Latest / Jags A.M. / Ep. 67: Grading the Jaguars' 2021 Draft Class | Jags A.M. Podcast

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Ep. 67: Grading the Jaguars' 2021 Draft Class | Jags A.M. Podcast · Jags A.M.

0:17
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to jags Am. I'm Brian Sexton standing
0:20
Speaker 1: in Kai Stevens spot, JP Shadrick sitting in my spot
0:23
Speaker 1: on the couch, and John oser is where he always is.
0:27
Speaker 1: Welcome to jags Am. It's the start of a busy
0:32
Speaker 1: period here in the off season, so let's get right
0:34
Speaker 1: to big things and we'll go with here we go, Jaguars.
0:37
Speaker 1: It feels like we're towards the end of the off
0:39
Speaker 1: the field period of the off season. Free agency, the
0:43
Speaker 1: salary cap, Josh Allen has done. That leaves us with
0:47
Speaker 1: just the draft, which comes up a week from Thursday.
0:49
Speaker 1: So let me pitch it to you. JP Shadrick first
0:52
Speaker 1: of all, welcome to the show. How's the off season
0:54
Speaker 1: gone in your estimation?
0:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, so far, so good. Right. They checked some boxes
0:58
Speaker 2: and free agency that was number one priority. A lot
1:01
Speaker 2: of the fans might say, oh, they missed out on
1:03
Speaker 2: Calvin Ridley. That aside. They got Josh Allen done. That
1:07
Speaker 2: was a huge priority for them. So that deal is
1:10
Speaker 2: in the books and ready to roll and they can
1:12
Speaker 2: move forward there and now it's onto the draft and
1:14
Speaker 2: the offseason programs here as well. So, so far, so
1:18
Speaker 2: good in my.
1:18
Speaker 1: Estimation, John, it seems like most of the questions have
1:21
Speaker 1: already been answered.
1:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think they've done what they had to do.
1:25
Speaker 3: You know, they had to fix center, they had to
1:29
Speaker 3: do some things on the defensive line to get more stout.
1:31
Speaker 3: It feels like they've done that. How free agency actually works,
1:36
Speaker 3: we'll see it play out on the field. But they
1:39
Speaker 3: did as JP said, they checked the boxes. I think
1:42
Speaker 3: they've got themselves in a situation where they can almost
1:46
Speaker 3: draft just for best available player. I think there's a
1:48
Speaker 3: whole cornerback they need to fill, but I think they
1:52
Speaker 3: know what they want in the draft of that position.
1:54
Speaker 1: All right back to the big board for big thing too.
1:56
Speaker 1: And that's the lights are on at the midder elector
1:58
Speaker 1: at center. Yesterday the player return for the beginning phases
2:02
Speaker 1: of the off season program. And as guys are walking
2:05
Speaker 1: in and as you guys are getting ready to talk
2:07
Speaker 1: to players today and the coach and the general manager
2:10
Speaker 1: later this week, what's the number one storyline that you
2:13
Speaker 1: were interested in following? John?
2:15
Speaker 3: Uh, Probably, it's probably pretty obvious. It's probably Trevor to me,
2:21
Speaker 3: all the check boxes stuff, all of the Hey, we
2:25
Speaker 3: fixed defensive tackle, we did this, We did this. Those
2:29
Speaker 3: are all minimal improvements. Trevor Lawrence improving his turnovers, improving
2:34
Speaker 3: his overall efficiency. UH, taking that next step, all votes
2:39
Speaker 3: will rise if the big ship rises JP, no.
2:42
Speaker 2: Doubt about that, and that's where it starts. But for me,
2:44
Speaker 2: I think it's the bigger picture. You know, how high
2:47
Speaker 2: does this team rise with the tide? You know they were,
2:49
Speaker 2: they were right there on the doorstep and then to
2:51
Speaker 2: the lapse at the end of the last season. Can
2:53
Speaker 2: they get past that mentally as a team And we've
2:57
Speaker 2: they've proven the last two years there at least a
2:59
Speaker 2: nine win football team, different results both years obviously, so
3:03
Speaker 2: what is the next step? And as an organization, how
3:06
Speaker 2: do they take that? The quarterbacks the number one reason
3:08
Speaker 2: why they could take that step, but everything around that
3:11
Speaker 2: has to be really in good place as well.
3:13
Speaker 1: I'm kind of laser focused on the same story I've
3:15
Speaker 1: had since the end of last season. That's the offensive line. Obviously,
3:19
Speaker 1: bringing in Mitch Morse and making sure that they were
3:22
Speaker 1: solid with Ezra Cleveland at the left guard spot. We'll
3:25
Speaker 1: see how that plays out both as they get going
3:28
Speaker 1: on the field in May with OTAs and what they
3:31
Speaker 1: decided to do next week in the draft. Brings us
3:34
Speaker 1: to a question of the draft, and that's the reality
3:36
Speaker 1: or the perception, however you choose to look at it,
3:38
Speaker 1: that the Jaguars must get a wide receiver in the
3:41
Speaker 1: first round, that it's paramount that they go grab that
3:43
Speaker 1: big target and that might mean moving up JP. We're
3:47
Speaker 1: a Roma Dounze, who seems to be the third of
3:50
Speaker 1: the big three. So I asked you because I have
3:52
Speaker 1: a nineteen year old son who is sold on the
3:54
Speaker 1: idea they have to have a receiver, even in a
3:59
Speaker 1: receiver rich draft. As we're told this one is reality
4:03
Speaker 1: of perception, receivers the number one priority for this team.
4:05
Speaker 2: I don't think that's reality. They've got receivers they can
4:09
Speaker 2: go play right now. I mean if they didn't have
4:11
Speaker 2: guys to go run on the field in September at
4:13
Speaker 2: wide receiver, then yeah, you probably need one at this moment.
4:17
Speaker 2: Do they need one down the line? Most likely considering
4:20
Speaker 2: the free agency dollars that they've spent at that position.
4:23
Speaker 2: But I don't think right now is the key and
4:25
Speaker 2: the way that the college football games played right now,
4:27
Speaker 2: there are receivers that should be available that are good, talented,
4:31
Speaker 2: receivers in most every draft in the foreseeable future. So
4:35
Speaker 2: you know, unless all of a sudden, Marvin Harrison's in
4:38
Speaker 2: your lap, I don't think you're trading the farm to
4:41
Speaker 2: go up in the draft to go get some wide receiver,
4:44
Speaker 2: no matter who it is, at least for me at
4:46
Speaker 2: this point.
4:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think your little guys can be disappointed. I
4:48
Speaker 3: mean it's I think it's perception that it's a need.
4:54
Speaker 3: I think there's a little bit of a narrative that
4:57
Speaker 3: because they tried to pay Ridley and I guess they
4:59
Speaker 3: reported we went after the San Francisco wide receiver. You
5:03
Speaker 3: know that they're desperate at that position. I don't feel that.
5:07
Speaker 3: I don't think they'll go that route. I don't think
5:09
Speaker 3: they think they need to go that route. There's a
5:12
Speaker 3: belief with this offense. I mean, the Chiefs Eagles when
5:15
Speaker 3: Peterson was there, can play without a number one as
5:19
Speaker 3: long as you've got three or four really good options.
5:22
Speaker 3: They've got that. I think they'll go receiver second or
5:25
Speaker 3: third round, because, as you said, Brian, it's a deep draft.
5:28
Speaker 3: I sorry, little man, I think you're gonna be disappointed.
5:33
Speaker 1: Listen and he'll see this. John and he's gonna go,
5:35
Speaker 1: what the hell is John's problem? But none of it right,
5:39
Speaker 1: none of us can really answer that. But just shifted
5:41
Speaker 1: it back real quick to the idea of how long
5:44
Speaker 1: it takes for a receiver, even a top receiver. You know,
5:47
Speaker 1: if it's Marvin Harrison junior or elite neighbors or Roma Donze,
5:52
Speaker 1: there's no guarantee, even though they're physically talented and produced
5:56
Speaker 1: at the highest levels of college football, that they're going
5:59
Speaker 1: to be able to come in and be that difference
6:00
Speaker 1: maker as a rookie. Job.
6:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, it happens more now because the game, the college
6:07
Speaker 3: game is more wide open. It's still a different kind
6:10
Speaker 3: of passing game than the NFL, but you do see
6:12
Speaker 3: it more you started to do with Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase,
6:15
Speaker 3: guys like that come in and make a huge impact.
6:18
Speaker 3: But at its core, it's almost a different sport the
6:22
Speaker 3: NFL than college football. So it's not a guarantee that
6:24
Speaker 3: guys come in and I contribute right away at the
6:28
Speaker 3: elite level. Now that being said, I'm going to talk
6:30
Speaker 3: about both sides of my mouth, where there's a belief
6:33
Speaker 3: where second and third even fourth round guys this year
6:36
Speaker 3: can come in and be a part of something. I
6:38
Speaker 3: think that's what they need more in anything. The perception
6:41
Speaker 3: that they need a one. Look, I don't know that
6:44
Speaker 3: they need a one. If Christian Kirkins a Jones are
6:47
Speaker 3: healthy on the field the entire year, or whoever's if
6:50
Speaker 3: it's a third round receiver who comes in and takes
6:53
Speaker 3: one of those guys' spot. If they get eight touchdowns
6:59
Speaker 3: seven hundred and fifty yards out of four different guys,
7:01
Speaker 3: that puts them at the top of the league in passing.
7:04
Speaker 3: They think this bunch can get them.
7:05
Speaker 1: That just one more thought. The Falcons years ago, JP
7:09
Speaker 1: traded an entire draft essentially to go get Julio Jones,
7:13
Speaker 1: a guy I know you know from your days at Alabama.
7:16
Speaker 1: You saw Marvin Harrison this year when you did the
7:18
Speaker 1: Michigan Ohio State game. Is Marvin Harrison to Julio Jones?
7:22
Speaker 1: Is he worth that sort of a move up? Not
7:24
Speaker 1: saying that the Jaguars and the team to do that,
7:26
Speaker 1: but that anybody might be willing to give up a
7:27
Speaker 1: host of draft picks to go find.
7:29
Speaker 2: Him, big, strong and fast. Is he Julio? How many
7:32
Speaker 2: people are a great question, But if anybody could kind
7:36
Speaker 2: of follow in those footsteps. It feels like Harrison could
7:39
Speaker 2: be that guy. Had a huge game of career high
7:42
Speaker 2: catches against Penn State, including the game ceiling touchdown late
7:46
Speaker 2: in that one across her and he kind of went
7:47
Speaker 2: up the sideline and and then of course in the
7:51
Speaker 2: Michigan game they fell in that game, but he had
7:53
Speaker 2: some catches in that outing as well. Big, tall, strong, fast,
8:00
Speaker 2: bloodlines everything you want in Marvin Harrison. So he yeah,
8:05
Speaker 2: he could be that guy. Somebody makes a move up
8:07
Speaker 2: to go get if you really feel like you need
8:09
Speaker 2: a number one type receiver? Is he Julio?
8:12
Speaker 1: Who is?
8:13
Speaker 2: But we'll find out maybe ten or fifteen years.
8:15
Speaker 1: All right, fellas, those are your big things when we
8:18
Speaker 1: come back. We hear all the time that it takes
8:21
Speaker 1: three years to accurately put a grade on a draft class. Well,
8:26
Speaker 1: it's been three years since the twenty twenty one class,
8:28
Speaker 1: which was selected by Trent Bulky. So we'll take a
8:32
Speaker 1: look at where the Jaguars are with the twenty twenty
8:35
Speaker 1: one class, the production they've got, their hopes for the future,
8:38
Speaker 1: and what the twenty twenty one draft class should be
8:41
Speaker 1: graded at when we return here on Jags Am move
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Speaker 1: in town. Visit Magellan dot com and move the freight,
9:18
Speaker 1: all right, Bryan Sexon back with you, sitting in for
9:20
Speaker 1: Kay Stevens. JP Shatick is kind enough to join us today. Edward.
9:24
Speaker 2: By the way, this is early in the morning, is
9:26
Speaker 2: it for you? It depends on the day before.
9:29
Speaker 1: I suppose all those late nights. Where were you last
9:32
Speaker 1: night at nine to fifteens? It's great, It's nice to
9:35
Speaker 1: have you. Are you okay with that?
9:37
Speaker 3: John? What's that having? JPP?
9:39
Speaker 2: Okay?
9:40
Speaker 1: So, look, we talk all the time. When the draft
9:42
Speaker 1: class is selected. Everyone wants to throw a grade on it.
9:45
Speaker 1: It's clickbait on the different websites, and people want to
9:48
Speaker 1: be able to make flash judgments. Three years later, though,
9:52
Speaker 1: we can take an accurate look I think at the
9:54
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one draft class, which is clearly one of
9:56
Speaker 1: the biggest in Jaguars history, with Trevor Lawrence at the
10:00
Speaker 1: very top of it. So let's put a grade on it, right.
10:02
Speaker 1: Let me throw these guys out to you, and you
10:04
Speaker 1: see right there that there are six players from that
10:08
Speaker 1: draft class who are either starters or contributors. And obviously,
10:14
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence has a seventeen and sixteen regular season record
10:18
Speaker 1: the last two years, has a playoff win and a
10:20
Speaker 1: playoff loss, fifty nine touchdowns or fifty eight touchdowns, thirty
10:26
Speaker 1: nine interceptions, and we know that he had turnover issues
10:29
Speaker 1: last year. And we'll stay in the first round. Travis
10:32
Speaker 1: Etn back to back thousand yard seasons after missing his
10:34
Speaker 1: rookie year, seventeen touchdowns and some really big plays. If
10:38
Speaker 1: that made the biggest play of his career is that
10:40
Speaker 1: twenty five yard run on fourth down against the Chargers
10:43
Speaker 1: to set up the game winning field goal. A's on
10:46
Speaker 1: both of those first picks.
10:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think certainly for Etn, right, I mean, the
10:53
Speaker 2: way he's played and those big moments he talked about
10:56
Speaker 2: and the touchdowns, and he's starting to really feels like
10:59
Speaker 2: coming to his own as a running back. The Trevor
11:02
Speaker 2: Lawrence stuff, right, you know, the first year kind of
11:04
Speaker 2: wash thrown out because of the urban stuff and the
11:08
Speaker 2: playoff run. Yeah, he was great down the stretch of that,
11:12
Speaker 2: but he also had four turnovers in the playoff game
11:14
Speaker 2: and against the Chargers ended up winning the game coming back.
11:19
Speaker 2: So let's see, let's see what happens this year. I
11:21
Speaker 2: think you will find out more about the great on
11:23
Speaker 2: Lawrence this year than you'll even know before, because if
11:26
Speaker 2: it's not happening this year, then there are some huge questions,
11:30
Speaker 2: which brings the other question, do you make the deal
11:32
Speaker 2: now and move get get done with that? Has he
11:35
Speaker 2: shown you enough? I think it's a B plus for
11:39
Speaker 2: Trevor right now. I think he's still.
11:40
Speaker 3: Got some more approve Yeah. It's it's so hard to
11:43
Speaker 3: grade number one overall quarterback because if he's not Mahomes
11:49
Speaker 3: standing there with the trophy, people are like, well he's
11:52
Speaker 3: a bust. I mean, it's not either of those things.
11:57
Speaker 3: I think he's he's still trending, right. I don't want
12:01
Speaker 3: to not put a grade on it, so I'll go.
12:03
Speaker 3: I think B plus is about right. He's certainly not
12:06
Speaker 3: an F. He's certainly not a D or a C.
12:09
Speaker 3: So he's getting there. And I think if it wasn't,
12:16
Speaker 3: you know, you can't do this because he was number
12:17
Speaker 3: one overall, But if there wasn't so much focus, I
12:20
Speaker 3: think people are automatically Oh yeah, a good pick. But
12:23
Speaker 3: it's it's Trevor, It's it's everything he was supposed to be.
12:27
Speaker 3: Has he lived up to being the second Coming? Not yet,
12:30
Speaker 3: but he's not shown that he's not that yet, So
12:33
Speaker 3: I think B plus is fine.
12:34
Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's move to the second round. And
12:36
Speaker 1: I think we learned last year how valuable Tyson Campbell was.
12:40
Speaker 1: You remember he had the hamstring injury against the Colts
12:43
Speaker 1: that just seemed to linger into December. But truthfully, I
12:46
Speaker 1: don't think he looked like himself the rest of the year.
12:48
Speaker 1: He has been a very productive player for this football team.
12:52
Speaker 1: I think he has seven interceptions.
12:54
Speaker 2: Yeah it feels like that. And he's gotten better with
12:56
Speaker 2: the ball in the air. Remember early in his career,
12:58
Speaker 2: you know, he had troubled down the field and looking
13:01
Speaker 2: back losing the ball and then losing the defector and
13:03
Speaker 2: he's standing in the end zone with the football. So
13:06
Speaker 2: he's gotten better as the years have gone on. Let's
13:10
Speaker 2: see it in the system, right, this is supposed to
13:12
Speaker 2: be a press, you know, up against the line and
13:15
Speaker 2: a lot of contact, bump and run type of system.
13:18
Speaker 2: Can Tyson do that? I think he has the ability
13:20
Speaker 2: to do that, and he's been a good player for
13:22
Speaker 2: this team.
13:23
Speaker 1: Buss.
13:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, you asked for a Yeah, I'll give
13:26
Speaker 2: him a bee.
13:27
Speaker 1: Okay, I think there's if.
13:28
Speaker 2: You're gonna be a front line corner, there are some
13:31
Speaker 2: things that he has not shown to be that top tier,
13:34
Speaker 2: number one lockdown corner.
13:36
Speaker 3: Yeah. I'm gonna say, b With it's so hard because
13:41
Speaker 3: we're coming off the season. Like you said, it just
13:43
Speaker 3: feels like a lost season. You had to pick against Indianapolis.
13:46
Speaker 3: Beyond that, you can't really remember very much that he did.
13:51
Speaker 3: I've got to believe, based on what we saw from
13:53
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two that the reason we didn't see much
13:55
Speaker 3: was the hamster. Yeah, so almost a bee with an
13:58
Speaker 3: asterisk if he what he was. He felt really good
14:02
Speaker 3: about him in twenty twenty two. But coming off a hammy,
14:05
Speaker 3: you know, you want to see complete, you know, fifteen
14:09
Speaker 3: out of seventeen games going one hundred percent. So he again,
14:16
Speaker 3: he's a hard guy to grade for me because I
14:19
Speaker 3: want to be able to rely on it, and it
14:22
Speaker 3: feels like be with an incomplete.
14:23
Speaker 1: All right, let's stay in the second round. John Walker
14:25
Speaker 1: Little forty games played, nine starts. He started at left tackle,
14:30
Speaker 1: he started at right tackle, he started at left guard.
14:34
Speaker 1: He's been a pretty versatile player. I don't think he's
14:37
Speaker 1: he's quite reached the level that we thought when we
14:39
Speaker 1: first came as a rookie, where he looked so athletic
14:42
Speaker 1: and so powerful. Obviously, he's one of the highest rated
14:45
Speaker 1: the recruits coming out of high school when he came out,
14:48
Speaker 1: and there was a top player at Stanford before getting hurt.
14:50
Speaker 1: What do you see from him because he's in the
14:52
Speaker 1: final year of his deal.
14:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought I'm waffling on this, but if he's
14:58
Speaker 3: a third rounder, I feel like it's a beat second rounder.
15:01
Speaker 3: I feel like it's a C because you've got to
15:04
Speaker 3: sort of live up to draft potential. He didn't grasp
15:10
Speaker 3: or didn't grab a hold of that left tackle spot
15:13
Speaker 3: last year or a starting position, So he's going into
15:15
Speaker 3: a swing tackle that's valuable for the Jaguars and they're
15:19
Speaker 3: a better team with Walker little on it and he's
15:22
Speaker 3: an asset. But in terms of draft grade, i'd say,
15:26
Speaker 3: you know, the minus C plus in there because he
15:28
Speaker 3: was a second round pick and you sort of think
15:30
Speaker 3: by year four that should be a.
15:32
Speaker 1: Start, you know, to be fair, when Cam Robinson got
15:35
Speaker 1: hurt against the Cowboys at the end of the twenty
15:37
Speaker 1: twenty two season, Walker Little stepped in and the momentum
15:40
Speaker 1: didn't stop. He played very well down the stretch and
15:43
Speaker 1: into the playoffs. So we have seen some really good
15:45
Speaker 1: football from them.
15:46
Speaker 2: Joal arguments that he was better than Cam Robinson down
15:48
Speaker 2: the stretch. I mean, we had Jeff Flaghman and some
15:51
Speaker 2: of those guys. I'm here saying just that that Walker
15:54
Speaker 2: Little's performance was better at that moment. Did it carry over?
15:58
Speaker 2: Did he win the job? Did he win the right tackle?
16:00
Speaker 1: No?
16:00
Speaker 2: Against Jawan Taylor, did.
16:02
Speaker 3: He It may have been injuries. There's some injuries to
16:04
Speaker 3: him last year, so maybe it's not fair to say,
16:06
Speaker 3: well he wasn't this or that. But but to.
16:08
Speaker 2: Your point, Cam Robinson was the second round pick, first
16:12
Speaker 2: pick of the second round. He was a starter right
16:13
Speaker 2: away and has not been off the field right second
16:16
Speaker 2: round pick should be starters sooner rather than later if
16:18
Speaker 2: they're not day one, and for whatever the circumstances were
16:22
Speaker 2: around here, he has not been able to overcome that
16:25
Speaker 2: and become a day to day starter.
16:26
Speaker 1: Well, look, my perception is is that the Jaguars have
16:29
Speaker 1: a hole to fill at left tackle going into the
16:32
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five season because Cam's deal ends this year
16:36
Speaker 1: and Walker's on the final year of his rookie year.
16:39
Speaker 1: He hasn't had a chance or, as you've mentioned, claimed
16:41
Speaker 1: that job. So you go, well, look the future set
16:44
Speaker 1: at left tackle, and I don't know that he can
16:47
Speaker 1: do that this year because he's not going to be
16:48
Speaker 1: the starter. John you mentioned he's a swing.
16:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Anton's gonna go over there at that.
16:51
Speaker 2: Yeah.
16:51
Speaker 3: Yeah.
16:52
Speaker 2: By the way, I didn't give you a grede c plus.
16:54
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, well let's let's go to the third round.
16:57
Speaker 1: Andre Cisco. He's the guy who has seven interceptions. I
17:00
Speaker 1: got that wrong earlier. I think Tyson has three, but
17:03
Speaker 1: seven interceptions the last two years. He didn't play a
17:06
Speaker 1: lot as a rookie and has been an impact player
17:10
Speaker 1: for this team back there in the heart of.
17:13
Speaker 3: The defense, yago be. I mean he's been really really
17:18
Speaker 3: good at times. Again, a third round pick. You like
17:23
Speaker 3: the production where he a first round pick, you'd you know,
17:28
Speaker 3: so for third round pick, very very good, and I
17:32
Speaker 3: think he's still got some steps to take. I mean,
17:34
Speaker 3: can see how he transitions to this defense. Uh big
17:38
Speaker 3: sort of what the book on him was, big play
17:40
Speaker 3: guy is gonna make picks, nose for the ball. He's
17:42
Speaker 3: had that. The entire secondary him included. Had some breakdowns
17:46
Speaker 3: last year that you didn't like.
17:47
Speaker 2: He's gotten better at that over the years. Just the
17:50
Speaker 2: ball hawking and stuff that was promised has really come
17:53
Speaker 2: into fruition. So would you go with B plus B Yeah,
17:57
Speaker 2: give me a B minus because I think he can
17:58
Speaker 2: be better than these been shown. And that's not a
18:02
Speaker 2: knock against what he's done. He's done very well, but
18:05
Speaker 2: I think his ceiling is much higher than and his
18:08
Speaker 2: expectations for himself, I think are much higher than you
18:11
Speaker 2: might realize. So there's a lot left on the table
18:14
Speaker 2: for Andre Cisco, and I think he can go get.
18:16
Speaker 1: It all right. The final contributor from the twenty twenty
18:19
Speaker 1: one Jaguars NFL Draft class is tight end Luke Ferrell.
18:23
Speaker 1: Twelve starts in three years, but eight of them last year.
18:26
Speaker 1: They threw to him a couple of times last year.
18:28
Speaker 1: He's not a big receiving tight end, but I had
18:31
Speaker 1: more than one coach tell me that they thought that
18:33
Speaker 1: he was a gifted blocking tight end. A guy that
18:37
Speaker 1: you could really the equal up or greater than Chris Manhertz,
18:42
Speaker 1: who's pretty good around here.
18:43
Speaker 3: For a few years, can I go past fail? Yeah,
18:46
Speaker 3: they pass.
18:48
Speaker 1: Fifth round pick. I get it.
18:50
Speaker 2: Seven million tight ends and what's the standard for a
18:53
Speaker 2: blocking tight end?
18:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's been good. I think when you drafted him,
18:57
Speaker 3: there was that little joke where you google them. The
19:01
Speaker 3: baseball player Luke Ferrell came up and he had to
19:03
Speaker 3: post that this is not me so out of sort
19:07
Speaker 3: of obscurity. He has carved his way into a big
19:12
Speaker 3: role here and I think he'll play in the league
19:14
Speaker 3: for ten twelve years. So for a fifth round to
19:16
Speaker 3: pass a big pass with probably if I was forced
19:21
Speaker 3: to give a grade of BB plus, you got to
19:23
Speaker 3: light out of pick.
19:24
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, but you're you're current. It's a curve
19:27
Speaker 2: scale because.
19:28
Speaker 3: Which thankful the fore you they had in college.
19:29
Speaker 2: That's right. I was not a blocking tight end, but
19:31
Speaker 2: I felt sometimes so that Yeah, that makes sense to me, right, John,
19:36
Speaker 2: You know, he's he has a certain role here. You've
19:38
Speaker 2: got other tight ends that are going down the field
19:40
Speaker 2: catching balls. Put them stats obviously never had one hundred
19:43
Speaker 2: and fourteen catches. I mean that's that's not what he's
19:46
Speaker 2: going to be. Maybe in a situation here there he
19:49
Speaker 2: gets his hand on the football. I'm with you, John,
19:52
Speaker 2: it's it's a solid player.
19:54
Speaker 3: He's gonna play in the league a long time.
19:55
Speaker 2: Yeah.
19:55
Speaker 3: So fifth round pick if you're going to play ten years,
19:58
Speaker 3: A lot of fifth round picks are out of lee.
20:00
Speaker 1: So there's six starters contributors from the draft class.
20:02
Speaker 3: J T.
20:03
Speaker 1: Feley the defensive tackle from sc IS in Cincinnati, Jordan
20:07
Speaker 1: Smith the pass rusher out of the game, Jayalen Camp,
20:09
Speaker 1: the wide receiver out of the game. So how about
20:11
Speaker 1: an overall grade on a draft class with five starters
20:15
Speaker 1: and its significant contributor in Luke Ferrell, I'd say b.
20:18
Speaker 3: I mean, it maybe hard to give an A because
20:23
Speaker 3: you don't have beyond what Trevor won Pro Bowl. You
20:27
Speaker 3: don't have like huge, you know, the face of the
20:33
Speaker 3: league guy yet. But it also is a class that
20:37
Speaker 3: clearly helped pull you out of the abyss and set
20:41
Speaker 3: the tone for two back to back winning seasons. So
20:44
Speaker 3: it's certainly not a bad class. And how Trevor. If
20:50
Speaker 3: Trevor's Trevor, it's an A.
20:51
Speaker 4: If everybody else is a bus Yeah, It's a B
20:54
Speaker 4: for me, and it can improve to an A if
20:56
Speaker 4: some of these guys get to their next deal and
20:58
Speaker 4: stick around and you know, prove that they can be
21:01
Speaker 4: cornerstone players for this organization.
21:03
Speaker 2: So be with room to grow.
21:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, if they win a super Bowl while he's here, Andy,
21:11
Speaker 3: Trevor's in the Hall of Fame, it's the greatest draft
21:13
Speaker 3: in his plus plus plus it all will be ultimately,
21:18
Speaker 3: you know this is great in ten years, it'll be
21:22
Speaker 3: graded on him.
21:23
Speaker 1: With that to be said, I'll go with a B
21:24
Speaker 1: plus because you did get five starters and a guy here,
21:27
Speaker 1: and we hadn't seen productive drafts like that in a
21:30
Speaker 1: long time, So lean that way. Also, I guess the
21:32
Speaker 1: optimism I have for who Trevor Lawrence is going to
21:35
Speaker 1: be in his fourth season pushes me in that direction.
21:38
Speaker 1: But that's it. After three years, we can take a
21:40
Speaker 1: look at it, and I think that's a fair way
21:41
Speaker 1: to grade it.
21:42
Speaker 2: Were the twenty class, No, okay, okay, just make it.
21:46
Speaker 1: Sure, no, no, all right. When we come back, we'll
21:50
Speaker 1: turn to this year's draft, the twenty twenty four class.
21:52
Speaker 1: We'll look a little bit at the defensive line and
21:54
Speaker 1: some prospects and probabilities of what the Jaguars could be
21:57
Speaker 1: looking at. That's next on jags Am. Jaguars fans here
22:05
Speaker 1: up at fanatics dot com with all the latest Jaguars styles.
22:09
Speaker 1: Shop now and get today's special offer. Fanatics dot Com
22:12
Speaker 1: officially licensed everything and welcome back to jag z Am.
22:16
Speaker 1: From the Hundai studios inside the Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville,
22:21
Speaker 1: Brian John JP joining us today, we turn our attention
22:25
Speaker 1: to the twenty twenty four NFL Draft. We talked receiver,
22:28
Speaker 1: We've talked cornerback, We've talked offensive line ad nauseum. But
22:33
Speaker 1: on the heels of the Josh Allen signing late last week,
22:36
Speaker 1: I thought maybe we'd take a look at the defensive line.
22:38
Speaker 1: But before we get started looking at names, how probable
22:41
Speaker 1: do you think it is that the Jaguars could spend
22:43
Speaker 1: a first round pick on someone in their front seven
22:45
Speaker 1: on defense.
22:48
Speaker 3: If the draft board in the first round forces it,
22:52
Speaker 3: I think it could happen. I don't know that they're
22:54
Speaker 3: going in with that at the top of their priority list.
22:59
Speaker 1: Eric Arms, that obviously changed that, Yeah.
23:01
Speaker 3: And obviously it did. You still want to draft with
23:07
Speaker 3: a five year plan. I'm not sure Eric's a five
23:09
Speaker 3: year plan at this point in his career. I hope
23:12
Speaker 3: he is. So if there's a guy there who you
23:17
Speaker 3: think is dominant, who is a big time player, it's
23:22
Speaker 3: more palpable to draft that on the defensive line sometimes
23:26
Speaker 3: in the offensive line, meaning you rotate so much on
23:30
Speaker 3: the defensive line you can get production even if he's
23:34
Speaker 3: not a quote starter, so you can lean that way.
23:39
Speaker 3: I'd be surprised if that's the pick. It's not a
23:42
Speaker 3: there's a couple of tackles in the first round. It's
23:44
Speaker 3: not a great class for it. So the couple of
23:48
Speaker 3: guys maybe off the board and not makes sense. But philosophically,
23:52
Speaker 3: no problem with it, because you're never going to go
23:56
Speaker 3: wrong if you draft a really, really good interior defensive line.
24:00
Speaker 2: That's about the front seven. Yeah, that includes linebackers, and
24:02
Speaker 2: they've dge rushers. They've drafted linebackers so many linebackers around
24:06
Speaker 2: here in the last two years. I don't think you
24:08
Speaker 2: go that high with the linement. Maybe I'm wrong, but
24:11
Speaker 2: and you've got the edge rushers. They're set in place
24:14
Speaker 2: for a long time to come. I don't think it's there.
24:16
Speaker 2: If it's anything, it's an interior d lineman, but I
24:19
Speaker 2: think percentage chance pretty low. I mean, considering all the
24:21
Speaker 2: other things that they could use more quickly than that.
24:25
Speaker 1: Well, at seventeen it seems to be the sweet spot.
24:27
Speaker 1: There will be a couple of cornerbacks around that area
24:29
Speaker 1: as well as offensive linemen. But just for argument's sake,
24:32
Speaker 1: let's take a look at the edge rushers. Because what
24:34
Speaker 1: if a guy like Jared Verse falls to you, right,
24:36
Speaker 1: you can never have enough pass rush. We always go
24:38
Speaker 1: back to the Giants and feeding the undefeated Patriots in
24:41
Speaker 1: January of two thousand and eight, and Jared versus a
24:44
Speaker 1: guy it's hard to kind of figure out where he
24:47
Speaker 1: falls in this equation, but hyper productive at Florida State
24:50
Speaker 1: for the last couple of years.
24:51
Speaker 2: I think he tested pretty well too, John. I remember
24:54
Speaker 2: right at the combine and really showed up there, which
24:56
Speaker 2: was a lot of people who were looking for that
24:58
Speaker 2: workout and really flat pretty well. But a good, solid player,
25:02
Speaker 2: and we'll see what the future holds. Reverse.
25:05
Speaker 3: Look, it's the same philosophy that I just discussed. If
25:08
Speaker 3: you draft him, if you think he's a disruptive force
25:14
Speaker 3: and is going to be a five or six year
25:16
Speaker 3: front line big time players say five or six hitsies
25:19
Speaker 3: with the contract lines up, then there's nothing wrong with
25:22
Speaker 3: the pick because you're in nickel more than you are
25:25
Speaker 3: anything else. You're in pass rest situations. You can find
25:28
Speaker 3: a place to move Trayvon Walker. If you think that
25:32
Speaker 3: Josh Allen and a rookie can have impact, you can
25:36
Speaker 3: move guys around this league and impact the quarterbacks. So
25:39
Speaker 3: if this is the best player on the board at seventeen,
25:43
Speaker 3: there's always a strong argument for if you have best
25:46
Speaker 3: pass rusher and best cornerback on the board and they're
25:48
Speaker 3: graded equally. I'm a guy who says take the pass
25:51
Speaker 3: rusher because that guy can disrupt every play. A cornerback
25:54
Speaker 3: affects one only affects it if you throw at him.
25:57
Speaker 1: It doesn't seem logical because last year you had Travel
26:00
Speaker 1: and Josh combined for twenty seven and a half sacks,
26:03
Speaker 1: which was the most by a duo in the NFL
26:06
Speaker 1: last year.
26:07
Speaker 3: You can be great if you're dominant up front exactly.
26:10
Speaker 1: So let's turn our attention to the defensive tackles because
26:12
Speaker 1: there are a couple in particular Byron Murphy, Johnny Newton
26:16
Speaker 1: from Illinois, Chris Jenkins from Michigan, who's a guy I
26:19
Speaker 1: know you saw when you were doing some college football
26:22
Speaker 1: last year. It's probable that all three of these guys
26:26
Speaker 1: are sitting there at seventeen. You don't need it. So
26:30
Speaker 1: this might be a spot if this is the best
26:32
Speaker 1: player on the board, that you're backing up right, kind
26:34
Speaker 1: of like the Jaguars did last year where they back
26:37
Speaker 1: out of twenty four and made themselves available all the
26:40
Speaker 1: way at twenty seven to grab the guy they really wanted.
26:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, so much of this is it's hard for us
26:46
Speaker 3: to predict this because we don't know. If Trent Balky
26:50
Speaker 3: and the brain trust looks at Byron Murphy and said
26:52
Speaker 3: this is Aaron Donald, then who cares.
26:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, it doesn't matter if you take it.
26:56
Speaker 3: What you have on the roster. So, not knowing their
27:01
Speaker 3: passions on certain players, and with.
27:03
Speaker 1: Ryan Nielsen in his first year as the defensive coordinator,
27:05
Speaker 1: it's hard to project.
27:06
Speaker 3: So again it's such a cop out. But if this
27:12
Speaker 3: guy's great, take him because he's going to disrupt the game.
27:16
Speaker 3: I don't think that's the route they go because I
27:19
Speaker 3: think I think cornerback is such a glaring need that
27:23
Speaker 3: it makes sense. But there's nothing wrong with him or
27:27
Speaker 3: new JP.
27:28
Speaker 2: No, what's Devon Hamilton's health status? Yeah, I think that
27:33
Speaker 2: might have a little.
27:34
Speaker 1: Bit serious issues to deal with last year.
27:36
Speaker 2: Right as he passed those. You know, he was trying
27:39
Speaker 2: to get back later in the season last year, but
27:41
Speaker 2: it was it was so dramatic and such a big
27:44
Speaker 2: injury for him. So is he right? And I think
27:48
Speaker 2: that might tell you a whole lot about what they
27:50
Speaker 2: think about this position.
27:51
Speaker 3: Moving ahead, Oh, Reclus, they have Armstead can move around
27:55
Speaker 3: to us, So there's so many moving parts. It's always
27:59
Speaker 3: hard these days. Are any the same problem at safety?
28:03
Speaker 3: Sometimes two in linebacker? We're used to talking about terms
28:08
Speaker 3: from the nineteen nineties. Everybody's in so many sub packages
28:11
Speaker 3: now and everybody moves around so much. You know, it's
28:14
Speaker 3: okay to have guys who can move around on the
28:17
Speaker 3: front of your defensive line, and they have the versatility
28:19
Speaker 3: to do that. So sliding one more guy in there
28:21
Speaker 3: can make an impact might make sense.
28:23
Speaker 1: If they do nothing on the defensive line next week
28:26
Speaker 1: during the draft, are they still in a great spot
28:29
Speaker 1: for next year? Are they in a good spot next
28:31
Speaker 1: year or do you think they will have missed an opportunity.
28:33
Speaker 2: I think they're in a great spot next year with
28:35
Speaker 2: all the guys they have they've they've signed. They've got
28:38
Speaker 2: Josh Allen, They've got Treyvon Walker who can move around.
28:40
Speaker 2: They've got Roy Robertson Harris, They've got Devon Hamilton if
28:44
Speaker 2: he's fully healthy. They've got all these pieces that they've
28:47
Speaker 2: had in free agency, in the draft collectively together in
28:51
Speaker 2: the front four, front five, whatever combination you want to
28:54
Speaker 2: use of that. I think they're in a great spot,
28:55
Speaker 2: at least for next year. Now, two three years down
28:58
Speaker 2: the line, there's always questions, but for next season, this
29:01
Speaker 2: should be one of the top defensive lines in the AFC.
29:04
Speaker 3: I think they're in a great spot. You remember when
29:08
Speaker 3: you used to have like good Christmases, didn't quite get
29:11
Speaker 3: the present you wanted. Jared Verse, a guy like that,
29:14
Speaker 3: add one more pass rusher to a really good group
29:19
Speaker 3: could be like when your dad left the bike outside.
29:23
Speaker 2: What's in the corner in the corner.
29:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I could see fans out there right now
29:29
Speaker 3: going though, I really want one more pass rusher. I
29:33
Speaker 3: can see Trent Balky not saying it to me, but boy,
29:37
Speaker 3: I really would love to have that impact. So very
29:40
Speaker 3: very good there one more guy can make them dominant
29:46
Speaker 3: if it's an impact rookie.
29:48
Speaker 1: Which is why we had the conversation, even though it
29:50
Speaker 1: doesn't seem likely for the Jaguars to address the defensive line,
29:54
Speaker 1: at least not in the first round. All right, we'll
29:56
Speaker 1: come back and wrap up this edition of jags Am
29:59
Speaker 1: from the Hundai Studios inside the middle of Electric Center.
30:02
Speaker 1: A good this, all right, back to wrap it up
30:16
Speaker 1: here on a Tuesday jags a m from the Hyundai Studios.
30:22
Speaker 1: I mentioned the nineteen year old who wanted to talk
30:25
Speaker 1: receiver yesterday. He also wanted to talk about the promo
30:27
Speaker 1: for the new uniforms, well, the old uniforms, the throwbacks
30:31
Speaker 1: that appear to be returning this year, as I hide
30:33
Speaker 1: you guys out hype.
30:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's cool, right, I mean, they're cool. The throwback
30:39
Speaker 2: is fun, and we'll see what the full thing looks like.
30:42
Speaker 2: I mean, we only saw the logo, the full cat logo.
30:46
Speaker 1: That was called when it first came out. I remember
30:48
Speaker 1: the press conference it was called the Prowler, the pro
30:51
Speaker 1: the Prowler, right, and they put it on the sleeves.
30:54
Speaker 1: Now I've seen the mock ups. I think there's one
30:57
Speaker 1: with Trevor A photos deal of Trevor wearing it. It's cool, Okay,
31:03
Speaker 1: it'd be fun.
31:04
Speaker 3: Look, it's not something that I'm overly passionate about. Yeah,
31:08
Speaker 3: but fans are fired up for Yeah, they are so
31:10
Speaker 3: good for them.
31:11
Speaker 2: You know what would make it look a whole lot
31:13
Speaker 2: better if they won that game. They could wear polka dots.
31:18
Speaker 2: I don't care as long as they win.
31:19
Speaker 1: The game always comes back to the bottom line.
31:22
Speaker 2: No offensive polka dots.
31:24
Speaker 1: All right, Thanks for jumping into this.
31:27
Speaker 2: Great to see.
31:27
Speaker 1: We'll hear from some players today, the coach and the
31:30
Speaker 1: general manager. We'll talk on Thursday, and I'm sure you'll
31:33
Speaker 1: cover all of that on Jaguars Happy.
31:35
Speaker 2: We'll have it on of course. Huddle Up is the
31:37
Speaker 2: name of the podcast Wednesday.
31:39
Speaker 3: That's right with Bucky Brooks.
31:40
Speaker 2: I've heard of him, so we got that and of
31:42
Speaker 2: course Happy Hour Thursday.
31:43
Speaker 1: Right. Much more ahead here, it's kind of getting to
31:45
Speaker 1: be a busy week. In the next week. I'm headed
31:47
Speaker 1: for Detroit, so to this show. We'll be live on
31:50
Speaker 1: Wednesday from Detroit and from the Hyundai studios, so we'll
31:54
Speaker 1: see you then. Thanks for joining us on Jags Am