Latest / Jags A.M. / Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 218 | Analyzing the RB Room, AFC South Free Agency Spending
Transcript
- 0:16Speaker 1: Welcome to jag Vam this morning. Hindani Stevens here with you,
- 0:19Speaker 1: Brian Sexton, John Oser as well as free agency is
- 0:22Speaker 1: behind us now and we're looking forward to the draft,
- 0:24Speaker 1: a myriad of other things going on in the off season.
- 0:27Speaker 1: Let's talk all about it. We're gonna bring you our
- 0:29Speaker 1: big things today. Our big thing Number one is belmo
- 0:31Speaker 1: fear of missing out. I think a lot of Jaguars
- 0:33Speaker 1: fans were feeling that a little bit during free agency
- 0:35Speaker 1: because we're used to a lot of people coming to
- 0:38Speaker 1: town and your GM James Gladstone felt that a little
- 0:40Speaker 1: bit too, but he's not letting it dictate their strategy.
- 0:44Speaker 2: Beemo sets in a little bit.
- 0:46Speaker 3: You know, we're all human.
- 0:48Speaker 2: Well, at the same time, it's not uncharted territory for me,
- 0:52Speaker 2: you know, it's not uncharted territory for Liam. He was
- 0:54Speaker 2: with us at the RAMS, and you know, this was
- 0:57Speaker 2: an approach that we took in full cycles and it's
- 1:02Speaker 2: really one that I know well and feel confident can navigate.
- 1:07Speaker 3: And really be able to use all the.
- 1:10Speaker 2: Different intervals that lie in front of us to continue
- 1:13Speaker 2: to shape what will be the twenty twenty six Jacksonville
- 1:16Speaker 2: Jaguar so it's exciting for my advantage point to know that,
- 1:20Speaker 2: you know, the start of the league year began yesterday,
- 1:23Speaker 2: roughly twenty four hours ago, a little less, and it's nothing.
- 1:27Speaker 1: More than the start ran We talked a little bit
- 1:30Speaker 1: about this last week when there wasn't a ton of fireworks,
- 1:32Speaker 1: and I know people are poking fun at them about
- 1:34Speaker 1: the comp picks, but really that what they've tried to
- 1:37Speaker 1: do is kind of acquire through the draft and through trades.
- 1:40Speaker 4: Listen, as a seasoned observer of this league, John will say,
- 1:43Speaker 4: we're the old guys, right. One thing I learned very
- 1:46Speaker 4: early with this group fourth down in the fourth quarter
- 1:50Speaker 4: in Week two and Cincinnati last year, is that they're
- 1:52Speaker 4: not scared.
- 1:52Speaker 3: They're not scared of anything.
- 1:53Speaker 4: They're not scared of going forward and fourth down, They're
- 1:55Speaker 4: not scared of not going to the combine. They're not
- 1:58Speaker 4: scared of not being involved in free agent. See, there's
- 2:00Speaker 4: always been an urgency in this league about things that
- 2:03Speaker 4: need to be done and done in a certain way
- 2:05Speaker 4: and at a certain time of the year. These guys
- 2:07Speaker 4: are completely asymmetrical to that. They want to do things
- 2:11Speaker 4: their own way, and I John just really appreciate the
- 2:15Speaker 4: calm demeanor with which he goes.
- 2:17Speaker 3: He was talking about the complex.
- 2:18Speaker 4: Right, they're using the compics to look forward into twenty
- 2:22Speaker 4: twenty six, like during the season. They want the ammunition
- 2:26Speaker 4: to be able to go get a player before the tradeline.
- 2:29Speaker 4: They've done it successfully around here, So I really just
- 2:32Speaker 4: like the way that they're doing things differently without any
- 2:36Speaker 4: fear whatsoever.
- 2:37Speaker 5: Yeah, I can't subscribe to FOMO because I fear everything
- 2:41Speaker 5: all the time. So look, yes, when James Gladstone said
- 2:49Speaker 5: this about the compics, so people sort of pointed that
- 2:53Speaker 5: out and you know, mocked it if you will. I
- 2:57Speaker 5: don't know that the strategy was as much about hey,
- 3:01Speaker 5: let's go always grab comp pics. I think he was
- 3:03Speaker 5: trying to make the point that this is now cash
- 3:06Speaker 5: that they can use to operate around the league. The
- 3:11Speaker 5: big reason they didn't be more active in freegency, even
- 3:16Speaker 5: signing their own guys. They're trying to get the cap
- 3:18Speaker 5: in order and they're trying to have this thing structured
- 3:21Speaker 5: for the long term. The benefit of that is that
- 3:25Speaker 5: you get compis at any given time. But it's not
- 3:28Speaker 5: like he was trying to say, hey, we're gonna give
- 3:30Speaker 5: up all of our guys and go get picks in
- 3:32Speaker 5: a year. But that plays into when you do things right,
- 3:37Speaker 5: that's an added benefit.
- 3:39Speaker 1: Let's go to our second big thing today, because there
- 3:41Speaker 1: was one outside edition that the right fit is our
- 3:44Speaker 1: second big thing today because Chris Rodriguez, running back who
- 3:48Speaker 1: started his career in Washington but went to college with
- 3:52Speaker 1: Liam Cohen, talked a little bit about why he fell
- 3:55Speaker 1: Jacksonville was the right place for him.
- 3:57Speaker 6: As far as to like, why Jacksonville, I think, you know,
- 4:01Speaker 6: it's it's an opportunity. I feel like it was going
- 4:04Speaker 6: to be the best opportunity for me. You know, I
- 4:06Speaker 6: know Liam and he knows me, and I know the
- 4:10Speaker 6: type of standard he expects, and I feel like we
- 4:12Speaker 6: can get that done.
- 4:15Speaker 1: Don Liam Cohen was Chris Rodriguez's offenseive coordinator of Kentucky
- 4:18Speaker 1: for one year, and he said that was partially the
- 4:21Speaker 1: reason they went out and got him. They feel like
- 4:22Speaker 1: they know what they're gonna get. What does this fit
- 4:24Speaker 1: look like for them?
- 4:25Speaker 5: Well, it feels like they got the physical runner that
- 4:30Speaker 5: they really didn't have in the backfield last year. The
- 4:32Speaker 5: Quinn Allen has a little bit of that, but this
- 4:35Speaker 5: guy's big. If you've seen any of his highlight plays
- 4:40Speaker 5: if you will on YouTube. He puts his head down,
- 4:44Speaker 5: he runs hard. I think what they believe here is
- 4:50Speaker 5: last year in two ton ETN they had big play
- 4:53Speaker 5: ability at the rain back position. They had outside the
- 4:55Speaker 5: tackle stuff, they had speed. What they sometimes didn't have
- 5:00Speaker 5: was a guy on first down getting four yards, getting
- 5:05Speaker 5: five yards, getting bruising yards, and getting them in second
- 5:08Speaker 5: and six and second and five a lot. I think
- 5:10Speaker 5: they feel like he can get them in better down
- 5:14Speaker 5: and distant situations consistently. Consistently. It may not be as
- 5:19Speaker 5: explosive a look, but it might be a more effective look.
- 5:23Speaker 5: Down to down, Ryan, Listen.
- 5:24Speaker 3: He's a guy that runs between the tackles.
- 5:26Speaker 4: I mean, how many times have you watched highlights of
- 5:28Speaker 4: him and see him going right up between the hashmarks.
- 5:30Speaker 4: That's not ETN style. That's not the way we've seen
- 5:33Speaker 4: Basiel Tooton run. This is a different kind of runner,
- 5:36Speaker 4: and much like the wide receiving core where they talked
- 5:38Speaker 4: about having three guys at seven hundred yards or four
- 5:41Speaker 4: guys at five hundred yards, have three different running backs
- 5:44Speaker 4: with three different kinds of styles gives him a lot
- 5:46Speaker 4: of flexibility. John last year he had five games for
- 5:49Speaker 4: the Commanders where he had at least ten carries and
- 5:51Speaker 4: averaged more than five yards per carry. That speaks to
- 5:54Speaker 4: exactly what you're talking about setting up second and short
- 5:57Speaker 4: or third down. In short. He's a big, using runner
- 6:00Speaker 4: and tied say this too. That's what he's been in
- 6:03Speaker 4: four years. He was on and off the roster in Washington,
- 6:06Speaker 4: on the practice squad, back to the active roster.
- 6:08Speaker 3: What he could be here in.
- 6:10Speaker 4: Jacksonville could be completely different how the Jaguars decide to
- 6:15Speaker 4: use him, And obviously Liam Cohen knows him.
- 6:17Speaker 5: Last year, kai you know, going into last season, all
- 6:20Speaker 5: this team talked about was being tough and physical both
- 6:23Speaker 5: sides of the ball. Trayvon Walker, Brenton Strange. This feels
- 6:27Speaker 5: more like that kind of running game than they really
- 6:30Speaker 5: had at times last year. So I guess the fit
- 6:34Speaker 5: makes perfect sense to me in that sense.
- 6:35Speaker 1: It feels like they got another one of their guys
- 6:37Speaker 1: for sure to kind of lay the foundation here. Our
- 6:39Speaker 1: final big thing today is going to be trade rumors.
- 6:41Speaker 1: There's been a bunch about this online about Brian Thomas
- 6:44Speaker 1: Jor potentially being floated as a trade option, but GM
- 6:47Speaker 1: James Gladstone spoke to the media last week and he
- 6:50Speaker 1: said that's not true. On their end, at least, they've
- 6:52Speaker 1: not had any offers, they've not made any moves to
- 6:55Speaker 1: move Brian Thomas junior. And he says, well, it doesn't
- 6:57Speaker 1: affect him that much. He hopes that's not affecting Brian Thomas.
- 7:00Speaker 1: And you're hearing all the rumors.
- 7:02Speaker 7: It can be very strange.
- 7:03Speaker 5: For sure.
- 7:04Speaker 2: I care more for you know, what weight that might
- 7:07Speaker 2: put on Brian himself, right when you know it's it's
- 7:11Speaker 2: something that's entirely out of his control and unnecessary. So
- 7:16Speaker 2: I think that's where my mind would go, if anything.
- 7:18Speaker 7: But you know, when it's fraudulent claims, it's you just
- 7:23Speaker 7: keep it get you know, keep your mind on what
- 7:26Speaker 7: you can you can focus on and you can actually
- 7:28Speaker 7: control and try to do what's best for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
- 7:33Speaker 1: Right, And we've been talking about the trade rumors for
- 7:35Speaker 1: a while and obviously we're hearing it from the source
- 7:37Speaker 1: that's not true. But also a point to mention the
- 7:40Speaker 1: offense finally got clicking at the end of the season.
- 7:42Speaker 1: I have to imagine they're going to want to keep
- 7:43Speaker 1: that going and keep as many pieces of that as possible.
- 7:46Speaker 4: Yeah, listen, I mean, god, what was Brian Thomas Junior's
- 7:49Speaker 4: signature catch last season? I mean, to me, at least,
- 7:51Speaker 4: it was the long catchdown the sideline against the Chiefs
- 7:54Speaker 4: Someboday night football that set up the game winner. Without him,
- 7:59Speaker 4: they don't win that game, and that's probably their signature
- 8:01Speaker 4: regular season win. He's a tremendously talented guy.
- 8:04Speaker 3: John.
- 8:05Speaker 4: I like this because we live in a social media
- 8:08Speaker 4: now world where anyone can say anything and all of
- 8:11Speaker 4: a sudden it goes viral and becomes a story.
- 8:13Speaker 5: I like that.
- 8:14Speaker 4: James Gladstone came out and said, he's a guy, We're
- 8:16Speaker 4: not trading him.
- 8:17Speaker 3: Don't worry about it, Brian, we want you here.
- 8:20Speaker 4: And that's a guy that you want here because when
- 8:24Speaker 4: he's right, he is really difficult to defend.
- 8:27Speaker 5: Yet, I think you can understand why people targeted this
- 8:33Speaker 5: as a story because he didn't have the numbers that
- 8:36Speaker 5: as a rookie, and last year there were situations early
- 8:41Speaker 5: where drops were an issue. But I also think when
- 8:44Speaker 5: relationships come together, and last year the regime had to
- 8:48Speaker 5: figure out who Brian Thomas was and what he meant
- 8:52Speaker 5: to their offense, and I think kyie your point at
- 8:54Speaker 5: the top. By the end of the season, they figured out, Okay, well,
- 8:58Speaker 5: maybe he's not a six teen hundred yard fourteen touchdown
- 9:03Speaker 5: you know, alpha one receiver like everybody wants, but he
- 9:07Speaker 5: fits into what they do. And James Gladstone in his
- 9:10Speaker 5: season ending presser said something really telling about Brian Thomas Jr.
- 9:16Speaker 5: He draws double teams and he stretches the defense downfield
- 9:20Speaker 5: without him in this dynamic, I don't know that. Parker Washington,
- 9:24Speaker 5: Jacobe Myers, Brenton Strange, they don't give you that. But
- 9:28Speaker 5: Brian Thomas Junior gives you that. And he fits in
- 9:31Speaker 5: what they're trying to do offensively. So yeah, I think
- 9:35Speaker 5: they do like him and see him as a part
- 9:36Speaker 5: of this.
- 9:36Speaker 4: But just in case you think he can't be that
- 9:39Speaker 4: big number guy, I mean, he played with Jayden Daniels
- 9:42Speaker 4: and Malik Neighbors and was clearly not the featured Alpha
- 9:45Speaker 4: in that offense at LSU his senior year and had
- 9:49Speaker 4: seventeen touchdowns. Why Because the offense worked so well around him.
- 9:53Speaker 4: He was the most difficult guy for them to cover.
- 9:55Speaker 4: They just threw the ball down the field. John I
- 9:58Speaker 4: look at him and think in the right scheme, he
- 10:00Speaker 4: can be that guy. Again, I get not the alpha
- 10:03Speaker 4: one that's catching the ball every single time, but can
- 10:06Speaker 4: have big numbers just because of his physical talent.
- 10:08Speaker 1: And I think that home run ability is there on
- 10:10Speaker 1: every play too, which is always a threat and helps
- 10:12Speaker 1: open things up. Coming up after break, we're going to
- 10:14Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about this offense, talk about
- 10:16Speaker 1: the running backs and what this running game might look
- 10:17Speaker 1: like next season.
- 10:30Speaker 2: Chris Rodriguez is, in fact somebody that if you watch
- 10:33Speaker 2: the tape, you understand very quickly exactly who he is
- 10:37Speaker 2: as a football player, the superpowers that he taps into consistently,
- 10:42Speaker 2: and you know, if you draw back to his time
- 10:44Speaker 2: at Kentucky, it's remained a constant he is.
- 10:49Speaker 3: He's very physical at the.
- 10:50Speaker 2: Point of attack. He has a really good pace in
- 10:53Speaker 2: his approach to the line of scrimmage and finding the lanes.
- 10:56Speaker 2: Obviously an intimate understanding of the system and how Liam
- 11:00Speaker 2: likes to call things. So there's a lot of strong
- 11:02Speaker 2: matches just generally from how you know those two in
- 11:07Speaker 2: tandem can really work together. And then also our interest
- 11:11Speaker 2: in continue to find ways to level up our capacity
- 11:15Speaker 2: in the run game to, you know, make it a
- 11:17Speaker 2: really balanced attack.
- 11:19Speaker 1: Welcome back to Jagsama general manager James Gladstone talking a
- 11:22Speaker 1: little bit about what they saw on the tape for
- 11:24Speaker 1: Chris Rodriguez, a new running back that they've added to
- 11:26Speaker 1: this roster. They're only outside free agent addition thus far
- 11:30Speaker 1: in free agency, and I think when we saw that
- 11:32Speaker 1: they weren't going to resign Traves e ten, we realized
- 11:35Speaker 1: this was going to be a little bit more of
- 11:36Speaker 1: a running back by committee thing. Ideally, it seems like
- 11:39Speaker 1: that's the way Liam Cohen wants to run this.
- 11:41Speaker 3: Offense, without a doubt.
- 11:42Speaker 4: That's the way that he ran it with Rashad White
- 11:44Speaker 4: and Bucky Irving down at Tampa. And you want guys
- 11:47Speaker 4: who can go and score you eight, nine, ten touchdowns
- 11:49Speaker 4: in a season. But they're not going to rely on
- 11:52Speaker 4: one guy and one style of running back. John They've
- 11:54Speaker 4: got eleven picks. It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't
- 11:57Speaker 4: find a young running back that they liked in the draft.
- 11:59Speaker 5: I'd be surprised if they don't go running back somewhere
- 12:01Speaker 5: in the draft. I don't know if it'll be in
- 12:03Speaker 5: that you know, they sort of have those their version
- 12:05Speaker 5: of premium picks this year, which is their four in
- 12:08Speaker 5: the first two rounds. I don't know if he'll be
- 12:09Speaker 5: there at the end. When James was talking, I think
- 12:13Speaker 5: he told you why they went and got Rodriguez. They
- 12:19Speaker 5: wanted to get better running inside. The tackles Travis etn
- 12:23Speaker 5: gave them a lot on the outside, but when they
- 12:27Speaker 5: were trying to get the consistent yards, I think they
- 12:31Speaker 5: felt like defenses at times sort of knew that they
- 12:34Speaker 5: didn't have to worry very much about the middle of
- 12:35Speaker 5: the field in the running game. And again, I think
- 12:39Speaker 5: they believe that they're going to be a better, more
- 12:43Speaker 5: productive running offense, not necessarily the big plays, but getting
- 12:47Speaker 5: them into you know, second and five and second and
- 12:50Speaker 5: six in this league right now is so much different
- 12:52Speaker 5: than second and eighth. They believe they're going to be
- 12:55Speaker 5: in better situations offensively because of Rodriguez.
- 12:58Speaker 1: When this trade went down, one of my friends covers
- 13:01Speaker 1: the Commanders. He messaged me immediately. He was like my
- 13:03Speaker 1: favorite locker room guy and someone we really want to
- 13:06Speaker 1: see succeed. We feel like the team didn't use him
- 13:08Speaker 1: the right way, and they feel like I think he
- 13:10Speaker 1: said something to the effective whenever he was on the field,
- 13:13Speaker 1: you never saw him make a mistake where you were like, oh,
- 13:15Speaker 1: that was because of his fault. He's very trustworthy in
- 13:17Speaker 1: that regard as well. So exciting to kind of see
- 13:19Speaker 1: someone take on a different role because, as we've talked
- 13:21Speaker 1: about on Liam Cohen, seem if you earn it in
- 13:23Speaker 1: practice and you play well, you're gonna get your playing time.
- 13:26Speaker 1: And I think I'm excited to see what this looks
- 13:28Speaker 1: like come training camp time.
- 13:29Speaker 5: Well, he looks like he always falls forward. Yeah, right,
- 13:32Speaker 5: and football the eighties and nineties, you know, thats a
- 13:37Speaker 5: big thing for a back. If you fall forward rather
- 13:39Speaker 5: than falling sideways. Guess what you're in second and six
- 13:41Speaker 5: rather than second and eight. He looks like a fall
- 13:44Speaker 5: forward guy. And as simple and as crazy as that sounds,
- 13:47Speaker 5: that can make a huge difference when you're talking about
- 13:50Speaker 5: where the sticks are.
- 13:51Speaker 4: You just look at the way that the clubs are
- 13:52Speaker 4: approaching running back, right, I mean the Draguars let a
- 13:54Speaker 4: guy that they knew go into free agency serve of
- 13:58Speaker 4: the Seahawks, Right, I mean let their Super Bowl MVP,
- 14:01Speaker 4: Kenneth Walker, who looked unstoppable in that game, they let
- 14:04Speaker 4: him go they have Zach Sharboneau sitting behind him.
- 14:07Speaker 3: They might let Zach go next year.
- 14:09Speaker 4: When you say the position has been devalued, it isn't
- 14:12Speaker 4: just about how much you pay these guys anymore.
- 14:14Speaker 3: It's about how you use them.
- 14:16Speaker 4: And it's clear that there are some teams, the Jaguars
- 14:18Speaker 4: being one of them. You'd love it if you draft
- 14:21Speaker 4: Saquon Barkley and you've got that two thousand yard rusher,
- 14:24Speaker 4: although he didn't have two thousand yards and back to
- 14:26Speaker 4: back years, didn't have as good a year this year,
- 14:29Speaker 4: but you're happy at that position to have three guys
- 14:32Speaker 4: that you can use that can help you get to
- 14:35Speaker 4: one hundred yards a game, right then help you get
- 14:37Speaker 4: to second in short or give you the goal line touchdowns,
- 14:41Speaker 4: and you put your money and you put your emphasis
- 14:43Speaker 4: in quarterback and pass rusher in those kinds of positions instead.
- 14:47Speaker 1: And we see we talked a little bit. There are
- 14:49Speaker 1: two other rookie guys from last year, Basiell Tuton and
- 14:51Speaker 1: Quinn Allen. Obviously, the Quinn Allen's really kind of made
- 14:53Speaker 1: a name for himself in pass blocking and of the
- 14:55Speaker 1: trash talking. In our micd Up series, we love l
- 14:57Speaker 1: Quinn's but Bachel Tuten got hanged up a little bit
- 15:00Speaker 1: last year, and you know, in terms of wanting to
- 15:03Speaker 1: keep these guys fresh as you can when you split
- 15:05Speaker 1: up the carries a little bit and kind of letting
- 15:08Speaker 1: them play to their skill sets. Spacial tutans very fast
- 15:11Speaker 1: and he can bounce outside, so maybe when you have
- 15:13Speaker 1: a sea rod in the middle, they can kind of
- 15:15Speaker 1: play that role. This allows to play his play his
- 15:18Speaker 1: best self.
- 15:18Speaker 4: He's a big, strong guy, five eleven, two hundred and
- 15:20Speaker 4: twenty five pounds.
- 15:21Speaker 3: He runs with power.
- 15:22Speaker 4: We saw him in that clip with the Commanders against
- 15:24Speaker 4: the Jets going up and over someone. I think the
- 15:28Speaker 4: important part here is that it's a guy that they
- 15:30Speaker 4: know that that Liam Cohen knows, knows how he wants
- 15:33Speaker 4: to use him, knows what he's capable of doing.
- 15:35Speaker 3: I know that they don't.
- 15:36Speaker 4: They didn't throw the ball to him a lot, but
- 15:38Speaker 4: one of the things he said on his zoom was
- 15:39Speaker 4: that he can catch the ball.
- 15:41Speaker 3: Maybe that's an area where the Jaguars expand his role.
- 15:43Speaker 5: Yeah, it was easy to see on the conference call.
- 15:49Speaker 5: Why when they were sitting around meetings talking about guys
- 15:53Speaker 5: and free agency. I guarantee you in. This kid's name
- 15:56Speaker 5: came up. Liam's eyes lit up. You could see how
- 15:59Speaker 5: there it could be an action. There's no way Liam
- 16:02Speaker 5: would be bringing him in if he didn't know exactly
- 16:04Speaker 5: how he wanted to use him. And a Tutan is
- 16:08Speaker 5: interesting because I think people assume that he's going to
- 16:11Speaker 5: be quote RB one. I'm with you, guys, I'm not sure.
- 16:14Speaker 5: I'm not sure there's going to be an RB one,
- 16:17Speaker 5: but uh, you know, sometimes people assume that running backs
- 16:22Speaker 5: and I fall into this sometimes too, are going to
- 16:25Speaker 5: come in and be what they are immediately because it
- 16:27Speaker 5: is the position where you can most quickly make an impact.
- 16:32Speaker 5: But I think we'll see what we expected to see
- 16:36Speaker 5: outitutin more last year, which is the unbelievable sudden speed,
- 16:41Speaker 5: the power. There's probably more in there than what we
- 16:46Speaker 5: saw last year. And you know, Liam has shown when
- 16:50Speaker 5: he's got the running backs, he knows how to use
- 16:53Speaker 5: different style running backs.
- 16:55Speaker 1: Is this something where my biggest concern, I guess when
- 16:58Speaker 1: Etn left was kind of how you replace what he
- 17:01Speaker 1: gave in terms of flexibility, whether that's catching catching passes
- 17:04Speaker 1: out of the backfielder's kind of knowing the offense. Well
- 17:07Speaker 1: you think it's gonna be a group effort to kind
- 17:08Speaker 1: of pick that up. Is there anybody you could see
- 17:10Speaker 1: that could kind of pick up the pass game from there?
- 17:12Speaker 5: Well, I think you will see. They carried four at
- 17:16Speaker 5: the beginning of last season, remember before they trade to
- 17:18Speaker 5: Tank Basby. It would not surprise me to see them
- 17:22Speaker 5: carry four again. The presence of the quin Allens sort
- 17:26Speaker 5: of makes carrying four sometimes necessary because he's such a
- 17:30Speaker 5: good special teams player and and you need him in
- 17:34Speaker 5: the passing game for blocking, so he kind of gives
- 17:36Speaker 5: you a dynamic that you need to have up. I'm
- 17:40Speaker 5: I'm not assuming he'll be the fourth back, but I
- 17:44Speaker 5: think you will see a rookie maybe come in and
- 17:48Speaker 5: give what you're talking about, uh, the outside, the tackles, uh,
- 17:51Speaker 5: the passing, the receiving element. It's a different league than
- 17:57Speaker 5: when it used to be just RB one and they
- 18:00Speaker 5: have different skill sets. And again Liam has shown over
- 18:03Speaker 5: the course of his career he can get the most
- 18:05Speaker 5: out of multiple running backs.
- 18:07Speaker 4: Well, and you're gotta talk about production, you know, yards
- 18:09Speaker 4: per carry and setting up second in short but also touchdowns.
- 18:12Speaker 4: I mean, that's what you got from etn. He gave
- 18:14Speaker 4: you thirteen last year, I think seven and six rushing
- 18:16Speaker 4: and receiving. Two years ago he had twelve. Where is
- 18:20Speaker 4: the touchdown production going to come from? Well, I mean
- 18:22Speaker 4: you could see Brian Thomas having more production, right, Jacobe
- 18:25Speaker 4: Myers is here now with more time, you could see
- 18:27Speaker 4: more production there. I think Breton Strange is a guy,
- 18:29Speaker 4: especially in the red zone, who could be a big
- 18:31Speaker 4: production guy. And Tuton can get you some of the
- 18:33Speaker 4: Quinn can get you some. There are more options for
- 18:37Speaker 4: scoring than this team has had in an awful long time,
- 18:39Speaker 4: and so I think you can replace Etn's production in
- 18:42Speaker 4: terms of touchdowns. I don't want to say fairly easily,
- 18:45Speaker 4: because it's never easy to replace that many, but there
- 18:47Speaker 4: are ways to get that job done.
- 18:49Speaker 5: And don't forget even you know, Tutin didn't have as
- 18:53Speaker 5: much as many snaps as Etam. I think he had
- 18:56Speaker 5: six touchdowns, So yeah, usage goes up. You'd expect that
- 19:02Speaker 5: touchdown level well at match thirteen, which is what Travis
- 19:05Speaker 5: gave you. I don't know, but I'm with you, Brian.
- 19:07Speaker 5: There's so many. There's eight or nine guys that you
- 19:10Speaker 5: wouldn't be surprised to say scoring in a game for
- 19:13Speaker 5: the Jaguars next year.
- 19:13Speaker 4: Well, and I think you could probably what if you've
- 19:15Speaker 4: got five touchdowns on average from each of those three
- 19:17Speaker 4: running backs that we've talked, you could see Laquin being.
- 19:19Speaker 3: A five touchdown guy, right, math guy. Yeah, But listen,
- 19:23Speaker 3: if you can.
- 19:23Speaker 4: Get that kind of production, you five to five and five,
- 19:25Speaker 4: that's just as good as having one guy that you're
- 19:27Speaker 4: paying thirteen million to to give you thirteen big.
- 19:31Speaker 1: Hold the field. But it'll be a group effort and we'll
- 19:32Speaker 1: see how it kind of all shakes out a little
- 19:34Speaker 1: bit later on, and later on in the show after
- 19:37Speaker 1: the break, we're gonna talk a little bit about what's
- 19:39Speaker 1: going on in the AFC South.
- 19:40Speaker 8: Right now, welcome back into Jags Am. Today.
- 19:51Speaker 1: We're gonna talk a little bit about what's going on
- 19:53Speaker 1: is the AFC South. Not a lot going on here
- 19:56Speaker 1: for free agency, but it's not true for the rest
- 19:59Speaker 1: of the division. We'll start up with the Titans because
- 20:02Speaker 1: they had a lot of work to do and they're
- 20:03Speaker 1: spending a lot of money two hundred and six five
- 20:06Speaker 1: million dollars already in free agency. They brought in fourteen
- 20:09Speaker 1: free agents. Eleven of those guys either played with Robert
- 20:13Speaker 1: Sala or a new offensive coordinator Brian Table, and they're
- 20:18Speaker 1: bringing in the people that they know, which is kind
- 20:20Speaker 1: of makes sense. Obviously they've been around the league. They
- 20:22Speaker 1: want to bring in their own guys. But a lot
- 20:24Speaker 1: of money. Listen, they have a lot of money to spend.
- 20:27Speaker 4: I get a twitch when I hear that much money
- 20:29Speaker 4: spent by one team and one free agency period, probably
- 20:31Speaker 4: because we've seen it around here and not work. And
- 20:34Speaker 4: you look at they and the Browns and the Raiders
- 20:36Speaker 4: just I mean, they spend so much money and I
- 20:38Speaker 4: just you want to pick up the PHONEO, guys, and
- 20:41Speaker 4: you look at we've seen that before. That to me
- 20:44Speaker 4: does an equal success. You can look at the Colts,
- 20:46Speaker 4: and you can look at the Texans, and we're going
- 20:48Speaker 4: to talk about them and the things that they're doing,
- 20:50Speaker 4: and you can see where they're headed.
- 20:51Speaker 3: But when you look at just sort of that you.
- 20:53Speaker 4: Know, dump of players and that that exodus of cash,
- 20:57Speaker 4: and you think, yeah, I mean, if it doesn't all hit,
- 21:00Speaker 4: if it doesn't all line up perfectly, you're going to
- 21:03Speaker 4: be chasing your tail for an awful long time.
- 21:05Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, you can do it that way if
- 21:10Speaker 5: you're bringing them in on the right contracts and saying, Okay,
- 21:12Speaker 5: we're gonna get familiar guys, build our culture, and then
- 21:16Speaker 5: get back to drafting soon. The story up there is
- 21:20Speaker 5: whether or not cam Wore develops. But I'm with you, guys.
- 21:25Speaker 5: You know, I got a lot of emails from fans
- 21:27Speaker 5: talking about Jaguars aren't doing anything and the rest of
- 21:30Speaker 5: the division is getting better around them.
- 21:34Speaker 3: We'll see. Listen.
- 21:35Speaker 4: The calendar to the argument that I just made is
- 21:37Speaker 4: the twenty seventeen Jaguars where they went out and brought
- 21:40Speaker 4: in you know, Kalais and aj Boyer and spent a
- 21:43Speaker 4: lot of money that year.
- 21:45Speaker 3: But it happened one year, and it was a.
- 21:47Speaker 1: One off as well, because we all know how it
- 21:49Speaker 1: went after that exactly.
- 21:50Speaker 4: So if they get if somehow the quarterback in Tennessee
- 21:54Speaker 4: plays well this year and they get things rolling, it
- 21:57Speaker 4: might sustain itself for a short period of time, but
- 22:00Speaker 4: it doesn't equate to long term success.
- 22:02Speaker 5: So well, they are in that phase. They've been the
- 22:05Speaker 5: worst team in the.
- 22:06Speaker 1: Division, and they have the money to spend. They haven't.
- 22:09Speaker 5: So you've got to get you know, it's hard. You
- 22:11Speaker 5: got to go in steps. I say about getting out
- 22:13Speaker 5: of the abyss, which this franchise had to do. You
- 22:15Speaker 5: got to go in steps. Once you're there, you got
- 22:17Speaker 5: to build on it. We'll see it. It's a difficult
- 22:22Speaker 5: path to spend your way out of the bottom.
- 22:26Speaker 1: We will see how it plays out, for sure. The
- 22:28Speaker 1: Cults also spending a bunch of money, but most of
- 22:30Speaker 1: that was to keep their own guys. Obviously they're going
- 22:32Speaker 1: to keep Alex Pierce and Daniel Jones around. You know,
- 22:35Speaker 1: Jones trying to get back to the start of the season.
- 22:36Speaker 1: We'll see how that goes. We're going to follow that
- 22:38Speaker 1: rehab process for him. But they liked what they saw
- 22:41Speaker 1: last year and they spent a lot of money. Sauce
- 22:43Speaker 1: Gardner also, obviously the trade during the season seems like
- 22:46Speaker 1: they're going on.
- 22:47Speaker 4: Listen when we talked about Jason Tatum on the show yet,
- 22:49Speaker 4: I mean, you covered the Celtics, you covered pro.
- 22:51Speaker 1: Basketball, be impressive, and that's a I feel like.
- 22:54Speaker 3: It's forty one weeks.
- 22:56Speaker 1: It needs more out of a different kind of athleticism.
- 22:59Speaker 1: So for him to come back and play basketball. I
- 23:01Speaker 1: don't know if they had the same surgeon, but they're
- 23:03Speaker 1: using new techniques for achilles, So I'm curious to see
- 23:05Speaker 1: if this is actually feasible for him to do. He's
- 23:07Speaker 1: obviously younger than what we saw Aaron Rodgers was dealing with,
- 23:09Speaker 1: so he has the ability we'll see.
- 23:11Speaker 4: I haven't counted weeks, but it was forty one weeks
- 23:14Speaker 4: from surgery to Jason Tatum's return to the hardwood. So
- 23:18Speaker 4: the question now is is how long will it take
- 23:21Speaker 4: this quarterback to be ready to go? And will they
- 23:24Speaker 4: will they start him, I mean, will they be ready
- 23:26Speaker 4: to go with him or will they try to bring
- 23:28Speaker 4: him along slowly and see if they can lean into
- 23:30Speaker 4: their running game a little bit and stay alive long
- 23:33Speaker 4: enough for him to come back.
- 23:34Speaker 5: Yeah, you would think he's been a good mobile quarterback
- 23:39Speaker 5: in the right way for a while, meaning he hasn't
- 23:41Speaker 5: always looked around, but he can run. You would think
- 23:44Speaker 5: at first they would probably prefer him to be a
- 23:47Speaker 5: little less bow of war in the pocket. I think
- 23:49Speaker 5: he can do that. To me, it almost felt like
- 23:55Speaker 5: I'm not saying this is a negative. It almost felt
- 23:57Speaker 5: like the Colts had to do this. We talked about
- 23:59Speaker 5: it on the showlast year when they went after Sauce Garden,
- 24:02Speaker 5: they sort of went all in. They were seven and
- 24:06Speaker 5: eight and one at the time. So I think they
- 24:11Speaker 5: got in a situation where if Daniel Jones was a
- 24:15Speaker 5: better than fifty to fifty sixty forty percent chance of
- 24:18Speaker 5: being the same guy he was in twenty six, you
- 24:22Speaker 5: almost felt like you were sitting around their meeting rooms
- 24:24Speaker 5: then saying, you know, this is what we sort of
- 24:27Speaker 5: have to do because we've looked like a Super Bowl
- 24:30Speaker 5: team early last year.
- 24:31Speaker 3: Let's go back with that.
- 24:33Speaker 5: It doesn't work, you know, I don't know if this
- 24:36Speaker 5: is a given, but it's probably their best option in
- 24:38Speaker 5: terms of a two year plan.
- 24:41Speaker 4: And you had to go too for one, right, you
- 24:42Speaker 4: could not have him stand back in the pocket and
- 24:44Speaker 4: not have that receiver who I think is tremendous I
- 24:48Speaker 4: love watching.
- 24:48Speaker 5: It and developing, and a young player who is who
- 24:52Speaker 5: seems to be getting better in a lot.
- 24:55Speaker 3: Of areas and really tough to defend.
- 24:57Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's a Jonathan Taylor team. We can't forget that.
- 24:59Speaker 1: I mean, you've got to build around a running back
- 25:01Speaker 1: when you have the best runner in fat and.
- 25:02Speaker 5: You've only got a little while with the back, So
- 25:04Speaker 5: to go to to Daniel Jones might make sense in
- 25:07Speaker 5: terms of timing it'd be interesting one to follow.
- 25:09Speaker 1: The Texans relatively quiet compared to those other two. They
- 25:12Speaker 1: did extend Demil Hunter, so unfortunately he's going to terrorizing
- 25:16Speaker 1: Jaguars fans for a little bit longer. And they're revamping
- 25:19Speaker 1: their O line again. I don't know if they've figured
- 25:21Speaker 1: it out yet or if this iteration will work, but
- 25:25Speaker 1: still trying to find a way to protect CJ.
- 25:27Speaker 5: Stroud.
- 25:27Speaker 1: We'll see if it works this time.
- 25:29Speaker 4: I think the best way to protect him is to
- 25:30Speaker 4: get that running game. I mean two years ago, Joe
- 25:32Speaker 4: Mixon was a revelation for them. It looked like he
- 25:34Speaker 4: had finished his career in Cincinnati. They brought him down.
- 25:37Speaker 4: He was a thousand yard rusher, and I remember the
- 25:39Speaker 4: two games against the Jaguars in particular. It didn't seem
- 25:42Speaker 4: whether it was third and seven or third and two,
- 25:44Speaker 4: they that they could stop Joe Mixon and that that
- 25:48Speaker 4: led to the ability of CJ.
- 25:50Speaker 3: Stroud to play to his best.
- 25:51Speaker 4: If Montgomery, who they traded with the Lions for, is
- 25:56Speaker 4: near his ceiling, then CJ.
- 26:00Speaker 3: Stroud will have a much easier time.
- 26:02Speaker 5: It's hard, as we all know from covering this league
- 26:05Speaker 5: for a while. It's hard to be great everywhere, And
- 26:08Speaker 5: to me, the Texans are great in a lot of spots.
- 26:11Speaker 5: On defense, they have a great defensive line, They are
- 26:14Speaker 5: big time everywhere on the wall. You know, it's hard
- 26:17Speaker 5: to be also be great when you got that great,
- 26:20Speaker 5: It's hard to be great everywhere on offense, and I
- 26:22Speaker 5: think that's sort of what they're trying to do. Revamp
- 26:26Speaker 5: the offensive line. Are they revamping it? Are they just
- 26:29Speaker 5: searching for answers. It feels like they're searching for answers.
- 26:32Speaker 5: I kind of get why, because they're so good everywherehere
- 26:34Speaker 5: else that's their spot, and they're just trying to sort
- 26:37Speaker 5: of let's figure out if we can hit it right
- 26:40Speaker 5: this year and get it going with this unbelievable defense.
- 26:43Speaker 5: Their defense is such a dominant to me, the scariest
- 26:46Speaker 5: defense in football, absolutely.
- 26:48Speaker 1: So we'll see what they can build around on offense. Say,
- 26:50Speaker 1: let's here on jagsaon will tell you what's coming up
- 26:52Speaker 1: the rest of the weekend, the rest of the month.
- 27:04Speaker 1: Jags fan's time to lock in your seats for twenty
- 27:06Speaker 1: twenty six. Place your deposits now. Next season is going
- 27:09Speaker 1: to be at EverBank Stadium, but obviously the construction going
- 27:12Speaker 1: on right now in full fourth so limited seating because
- 27:15Speaker 1: of those In Bowl renovations, So don't miss out on
- 27:17Speaker 1: your chance to get into the stadium for some of
- 27:20Speaker 1: these really big matchups this season. You can head over
- 27:22Speaker 1: Jaguars dot Com slash tickets to get that locked in today.
- 27:26Speaker 1: And they're breaking stuff down. Every time I look over there,
- 27:29Speaker 1: there's a new crane flying by, there's building up the ramps.
- 27:32Speaker 1: It's all coming together.
- 27:34Speaker 4: I was at the Saint Augustine Rotary Club yesterday and
- 27:37Speaker 4: there was someone that told me that they came downtown
- 27:39Speaker 4: just to see it. They'd heard people talking about it,
- 27:41Speaker 4: so they drove up here to see it and they
- 27:42Speaker 4: were stunned at the seats being gone. I mean, they
- 27:45Speaker 4: don't drive by it every day like people.
- 27:46Speaker 3: Do up here. It was it was shocking.
- 27:51Speaker 1: Did the struction absolutely. So. Now that we've gotten past
- 27:56Speaker 1: free agency, it's kind of draft time already. I know,
- 27:59Speaker 1: normal we're talking about draft weeks and weeks before because
- 28:03Speaker 1: we're trying to look ahead. But fortunately for us this year,
- 28:06Speaker 1: a lot of good stuff happened, playoff runs and all that,
- 28:08Speaker 1: so we're gonna start looking towards the draft. I know
- 28:12Speaker 1: they're having draft meetings in the building. John, this week,
- 28:15Speaker 1: what's the focus kind of look like. I mean, we'll
- 28:17Speaker 1: be doing our mock drafts and all those fun things.
- 28:20Speaker 3: We're gonna bought the second round?
- 28:22Speaker 1: Sure, why not?
- 28:23Speaker 5: It's tricky.
- 28:24Speaker 1: We can't gamble, so we'll just try to guess.
- 28:26Speaker 5: Yeah, it's it's uh. I think we're gonna see this
- 28:30Speaker 5: year the first draft where James Gladstone is sort of
- 28:37Speaker 5: channeling his inner Rams, meaning they traded a lot of
- 28:42Speaker 5: picks when he was with the Rams. There's into fifty six.
- 28:46Speaker 5: I think we saw hints of it when he spoke
- 28:48Speaker 5: last Thursday. Draft picks as currency doesn't necessarily mean you're
- 28:53Speaker 5: gonna trade them all, but he sees them as a
- 29:00Speaker 5: currency to use the entire year, not just draft weekend.
- 29:05Speaker 5: When you say things like that, people who had never
- 29:07Speaker 5: heard that before can quite figure it out. But it
- 29:11Speaker 5: got you Jacobe Myers last year. Yeah, and they really
- 29:14Speaker 5: do believe that player acquisition is a three sixty five thing,
- 29:18Speaker 5: not a three day thing.
- 29:19Speaker 4: And that's different, right, I mean, that's something completely entirely different.
- 29:22Speaker 4: They are thinking asymmetrical to the old way of doing things.
- 29:26Speaker 4: Here's the other thing. And you may have heard this,
- 29:28Speaker 4: but there's a lot of jockey to get into the
- 29:30Speaker 4: twenty twenty seven draft. The top of this draft, for
- 29:33Speaker 4: whatever it may lack, it's a good draft. But apparently
- 29:36Speaker 4: next year's draft is really good, and so teams are
- 29:38Speaker 4: looking at their rosters and trying to leverage the opportunity
- 29:41Speaker 4: to get more picks in twenty twenty seven. And so
- 29:44Speaker 4: from that perspective, John, you can see why they think
- 29:47Speaker 4: a couple of competitory picks, you know, fourth fifth.
- 29:49Speaker 3: Round picks in a really good draft would go a
- 29:52Speaker 3: long way.
- 29:52Speaker 1: So many picks.
- 29:54Speaker 4: Here's the other thing that they end with. Jacks don't
- 29:56Speaker 4: have a number one pick, but they do have four
- 29:58Speaker 4: the top hundred. They have four the second and third round.
- 30:01Speaker 4: So there are opportunities to get good football players, guys
- 30:05Speaker 4: that you consider to be future starters in the third round.
- 30:08Speaker 3: Absolutely, you got three of those.
- 30:10Speaker 1: We got the time. We're gonna start deep diving into
- 30:12Speaker 1: that in the coming weeks. But we'll see next week
- 30:14Speaker 1: here on Jacks, I am