaker 5: a humanity and both all of Baselli, Gladstone, and Cohen
31:29
Speaker 5: talked about wanting those kinds of people in the building
31:31
Speaker 5: My first thought when he pointed and said nice to
31:33
Speaker 5: see you again, was that's exactly who they wanted to
31:36
Speaker 5: draft exactly. And one of the questions I asked him is,
31:39
Speaker 5: as you come into the NFL, are you trying to
31:40
Speaker 5: be a better corner, a better receiver?
31:42
Speaker 6: What do you work on?
31:42
Speaker 5: He goes, I want to be a better husband. Okay,
31:45
Speaker 5: now we're talking about the quality of the individual and
31:48
Speaker 5: what his fiance means to him. Really, I think off
31:52
Speaker 5: the charts intangibles for Travis Hunter. We talk about off
31:55
Speaker 5: the charts in terms of physical but off the field.
31:58
Speaker 5: Hunter displayed that in a couple with answers and a
32:00
Speaker 5: couple of comments that he made to me and green Bay.
32:03
Speaker 7: And the best part about it is he can really
32:05
Speaker 7: play right right, All, all right, coming up, we'll tell
32:10
Speaker 7: you what's coming up the rest of the month, and
32:12
Speaker 7: when we can see these guys on the field too.
32:38
Speaker 6: Hey, how's life all good man? Anything else popping? How'd
32:43
Speaker 6: you do? Sleeping on things? Oh?
32:46
Speaker 5: I'm same, just continuing to nothing has changed for me.
32:50
Speaker 6: It's it's it's the right motion. Let's go. Yeah, That's
32:55
Speaker 6: what I'm talking about, Jake. That's how Tony woke.
32:57
Speaker 5: Up, we're gonna to draft the Hall of Famer? Would
33:01
Speaker 5: your first do a girl pick? Hey, it works out
33:03
Speaker 5: pretty well for the Jags and the expansion draft.
33:07
Speaker 6: Like like your think, time will tell.
33:19
Speaker 3: Wet a preview of the hunt.
33:20
Speaker 4: We know they had that deal in place, probably well
33:22
Speaker 4: before that, but kind of going over the specifics thirty
33:25
Speaker 4: four hours before.
33:26
Speaker 3: Making that move, no hesitancy there. They were definitely sold
33:30
Speaker 3: on it from the get go.
33:33
Speaker 6: Yeah.
33:33
Speaker 7: I think what Sead said over the weekend too, made
33:35
Speaker 7: a lot of sense. They've had situations where they've stockpiled
33:39
Speaker 7: picks right and it hadn't worked out. If they if
33:43
Speaker 7: they're in love with this and this is a Hall
33:46
Speaker 7: of Fame type thing, nobody blinks at giving up the
33:50
Speaker 7: picks to go get it.
33:51
Speaker 6: If it's not, then it's not. We think they were behold.
33:56
Speaker 5: When would they be arranged to do this again with
33:58
Speaker 5: a player as unique as this. They're at five, they
34:00
Speaker 5: only have to go to two. It's not like they're
34:02
Speaker 5: sitting at twenty five and trying to get up there.
34:04
Speaker 5: It just made sense. The player was there, the opportunity
34:06
Speaker 5: was there, the picks they had let it go, and
34:10
Speaker 5: this will be the first time that the Jaguars will
34:12
Speaker 5: enter the next season without a first round pick in
34:14
Speaker 5: their history, but as Gladstone said, he is uniquely qualified
34:18
Speaker 5: to be able to navigate that.
34:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've heard that before, all right, John, When are
34:23
Speaker 4: we actually going to see these rookies take the field
34:25
Speaker 4: in a couple.
34:27
Speaker 6: A week from Friday, I believe, I.
34:31
Speaker 3: Think May eighth, as they come in and.
34:33
Speaker 7: Then, yeah, is when the first mini camp starts, and
34:36
Speaker 7: that's when you get eyes on them and those are
34:41
Speaker 7: as most fans know more about running, but Travis can run.
34:44
Speaker 6: So we'll watch that.
34:45
Speaker 3: Absolutely lots to talk about.
34:47
Speaker 4: We'll have some more time to talk about it next
34:49
Speaker 4: week as well, but until then, enjoy your week.
34:51
Speaker 3: Thanks for watching.