Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Jags HQ | Roster Decisions, Joint Practice Takeaways & NFL Competition Committee Honor
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Welcome to Jags HQ. Brian Sexton and former Jaguar Jeff
- 0:07Speaker 1: Loggeman sit down each week with the decision makers of
- 0:10Speaker 1: your Jacksonville Jaguars.
- 0:12Speaker 2: We're going to bring you a product that you all
- 0:14Speaker 2: can be proud of.
- 0:16Speaker 3: With that, game on.
- 0:17Speaker 1: Jags HQ starts right now.
- 0:20Speaker 3: Good evening.
- 0:21Speaker 4: Welcome to Jags HQ from the Hyundai Studios inside the
- 0:24Speaker 4: Miller Electric Center. Brian and Jeff along with the Brain Trust.
- 0:28Speaker 3: Tony Buscelli. No, this is the brain trust. We're in trouble.
- 0:30Speaker 4: And James Gladstone. James, one thing we know that people
- 0:33Speaker 4: can be absolutely assured of about this show, we're not
- 0:36Speaker 4: going to talk about the offensive line for all 30
- 0:38Speaker 4: minutes that you guys are here this time.
- 0:39Speaker 5: We did last week.
- 0:40Speaker 4: We did last week.
- 0:41Speaker 3: Are you sure? The whole time.
- 0:42Speaker 5: The whole time.
- 0:43Speaker 4: I think we can do it again.
- 0:44Speaker 3: Run it back.
- 0:45Speaker 6: See, this is the thing that most people don't realize.
- 0:48Speaker 3: I love the offensive line. James isn't too far behind.
- 0:52Speaker 3: Let's run it back.
- 0:53Speaker 7: I mean, like.
- 0:55Speaker 6: You know, we played wide receiver in high school and college, and,
- 0:58Speaker 6: you know, might look at him and say, oh, he's
- 1:01Speaker 6: a skilled guy. I like this offense line play. That's
- 1:05Speaker 6: why I love him. He can talk about it as
- 1:07Speaker 6: well as I can and probably more in depth.
- 1:10Speaker 3: I don't know if I'd go that far. Well, I mean,
- 1:12Speaker 3: you can't play it like I could. You can probably
- 1:14Speaker 3: talk about it.
- 1:15Speaker 4: So maybe this show should be called Jags OL.
- 1:17Speaker 3: Yeah, let's go.
- 1:18Speaker 4: We could do that all day. Let me just throw
- 1:21Speaker 4: it out there and you guys go. You have a
- 1:22Speaker 4: really short weekend this time. I mean, normally your roster
- 1:25Speaker 4: reduction comes Tuesday at 4 o'clock because of the Australia game.
- 1:30Speaker 4: Do I have that right?
- 1:30Speaker 3: That's right. It'll be a first for me.
- 1:33Speaker 4: Sunday at 6.
- 1:34Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a little bit different of a deal,
- 1:35Speaker 2: and I think you can opt to reframe it if
- 1:38Speaker 2: you want to try and find positives in it. Good
- 1:40Speaker 2: thing is we get a little bit better of a
- 1:43Speaker 2: week of work next week, right? We get players in
- 1:47Speaker 2: the building for a longer stretch and out on the
- 1:49Speaker 2: grass together as opposed to a delayed version of that.
- 1:54Speaker 7: So walk everybody kind of through the timeline of how
- 1:57Speaker 7: this weekend works because you have roster cuts where you
- 2:00Speaker 7: have to get to 53. and then after that you
- 2:03Speaker 7: have waiver claims, and then after that it's practice squad.
- 2:07Speaker 5: How is that all time out?
- 2:08Speaker 2: Yeah, so 6 o'clock Eastern on Sunday night, everybody's roster
- 2:12Speaker 2: has got to be reduced to 53 players on it.
- 2:15Speaker 2: Over the course of the next 24 hours, roughly, everybody
- 2:19Speaker 2: gets to look at that list of players who has
- 2:21Speaker 2: been released across the league and submit waiver claims to
- 2:24Speaker 2: those contracts. And with that, you then, if awarded those players,
- 2:29Speaker 2: and it's just, in order by team, same as it
- 2:32Speaker 2: was in the draft this last spring, you have to
- 2:35Speaker 2: make a corresponding move in order to account for that.
- 2:39Speaker 2: And once that occurs, you're able to transition to the
- 2:43Speaker 2: window in which you're establishing your practice squad. If a
- 2:46Speaker 2: player that you intend to sign to your practice squad
- 2:48Speaker 2: who is with you in training camp gets claimed by
- 2:50Speaker 2: another team, obviously that player is no longer an option
- 2:53Speaker 2: for you. So you have roughly a 24-hour window where
- 2:58Speaker 2: you're just in limbo a bit and having 53 players
- 3:01Speaker 2: on your roster before you can ever establish the 16
- 3:04Speaker 2: or 17 player practice squad.
- 3:07Speaker 6: Real quick, Jeff, that's an interesting call it 24 hours
- 3:12Speaker 6: after we make our initial cuts because there's always, you know,
- 3:16Speaker 6: you have your ideas of who you want on your
- 3:18Speaker 6: practice squad and there's certain guys that you're holding your
- 3:21Speaker 6: breath because you love them, but.
- 3:23Speaker 3: You only get 53.
- 3:24Speaker 6: So there's, you know, there's only so many spots and
- 3:26Speaker 6: there's guys that we're going to cut good football players.
- 3:30Speaker 6: And they're guys we really appreciate and love what they've done.
- 3:33Speaker 3: And, you know, you want them. And you're hoping that
- 3:36Speaker 3: they end up.
- 3:36Speaker 6: Not, you know, it's a bad thing to say because,
- 3:38Speaker 6: you know, for the players, like, hey, I want to
- 3:40Speaker 6: be on the 53.
- 3:40Speaker 3: Right.
- 3:42Speaker 6: But from our perspective is, you know, and I think
- 3:44Speaker 6: last year you saw with guys that were on our
- 3:47Speaker 6: practice squad that were elevated several times. It helped us
- 3:50Speaker 6: win 13 games last year. And some of those guys
- 3:53Speaker 6: ended up being. impactful players and contributors down the stretch
- 3:58Speaker 6: for us that were on our practice squad. So that's
- 4:02Speaker 6: a 24-hour period where I think it's tough for our
- 4:05Speaker 6: players because in some sense, a bunch of guys' dreams
- 4:09Speaker 6: are going to feel like they were crushed or ended
- 4:11Speaker 6: or whatever you.
- 4:12Speaker 3: Want to say it.
- 4:13Speaker 6: At the same time, they probably don't realize there's 31
- 4:17Speaker 6: other teams that are looking to possibly.
- 4:18Speaker 3: Try to get them. Or we're trying to get them
- 4:21Speaker 3: back to our practice squad.
- 4:22Speaker 2: Usually what ends up happening is the teams that make
- 4:24Speaker 2: it the furthest into the playoffs, oftentimes the teams with
- 4:27Speaker 2: some of the better rosters, they're the teams that have
- 4:30Speaker 2: the highest volume of players who are claimed after roster
- 4:34Speaker 2: reductions off of it. One year we had a handful
- 4:37Speaker 2: of guys claimed that we were planning to bring back
- 4:39Speaker 2: on practice squad and Wade Phillips was the defensive coordinator
- 4:43Speaker 2: at the time. And, you know, he looks over, he's like,
- 4:46Speaker 2: maybe we cut the wrong guys.
- 4:51Speaker 4: Classic.
- 4:52Speaker 7: So from a, you know, working standpoint, how much sleep
- 4:57Speaker 7: do you get?
- 4:58Speaker 2: You know, so you don't, so 6 p.m. deadline, you
- 5:01Speaker 2: have to have your roster reduced to 53 players. Roughly
- 5:05Speaker 2: three hours after that, the league office is able to
- 5:10Speaker 2: populate the list of players in that transaction.
- 5:13Speaker 5: Which is like 1,100 plus.
- 5:15Speaker 3: That's exactly right.
- 5:15Speaker 7: And so now you've got to work through 1,100 players?
- 5:18Speaker 1: No.
- 5:18Speaker 2: So what we've been doing up to this point as
- 5:20Speaker 2: a scouting staff, as an analytics group, is prepping that
- 5:25Speaker 2: so that you're not doing that all in just a
- 5:26Speaker 2: single conversation or a single meeting. You're actually ready for
- 5:32Speaker 2: that to hit and can begin to curate those conversations
- 5:36Speaker 2: and in a much more pointed direction as opposed to, okay,
- 5:39Speaker 2: now we're doing the work. That work has started since
- 5:41Speaker 2: the preseason began, and you're pouring over that video footage
- 5:45Speaker 2: from those games themselves. You're analyzing some of the advanced
- 5:49Speaker 2: metrics behind them. All those sorts of things have been
- 5:53Speaker 2: at play up to this point, and obviously there's going
- 5:56Speaker 2: to be a window of time there that evening where
- 5:59Speaker 2: we're going to have to chop through some things, but
- 6:01Speaker 2: you're doing a lot of the prep work in advance.
- 6:03Speaker 7: How important is this game... that's going to be happening
- 6:07Speaker 7: tomorrow night for the guys that are on your roster?
- 6:10Speaker 7: Because you hear coaches and players talk so many times about, hey, look,
- 6:16Speaker 7: last opportunity to put film out there.
- 6:18Speaker 3: That's right.
- 6:19Speaker 7: Can some of these guys keep their dream alive and
- 6:23Speaker 7: maybe change your mind of what you think now versus
- 6:26Speaker 7: what you may think after the game based on a
- 6:28Speaker 7: really good performance?
- 6:29Speaker 3: Undoubtedly.
- 6:30Speaker 2: And it can go the other way as well. And
- 6:33Speaker 2: I think you weigh them all to the degree that
- 6:35Speaker 2: you can. It's just another op for us to evaluate
- 6:38Speaker 2: and players to showcase their skill sets. In this stage,
- 6:41Speaker 2: when it isn't a preseason game, it's for 31 other
- 6:44Speaker 2: clubs as well. A year ago today, we're looking at
- 6:47Speaker 2: an away game in Miami where they're playing their first
- 6:51Speaker 2: unit for much of that first quarter. To see a
- 6:54Speaker 2: defense step out there that included guys like BJ and
- 6:58Speaker 2: Danny and continue to show up in that setting when
- 7:01Speaker 2: they were actually matched up with players who they're going
- 7:04Speaker 2: to have to play against if they're on our roster
- 7:06Speaker 2: in the regular season. That was a big sign for
- 7:09Speaker 2: us because they got some stops. They made it hard
- 7:11Speaker 2: on that offense and vice versa. Our offensive output against
- 7:15Speaker 2: their first and second team group that was on defense.
- 7:18Speaker 4: And so that was certainly helpful a year ago.
- 7:21Speaker 2: And I think that there are plenty of examples heading
- 7:23Speaker 2: into this game tomorrow night where players are trying to
- 7:27Speaker 2: get their final stamps.
- 7:28Speaker 4: If you could, would you ideally want all of your
- 7:31Speaker 4: practice squad players to have been here during training camp?
- 7:34Speaker 4: Or do you want a couple of guys to come
- 7:36Speaker 4: in from outside?
- 7:38Speaker 2: I think we certainly have enough guys that we're excited
- 7:41Speaker 2: about and would love to make sure that we have
- 7:43Speaker 2: a chance to keep in here. We're always going to
- 7:45Speaker 2: consider the paths that exist outside as well. And that's
- 7:50Speaker 2: why you do all this work leading up to this
- 7:52Speaker 2: weekend in order to have those conversations and make those decisions.
- 7:56Speaker 2: So At this stage, we're certainly excited about where we're
- 7:59Speaker 2: at and the group that we have in-house because of
- 8:02Speaker 2: the work that they've done and really the trust that
- 8:04Speaker 2: they've earned and put themselves in a situation to where
- 8:08Speaker 2: they can be in that conversation and only time will
- 8:10Speaker 2: tell whether or not a dynamic pops up over the
- 8:13Speaker 2: next weekend to where we have to pursue it. But
- 8:17Speaker 2: I think it's certainly the case to think that an
- 8:21Speaker 2: outside option would showcase itself or show up at some point.
- 8:24Speaker 4: Did we decide yesterday when we were talking about this,
- 8:27Speaker 4: how many veterans can you have?
- 8:29Speaker 5: Six.
- 8:29Speaker 2: Six.
- 8:30Speaker 3: And then there's an exception.
- 8:32Speaker 4: Up to ten.
- 8:33Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 8:34Speaker 4: Up to ten.
- 8:35Speaker 2: Well, so you get your vested veterans and then you
- 8:37Speaker 2: got your exception practice squad players and the combination of
- 8:40Speaker 2: both up to ten.
- 8:41Speaker 6: Okay.
- 8:42Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 8:42Speaker 4: So 16 guys, but you could have up to ten.
- 8:44Speaker 3: And you could have one IPP.
- 8:46Speaker 2: Up to ten of those exceptions and veteran players. The
- 8:50Speaker 2: other six or seven have to be. non-vested veterans haven't
- 8:56Speaker 2: had the accrued seasons that would put them in a vested.
- 8:59Speaker 4: And you're talking about the international players. So you'll have
- 9:01Speaker 4: 17 guys.
- 9:01Speaker 6: It's 16, but every club is allowed to have one
- 9:05Speaker 6: international player. So if you have an international player on
- 9:09Speaker 6: your practice squad, you actually get 17 practice squad players.
- 9:12Speaker 2: Okay. Same with the 90-man roster. We're currently at 91
- 9:15Speaker 2: because one of which is.
- 9:17Speaker 7: Which is your tackle guard, Zyra.
- 9:20Speaker 4: Yep, Killian. Okay. That's right. All right, you're listening to Jax.
- 9:24Speaker 4: You'll take it when it gets thought in.
- 9:25Speaker 7: No, I just– would you guys– so after this game happens,
- 9:30Speaker 7: take people through the process, who's in the room.
- 9:33Speaker 5: You know, how does it work?
- 9:35Speaker 2: Yeah, as an example here, and this will also include
- 9:39Speaker 2: kind of what we do even on a regular rhythmic postgame,
- 9:43Speaker 2: is Tony, myself, Liam, we're going to have a brief
- 9:47Speaker 2: conversation that night around our thoughts. We'll take– the morning
- 9:53Speaker 2: the next day to absorb that film and we'll then
- 9:58Speaker 2: group up together to sort of make an action plan of, hey,
- 10:02Speaker 2: here's some bigger picture items that need to take place.
- 10:05Speaker 2: Now going into this, we've had those conversations around, hey,
- 10:09Speaker 2: unless this occurs, here's what's likely to be the path
- 10:14Speaker 2: of the roster. And so we know those in the
- 10:17Speaker 2: back of our mind going into the game and can
- 10:19Speaker 2: quickly have those conversations post. But Saturday morning will include
- 10:24Speaker 2: a bunch of those conversations and ultimately not until Sunday
- 10:28Speaker 2: at 6 will we know the final roster plans for
- 10:33Speaker 2: the 53 and then the priorities on the practice squad.
- 10:35Speaker 3: I think it's not one meeting.
- 10:37Speaker 6: It's not like, hey, we're sitting around and after the
- 10:41Speaker 6: game we'll all sit down. I think James and I
- 10:44Speaker 6: have an ongoing 12-hour.
- 10:45Speaker 3: Meeting a day.
- 10:47Speaker 6: And then we have intermittent meetings with Liam about 10
- 10:50Speaker 6: times a day. And so it's an ongoing conversation because
- 10:53Speaker 6: you're always evaluating everything that these players do. It's in
- 10:58Speaker 6: the weight room, in the training room. How does the
- 10:59Speaker 6: support staff interact with them? Obviously, the most important what
- 11:02Speaker 6: they do between the lines.
- 11:04Speaker 5: But how do they learn?
- 11:04Speaker 6: Are they picking up stuff? I mean, there's a number
- 11:07Speaker 6: of things that you're looking at constantly. So it's not a.
- 11:10Speaker 6: single data point or a single meeting saying, hey, what
- 11:13Speaker 6: do you guys think? I mean, it's been ongoing since
- 11:16Speaker 6: the beginning. And then it's the nuances of those are
- 11:18Speaker 6: guys get hurt. And so the plans today could be
- 11:21Speaker 6: different after tomorrow night or the next morning or, you know, so.
- 11:26Speaker 3: Many things that go into that.
- 11:28Speaker 6: And the three of us sit down and then ultimately,
- 11:31Speaker 6: you know, James's responsibility at the end of the day
- 11:33Speaker 6: to sit down and say, OK, Based on all the
- 11:36Speaker 6: data and all the input from Liam and all the
- 11:38Speaker 6: input from myself, our assistant coaches, our coordinators, everything the
- 11:41Speaker 6: building is given about our analytics team, our scouts, and
- 11:47Speaker 6: then ultimately James has to sit down and say, okay,
- 11:49Speaker 6: with all this information and where we are, how are
- 11:52Speaker 6: we going to, what's the, What's the best 53 for
- 11:55Speaker 6: us as the Jacksonville Jaguars?
- 11:56Speaker 4: Lead the conversation.
- 11:56Speaker 3: That's exactly right.
- 11:58Speaker 6: Everyone has a role in this building, and we have
- 12:00Speaker 6: to execute, and everyone supports everyone in that role so
- 12:03Speaker 6: they can have the right information to make the decisions
- 12:06Speaker 6: and do their job the best they can.
- 12:07Speaker 4: All right, let's take a break.
- 12:08Speaker 3: That's the business side.
- 12:09Speaker 4: When we come back, we'll talk ball, see what these
- 12:11Speaker 4: guys saw on Tuesday.
- 12:12Speaker 3: Oh, wow. Yeah, let's go. Here we go.
- 12:16Speaker 4: Jags HQ, here on the Jaguars Radio Network.
- 12:23Speaker 1: Welcome back. Jags HQ continues right now.
- 12:28Speaker 4: Welcome back to Jags HQ. Tomorrow night, 737 kickoff at
- 12:31Speaker 4: Everbank Stadium. Jaguars and Buccaneers to round out the preseason.
- 12:36Speaker 4: And that game is brought to you by Wolfson Children's Hospital,
- 12:38Speaker 4: the official children's hospital of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Congratulations, by
- 12:42Speaker 4: the way. If it is, congratulations on being named to
- 12:45Speaker 4: the competition committee. I think it is, but it's probably
- 12:48Speaker 4: more work for you.
- 12:49Speaker 3: Oh, no. Listen, if you love football, it's not work.
- 12:52Speaker 3: I mean, it's not like I come here and work, so...
- 12:54Speaker 3: I mean, I get to come hang out and watch
- 12:56Speaker 3: football and talk football and.
- 12:58Speaker 6: Be with good people, and the opportunity and the chance
- 13:04Speaker 6: was asked to be on the competition committee. What an
- 13:06Speaker 6: honor to be part of a group of individuals that
- 13:09Speaker 6: get to help shape the future of the game and
- 13:11Speaker 6: how the game's played and the integrity of the game,
- 13:13Speaker 6: and it's a huge honor for me.
- 13:16Speaker 3: So, yeah, it's a no-brainer.
- 13:19Speaker 5: What's important to you?
- 13:21Speaker 7: As far as anything like competition committee that you feel
- 13:23Speaker 7: strongly about? Is there anything you thought about saying, hey,
- 13:26Speaker 7: I'd really like to talk about X?
- 13:29Speaker 6: Well, I mean, I think, you know, there's so many
- 13:31Speaker 6: things that go into the game of football. And I think,
- 13:35Speaker 6: number one, the league has done a great job. And
- 13:36Speaker 6: the individuals who've been on the competition committee throughout the
- 13:40Speaker 6: history of the league have done an outstanding job of
- 13:42Speaker 6: protecting the game of football.
- 13:45Speaker 3: But it's an ever-changing landscape.
- 13:47Speaker 6: And I think for me personally, and listen, right now
- 13:50Speaker 6: I'm going to do a lot of listening because there's
- 13:52Speaker 6: guys who've been on that competition committee for a long time.
- 13:54Speaker 6: And I think the best thing you can do is
- 13:55Speaker 6: understand and dive in and learn before you start opening
- 13:58Speaker 6: your mouth too much. But at the same time, strong
- 14:01Speaker 6: opinions that there's a foundation to how the game of
- 14:05Speaker 6: football has always been played and needs to be played.
- 14:08Speaker 3: Football is a physical, tough game. We need to make
- 14:11Speaker 3: the game as safe as possible for our players.
- 14:13Speaker 6: But at the same time, just the nature of the
- 14:16Speaker 6: game itself, there's a danger to it. And football is
- 14:19Speaker 6: not for to play the game of football.
- 14:21Speaker 3: It's not for everybody. It's hard. It's difficult.
- 14:23Speaker 6: And so there's this balance that we always have to have.
- 14:28Speaker 6: And I think anyone who's played the game understands it.
- 14:31Speaker 6: You understand the risk when you sign up to play
- 14:33Speaker 6: the game of football, but you also understand those risks
- 14:35Speaker 6: are greatly outweighed by the impact, the positive impact that
- 14:38Speaker 6: football has.
- 14:39Speaker 3: On an individual.
- 14:41Speaker 6: Of what you learn about yourself and about how to
- 14:43Speaker 6: work with others and being a part of a team
- 14:46Speaker 6: and having discipline and perseverance. Those are all great qualities
- 14:50Speaker 6: that travel throughout any walk of life. And so there's
- 14:55Speaker 6: this balance. That's the foundation of what football is. But
- 14:59Speaker 6: at the same time, with all the data and all
- 15:01Speaker 6: the science and all the technology we have, how can
- 15:04Speaker 6: we make it as safe as possible? And so having
- 15:07Speaker 6: a set of rules that protect the integrity of the
- 15:10Speaker 6: game and the foundation of the game of football, while
- 15:12Speaker 6: at the same time making it as safe as.
- 15:14Speaker 3: Possible for all players who play it.
- 15:17Speaker 6: And to be an example for, you know, we have
- 15:19Speaker 6: to think about football for our players, our current players
- 15:23Speaker 6: who've played the game, who are going to play the game,
- 15:25Speaker 6: that go out and entertain our millions and millions and
- 15:28Speaker 6: millions and billions of fans that watch this game around
- 15:31Speaker 6: the world. At the same time, we're an example for
- 15:34Speaker 6: of how the game should be played to every young
- 15:36Speaker 6: person who's playing it all the way, starting in Pop Warner.
- 15:40Speaker 6: So I think the importance of making sure we have
- 15:42Speaker 6: rules that protect the game of football at the same time,
- 15:45Speaker 6: make it as safe as possible and teaching it to
- 15:47Speaker 6: be played the right way are critical. And those are
- 15:50Speaker 6: the things that are important to me because the game
- 15:52Speaker 6: of football, um, has been a huge part of my
- 15:58Speaker 6: life and is, um, I mean, I have the wife
- 16:01Speaker 6: I have because of the game of football, because there's
- 16:03Speaker 6: no way I was getting in the USC and my
- 16:04Speaker 6: dad was not paying for it. And so I look
- 16:07Speaker 6: at my wife and I look at my friendships and
- 16:09Speaker 6: I think look at the things I've learned from the game.
- 16:12Speaker 6: That's a big part of who I am as an individual,
- 16:15Speaker 6: my family and everything else. My kids played the game.
- 16:19Speaker 6: And so it's an important part. And so to have
- 16:22Speaker 6: the honor to be a part of the competition committee,
- 16:24Speaker 6: to have the responsibility to be a part of a
- 16:27Speaker 6: group of people that protect the game, that's a huge honor.
- 16:30Speaker 6: I mean, that's not work.
- 16:32Speaker 3: I was just kidding. I just know how busy you are.
- 16:34Speaker 6: Yeah, but they're never too busy to do something that protects.
- 16:38Speaker 6: that you care about, that you love, and it's a
- 16:39Speaker 6: big part of your life. But I think that's the
- 16:42Speaker 6: best way. How do you create that balance of protecting
- 16:44Speaker 6: the game of football for what it is and it's
- 16:46Speaker 6: meant to be and how it's designed to be played,
- 16:48Speaker 6: which is tough and physical.
- 16:49Speaker 7: So you're saying you're not going to bring back the
- 16:51Speaker 7: cut blocks from behind.
- 16:53Speaker 3: It's an offensive line. Yikes.
- 16:56Speaker 7: No, but that's because a couple years ago you were like,
- 17:00Speaker 7: I can't believe we're taking that rule out of the game.
- 17:03Speaker 3: I had to go through it. I had to go
- 17:05Speaker 3: through it. We have to have some advantage. No, but
- 17:08Speaker 3: that's a perfect example.
- 17:09Speaker 6: You know, today's athletes and the way the game's played,
- 17:11Speaker 6: there's no reason for that rule.
- 17:13Speaker 3: Because you can play the game and do the rule.
- 17:14Speaker 5: You've changed your mind.
- 17:15Speaker 3: No, I haven't changed my mind. You and I used
- 17:17Speaker 3: to joke about it.
- 17:17Speaker 2: Strong convictions loosely held.
- 17:19Speaker 3: This is the best part about Tony.
- 17:21Speaker 2: If he gets new information and it's worth it, he'll change.
- 17:25Speaker 6: It's no different than defense alignment in the head slap
- 17:27Speaker 6: that was once legal. What a great tool and ability
- 17:30Speaker 6: to go sack the quarterback.
- 17:31Speaker 5: Deacon Jones, man.
- 17:32Speaker 6: And then the cut block was an opportunity to create
- 17:34Speaker 6: running lanes on the backside for running backs. But look
- 17:38Speaker 6: at where this happens since we've changed those rules. The
- 17:41Speaker 6: pass rush hasn't gone away in sacking the quarterback. What
- 17:43Speaker 6: have these great players and great athletes done? They've learned
- 17:45Speaker 6: different techniques and ways to go get the quarterback. It's
- 17:48Speaker 6: a safer game. The essence of how the game is
- 17:50Speaker 6: played has not changed. If you look at the cut
- 17:52Speaker 6: block within the tackle box being changed. Now, all of
- 17:57Speaker 6: a sudden, you have new techniques to cut off defenders
- 17:59Speaker 6: and different ways to do it in the same game
- 18:01Speaker 6: as being played, but at a safer level. Because any athlete, me,
- 18:05Speaker 6: and we used to joke about it all the time
- 18:06Speaker 6: because you on the defense side, me on the opposite side,
- 18:08Speaker 6: but the one thing we'd agree on, no one likes
- 18:10Speaker 6: anyone going at their knees. And so there's a lot
- 18:13Speaker 6: of ways that we can keep the essence of the
- 18:16Speaker 6: game of football as it is, but also protect our
- 18:19Speaker 6: players and be smart about it so that they can
- 18:22Speaker 6: play longer and safer and enjoy the game as it's
- 18:25Speaker 6: intended to be played.
- 18:26Speaker 4: Let's just wrap up the segment with this quick thought.
- 18:28Speaker 4: You talked earlier about an ongoing 12-hour conversation between the
- 18:31Speaker 4: two of you guys, a 12-hour meeting, and involving Liam.
- 18:34Speaker 4: Is that how the competition committee works? Is it a
- 18:36Speaker 4: constant conversation through the course of a season?
- 18:39Speaker 3: That's a great question. I'm still learning.
- 18:41Speaker 7: Okay.
- 18:42Speaker 3: Because issues come up all the time. Two days ago,
- 18:44Speaker 3: I got an email. I got announced. I knew about it.
- 18:48Speaker 6: Sean had let me know, hey, this is coming a
- 18:50Speaker 6: couple weeks ago. And then it became official, what, two
- 18:52Speaker 6: or three days ago. The day after, I get an
- 18:54Speaker 6: email saying, hey, we're having a meeting on whatever today is.
- 18:57Speaker 6: Because it's camp, I lose track of whatever day it is.
- 19:00Speaker 6: And there's one next week. And so I think these things,
- 19:03Speaker 6: these call it remote meetings using technology, we're You get
- 19:08Speaker 6: together and have discussions of things that come up.
- 19:11Speaker 3: Those things, I think, happen. And then there's scheduled meetings
- 19:14Speaker 3: as well.
- 19:14Speaker 6: With in-person in the offseason when games are not being played.
- 19:19Speaker 3: So I think it's a little bit of both.
- 19:21Speaker 2: It's funny you should ask, hey, tell me about what
- 19:23Speaker 2: the competition committee's cadence is. You got to tell everybody
- 19:28Speaker 2: about obviously the support from your family, but then the
- 19:31Speaker 2: quick follow up of what came after. Oh, yeah.
- 19:33Speaker 3: The best is because I'm terrible and I'll be brief.
- 19:36Speaker 3: I know we have to go break.
- 19:36Speaker 6: I'm not good at communicating when there's honors or cool
- 19:40Speaker 6: things that happen to.
- 19:41Speaker 3: Me because it's like, OK, great. Move on. You're used
- 19:43Speaker 3: to it.
- 19:44Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 19:44Speaker 6: And but I've never been comfortable also talking about anything
- 19:48Speaker 6: about myself like that.
- 19:50Speaker 3: And so, but you fast forward.
- 19:51Speaker 6: So it comes out, it's all over the internet, I guess,
- 19:53Speaker 6: social media and everything. So I get home and my
- 19:55Speaker 6: Angie's out of town.
- 19:56Speaker 1: Thanks.
- 19:56Speaker 6: Good.
- 19:57Speaker 2: Good.
- 19:57Speaker 3: So I didn't get yelled at by her.
- 19:58Speaker 6: Um, my three girls I'm having dinner with and they go, dad,
- 20:02Speaker 6: why didn't you tell us you made.
- 20:03Speaker 3: The competition committee? And they're like, that is so cool.
- 20:07Speaker 6: Am I in the, they were giving me a hard
- 20:08Speaker 6: time for not telling them. And immediately after they gave me,
- 20:11Speaker 6: you know, a lot of stuff for not telling them
- 20:14Speaker 6: and saying how cool it was, and they said, hey,
- 20:15Speaker 6: but what does it mean?
- 20:16Speaker 3: What does the.
- 20:17Speaker 4: Color jacket do you get for the competition committee?
- 20:20Speaker 3: Wait, what does it mean?
- 20:22Speaker 6: Now that we've, like, told you it's great and it's
- 20:24Speaker 6: really cool and what an honor.
- 20:25Speaker 3: You've got to love that it starts with support, though.
- 20:27Speaker 7: That just brings you right back down to reality right there.
- 20:32Speaker 3: My mom was the same way.
- 20:33Speaker 6: She called the Halleys Comets crazy comets, as moms do,
- 20:35Speaker 6: and they're proud of their son.
- 20:37Speaker 3: And at the end of it, she goes, so what
- 20:38Speaker 3: does that mean?
- 20:40Speaker 5: What do you do?
- 20:40Speaker 3: What do you do? What does the competition do? And
- 20:42Speaker 3: so it was fun explaining it to them.
- 20:45Speaker 5: Do you get paid for that? Did they ask that,
- 20:47Speaker 5: the kids?
- 20:48Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. Do you get extra money? I'm like, no,
- 20:50Speaker 3: it's a committee.
- 20:51Speaker 1: It's part of work.
- 20:52Speaker 3: It's my job.
- 20:53Speaker 4: All right, let's take a break. We've got one more
- 20:54Speaker 4: segment with Tony and James Gladstone. You're listening to Jags
- 20:58Speaker 4: HQ here on Jaguars Radio.
- 21:07Speaker 1: Welcome back. Jags HQ continues right now.
- 21:11Speaker 4: We're back on Jags HQ. About seven, eight more minutes
- 21:13Speaker 4: with Tony Buscelli and James Gladstone. Our broadcast this evening
- 21:17Speaker 4: is presented by UF Health. UF Health is the official
- 21:21Speaker 4: health care provider of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
- 21:24Speaker 6: All right.
- 21:24Speaker 4: Give us the lowdown on the joint practices. You had
- 21:27Speaker 4: three weeks of them. You had one against the Panthers
- 21:29Speaker 4: and Saints, two against the Bucs. Actually, just really one
- 21:32Speaker 4: against the Bucs, right?
- 21:33Speaker 3: Yeah, we did seven on seven the second day.
- 21:34Speaker 4: How'd it work? Did the work get done that you wanted?
- 21:37Speaker 3: Here's the cool thing.
- 21:38Speaker 2: We're going to now have back-to-back seasons where we did
- 21:42Speaker 2: vastly different preseason cadence.
- 21:45Speaker 4: And so it'll be great.
- 21:47Speaker 2: Come the conclusion of 2026 being able to compare and contrast.
- 21:51Speaker 4: What do we feel like we.
- 21:51Speaker 2: Got out of each? Is there one we like more?
- 21:55Speaker 2: Is there a combination of the two? Because remember a
- 21:57Speaker 2: year ago, We went week one and week two where
- 22:00Speaker 2: some of our starters were playing in the preseason games themselves.
- 22:03Speaker 2: We didn't have any joints lined up until week three
- 22:05Speaker 2: against Miami. And both Liam and myself come from backgrounds
- 22:09Speaker 2: where it was joint practice heavy as opposed to preseason
- 22:12Speaker 2: game exposure for those first and second team players. And
- 22:16Speaker 2: so this year we get a chance to do three,
- 22:19Speaker 2: one of which included two days with Tampa Bay. And
- 22:23Speaker 2: I think at where we're at right now, the best
- 22:26Speaker 2: part of it all, if I go zoomed out, is
- 22:28Speaker 2: you saw a steady progression from one to the next
- 22:32Speaker 2: in our play, in our execution, in our energy. That's
- 22:36Speaker 2: the really good thing because you're building for ultimately what
- 22:39Speaker 2: is week one in the regular season. And so to
- 22:41Speaker 2: see that climb like it was is something that we're
- 22:45Speaker 2: really happy with and pleased with, knowing that there's still
- 22:47Speaker 2: more meat on the bone that we got to put
- 22:50Speaker 2: to the grass here over the next week and a half.
- 22:52Speaker 2: But nonetheless, that element was certainly one that stood out.
- 22:56Speaker 2: And I think we kind of got our a little
- 22:59Speaker 2: jab from New Orleans, and it was a little wake-up
- 23:01Speaker 2: to say, hey, you got two more ops in these
- 23:04Speaker 2: joint sessions, you better make them count. And I think
- 23:08Speaker 2: that that showed itself against both Carolina and Tampa Bay
- 23:11Speaker 2: in a way that, you know, got to give a
- 23:12Speaker 2: lot of credit to each of the clubs that we
- 23:14Speaker 2: matched up with. They allowed us to have a really
- 23:16Speaker 2: clean joint practice. I mean, it was good work for us,
- 23:21Speaker 2: and a lot of that had to do with the
- 23:22Speaker 2: way that it was run between both coaching staffs, both
- 23:24Speaker 2: operation groups. a lot of coordination that goes into that
- 23:28Speaker 2: stuff in order to make it all work the right way.
- 23:31Speaker 2: But certainly feel good at where we're at and what
- 23:33Speaker 2: those allowed us to get out of.
- 23:34Speaker 5: Yeah, I think also like the reps.
- 23:37Speaker 7: I mean, like in a game, you get what, like 65,
- 23:40Speaker 7: maybe 70 snaps. I think in New Orleans you had
- 23:42Speaker 7: 90 on the offensive side, 90 on the defensive side.
- 23:47Speaker 7: But to be able to get the high quality of
- 23:49Speaker 7: work that's competitive, but to not have any– loosey-goosey play
- 23:54Speaker 7: around your quarterback, you know, any guys getting finished down
- 23:57Speaker 7: to the ground. You got to take, I think, that
- 24:02Speaker 7: as a real positive because you're getting competitive work, but
- 24:06Speaker 7: the finish is not there to where guys can have
- 24:09Speaker 7: the injury or risk factor.
- 24:10Speaker 3: Well, I think a couple things there.
- 24:11Speaker 6: I think, one, you're getting more reps in joints than
- 24:15Speaker 6: you do in any preseason games for your ones. I
- 24:18Speaker 6: think the other thing that I enjoy about the joints
- 24:21Speaker 6: probably more than the preseason is though the preseason does
- 24:24Speaker 6: have some benefits playing in the game is you're, you're
- 24:27Speaker 6: guaranteeing or high probability, unless someone's injured on their side,
- 24:31Speaker 6: you're getting ones against ones. How often do you go
- 24:34Speaker 6: into a preseason game? One team's playing their ones, the
- 24:37Speaker 6: other team's playing their.
- 24:38Speaker 3: Twos or vice versa.
- 24:39Speaker 6: And you're like, it's like, are you, what kind of,
- 24:41Speaker 6: I mean, you're not getting that best on best to look.
- 24:44Speaker 6: And we have three, we had three weeks where our
- 24:47Speaker 6: best against their best. And that's where you can start
- 24:50Speaker 6: really in our twos against their twos. And you start
- 24:53Speaker 6: getting some feeling, you know, how are guys competing? Where
- 24:55Speaker 6: do you stand and how do you do it? And
- 24:56Speaker 6: I think the three joints I thought were great from
- 24:59Speaker 6: the standpoint, and James touched on this, and I want
- 25:02Speaker 6: to emphasize this point, of the progression of getting better
- 25:06Speaker 6: throughout camp. You always want to be improving.
- 25:08Speaker 3: That's obvious.
- 25:09Speaker 6: I think the punch in the mouth in New Orleans
- 25:10Speaker 6: was great. I think it was also because it was
- 25:12Speaker 6: a reminder for us as a team, as an organization,
- 25:16Speaker 6: of who we really are and how we play when
- 25:19Speaker 6: we're at our best.
- 25:20Speaker 3: And that's being physical.
- 25:22Speaker 6: And that's playing a tough-nosed kind of standard of what
- 25:25Speaker 6: it means to be a Jaguars that James and I
- 25:26Speaker 6: have talked.
- 25:27Speaker 3: Liam talks about it all the time with our team.
- 25:28Speaker 4: I've heard that phrase, play style, a hundred times this week.
- 25:31Speaker 3: Liam set the standard. Said, hey, this is who we are.
- 25:33Speaker 3: We are a tough, physical....
- 25:36Speaker 6: We're going to come out anytime, anywhere, anyone, all those things.
- 25:42Speaker 6: It's a little bit of a, hey, we're ready to go.
- 25:45Speaker 6: It's a little bit of what Duval is all about.
- 25:47Speaker 6: I think we went out in that New Orleans joint,
- 25:52Speaker 6: and we weren't at our best. We weren't playing the
- 25:54Speaker 6: way to the standard. Now, give the Saints a lot
- 25:58Speaker 6: of credit. They came out, and they punched us in
- 26:00Speaker 6: the mouth. And I think what I enjoyed about that,
- 26:03Speaker 6: not in the moment, it was a painful, I think
- 26:06Speaker 6: this whole organization couldn't wait to get back on the field,
- 26:08Speaker 6: but it's a reminder of who we are and how
- 26:11Speaker 6: we have to play.
- 26:11Speaker 3: And you have to be true to yourself.
- 26:14Speaker 6: And, boy, I thought Liam did a great job during
- 26:16Speaker 6: that period. And James has said this, I've said it
- 26:21Speaker 6: on this show, Liam's leadership qualities keep on showing up.
- 26:27Speaker 6: Because great leaders are able not only to set a
- 26:29Speaker 6: standard and communicate what the standard is.
- 26:32Speaker 3: But then hold the standard through tough times. And when
- 26:35Speaker 3: the standard's not.
- 26:35Speaker 6: Being met, hold everybody in the organization accountable. And I
- 26:40Speaker 6: think this was another highlight of Liam doing that. And
- 26:45Speaker 6: what's great about it, our players respond. Our players responded
- 26:48Speaker 6: because at the end of the day, it's all words
- 26:50Speaker 6: from the head coach or from James or myself.
- 26:53Speaker 3: We're just talking.
- 26:54Speaker 6: Because we're not going out there and punching anyone in
- 26:56Speaker 6: the mouth. We can say it and act tough and
- 26:59Speaker 6: say this is who we are because we mean.
- 27:01Speaker 4: It at our core.
- 27:02Speaker 3: But you better get your players to buy in. Your
- 27:04Speaker 3: players better believe it.
- 27:06Speaker 6: And I think the most exciting thing for me about
- 27:08Speaker 6: this camp is watching how our players responded. Our players
- 27:11Speaker 6: heard the head coach. They met the challenge. And it
- 27:13Speaker 6: shows that what we're trying to build here, there's guys,
- 27:16Speaker 6: we have a core of guys that are probably too
- 27:19Speaker 6: long of a list to even start mentioning names.
- 27:21Speaker 3: I wouldn't want to leave anyone out that own that.
- 27:23Speaker 3: And they led the way in the following two joints.
- 27:26Speaker 3: It wasn't perfect. We have lots of stuff to clean up.
- 27:29Speaker 3: We are not ready for Cleveland. Right.
- 27:32Speaker 4: You have 17 days.
- 27:33Speaker 6: We have 17 days, but the play style, I think
- 27:35Speaker 6: everyone on our team, our players, hey, this is who
- 27:38Speaker 6: we are.
- 27:39Speaker 3: This is how we have to play.
- 27:40Speaker 4: We have one minute left with you guys. Let me
- 27:42Speaker 4: throw a name out there because then it won't be
- 27:43Speaker 4: you forgetting someone. But I thought he set the standard
- 27:45Speaker 4: this week was Josh Heinz-Allen. I thought his practice on
- 27:49Speaker 4: Tuesday was as good a practice as I've seen a
- 27:51Speaker 4: Jaguar have in a long time.
- 27:53Speaker 6: No doubt.
- 27:54Speaker 2: And I think that– was showcased in Carolina as well.
- 27:59Speaker 2: That really made it hard for them to operate as
- 28:02Speaker 2: an offense, both trying to run the ball and pass
- 28:04Speaker 2: the ball. Showed up again versus Tampa Bay. His energy
- 28:08Speaker 2: has continued to build as camp's gone on. You feel
- 28:11Speaker 2: his presence. You feel his influence on, in particular, the
- 28:15Speaker 2: young guys across the team. But it's the fronts that
- 28:20Speaker 2: are going to drive that. story for us. You know,
- 28:23Speaker 2: it's going to be that defensive front. It's going to
- 28:24Speaker 2: be the offensive line that really tells the tale in
- 28:28Speaker 2: a real large way of what this team's going to
- 28:31Speaker 2: look like each and every week.
- 28:33Speaker 7: And let me go to some of your draft picks.
- 28:35Speaker 7: I thought Borkesher had his best day yet, maybe, against
- 28:40Speaker 7: the Bucs. Your wide receiver, Josh Cameron, had an outstanding day.
- 28:45Speaker 7: And then Bregnon, I thought, got a little reps against
- 28:48Speaker 7: a big old fellow named Vitavea.
- 28:50Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
- 28:51Speaker 7: And the Bucs played pretty well. So it's good to
- 28:54Speaker 7: see those young guys playing pretty well.
- 28:56Speaker 2: It's good to get that exposure against some pretty high
- 29:00Speaker 2: caliber players on the other side. And especially when you're
- 29:04Speaker 2: just walking in for the first time as a Rook,
- 29:07Speaker 2: to see somebody that you don't have any tendencies for
- 29:10Speaker 2: and just straight up play against them, that can be
- 29:12Speaker 2: a really helpful piece to the puzzle and the build
- 29:14Speaker 2: towards the regular season. But with Josh, I think that's
- 29:18Speaker 2: an interesting one because it's, It's so easy when you
- 29:20Speaker 2: look at him physically, like that's a wide receiver, huh?
- 29:24Speaker 2: And you probably label him as like a tight receiver,
- 29:26Speaker 2: half tight end, half wide receiver.
- 29:28Speaker 5: Would you call him an F?
- 29:30Speaker 2: I think at this stage you can say he's got
- 29:32Speaker 2: the opportunity to play quite a few of those wide
- 29:35Speaker 2: receiver spots. But nonetheless, he's done a great job, as
- 29:38Speaker 2: has many of the others. And C.J. Williams, who's right
- 29:41Speaker 2: there next to him, really earning a lot of trust
- 29:44Speaker 2: right off the bat. And Emmanuel and Bork doing their
- 29:48Speaker 2: part in the run game was certainly notable.
- 29:52Speaker 3: They're fun to watch.
- 29:53Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no question.
- 29:54Speaker 4: Let's leave it at that. James Gladstone, Tony Buscelli, thanks
- 29:55Speaker 4: so much.
- 29:56Speaker 3: Thanks, guys.
- 29:56Speaker 4: Appreciate it.
- 29:57Speaker 3: See you guys next week.
- 29:58Speaker 4: Appreciate it. We'll take a break and be back. Jags
- 30:00Speaker 4: HQ rolls along with Jeff Longaman here on the Jaguars
- 30:03Speaker 4: Radio Network.
- 30:06Speaker 1: Welcome back. Jags HQ continues right now.
- 30:10Speaker 4: You know, the hard part is we could talk forever.
- 30:13Speaker 4: I mean, just the conversation, especially with Tony, just never
- 30:16Speaker 4: seems to slow down. I've got 15 notes here of
- 30:19Speaker 4: things I wanted to get to.
- 30:21Speaker 5: We didn't get to it.
- 30:21Speaker 4: No, we didn't. But luckily, you're staying.
- 30:23Speaker 5: And one of them.
- 30:24Speaker 7: Was Fahlele, which we'll get to him next week and
- 30:27Speaker 7: kind of see how he does or if he does
- 30:29Speaker 7: anything this week.
- 30:31Speaker 4: Do you know who played with him in high school
- 30:32Speaker 4: at IMG was Robert Hainsey.
- 30:34Speaker 5: Okay.
- 30:35Speaker 4: And Hainsey was telling us today in our television production meeting,
- 30:37Speaker 4: the minute he walked in the door, a bunch of
- 30:39Speaker 4: big guys looked up and realized they weren't as big
- 30:42Speaker 4: as they thought.
- 30:42Speaker 7: Oh, he's a giant.
- 30:43Speaker 5: He's a giant.
- 30:44Speaker 7: But to go back to that conversation with James, and
- 30:47Speaker 7: I brought up Borkature and Pregnant in particular about doing
- 30:51Speaker 7: a really good job of blocking up front. And I
- 30:54Speaker 7: thought they were real key because they had a really
- 30:56Speaker 7: strong day running the football. And a big part of
- 31:00Speaker 7: that was Basial Tootin. And what impressed me the most
- 31:04Speaker 7: might have been what he did after he didn't look
- 31:06Speaker 7: so good. There was a play that he had where
- 31:09Speaker 7: he goes right through the middle and all of a
- 31:12Speaker 7: sudden he's bearing down on Antoine Winfield, who is a
- 31:15Speaker 7: total pro. And Antoine Winfield goes out and punches the
- 31:19Speaker 7: ball out in a front collision, which doesn't happen very often.
- 31:23Speaker 7: Most defenders, first guy in, aren't thinking about punching the
- 31:27Speaker 7: ball out, which this was a great moment for Basial
- 31:31Speaker 7: Tootin because, one, it taught him about, hey, know your opponent.
- 31:35Speaker 7: This is a veteran guy. He is ready to do
- 31:38Speaker 7: something like that. But I thought that the way that
- 31:41Speaker 7: he continued to run after that play was what was
- 31:45Speaker 7: important because Basial Basial Tootin in the past, if you
- 31:48Speaker 7: go back to last year, he didn't look fast all
- 31:52Speaker 7: the time. We kept hearing he was a 4-3-2 guy, right?
- 31:55Speaker 7: I think that was the time.
- 31:56Speaker 6: 4-2-8.
- 31:56Speaker 5: Or 4-2-8. 4-2-8. Which is unbelievable.
- 32:00Speaker 7: Name me a game in which he ran where he
- 32:02Speaker 7: looked like he was 4-2-8. I don't think he did. Okay,
- 32:06Speaker 7: because I think he was so conscious about ball security
- 32:09Speaker 7: because there was a question about him coming out of college.
- 32:12Speaker 7: Would he have good ball security? Well, look, he put
- 32:15Speaker 7: the ball on the turf, but it's okay. And I
- 32:18Speaker 7: thought it was critical because the way he responded, he
- 32:21Speaker 7: was running so fast in this joint practice with the
- 32:25Speaker 7: Bucs that it impressed the heck out of me.
- 32:27Speaker 4: Go back to the television production meeting because we talked
- 32:29Speaker 4: to the head coach today. unprovoked, went to Basial and
- 32:33Speaker 4: said the reason he's playing so fast is he's being decisive.
- 32:37Speaker 4: He's not overthinking it. He sees the hole. He goes
- 32:41Speaker 4: through the hole. He said it's always about slow to
- 32:45Speaker 4: fast through. Let the hole develop and then get through it.
- 32:48Speaker 7: And it's crazy to watch the Jaguars practice. They've got
- 32:53Speaker 7: what many consider to be one of the best running
- 32:55Speaker 7: backs coach in football in Chad Morton.
- 32:56Speaker 1: Chad Morton, tremendous.
- 32:57Speaker 5: Who played in the NFL himself. Yes, he did.
- 33:00Speaker 7: When you watch him in practice, okay, the running backs
- 33:02Speaker 7: almost always run to the end zone every play. And
- 33:05Speaker 7: who's on a good play? And who's running down the
- 33:08Speaker 7: field 40, 50 yards every time to dap him up?
- 33:11Speaker 5: It's Chad Morton.
- 33:13Speaker 7: He probably burns more calories than any coach in Jaguars
- 33:17Speaker 7: history along with Heath.
- 33:19Speaker 4: I might start running up and down the sidelines then too.
- 33:22Speaker 4: I'll just be honest about it. I could use to
- 33:24Speaker 4: lose a couple. Is the running back position going to
- 33:28Speaker 4: be like the linebacker position. In other words, is it
- 33:31Speaker 4: going to be 50-50? Are we going to see a
- 33:33Speaker 4: healthy dose of both? We're going to see healthy doses.
- 33:36Speaker 4: But who's the starter? Does it matter?
- 33:38Speaker 7: Well, I think the home run hitter is Basial Tootin,
- 33:41Speaker 7: and Rodriguez is the hammer. And I think they've got
- 33:45Speaker 7: two very distinct running styles. I think they're both going
- 33:49Speaker 7: to be a factor. And from watching the preseason games, look,
- 33:54Speaker 7: Abdul is– Now into the conversation a little bit. He
- 33:58Speaker 7: has pried the door open with his performance. And will
- 34:03Speaker 7: they keep three or will they make room for four
- 34:06Speaker 7: in him?
- 34:07Speaker 4: Well, listen, it's remarkable, remarkable that a guy who plays
- 34:11Speaker 4: a position with the shortest lifespan, right, three years, three
- 34:13Speaker 4: and a half years. Fred Taylor and I were talking
- 34:14Speaker 4: about this earlier today. This is 12th season and his
- 34:18Speaker 4: seventh team. So he's never been a feature guy. He
- 34:21Speaker 4: keeps bouncing around. But what did they see from him
- 34:23Speaker 4: that they like so much?
- 34:25Speaker 5: Well, he's quick. He's decisive. He is a receiver out
- 34:30Speaker 5: of the backfield.
- 34:31Speaker 7: I think he can do a little bit of everything.
- 34:33Speaker 7: He's not just a first down back. He's not just
- 34:36Speaker 7: a third down back.
- 34:36Speaker 5: He can do both.
- 34:38Speaker 7: The reason he's able to do that, first of all,
- 34:40Speaker 7: give him credit because he's taken care of himself, obviously,
- 34:42Speaker 7: because he looked fantastic in year 12. But what I
- 34:47Speaker 7: think is the low mileage factor, this is what I
- 34:50Speaker 7: call like a barn find.
- 34:52Speaker 5: I like that.
- 34:53Speaker 4: I bought a car out of a barn once.
- 34:55Speaker 5: I know the feeling.
- 34:55Speaker 7: You find a car that's been tucked away in a barn,
- 34:58Speaker 7: and it's not that he's been tucked away because he's
- 35:00Speaker 7: been playing, but the comparison is that he's got low mileage.
- 35:03Speaker 7: He's got, I think, like 500 carries in his career,
- 35:07Speaker 7: where you go back to some of the workhorses have
- 35:10Speaker 7: 250 to 300 in a season. So the mileage is low,
- 35:15Speaker 7: and the maturity is there. The professionalism is there. And
- 35:19Speaker 7: that's also, I think, a big factor for that room,
- 35:21Speaker 7: which is a real positive.
- 35:22Speaker 4: You can bank on him making this roster. I mean,
- 35:24Speaker 4: unless something dramatic changes, he's not playing tomorrow night. Not playing.
- 35:28Speaker 7: If he was.
- 35:29Speaker 5: Fighting for a roster spot. Probably a sign.
- 35:33Speaker 4: I'm inferring after 33 years of doing this.
- 35:35Speaker 7: At the end of the day, you've got to remember
- 35:37Speaker 7: that there's 1,100 guys that are going to get released.
- 35:40Speaker 7: And there's... Going to be comparisons. What do we have
- 35:44Speaker 7: and what's out there? And so that's always going to
- 35:46Speaker 7: be a factor. I think if maybe the right guy's
- 35:50Speaker 7: not out there, he makes the roster. But if there's
- 35:53Speaker 7: a guy that's out there, you know, you never know.
- 35:55Speaker 4: Keeping us honest.
- 35:56Speaker 5: Yeah, you never know.
- 35:57Speaker 4: Still see him here. All right, we'll take a break.
- 35:59Speaker 4: We'll come back. More with Jeff Loggaman here on Jags
- 36:01Speaker 4: HQ on a Thursday evening on Jaguars Radio.
- 36:11Speaker 1: Welcome back. Jags HQ continues right now.
- 36:16Speaker 4: Tomorrow night's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 737 kickoff
- 36:20Speaker 4: right here on 1010XL and 92.5 FM is presented by
- 36:24Speaker 4: Wolfson Children's Hospital, the official children's hospital of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
- 36:29Speaker 4: More with Jeff Lagerman here on Jags HQ. I'm Brian Sexton.
- 36:33Speaker 3: Offensive line.
- 36:35Speaker 4: Anton Harrison. Emmanuel Pragnon. Robert Hainsey. Ezra Cleveland, and Walker
- 36:44Speaker 4: Little slash Cole Van Lannen, depending on his availability.
- 36:47Speaker 5: That's your starting group.
- 36:48Speaker 4: On opening day.
- 36:49Speaker 7: Right.
- 36:50Speaker 4: So Pregnant makes it.
- 36:51Speaker 5: Oh, yeah. He's your guy.
- 36:54Speaker 7: And I'm sticking with what I said a week ago,
- 36:56Speaker 7: in that if I came from a different planet, new football,
- 36:59Speaker 7: he might be the best offensive lineman performance-wise that I've
- 37:02Speaker 7: seen in the preseason.
- 37:03Speaker 5: I mean, so I think he's been really good. And
- 37:06Speaker 5: this week was no exception.
- 37:07Speaker 4: Talk about the left side. Anton's moving over there.
- 37:09Speaker 7: Yeah.
- 37:11Speaker 4: Sounds like he has, at least Robert Hainsey in a
- 37:14Speaker 4: meeting earlier today, said he really has made the switch
- 37:17Speaker 4: and looks comfortable over there.
- 37:19Speaker 7: Well, he's played it for a number of years going
- 37:21Speaker 7: back to college. And, you know, he did not have
- 37:25Speaker 7: a very good day in the joint practice in New Orleans,
- 37:28Speaker 7: which made you go, can he do this? And then
- 37:33Speaker 7: he responded in the Carolina joint practice. And then this
- 37:36Speaker 7: past week, he was solid. You still want him to
- 37:41Speaker 7: get another level. And I think he will. I think
- 37:46Speaker 7: last year he earned a lot of my trust.
- 37:48Speaker 4: There is another level is what you're saying.
- 37:50Speaker 7: There is, absolutely, for him. I mean, he's got great feet.
- 37:55Speaker 7: He's just got to make sure that he's He's consistent,
- 37:58Speaker 7: and he finishes. That's always the thing for offensive linemen.
- 38:02Speaker 7: I mean, that's always the big key. But I think
- 38:05Speaker 7: there's going to be nine offensive linemen that make this team.
- 38:09Speaker 7: Practice squad, you know, that's a conversation for another day.
- 38:13Speaker 7: But I think there's going to be nine guys that
- 38:15Speaker 7: make this football team. The big question mark, and Chumadoga,
- 38:19Speaker 7: who did a pretty good job for the team last year,
- 38:21Speaker 7: I don't think he makes it. I think McCary is
- 38:24Speaker 7: the question mark, you know, as far as, Is he
- 38:28Speaker 7: going to go to IR?
- 38:30Speaker 4: Well, we haven't seen him do anything.
- 38:32Speaker 7: We haven't seen him do anything. And then he had
- 38:34Speaker 7: another back procedure. Where is he at? Is he going
- 38:37Speaker 7: to be able to play? Does he end up being
- 38:40Speaker 7: a guy that you have an injury settlement with? And
- 38:42Speaker 7: then you look at bringing him back later on in
- 38:44Speaker 7: the year.
- 38:45Speaker 4: He's got a big dead cap number.
- 38:47Speaker 5: Explain that to people, what that means.
- 38:49Speaker 4: So he's got a $ 39 million contract, and there is
- 38:52Speaker 4: still almost $ 18 million of bonus money that the Jaguars
- 38:56Speaker 4: paid to him last year that they prorated over the
- 39:00Speaker 4: three years of the contract. If they were to... release him,
- 39:04Speaker 4: even in an injury settlement, that money comes flying forward
- 39:07Speaker 4: into this year's cap.
- 39:08Speaker 5: Could they absorb it in this year's show? No, no.
- 39:11Speaker 4: They've only got about $ 9 million, a little less than that,
- 39:14Speaker 4: in cap room. You can't. You cannot cut him. He's
- 39:18Speaker 4: got to go to your injured reserve list because you
- 39:21Speaker 4: can't take that $ 17 million dead cap hit. Just can't.
- 39:25Speaker 4: Jaguars have taken a couple of hits. You know, last
- 39:27Speaker 4: year they took it with, oh, the corner.
- 39:31Speaker 5: The corner. And drawn a blank, too.
- 39:34Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 39:34Speaker 5: On the corner.
- 39:35Speaker 4: Oh, come on. We're getting old. Tyson Campbell. When they
- 39:39Speaker 4: traded Tyson Campbell, they took a big hit. And so
- 39:42Speaker 4: they can't afford it. They just can't. He's going to
- 39:44Speaker 4: be on injured reserve if he's not on the active roster.
- 39:47Speaker 4: And listen.
- 39:48Speaker 5: So my nine, I'll give you my nine.
- 39:49Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 39:50Speaker 5: Okay.
- 39:50Speaker 7: Colvin Landon, Walker Little, Ezra Cleveland, Daniel Falele, Hainsey, and Monheim,
- 39:57Speaker 7: Emmanuel Pregnon, Wyatt Milam, and Anton Harrison.
- 40:00Speaker 4: There you go.
- 40:01Speaker 5: Those are my nine.
- 40:01Speaker 4: There's the nine. Opening day. You heard it here, folks.
- 40:04Speaker 4: We'll take a break. In return, more of Jags HQ
- 40:08Speaker 4: here on the Jaguars Radio Network.
- 40:15Speaker 1: Welcome back. Jags HQ continues right now.
- 40:19Speaker 4: Powering our way to the top of the hour and
- 40:22Speaker 4: the end of Jags HQ. Brian and Jeff with you
- 40:24Speaker 4: here in the final minutes. And let's talk about a
- 40:26Speaker 4: key position battle that you think it probably has already
- 40:31Speaker 4: played out. Right. But maybe there's a chance it somehow changes.
- 40:35Speaker 7: Yeah, I think the decision makers are going to have
- 40:39Speaker 7: their hands full trying to figure out what to do
- 40:40Speaker 7: at linebacker. How many roster spots is it going to be?
- 40:43Speaker 7: Is it going to be five? Is it going to
- 40:45Speaker 7: be six? You look at the top four guys, which
- 40:49Speaker 7: I think are pretty obvious, Ventro, Miller, Branson, Combs, Foy, Lewick,
- 40:52Speaker 7: and then Dennis Gardak. Well, if you have five, okay,
- 40:57Speaker 7: that only gives you one more spot. And who does
- 40:59Speaker 7: that go to?
- 41:00Speaker 4: It's got to be a guy who can play a
- 41:01Speaker 4: bunch of positions.
- 41:02Speaker 5: Well, I mean, can Yassir Abdul play multiple positions?
- 41:06Speaker 4: I don't think so.
- 41:06Speaker 7: Great special teamer.
- 41:07Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 41:08Speaker 7: Okay, then Jalen McLeod.
- 41:10Speaker 4: We haven't seen him yet.
- 41:10Speaker 5: I've been hurt a lot.
- 41:11Speaker 4: We're going to see him tomorrow night.
- 41:13Speaker 5: Okay, been hurt a lot.
- 41:14Speaker 4: Number 35.
- 41:14Speaker 5: Plays inside. Can play inside. Can play outside.
- 41:17Speaker 7: Can play edge.
- 41:19Speaker 4: Terrific athlete.
- 41:19Speaker 7: What about Tavi, the linebacker that they picked up?
- 41:22Speaker 4: He came in, yeah.
- 41:24Speaker 5: He was really.
- 41:24Speaker 3: Good for a while.
- 41:25Speaker 7: But then again, so can Ventro Miller. I think the
- 41:28Speaker 7: linebacking position is going to be interesting to watch just
- 41:32Speaker 7: from the standpoint of special teams are always a factor.
- 41:36Speaker 7: And then positional versatility is always a factor as well.
- 41:39Speaker 7: You got to have guys that can play more than
- 41:41Speaker 7: just Mike or more than just Sam, more than just Will.
- 41:45Speaker 7: They got to be able to play multiple.
- 41:47Speaker 4: Can Branson Combs play multiple or is he just a
- 41:52Speaker 4: weak side linebacker because of his range?
- 41:53Speaker 7: Well, I think they got him dialed in at weak
- 41:55Speaker 7: side because that's going to be the majority use for him.
- 41:58Speaker 7: I think he's going to end up probably with maybe
- 42:01Speaker 7: slightly more snaps than Then Ventrell.
- 42:04Speaker 4: Ventrell can play inside, and as you said.
- 42:05Speaker 7: Ventrell, I think, has got a little flexibility playing Will
- 42:07Speaker 7: and Mike, so that's a positive for him.
- 42:10Speaker 5: It works, yep.
- 42:11Speaker 4: Five linebackers, probably, maybe six, but we'll see what they
- 42:13Speaker 4: decide to do. Sunday at 6 is cut-down day. We'll
- 42:17Speaker 4: take our final break of the evening and return to
- 42:18Speaker 4: wrap up Jags HQ here on Jaguars Radio.
- 42:26Speaker 1: Welcome back. Jags HQ continues right now.
- 42:30Speaker 5: All right.
- 42:30Speaker 4: Final two minutes or so of Jags HQ. Brian Sexton
- 42:34Speaker 4: along with Jeff Lagerman. You'll have the radio broadcast tomorrow.
- 42:36Speaker 5: Yeah.
- 42:38Speaker 4: 737 is the kickoff. Bucky Brooks and I will be
- 42:40Speaker 4: on TV on Fox 30 and around the southeast on
- 42:43Speaker 4: various stations. The preseason finale, even in the old days,
- 42:49Speaker 4: was always one you just kind of wanted to get
- 42:51Speaker 4: through healthily. Feel the same way?
- 42:54Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 42:54Speaker 5: I mean, it's, you know, it's... You don't want to.
- 42:56Speaker 4: Be writing a bunch of injury settlement checks over the weekend.
- 42:58Speaker 7: Well, I mean, that's, I mean, the reality is that
- 43:00Speaker 7: there are going to be some of them for teams
- 43:02Speaker 7: to write. But, you know, but you also, you're excited
- 43:07Speaker 7: for the guys that are trying to hold on to
- 43:09Speaker 7: a dream. And there's going to be about 1,100 plus
- 43:13Speaker 7: guys that are going to be released. Some of them
- 43:14Speaker 7: will be brought back to the practice squad. But look,
- 43:18Speaker 7: I mean, there's a lot of guys that want to
- 43:19Speaker 7: keep playing, that want to try to find a way
- 43:21Speaker 7: to make a living. And there's an opportunity to impress.
- 43:26Speaker 7: And so you kind of root for those guys. But
- 43:29Speaker 7: at the same token, from a selfish standpoint, you're like,
- 43:31Speaker 7: you know, can we just get through this? You know,
- 43:33Speaker 7: get to the games that count and start playing real football.
- 43:37Speaker 7: But to these guys that are going to be playing
- 43:39Speaker 7: tomorrow night, this is real football. This is a livelihood.
- 43:42Speaker 7: And this is not something that is a throwaway to them.
- 43:45Speaker 4: All right. So tomorrow night, preseason finale here at Everbank Stadium.
- 43:51Speaker 4: Just want to remind people, we're playing here this year.
- 43:53Speaker 4: Just in case you drove by and you saw the
- 43:55Speaker 4: cranes and all the construction materials, we're playing at home
- 43:59Speaker 4: this year. And we're here every Thursday night from 4
- 44:03Speaker 4: to 6 on 1010XL and 92.5 FM, plus all the
- 44:07Speaker 4: Jaguar social channels and the YouTube channel. Jeff, thanks so much.
- 44:10Speaker 4: It was a fun show.
- 44:11Speaker 5: Enjoyed it.
- 44:11Speaker 4: We'll be back next week.
- 44:12Speaker 5: Have a great call tomorrow night.
- 44:13Speaker 3: Yeah, you too.
- 44:13Speaker 4: Enjoy it. That'll do it, everybody. Enjoy the game tomorrow night.
- 44:17Speaker 4: Preseason football is almost over. Regular season is almost here.
- 44:20Speaker 4: 17 days. Have a great Thursday evening.