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An Underrated Jaguars Position Group? · Duval Daily: A Jacksonville Jaguars Podcast

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jacksonville Jaguar's fans, welcome in to Duval, daily presented by Jinjak.com and fuel by Brass Tax Coffee, shouted Brass Tax Best Coffee in town by a wide margin.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, right now we are talking the Jaguar's linebacker group.
• 0:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a group that I think is underrated right now in a big way and it's a title.
• 0:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: And this is the dead period.
• 0:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's no mistaking that.
• 0:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's basically a month now between where we're at, which is many camp ended, OTAs ended, and now you're just waiting on training camp to get going.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: And once training camp starts, it is like full speed ahead, at least.
• 0:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: from my vantage point, my perspective because, you know, you're out there at training camp pretty much every day, like three out of four days or four out of five days, and then for that couple weeks to start training camp until really the preseason starts.
• 0:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: it's just like crazy, you're out there in the heat every single day, but you know there's nothing I would rather do obviously, but it's still it is a grind for players and everybody involved, but then once you get to preseason it's like you have game tape to evaluate and it gets really exciting.
• 1:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that's just kind of where we're at.
• 1:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're in the dead period, waiting on training camp to get fired up and we're going to be talking about every position group.
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're also going to
• 1:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: and really kind of offering up some analysis on different things, the different big publications are putting out.
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, excited to get into the Jaguar's linebacker group.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Again, I think it's an underrated group and I'll explain why here.
• 1:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: And throughout this position group,
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: exercise that we're doing, looking at every position group.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to be evaluating them and giving it grade.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so by the end of this whole exercise, we will have a grade for the Jaguar's roster, which is exciting.
• 1:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: We started with the quarterbacks, and I do think the quarterback of the defense is
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: for your Jacksonville Jaguar.
• 2:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that's why we went with linebacker here with the second position group.
• 2:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: We'll probably go back and forth, offense defense, offense defense.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: So excited to get into it.
• 2:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Really appreciate y'all being here.
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoy the content, all jacks all the time, please like and subscribe.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can also hit that high button and also check out jingjag.com, pick up some new dovall gear, help support the channel look good while doing it.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, um,
• 2:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Last week, we did the quarterbacks.
• 2:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: I gave the Jaguar as quarterbacks overall a B, Trevor Lawrence.
• 2:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: I had like an A minus and, you know, the rest of the quarterback group is uninspiring overall when it comes to like, if they had to get on the field and play.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: So they had a B, which would be like a high B right below B plus like a 86, where the quarterbacks.
• 2:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, is what I came up with, and so looking at the linebackers, FOIA Luke, and I mentioned underrated.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think FOIA Luke and has been one of the most underrated players in football for a very, very long time, like absolutely ridiculous in my opinion.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, how underrated FOIA Luke and has been, like, just does not get the national attention that I believe he should.
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like I mentioned, he is like the quarterback of the defense, he does so much, the numbers aren't like flashy.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: All the time, obviously the tackle numbers can be very flashy for a foyer.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like he's been one of the leading tacklers in the league for a long time.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: uh... but he's just asked to do so much from a mental and communication standpoint he's such a leader uh... on the field for the jag wars and i think he's a very balanced player like he's a good run defender he's a good communicator pre-snap good leader in terms of like leading by example and leading
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: from a verbal communication standpoint within the locker room on the field.
• 4:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's also a good blitzer, and he's good in coverage.
• 4:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, he's a really good athlete.
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Does not miss very many tackles.
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's been a under 10% miss tackle rate guy throughout his career.
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's been solid in coverage.
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: You always look at the coverage numbers on linebackers, and it's kind of deceiving.
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Cause like, you see last year, he allowed 83.3%.
• 4:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: of his targets in primary coverage to be completed.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you would like that number to come down a little bit, but there's like no yak, it's all in front of him, it's all dropping in his own, and then completing a pass in front of him.
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: You really don't want the passes that are going over the head of the linebacker.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And yes, there are those here and there.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: But there's also plays made in that regard.
• 4:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like when you're trying to pass over his head or at his depth, he's oftentimes able to make a play on the football.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: He had six pass breakups last year.
• 5:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's just, there's not a lot of yak when it comes to him in coverage.
• 5:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty much all in front of him.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: He allowed eight yards per catch.
• 5:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: So like that is literally him dropping in his zone and then just trying to dump something off in front of him.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not really being a liability in coverage for the most part.
• 5:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then again, such a sound tackler and a player that I would honestly put him
• 5:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: as like a B plus linebacker.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think he does any one thing at an elite level, but I think he does everything well.
• 5:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that that is extremely valuable.
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: On top of the fact that he is smart, he is a leader, he is a communicator and all those things.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I would put him at like a very high B plus.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then beyond that, I think,
• 5:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Nationally foie doesn't get enough attention.
• 5:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think beyond that though, nationally and locally, a lot of people are really just kind of riding off the rest of the group.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people thought the jack wars would go linebacker extremely early in the draft and we toyed with that idea here.
• 6:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: We toyed with every idea here on the channel in the pre-draft lead-up, but I also said I think that Ventral Miller
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: should be the front runner for the starting job next to FOIA Luke and based on his tape that he showed in this system last year when Devon Lloyd got hurt and everybody forgets like nobody was even excited about Devon Lloyd at this point last year locally people were not fired up about Devon Lloyd being your starter.
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Ventral Miller was in a competition with with Devin Lloyd at this point last year and that competition carried into week one of the regular season Devin Lloyd just ended up having a great year made a ton of plays and and his
• 6:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: poor plays in coverage, missed assignments in coverage, greatly reduced while his splash plays in coverage greatly increased the interceptions and playmaking ability and he was put into a position where he could hunt downhill and blitz a lot and that really helped him out and he did a great job in that role.
• 7:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think you insert ventral Miller in that role and you're in a very, very good spot.
• 7:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now ventral Miller just simply does not have a
• 7:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think he has enough tape to evaluate.
• 7:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: He played a lot last year, like he did.
• 7:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: He played 220 defense of snaps.
• 7:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: I watched every single one of those snaps, and I think he did a really, really good job overall.
• 7:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's fair to say a player who only has 220 snaps in this defense is it possible that there is room for variance and some of the different things that happened some of the different metrics, numbers, et cetera.
• 7:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's not a ton of snaps, but I think it is enough to evaluate that, combined with what we've seen throughout.
• 7:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: practices and throughout, you know, 2024, he also played a lot.
• 7:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: He played four hundred eighty-two snaps, wasn't a great year overall, but the entire Jaguar's defense outside of a couple players really struggled under Ryan Nielsen, so difficult to kind of parse that, I guess.
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm kind of rolling with what I've seen from him in this defense, from my analysis and evaluation of Ventral Miller,
• 8:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I like it.
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I like what I've seen.
• 8:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: He is a guy who can blitz.
• 8:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: He is a guy who plays the run at an extremely high level.
• 8:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Last year he missed only 7% of his tackles and tackle attempts I should say.
• 8:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: He played very well in coverage overall.
• 8:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: His reception percentage was 35.7.
• 8:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: He had an interception which was like a pop-up really easy and there's happened.
• 8:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: But also another pass break-up that was impressive.
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think against the cults.
• 8:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: I like Ventrell, he's in a contract year, he's 27 years old, his tape from last year was very, very good.
• 8:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot I think that points to a breakout year for Ventrell, he's going to want to get paid and this is his big opportunity to go get the biggest contract he's going to be able to earn throughout his career.
• 9:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: is second contract.
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's generally the one for most players outside of like some super stars.
• 9:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: The second contract is the one that gets you to pay the most.
• 9:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm excited about ventral Miller.
• 9:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: What I saw last year from him, I think was very good.
• 9:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would put him right around an 80 right now just because you really do need to see it more.
• 9:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've only seen
• 9:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Ben Trello, I put around an 80, and part of it, Anthony Campanile and this defense, they're going to do a really good job, kind of masking deficiencies.
• 9:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're just well coached and they know how to cover up weaknesses.
• 9:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Vintral Miller, you're not going to mistake him with someone who's going to be a great man coverage defender at the linebacker position, but there's very few of those in the league.
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: He is a guy who I think can execute in zone, but he might not be on the field all that much on third down in clear passing situations if he's not blitzing or covering a shallow zone.
• 10:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that they'll do a good job putting him in positions to succeed and I think he will succeed and play very well.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's why I have an 80 on him, but it could definitely get higher.
• 10:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: throughout the year, but I think that that's a fair place to land right now.
• 10:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those are your two starters in my opinion, and you've also got Jack Kaiser and Branson Holmes, who I view as good depth.
• 10:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jack Kaiser, a fourth round pick by this regime last year.
• 10:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: He did have to get on the field just a little bit during the season when there was multiple injuries at the linebacker position.
• 10:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I thought he acquitted himself well.
• 10:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Against the 49ers, he had 11 reps, the Titans, eight reps, Colts, 13, Jets, 15, Colts, and Jets, those were situations where he was getting on the field.
• 10:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: I believe because of the game situation, they were like, let's get some.
• 11:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's got some backups out here, but I'm not, I can't remember 100% there, but I think he did did a good job as a rookie.
• 11:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's got a lot of the tools you're looking for as a middle linebacker.
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: He is foyer, Luke, and the backup.
• 11:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Branson Combs right now, I would say, is Ventral Miller's backup and Branson Combs.
• 11:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: They've talked about he might be the MVP of the Jack Wars Offseason program from a, the,
• 11:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Iron Jaguar competition, just like the competing in the weight room and getting yourself ready for playing football at a high level.
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: They've been very impressed with him.
• 11:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: They were impressed with him last off season.
• 11:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've said this before.
• 11:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a bunch of times where last year during practice.
• 11:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I thought it was Jack Kaiser making a play, but no, it's actually Branson Colms.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's no slide on Jack Kaiser, he makes plays too, but Branson Colms is a really good athlete, and he competes his butt off, and so I think there's decent depth there.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think in this system, you would also include, it's hard for me, because I really think of Dennis Gardeck, more of a on-the-ball player,
• 12:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: But that linebacker spot, kind of Sam linebacker, or whatever you want to call it, is a starter.
• 12:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're not necessarily going to play starting snaps consistently, but it is a starter in base.
• 12:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so Dennis Gardeck,
• 12:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: would be the other starter here and you obviously are Abdullah and Jalen McLeod behind him I feel I feel good about that Do I think that this is like the most elite depth you could possibly have at the linebacker spot?
• 12:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, but I do think that there's guys that you can reasonably expect to perform at a decent level if they have to play meaningful snaps if FOIA is down Jack Kaiser.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think can play
• 12:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: significant snaps i think if if ventral went down i would not not be nervous about bransson columns and then within his guard act uh... yes here of doola is a guy who has a quitted himself well in this new defense and i like jale m in cloud a lot coming out of Auburn he just happened to miss his rookie year so uh... i think the starters are good i think the depth is pretty good at linebacker
• 13:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, you know, I mentioned I would have FOIA, like a 88 Ventrel at like a 80 Dennis Gardeck.
• 13:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, probably in the low 80s as well, like he can do a lot of good things for you.
• 13:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not a perfect player, but he does set the tone, brings the energy, plays with a lot of fire, and can do multiple things at a pretty high level.
• 13:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I'll just do in some math here on the fly, I would say,
• 13:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: you know, 88 for 480 for ventral and you can say that that's too high for ventral.
• 13:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can make your arguments whatever in the comment section.
• 13:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm fine with that, but I've watched every single rep of his career and to me, this is a player who's ready to enter the starting lineup and in a situation that's really going to help him out.
• 14:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would probably put
• 14:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: an 83 which is like just a mid tier B little low B there not not quite a B minus but a low B and for your backups I would probably put them at like 75 it's not like an elite group of backups so you definitely wait the starters more heavily than the backups so I would put this
• 14:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Right around in 80, honestly, low B, B minus.
• 14:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's where I would have them right now.
• 14:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that's a pretty good spot to be in.
• 14:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's a group that if you have that level of linebacker being coached by Anthony Campanile and Tim Lucobu, you're in a pretty darn good spot because those guys are gonna be able to execute.
• 15:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think you're gonna be looking back and talking about 81 seemed pretty low.
• 15:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think 81,
• 15:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: And 81 for this group, when you factor in the actual talent and take away the situation, I think it's reasonable.
• 15:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: The situation, I think, is going to help them play a lot better than that, and probably perform at a higher level.
• 15:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think, you know, Ventral Miller could be in for a big pay day.
• 15:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that if Branson Combs or Jack Kaiser has to play, they're going to end up looking, I think Branson Combs would look very good if he ends up playing a lot.
• 15:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, that's why I'm out with the Jaguar's linebackers.
• 15:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have a quarterback at 86, linebacker at 81, so the Jaguar is right now our solid B roster through two position groups, obviously coaching matters in a big way.
• 16:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think they're coaching elevates both of these groups beyond what they are on paper.
• 16:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: I do.
• 16:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, good place to be in through two position groups.
• 16:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: The quarterback of the offense, driver Lawrence and company, and then the quarterback of the defense FOIA look, and we started with those two groups and we'll keep moving forward.
• 16:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Really appreciate y'all tuning in supporting the channel, love talking jacks, football with y'all.
• 16:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Please like, subscribe, hit that high button.
• 16:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let me know how you feel about the linebackers in the comments section below, and y'all have a good one.