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Positions I Wished the Jaguars Pursued More Aggressively · Duval Daily: A Jacksonville Jaguars Podcast

• 0:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to do wall daily presented by Genjag.com.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Jordan Delugher.
• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks so much for tuning in here.
• 0:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Wednesday, July, ninth.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Right now, we're talking about some regrets I have from the Jaguar's offseason.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And really, it's just kind of about some personal decisions at certain spots.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about all these things before, but as the offseason winds down and training camp is under two weeks away.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: getting in out on the practice field is I think exactly two weeks away from today, but there's just some spots where for a team that
• 0:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think clearly is not in this kind of wait and see rebuild year.
• 0:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's just see what we've gotten our first year on the job.
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a new regime that with Liam Cohen, James Ladsdon and Tony Bicelli.
• 1:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a team aggressively trying to win their division and make the playoffs and compete at the highest level in my opinion in year one.
• 1:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: And some of their free agent moves
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: To me, left a lot to be desired or lack of moves in certain spots.
• 1:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just think that the Jaguars could have been more aggressive.
• 1:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Certain areas of their roster that they could have been more aggressive while also not really changing
• 1:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: the future outlook of some positions.
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: We'll talk about what I mean exactly here today.
• 1:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: I really appreciate y'all tuning in.
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoy the content, please like and subscribe.
• 1:44
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• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the Jag wars, there's basically three positions where I really would have liked to see them be more aggressive this off season, not just for your free agency, but it could have been a combination of free agency
• 2:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: and the draft and there's a lot of moves they made that I really liked.
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: I like what they did it back up tight end.
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: I probably wouldn't have gotten rid of Evan and Grimm, but I do like Britain's strange and I do like the plan at tight end.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like they're shifting what the tight end's role is in this offense and I understand that Evan and Grimm didn't really fit that.
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: I still probably would have tried to keep him just because I think he's such a talented receiving threat and one of the guys you really would like to have on your roster from a leadership standpoint.
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's not one of my bigger things.
• 2:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Safety is certainly a big one.
• 2:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: And look, the Jag wars as of right now, they still have eighteen point eight million dollars in twenty twenty five salary cap.
• 2:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Could they use that to upgrade a certain spot during the season if they need to.
• 2:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: before the season, if they need to.
• 2:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, there are still some good players at certain spots where if they feel like they could use an upgrade, maybe they could be available via trade during the season or there's still some older veteran free agents that are still out there that could potentially help you out, right?
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: But with eighteen point eight million dollars remaining in team salary cap space,
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: They could have still had some flexibility while making some of the moves that I would have liked to see them make.
• 3:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: And these aren't just hindsight.
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like these are things I wanted the Jaguars to do at the time that they didn't end up doing.
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can understand arguments.
• 3:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: for what the Jaguar's did versus what I would have liked to see them do, but it is what it is.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: These are kind of my regrets, some spots where I think the Jaguar's could have been a lot better heading into the twenty twenty five season.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Safety for one.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: I really like Caleb Ransopick, so I'm not knocking that at all.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: You could have had his gave your watch at that same pick.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can understand the argument for Caleb Ransal over Xavier Watts.
• 3:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think he's a better tackler.
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think he's a better athlete.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think there's more upside.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Xavier Watts, you know as a ball hawk, who's going to be fairly consistent at the next level, I think.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's, that's an interesting argument, but more so than that, because again, I'm very happy about Caleb Ransal.
• 4:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that was actually a really heavy pick and a good pick.
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would have liked to see them be more aggressive with
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: their free agency edition at safety and they went and they got Eric Murray who's going to start for them.
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: He'll be on the roster for the next two years based on his contract.
• 4:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's three year deal, a little under seven million dollars per year, which obviously is very low for a starting safety, but it is starting safety money.
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just think that they could have, instead of getting somebody who might play at like a sufficient starter level or a replacement level starter, an Eric Murray, which I think he is a replacement level starter, they could have gone in pursuit, age of on Holland, who openly like
• 5:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Lotted and gave the Jaguar credit for hiring Anthony Campanile, who was a defensive staff or a defensive coach on staff for Miami for three years when Javon Hallan was there.
• 5:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: And maybe Anthony Campanile is a reason they didn't bring in Javon Hall.
• 5:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: And maybe he didn't love Javon Hallan as much as Javon Hallan loved him.
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: But to me, that's a player who when you start looking around at having a Javon Hall and a Travis Hunter, Tyson Campbell,
• 5:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Caleb Branson, you're starting to talk about a potentially really game-changing secondary, along with Jordan Lewis.
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I just don't see that upside here with the current group.
• 6:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Devon Holland, he signed for, right around, fifteen million per year, fifteen point one.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that is over double.
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: What Eric Murray got, but he signed it through a year deal.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: So let's say you signed Javan Hall in instead of Eric Murray, right?
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Eric Murray this year has a cap hit of... What is it?
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Three point six million, you know, about half of what his average annual value is for his deal, little over half.
• 6:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: You add another three and a half million dollars and that's Giovanna Holland's cap for you.
• 6:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you structure the contract the same way.
• 6:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so you're talking about only three and a half million dollars on the cap compared to Giovanna Holland.
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's the savings you're getting for Eric Murray.
• 7:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't see that and I don't understand that quite frankly.
• 7:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
• 7:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I've talked to you all about why the Jack Wars like Eric Murray, why they think he can work as a starting safety for them, all those things.
• 7:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the bottom line is he has been a stopgap option for his entire career.
• 7:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, he's made plays.
• 7:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's been parts of good defenses.
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: But to me, there's a reason the Texans were ready to let him walk and replace him.
• 7:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Javon Holland would have been a really good signing.
• 7:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: And if you didn't love Javan Hall and how about Justin Reed, who signed for just over ten million per year, and he's a guy who absolutely brings it, from a hitting standpoint, coming downhill.
• 7:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: So those are a couple of the guys that I really would have like to see him for agency, for the jackores at safety.
• 7:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that if you had those guys, you could have a higher ceiling.
• 8:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of safety's in the draft.
• 8:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would have liked, you know, Upton Stout was a safety slash corner back out of Western Kentucky.
• 8:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: I like to went later on, Billy Bowman went later on.
• 8:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: He struggles to tackle at this point, but unbelievable ball hawk.
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, I think there's kind of some similarities to Camp Kitchens there for the Rams last year.
• 8:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just think that Jack Wars could have done more at safety.
• 8:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: To put themselves in a position to not just have like,
• 8:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: decent play, but excellent play from their secondary.
• 8:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: And to your offensive lines and other spot, if you have been paying attention, you know I wish they would have pursued more aggressively.
• 8:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: I like the Patrick McCarrie signing a lot.
• 8:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I like the draft pick of why I'm Island a lot.
• 8:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you were signing Patrick McCarrie and you're telling me he's gonna start at center or a right guard, I'm okay with that.
• 9:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm happy with that.
• 9:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love his attitude.
• 9:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love the way he plays the game.
• 9:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'd almost rather him at center.
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: But regardless, you should have done something more than the Robert Hainesy one.
• 9:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: And again, Robert Hainesy kind of similar to
• 9:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Eric Murray in terms of like his status at that position.
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Robert Hainesy is center.
• 9:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Eric Murray is safety, not comparing the players, but comparing where they are in terms of like the tier ranking of where they would be amongst their competition at their position.
• 9:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that Robert Hainesy is a replacement level starter in this league.
• 9:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: I hope he proves me wrong.
• 9:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: I hope he plays his ass off.
• 9:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: I hope the same thing about Eric Murray.
• 9:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: but that's just what history has kind of shown me and what their tape has kind of shown me.
• 10:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: The jag wars, I think everything is pointing to them running a lot of zone stuff.
• 10:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, you saw Liam Cohen's gonna do whatever works.
• 10:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: He last year came in with the idea of running more zone concepts and ended up having a more gap power oriented team running the ball.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Drew Dalman would have been a great get
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think if you didn't like Drew Dalman as much and you wanted some do more balance, more experience, Ryan Kelly.
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of centers you could have, are two only guards you could have pursued, which again would lead you to Patrick McCary playing center, which he's played more than he's played right guard.
• 10:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I just wish they were more aggressive and for agency at that spot.
• 10:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I thought there was actually significantly better higher upside options than what they did with Fred Johnson.
• 10:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And Tuma Doga, you know, Tevin Jenkins to me would have been a great option as a competition, like real competition, level guy.
• 11:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you wanted to push some guys at guard or tackle, I think Tevin Jenkins would have been fun.
• 11:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think they could have drafted the Charles Grant.
• 11:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: After they drafted Y at Milim, I had him rated a little higher than Y at Milim.
• 11:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: I still do like Y at Milim a lot.
• 11:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think he's going to be a good player.
• 11:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: But these are just some of the things I would have done differently.
• 11:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't even want to say that I would have done Y at Milim differently.
• 11:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that that was a good pick.
• 11:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think it was a smart pick.
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think he fits their culture very well.
• 11:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: But definitely the way they handled free agency interior offensive line outside of the Patrick McCary signing left a little bit to be desired in my mind.
• 11:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then finally the defensive line.
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Look, I love Josh Hines Allen, Trayvon Walker.
• 11:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's a great baseline to start and build your edge group around and build your defensive line group around.
• 11:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Mason Smith has a bright future ahead of him.
• 11:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Eric Armstead has a chance to get back to close to what he was before he arrived in Jacksonville as an interior defensive line and not an edge three.
• 12:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that the numbers kind of bear that out when he's rushing from the interior.
• 12:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: He did a good job last year.
• 12:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think he'll do a good job again in that regard this year.
• 12:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Even better job quite frankly.
• 12:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Devon Hamilton has a chance to regain his status as a big time interior kind of like nose tackle.
• 12:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: I wish there was one more
• 12:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: kind of young guy to get excited about on the interior of the defensive line, which would have been, you know, a draft pick.
• 12:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some point, you know, late day two, early day three, whatever it may be.
• 12:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: I kind of, as much as I like bashed students, potential, and I like Jack Kaiser, I probably would have gone in different directions there.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know those are guys they really like, they value their personality, their intangibles, their skill sets,
• 12:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those are a couple of spots I probably would have said, like, let's go get an interior defensive line, and that we think has the chance to be a real problem.
• 13:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Penetration-wise, let's go get an edge player who has a chance to be a really good rotational guy.
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I like to aim a club, or they draft a little bit later.
• 13:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I like what they did in for agency after the draft at edge.
• 13:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I would like one more young guy on the interior for sure, like NES people's entire Robinson really stand out to me as potential disruptors on the interior that got drafted later on on day three.
• 13:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then, for agency wise, while I like Emmanuel Agba and DeWan Smooth and Dennis Gardeck, if he's able to get healthy,
• 13:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: No shocker here, but two guys, the Eagles signed our guys that I was advocating for the Jaguar's design at Edge, as an Edge three.
• 14:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And now the Eagles have both of them.
• 14:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: And they got them for pennies on the dollar.
• 14:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: They signed a ZZO Gelari for three million dollars, one year deal.
• 14:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Could have got them for nothing, essentially.
• 14:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then they signed Josh Uche, what did Uche get?
• 14:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: one point nine two million.
• 14:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: You tell me you could have Joshua and his usual are two guys who have excelled in these types of roles.
• 14:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: For a lot less now one thing that might tell me is maybe they just wanted some bigger dudes because to want smooth and a manual aug bar much bigger.
• 14:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: But in his garden, it's not.
• 14:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't really know what the plan is there.
• 14:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: I like Ogba and I like smooth.
• 14:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would be much more juiced up if it was Uche and as Ezojilari.
• 15:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Or if one of those guys was here, I would.
• 15:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: I like the spot there and with their edge depth.
• 15:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would love the spot there and with their edge depth, if one or both of those guys was here in Jacksonville.
• 15:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think they both have just such good ability to be high impact rotational pass rushers.
• 15:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so that's where we're at.
• 15:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those are spots I really wish the Jack Wars looked to improve more.
• 15:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: The interior of the offensive line, the safety spot, and defensive line depth in youth.
• 15:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think could have been a lot of fun.
• 15:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Still think the Jaguars are in a spot to compete for their division.
• 15:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think they're in a spot to be competitive weekend and week out.
• 15:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of it's going to depend on the coaching.
• 15:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, we're expecting massive improvements in coaching on the offensive side of the ball with Liam Cohen and Grant Ydinsky and company.
• 16:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're expecting the skill positions to just look a lot better.
• 16:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Travis Hunter being the massive addition, Brian Thomas Jr.
• 16:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: going into year three, Eric's giving you two, the running backs, theoretically having a better situation from a play calling and design standpoint.
• 16:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Defensively, you're working with a lot of the same pieces, but again, add in Travis Hunter, add in a healthy Tyson Campbell, Jordan Lewis.
• 16:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: We'll see how it plays out.
• 16:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: I still have the Jaguar second in their division behind the Houston Texans.
• 16:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think they can compete for the division.
• 16:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that the Texans have a glaring weakness of their own.
• 16:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about
• 16:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: on the offensive line, if I was doing a show about the Texans, that would be where I'd be talking about, you know, regrets of the off season, but these are kind of my regrets for the Jaguars off season, and I hope they don't come back to buy the Jags, and I hope they guys that they did elect to pursue at these spots and up really painting out and outperforming my expectations.
• 17:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let me know what y'all think in the comment section below.
• 17:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoy the content, please like and subscribe and y'all have a good one.