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The O-Zone Podcast | James Gladstone Discusses Post-Draft Outlook, Year 2 Mentality · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Ozone Podcast with Jaguars senior writer John Osher.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: All Right, we're gonna welcome in Jaguars general manager James
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Gladstone to the Ozone Podcast. Now, first of all, I
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: appreciate you doing this, glad to have the draft behind
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: you or just overall as you decompress any overall thoughts.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: You know what, it was an absolute blast this last cycle.
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: I can tell you, just being able to get into
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: the portion of the year where so many people are
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: involved in the decision making process, being in the bunker
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: so to speak, with the coaches, the scouts, the analytics
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: members that you know we rely heavily on in our
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: medical team. It's really a window of time where we're
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: all connected and then we take a step back briefly
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: after to move on to the off season program and
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: year up for training camp in the fall and into
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: the season. So yeah, I'm gonna miss the fact that
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: we're all so tied together. Our scouting staff, who spread
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: spread out across the country, was all under the same roof,
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: and you know that stuff that's pretty special. Those are
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: moments because they're fleeting that you want to hang on to.
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: But at the same time and I'll look forward to
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: ramping things back up now that we're moving into the
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: next cycle.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: It's such a easy question. Was it different in year two?
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: So I sort of specify it. Did it feel more
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: like your draft in year two, meaning you had a
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: year to sort of have everything in place that you
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: went to last year? Was so I assume so fast
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: put it together? Did it feel more like a Jaguars draft.
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: Is the short answer. Felt like in comparison both last
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: year and this same deal. Okay, very similar deal, very
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: similar priorities, very sim ar standards for selection now at
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: the same time, in terms of how we got to
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: the result, that was a little different, gotcha right in
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: that there was not as much energy required for the
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: translation piece.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: Gotcha.
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: The idea that we were speaking the same language allowed
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: those conversations to be much deeper, much more efficient, and
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: you didn't have to, you know, put forth the time
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: to try to patch things together or bring together two
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: different modes of thinking and try to tie it all together.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: So from that vantage point, different in terms of what
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: we were prioritizing and the standards for selection, gotcha, no different.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: At all, you said Saturday, if there was a theme,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: it was a volume Draft expand on that a little bit.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, we were being very targeted in the
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: routes we would take to potentially move up from our
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: position at fifty six. Overall, we weren't going to overextend
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: our in that offering.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Which is strategically bold.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah right, yeah, I think that's exactly right.
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: And then through that we ended up obviously with ten selections,
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: but going into the draft eleven and knowing that we
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: wanted to stay in the double digit realm, if at
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: all possible, well at the same time trying to target
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: explicitly the guys that we wanted to and it circled
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: in advance. It dates back to my time in Los
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: Angeles a bit. There were too many years to count
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: that we didn't have a first round pick at our
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: disposal on Draft one.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's exactly right.
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: So with that, there were plenty of years, plenty of
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: cycles where we made an attempt to move up earlier
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: than where we were positioned with our first selection, even
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: though that wasn't a first rounder, and we typically found
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: ourselves setting parameters that didn't get a deal done. So
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: we made our pick at where we were at, and
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: typically we were filling the back end of the draft
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: with compensatory selections that allowed most cycles to be anywhere
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: between eight and fourteen selections, So a high volume of selections,
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: and that was really where we filled in gaps and
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: we're able to cover ground and not feel like we
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: were at a deficit on draft day.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: And it's where the it bats come in.
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: That's exactly right, And so higher volume of draft capital
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: was in fact what we were pursuing. And those were
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: basically the dueling strategies heading into this draft as to
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: whether or not there was going to be an opportunity
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: to strike and move up versus go ahead and lean
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: into the volume?
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Is it and not to have you give you away
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: everything and how you do things, But do you map
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: out beforehand, Hey, this is the exact parameter or is
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: there wiggle room when you're on the phone or is
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: it pretty methodical because you've got to take that sort
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: of emotion out of the moment.
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's important to have some thresholds in
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: place so that you don't go awry. Well, at the
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: same time, you got to be agile, and you got
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: to get a sense for how the draft's unfolding in
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: real time and what might be necessary, and yeah, there's
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: a little flow state that you got to find yourself
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: in for sure. But at the same time, we definitely
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: map out a lot of those conversations well in advance
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: so that we don't allow the you know, in moment
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: of motion to take over.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: At a GM.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Tell me once, the perception of what a draft room
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: is like compared to the reality is much different, Meaning
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: there's no arguing and pounding tables while you're on the clock.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Is that sort of how you run things where it's
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: it's a calm All the discussions like that are done
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: weeks in advance.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And I would say that that's even throughout the
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: course of the conversations prior to draft day as well.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: It's typically a very poised dialogue. While people like I
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: would say that at least within the scope of this
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: past cycle, we were in a position where, you know,
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: we had a lot of conversations and they would mirror
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: that what I think any of us would probably be
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: able to visualize as a conversation at the water court,
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: very very casual and dialogue less boardroom and what it
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: sounded and looked like.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: And that's your goal, Yeah, that wants that as much
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: as possible.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: That's exactly right.
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: I wanted to be conversational and I want to be
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: able to capture as much as possible the stuff that
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: is hard to quantify and right, you know, the sentiment
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: beneath anyone who lays eyes on a player or analyzes
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: a player and their interests in seeing them become a jaguar.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: And so that's where we spend a lot of our energy.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: I think that last part fascinates me. Where you've got
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: these intangibles that you want and I don't pretend to
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: know everything about you, have talked to you some about
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: this kind of thing.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: My sense is you like a.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Process that's going to bring it out. How do you
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: process or how do you find a process that brings
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: out intangibles because you don't want gut reaction. You want
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: to make sure you're doing it. I guess methodically, right,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: So is there a way to put I like this
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: guy's toughness into an equation that's right?
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: There definitely is, and most of the time it's subjective,
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: but you also try to find more objective things that
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: lean into to help decide. Right, And along the way,
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: we lean into our collective efforts and aggregates to help
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: us determine a lot of that stuff so that it's
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: not any one individual's perspective or subjective opinion outweighing the
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: rest of the group. And I think that becomes a
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: helpful piece to the puzzle. But just like when you're
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: evaluating a player's play speed or play strength, we're doing
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: the same for competitiveness, for toughness, for instincts, and those
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: are the things that really jump out in the intangible realm.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Makes sense.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Curious about a concept. I don't expect you to be
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: on Twitter all the time. I avoided at all costs.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: But there's been talk in the last few days about like,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: why don't teams look at consensus and bring that into
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: their formula. To me, it's the most absurd thing in
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: the world that a GM would try to look and
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: see what's going on the internet. But I guess just
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: talk about that, how you have to sort of have
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: the courage of your own conviction, I guess. And is
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: that something that you try not to look at what's
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: being said before the draft about players.
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: I listen if I said that, right, But I listen
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: to what's being said about players in a very real
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: way I care about it. I listen to those in
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: this building and the people that we invited into this building, right,
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: and what their perspective is on these players. We build
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: consensus internally, right, and that is leveraged at every pickpoint.
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: Our wisdom of the collective is how we phrase it,
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: and it is what guides our decision making. And I
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: can tell you that when we get up on the clock,
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: we're looking at the draft board and we see on
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: it our sentiment and Douval DNA and those are the
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: two north stars, so to speak.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: And that is a collective output.
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: And ultimately, when we look at the guys that we select,
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: we're not selecting them without some version of consensus internally. Now,
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: where you select a player and you talk about consensus
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: mock drafts, it's a very different conversation, and those don't
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: always align because they don't necessarily take into consideration the
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: exact scheme or situation that the player is walking into.
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: Talent is one thing, but really the intangible elements, the situation,
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: the timing of a player's or arrival, those things are
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: going to play a big part into what the rest
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: of their career is going to look like and their
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: impact on the football field.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: Y're to a team in an organization.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: You mentioned something for the draft. It was interesting that.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Not having a top fifty pick means you're going after
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: contributors early who can develop. Does night have a top
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: fifty pick, Does that change the overall approach to a
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: draft or just at the top.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: I think it is an interesting dynamic. I don't know.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: As I look back to many of the other drafts
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: that I was a part of, we were targeting contributors,
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: projected contributors that we had a high level of interest
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: in seeing them become a part of our team.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: This is dating back over the decade of being in
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: the NFL.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: Many of those outperformed what we would have labeled their
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: capacity to be as contributors. I don't recall any of
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: our conversations surrounding kyn Williams as a Day three draft selection,
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: speaking about him as a future pro bowler. I don't
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: recall any of our conversations about Pukainakua speaking about him
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: labeling him as an all pro. I do know that
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: with both of those players, we were very keen on
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: what we felt like their contributions could be within the
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: system we had, and no different in many of the
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: decisions we've made over.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: The last two years.
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: We're inviting people and selecting people to be a part
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: of this because we feel very keen on what their
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: contributions can be to the larger picture and knowing that
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: at the same time they have the right stuff under
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: the hood to reach whatever their fullest potential can be
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: in this environment. It's a very clear match and alignment
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: in that way, and you know, I.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: Think we'll feel the benefits of that well.
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: At the same time, we walked into a draft with
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: a player at each position who has started a game
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: at least one up to this on our own roster.
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: So it's very challenging in that situation to say that
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: a first year player is going to walk in and
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: right and beat that player out day one. We're gonna
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: need contributions from this crop. We're gonna need contributions from
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: the last and over the course of their rookie contract,
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: much like players who are entering into their third and
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: fourth year. We're gonna be calling on them and relying
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: on them to help us win football games. And I
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: expect to see that that only increases with each year
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: that goes by. Not all that different than many of
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: the guys who we feel like are some of our
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: our most impact performers right heading into this next.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Season, doing the math nine last year, ten, this year, ten,
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: next year, all of a sudden, that's starting to be
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: half the roster. Do you see it sort of do
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: you see the roster sort.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Of evolving.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Toward fee I'm gonna say it feels like yours and
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: that's not the right way to phrase it, but do
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: you see it evolving in that process to where you
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: want it to be?
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think we got a ton of high quality
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: players on the football team, and you know many that
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: we're here for years prior, and you know we're filling
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: in the floor in a way that is extremely stable.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: And football seasons are long.
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: Attrition and injury occur, and we got to ensure that
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: when it does, we don't feel it fall out, right,
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: And so that's something that I'm really excited about. I've
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: been really focused on and I think we'll feel the
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: benefits of that.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: You've said before, And it's interesting that building the roster,
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: everybody sort of looks at these three days.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: It's really a three and sixty five day process, right,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: And so.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: I understand why people look at the draft so much,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: but you really do approach it as year round that
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: you want to make sure you have picks to be
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: able to work during the season and to be agile.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: No doubt. Got three sixty five, no doubt.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: That's a big reason why we wanted to build up
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: future draft capital. We want to make sure that if
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: the opportunity presented itself, we weren't in a position where
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: we were depleting our future draft capital if we were
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: going to have to tap into it for some version
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: of a trade that could level up our player at
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: least that we would think could get our team in
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: a better spot. But I think beyond that, right, you
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: got our college scouting staff who is already turning the
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: page to twenty twenty seven and building out the player
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: list that'll be distributed to our cross check scouts on
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: May the fifteenth and spend a month and a half
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: really diving in on each of those positionally, so that
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: we set up the landscape and the approach for next
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: fall well in advance. And so that's an exciting moment,
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: but it happens fast. You got to flip the switch
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: and onto the next.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: I love talking to people about misconceptions. I'd ask you,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: what's the biggest of people who watch the draft?
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: What's the biggest overall?
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: And somebody who's spent their career inside the draft, what
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: do people miss? Meaning what like what don't they understand
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: about the process that they don't get by watching it
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: on TV.
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know that I can answer that clearly.
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: I know, stuff that doesn't always become public is things
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: like medical history or things of that nature, which play
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: a big part. I mean, the availability piece and even
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: the maintenance requirements for some players with certain injuries like
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: that that's going to have a role and a ton
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: of maybe falls or decisions not to take a player
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: and all that kind of stuff. So I think in
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: a lot of instances you'll find that, you know, it's
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: very apparent and very public that a player is falling
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: for that reason or another instances. Uh, you know, it's
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: something that never becomes presidential wider Yeah, that's exactly right,
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: or even you know, off field concerns that can impact
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: some of that stuff. And so I think because that's
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: sourced intel and typically people aren't going to share that
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: information on a wide scale, that can be come Yeah, Yeah,
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: that's exactly right, and and so I think that sometimes
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: that can cloud maybe why didn't they target this player?
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: And you'll never want to have to be the one
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: to deliver that news or share that news because it's
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: not any of our place. But that can play its
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: part for sure in the decision making process.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Final question, when you're trying to sort of readdress and
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: reshape a position as you did tight end, how much
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: of that is day ad for the season you're talking
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: to Liam, Hey, we need to figure this out. And
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: I assume there's a process when you're sort of clearly
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: trying to reshape a little part of the offense on
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: the field, getting that into your world where you're scouting it.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Is there are there special conversations about that.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Is that just part of your overall process of here's
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: where we are, here's where.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: We want to be.
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, a lot of that becomes just organic dialogue that
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: occurs over the course of a year. At the same time,
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: we have systematic touch points to really chop through those
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: sorts of things at the same time, but it's those
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: micro moments that I really think moved the needle more
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: than any of the structure.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: You like grabbing those and making a matter.
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: Right, that's exactly part.
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: That's a massive piece to my puzzle, and I think
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: in a real way, like you think about a draft approach, Jake,
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: Timmy and I have long talked about our interests in
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: doubling down at positions in the draft and what that does.
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: That would meaning take two or multiple singular position and
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: knowing that that can have a lot of positive results
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: tied to it, and there's a lot of layers through
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: that that result, but nonetheless typically positive, and so that
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: will is certainly one that we wanted to apply in
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: this draft knowing we had a higher volume to choose from.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: When you have a lower amount of draft selections, you
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: may be less willing to do that. And obviously when
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: you start talking about need versus once and player to.
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: Player, who's better and what you're weighing in.
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: Those instances, you know you're obviously going to have to
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: consider all those elements. But at the end of the day,
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: we're trying to take the right player for our system
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: and our environment and not let need.
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: So to win the day in those decisions.
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: And I think mapping out how we wanted to structure
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: to begin the first five selections and then fill it
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: out with the remaining six ultimately, which ended up being five.
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: It was very clear going into the draft who we
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: wanted to tag, and really the fact that the positions
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: ended up being what they were got you.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: The final thing we usually do on this is the
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: ozone five, which is five fun questions.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Uh, we did that with you last year.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: So I'll ask you three questions that I get after
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: the draft, and uh, you can do.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: My job a little bit.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Everybody does your job, now you can do my job.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: I like So. This is Q and A from our fans.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: From fans, I like you so.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Charles from Riverside wrote me, Uh, back in previous errors
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: when the eras when the Jaguars were winning, the draft
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: felt anti climactic. Maybe the first round picked and seemed
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: like most of those guys would start. Isn't a boring
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: draft in that sense meaning you know, not sexy if
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: you will. Isn't that a good thing for a franchise?
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: You know what?
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: That is an interesting question, And anything anything off the
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: heels of picking second overall a year ago and in
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: a trade up Sterario is probably gonna appear boring by comparison.
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: I can tell you for us that wasn't the case.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: We're extremely excited about the crop of players that we
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: brought in, and so often what I think doesn't get
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: brought to the table is the conversation around undrafted college
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: free agent and that's something that's going to get us,
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: there's no question, and even in the year prior, there
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: are going to be guys that play real roles for
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: us over the course of their rookie contracts that come
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: from that that pool of players, and you know, just
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: really excited about the group as a whole across the
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: draft selections and those undrafted college free agents.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: So Jeff from Orange, Orange, California Rights, what wasn't addressed
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: in the draft that you expected to be? And I
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: would because you have so many picks, you probably got
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: to all the positions you wanted to, but anything at
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: the top play out. I guess that you wanted to
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: get to that you didn't get to. Or is that
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: just part and parcel with any draft.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: I think it's a part of any draft.
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: The interesting part with the first round itself was, I mean,
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: it was a deep edge crop. I know that that
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: would have probably lent itself to more being available towards
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: the fifties than actually ended up showing itself. At the
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: same time, I think there was a ton of ol
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: in particular in the first round that came off the board,
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: which is probably speaking quite a bit to not only
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: the importance there, but just the way that the game
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: is being thought of a little bit more, especially with
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: run game sort of taking an uptick and really who's
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: finding success down the stretch.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: So I think some of those elements certainly show themselves.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: And final question now of the draft is this is
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: from Tony from Belleville, not sure where Belleville. Now that
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: the draft is over, is the roster better this year
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: than it was this time last year?
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: I like to think so.
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: But I mean, at the end of the day, all
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: these players are going to go have to earn earn
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: their place, and the competition is going to have to
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: be at a premium in order for us to take
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: another step. And I think at the end of the day,
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: our coaching staff is prepared to evolve schematically and continue
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: to level up their teaching and coaching so that the
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: players can be at their best. And our players are
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: as fully committed as I've ever seen, as excited and
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: energize as they were even a year ago when.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: It was all fresh.
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: Cool thing is, I mean, those guys are operating with
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: clear minds because there's so much consistency one year to
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: the next. Right They're not learning a new language right now,
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: they're just expanding on it. And so I think anytime
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: you get a chance to do something the second time around,
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: you're going to have a fair shot at doing it better.
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: So really looking forward to seeing what those results end
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: up showing here this next fall.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: And my final kind of personal question, now the draft
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: is over, what can you do away from football that
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: you couldn't do the last two months.
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: I think it's fair to say on a weekend, I
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: can wake up and grab my kids out of bed
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: instead of coming into the office, which is phenomenal because
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: there's a very few things on planet Earth that I
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: enjoy more.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: And seeing their faces to start the day is always
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: a very enjoyable moment for me.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: That's very cool.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: James always enjoy it, and I always appreciate the effort
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: that you give to answer and helping the fans understand
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: what's going on.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: It's very appreciated. Appreciate the platform.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Bud,