Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Huddle Up Podcast: Wednesday, March 16

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Huddle Up Podcast: Wednesday, March 16 · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:01
Speaker 1: The fields on a group proudly presents Huddle Up with
0:07
Speaker 1: Bucky Brooks, j P. Shacker, John Oser and NFL Network
0:12
Speaker 1: analyst and former Jaguar Buckey Brooks bring you the latest
0:15
Speaker 1: on George Jackson Hill jack Wars. Huddle Up with Bucky
0:20
Speaker 1: Brooks starts right now. Welcome into the Huddle Up Podcast.
0:24
Speaker 1: Today is Wednesday, March sixte j P. Shadrick, Bucky Brooks,
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Speaker 1: John Oser, and Happy New Year. We have arrived at
0:31
Speaker 1: the start of the league here. Let's get right into it.
0:35
Speaker 1: Plenty of significant roster moves for the Jacksonville Jaguars. They've
0:39
Speaker 1: agreed to terms with now seven unrestricted free agents, with
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Speaker 1: around a hundred fifty five million dollars and guaranteed money
0:46
Speaker 1: among them. But asked the Cowboys, they aren't officially official
0:50
Speaker 1: until the player signs the contract, of course, but many
0:53
Speaker 1: of those signatures expected tomorrow. Let's start, guys with the
0:57
Speaker 1: offensive additions and the highest price east of them all
1:00
Speaker 1: at least reportedly wide receiver Christian Kirk never been over
1:04
Speaker 1: a thousand yards, Bucky. What does he bring to the
1:06
Speaker 1: Jaguars offense? So Christian Kirk is a unique playmaker, unique talent,
1:11
Speaker 1: that the Jaguars are adding. I think anyone who watched
1:13
Speaker 1: the Jaguars played last season saw that look ahead pass catches,
1:18
Speaker 1: but not a lot of speed and playmaking on the outside.
1:21
Speaker 1: And so people will look at the numbers that Christian
1:23
Speaker 1: Kirk has put up and they would say that he
1:25
Speaker 1: is not, uh, necessarily a number one playmaker. But what
1:28
Speaker 1: I will say is when you watch him play, he's
1:30
Speaker 1: a guy who has versatility. He has the ability to
1:32
Speaker 1: play inside and outside in this offense. And you have
1:36
Speaker 1: to remember Doug Peterson is bringing in a pure version
1:38
Speaker 1: of the West Coast offense that will will move people
1:43
Speaker 1: around to every spot on the perimeter. Meaning, uh, in
1:47
Speaker 1: this offense, you have an X, you have in Z
1:49
Speaker 1: you have what is called an eagle position. That's the
1:51
Speaker 1: e position, that's your third receiver. Well, in a perfect world,
1:55
Speaker 1: you would like receivers who could play all three spots.
1:58
Speaker 1: That enables you to be able to mix and match,
2:01
Speaker 1: create and exploit mismatches, and it allows you to kind
2:05
Speaker 1: of dictate where you want the ball to go with.
2:07
Speaker 1: Christian Kirk has shown that he can not only play
2:09
Speaker 1: in the slot, but he also can play outside. And
2:12
Speaker 1: so having known Christian Kirk for a long time, having
2:16
Speaker 1: watched him from his high school days, having worked with
2:19
Speaker 1: him or whatever. This is an a level route runner
2:21
Speaker 1: and out standing pass catcher, and he quickly will become
2:24
Speaker 1: Trevor lawrences um best friend. And then when you think
2:28
Speaker 1: about the other editions that kind of compliment what they're doing,
2:31
Speaker 1: Za Jones and Evan Ingram, you now have the versatility
2:35
Speaker 1: to kind of maneuver and missmatching, kind of use the
2:39
Speaker 1: field like a chessboard, trying to create advantageous situations for
2:43
Speaker 1: your top pieces. Yeah. I asked somebody in football, I
2:46
Speaker 1: think it was yesterday. Uh hey, tell me with the class.
2:50
Speaker 1: Kirk was the first player mentioned. I said why and
2:53
Speaker 1: one word explosiveness. Uh So even beyond speed. That interested
3:00
Speaker 1: because it strikes me the explosiveness is different than speed. Uh.
3:04
Speaker 1: Kirk's a player who has Bucky said, will threatened defenses,
3:10
Speaker 1: stretched defenses, and make defenses have one more element to consider.
3:16
Speaker 1: I know everybody's caught up in Oh, you paid him this,
3:19
Speaker 1: you guarantee this. This team had to get better and
3:23
Speaker 1: it had to have more things that concerned defenses and
3:26
Speaker 1: more places for Trevor Lawrence to go. Uh it strikes
3:30
Speaker 1: me that Kirk is that guy. I'm intrigued. But but
3:34
Speaker 1: what Bucky said, you can play multiple spots because your
3:38
Speaker 1: first thought when you look at him is five eleven receiver. Uh,
3:42
Speaker 1: that's a little price e for that. But every time
3:45
Speaker 1: somebody touching me about price, I keep saying, Look, price
3:48
Speaker 1: couldn't be a consideration in this market for this team
3:51
Speaker 1: because they had to spend. They've got to get back
3:55
Speaker 1: to a certain level, whatever the cost may have been.
3:57
Speaker 1: But Bucky, do you agree with Kirky? I mean terms
4:00
Speaker 1: of his explosiveness? Is there a difference there explosiveness and speed? Uh? Yeah,
4:04
Speaker 1: I would say like what Christian is is more quick
4:07
Speaker 1: than fast. The explosives. The explosiveness that you're pointing to
4:10
Speaker 1: and alluding to is about short area quickness, quick area
4:14
Speaker 1: like sudden separation. Uh, the ability to get from zero
4:17
Speaker 1: to sixty in a hurry and small spaces. That's what
4:20
Speaker 1: Christian Kirk is able to do. The other thing that
4:23
Speaker 1: you have to look at this and I think, um,
4:26
Speaker 1: we probably should mention the other guys because it's probably
4:28
Speaker 1: easier to do an overall analysis on what the Jaguars
4:33
Speaker 1: have done with the wide receiver corps as opposed to
4:35
Speaker 1: Christian Kirk. But I would say this about Christian Kirk,
4:37
Speaker 1: and a lot of people are caught up in the
4:40
Speaker 1: amount of money that it costs to bring him in.
4:43
Speaker 1: I would say this, I learned a long time ago. Hey,
4:45
Speaker 1: the cost of doing business is the cost of doing business.
4:48
Speaker 1: But how he plays and how he's utilized that can
4:51
Speaker 1: necessarily be a consideration. So and playing in this offense
4:56
Speaker 1: under Mike Home when where when Mike McCoy was UH
5:00
Speaker 1: practice squad quarterback, when Doug Peterson was a backup, and
5:04
Speaker 1: I was at the beginning stages of beginning to move
5:07
Speaker 1: over to dB but still practicing that wide receiver. Coach
5:10
Speaker 1: Honger used to always say this, I don't necessarily need
5:13
Speaker 1: a's to be able to make this offense function and
5:16
Speaker 1: operate at a high level. But I can do a
5:19
Speaker 1: lot of damage with B plus receivers. And so when
5:23
Speaker 1: you look at this in total, you talk about a
5:27
Speaker 1: high end number two ish in Christian Kirk, who may
5:32
Speaker 1: be deemed to be the number one because people are
5:33
Speaker 1: gonna see the price tag, high end complimented receiver and
5:37
Speaker 1: Zay Jones. People are trying to figure out is your
5:40
Speaker 1: two is your three. What does it mean when he
5:43
Speaker 1: comes over high end pass catching tied end in Evan Ingram. Well,
5:49
Speaker 1: now what you've assembled is, let's just say three B
5:52
Speaker 1: plus is in that um receiver corps around Trevor Lawrence.
5:58
Speaker 1: The other thing that you want to do when you're
5:59
Speaker 1: the jack Wars, it's important that you bring the type
6:02
Speaker 1: of receivers on board that accinuate what the quarterback does
6:06
Speaker 1: really well. Well, let's go back to the last time
6:09
Speaker 1: we saw Trevor Lawrence play really well. That would be
6:11
Speaker 1: in Clemson. Will you look at Clemson. Clemson kill people
6:14
Speaker 1: on short intermediate passes a ton of uh what we
6:18
Speaker 1: call now screens to wide receivers um. The ball is
6:22
Speaker 1: out of his hands quickly, and those guys were able
6:24
Speaker 1: to turn those short passes in the bigger games. And
6:27
Speaker 1: so there needed to be a level of explosiveness and
6:31
Speaker 1: elusiveness to be able to play that kind of offense
6:34
Speaker 1: and that kind of style. And so a lot of
6:37
Speaker 1: this is the Jaguars going all in on making sure
6:40
Speaker 1: that the quarterback flourishes as opposed to building the prototypical
6:45
Speaker 1: wide receiver cord that people talk about in the standard
6:48
Speaker 1: traditional NFL offenses. This is more cater to making sure
6:52
Speaker 1: that Trevor Lawrence has what he needs to play at
6:54
Speaker 1: his best, and at his best is what we saw
6:56
Speaker 1: at Clemson. This is the huddle of podcast. The Jaguars
7:00
Speaker 1: beefing up the offensive line as well in free agency
7:03
Speaker 1: guard Brandon Sure five time Pro Bowl selection, all with
7:07
Speaker 1: Washington and All Pro selection two seasons ago. He's been
7:12
Speaker 1: at it for a long time, Bucky. And that's a
7:15
Speaker 1: big fella in the interior to bring in. And you
7:18
Speaker 1: know they franchised the left tackle. They're bringing in a
7:22
Speaker 1: guard now. Um, it's the start of some some changes
7:25
Speaker 1: up front. You changes up front because what you wanna
7:28
Speaker 1: do is you want to make sure that the quarterback
7:29
Speaker 1: is protected. Everything that has been done and everything that
7:32
Speaker 1: will continue to be done on offense is about getting
7:34
Speaker 1: the quarterback up and going. Um. That's what happens. Typically
7:37
Speaker 1: when you have an offensive head coach, a guy who
7:40
Speaker 1: was also a play caller, he is going to make
7:42
Speaker 1: sure that the most valuable chess piece is going to
7:44
Speaker 1: have everything that they need to thrive. And so Doug
7:47
Speaker 1: Peterson wants to make sure that the quarterback doesn't get hit,
7:50
Speaker 1: that he has enough weapons on the outside to throw
7:53
Speaker 1: the ball all over the yard, and he wants to
7:55
Speaker 1: make sure that when they need to be able to
7:57
Speaker 1: run the football, that they can run the football. And
7:59
Speaker 1: so that's the next step. We can talk about James
8:02
Speaker 1: Robinson and those things, but Travis Etienne is very much
8:05
Speaker 1: in the plans, and it is about being able to
8:08
Speaker 1: not only protect Trevor Lawrence, but to give Travis Ancien
8:12
Speaker 1: enough room where his explosiveness can produce big plays and
8:16
Speaker 1: they can score point a surf to me, um brings
8:20
Speaker 1: you consistency at the position. Everything I've heard about him
8:25
Speaker 1: is that's a mark of his being consistent. Um bang
8:30
Speaker 1: up a little bit, but well, when he's on again.
8:36
Speaker 1: Not to knock guys, they go out the door. But
8:37
Speaker 1: Andrew Norwell, high high level guy. When he played well
8:42
Speaker 1: and then every you know, it seemed like every game
8:45
Speaker 1: or two a a big noticeable mistake. I And of
8:52
Speaker 1: course with offensive lineman, as we all know, every mistake
8:55
Speaker 1: is magnified. Uh. Schurf's reputation is much more consistent without
9:01
Speaker 1: the you know, high profile oops play and that's what
9:05
Speaker 1: they need, you know, because that matters up front. Franchise
9:09
Speaker 1: tagged in twenty by Washington signed that and then, of course,
9:14
Speaker 1: was the first Washington player to be named First team
9:17
Speaker 1: All Pro. Since that season, he's had some accolades in
9:22
Speaker 1: Washington and now coming to the Jacksonville Jaguar for a
9:25
Speaker 1: new now Roar later and the time is now to
9:28
Speaker 1: New York's season tickets. Season ticket members who are do
9:31
Speaker 1: by March seventeenth, that's tomorrow, you will also be inner
9:34
Speaker 1: to win a trip to Canton, Ohio is the Jaguars
9:37
Speaker 1: take on the Las Vegas Raiders in the Hall of
9:39
Speaker 1: Fame game. Plus Tony Vasselli. You might have heard of him,
9:43
Speaker 1: He'll be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
9:46
Speaker 1: The defensive additions and what they bring to the Jaguars organization.
9:50
Speaker 1: After this, welcome back to the Huddle Up Podcast j
9:54
Speaker 1: P Shadrick, Bucky Brooks and John Osier. And there's no
9:57
Speaker 1: better time to become a Dailies Place Blue member right now.
10:00
Speaker 1: Get access to the best seats and amenities, premium parking
10:04
Speaker 1: and more for all shows during the season, all of
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10:17
Speaker 1: events dot com or called nine oh four six three
10:20
Speaker 1: three two thousand, John, You'll be there. I cannot wait
10:24
Speaker 1: for seats. You get my blue seats with the rest
10:27
Speaker 1: of my seats. Okay, well we're gonna you're gonna get
10:29
Speaker 1: some become Daily's place Blue members I'll look into at
10:34
Speaker 1: Bucky's already one. It's probably in his deal. I get that.
10:37
Speaker 1: It's probably being negotiated as we speak, right, Yeah, I
10:42
Speaker 1: mean maybe they threw me thre some tickets or blue
10:45
Speaker 1: membership into the toe bag. Christian. That might be in
10:51
Speaker 1: the fine print of some of these deals. He might
10:53
Speaker 1: just be sitting so a couple of ships. That's a
10:55
Speaker 1: good point. So yeah, I mean, look the baga. He's intrigued.
11:05
Speaker 1: But he told us for the show. You feel like
11:08
Speaker 1: you missed your place in line this week. I absolutely
11:11
Speaker 1: missed my place in line. I felt like there was
11:13
Speaker 1: a calling and it was a giveaway and everybody got
11:17
Speaker 1: the notice except me. And then I wake up and
11:20
Speaker 1: find out, like, what if you show up a nine
11:22
Speaker 1: o'clock at the stadium there giving away bags, and some
11:25
Speaker 1: of those bags may have lots of cash. I feel
11:27
Speaker 1: like I got to the stadium in nine twenty and
11:30
Speaker 1: right now in the back of the line and I'm
11:31
Speaker 1: just waiting to see if the bag on. I mean,
11:33
Speaker 1: if there's anything left in the bag. I don't think
11:36
Speaker 1: there is. Like you missed, you missed the notification on
11:39
Speaker 1: your phone and like, oh gosh, it popped up, your
11:42
Speaker 1: phone turned down. The phone was all bad. That's that's
11:46
Speaker 1: a problem. Let's move to defense. Speaking of money for you,
11:49
Speaker 1: A Louis Khan is coming in from the Falcons, twenty
11:52
Speaker 1: eight million guaranteed dollars for him. A former six round
11:56
Speaker 1: pick out of Yale, he was the league's leading tackler
11:59
Speaker 1: in one Well, I mean that's a that's a big
12:03
Speaker 1: time edition a linebacker. Bucky for Foyer, Yeah, big time edition.
12:07
Speaker 1: When you watch him play, Uh, it's not only speeding athleticism,
12:11
Speaker 1: outstanding the instincts. This is a self made man when
12:13
Speaker 1: it comes to the position. And I think the one
12:16
Speaker 1: thing that we are seeing and all of the free
12:19
Speaker 1: agent moves, very dynamic and explosive athletes coming on board.
12:23
Speaker 1: This is a team that needed to up the anti
12:26
Speaker 1: when it came to uh, the speeches on both sides
12:28
Speaker 1: of the ball, because when you have great speed on defense,
12:33
Speaker 1: that's when you're able to generate turnal. Great speed leads
12:36
Speaker 1: to more of alosty on hits, the ball begins to
12:38
Speaker 1: fly out, it leads to tips and takeaways because you're
12:42
Speaker 1: getting balls off overthrows and deflections. And so it was
12:45
Speaker 1: a concerted effort by the Jaguars to up to any
12:48
Speaker 1: when it comes to the speed and the playmaking ability.
12:51
Speaker 1: If you want to improve and close the gap on
12:52
Speaker 1: your competitors, you have to have more players, more playmaker Bucky.
12:56
Speaker 1: We have mentioned the show yet, but most people listening
12:58
Speaker 1: know that Miles Jack was released. Is this a case
13:02
Speaker 1: of both guys not having room in the defense or
13:06
Speaker 1: not really? You know, like, look, man, it's one of
13:09
Speaker 1: those things where you think you could have worked with
13:11
Speaker 1: Miles Jack. I mean, Miles Jack has played at a
13:13
Speaker 1: high level. He hasn't got the recognition that he necessarily deserved.
13:17
Speaker 1: He should have been a Pro Bowl particularly two years ago.
13:18
Speaker 1: He should have been a Pro Bowl player. But it
13:21
Speaker 1: hasn't necessarily worked out. And so it's one of those
13:24
Speaker 1: things where sometimes, man, when you're changing the guard, you
13:28
Speaker 1: kind of just change everything out. You know, it's like
13:31
Speaker 1: a new house. You paint the walls, you change the drapes,
13:34
Speaker 1: you remove the carpet, put new carpet in or maybe hardwoods.
13:37
Speaker 1: And I think for Doug Peterson Um, they want to
13:40
Speaker 1: make sure that they kind of flipped the script when
13:42
Speaker 1: it comes to Jacksonville. And that's why you're seeing so
13:44
Speaker 1: many new faces come in and we'll continue to see
13:47
Speaker 1: probably a roster turnover in terms of getting this roster
13:51
Speaker 1: to look the way that he wants to look. Haven't
13:53
Speaker 1: been a championship coach? How good is uh? And I'm
13:57
Speaker 1: gonna botch his name? So JP, you take his name
14:00
Speaker 1: Lou and the guy would just signed that Foyer Louican,
14:03
Speaker 1: Louikan Alukan. I've been practicing. I had no confidence. There's
14:06
Speaker 1: multiple name guys that were just I had no confidence
14:09
Speaker 1: in myself. Bucky I I had no comments. But you know,
14:13
Speaker 1: I see the stats. I also see sixth round pick Um.
14:17
Speaker 1: So is he this good? Tell fans something about him?
14:22
Speaker 1: You know, I haven't a chance to watch the Falcons.
14:24
Speaker 1: I like the numbers. I like the leading tackler part. Uh,
14:28
Speaker 1: how good is this guy? Uh? Impactful? Impactful in terms
14:33
Speaker 1: of his tackles are not like tackles that are down
14:36
Speaker 1: the field. The Falcons haven't played great defense the last
14:38
Speaker 1: few years, but this guy shows up on tape. One
14:41
Speaker 1: things that you're looking for when you're watching defensive table,
14:44
Speaker 1: who are the guys that are flying to the ball.
14:46
Speaker 1: This guy shows up because he is flying to the
14:48
Speaker 1: ball sideline sideline making plays great instincts. And sometimes, you know,
14:53
Speaker 1: we can get um fooled by draft position because someone
14:58
Speaker 1: comes in as a sixth round pick, we think they're
14:59
Speaker 1: not a really good player. Uh, sometimes scouts miss. You know,
15:03
Speaker 1: sometimes scouts miss and they think a guy as a
15:06
Speaker 1: developmental guy, and you don't know how well he can
15:09
Speaker 1: play until he actually plays. He got an opportunity to
15:12
Speaker 1: play early in Atlanta and he outplayed his draft status.
15:16
Speaker 1: And so when you put up the kind of numbers
15:17
Speaker 1: that he put up from a tackling standpoint man, you
15:21
Speaker 1: have to have a strong nose for the ball to
15:22
Speaker 1: be able to put up the kind of numbers that
15:24
Speaker 1: he was putting up as a top tackler. So, uh,
15:26
Speaker 1: he's a good player. He's um. He's gonna bring some
15:29
Speaker 1: different energy and I think that's also some of the
15:32
Speaker 1: stuff might call will hold new defensive staff. You're kind
15:36
Speaker 1: of trying to bring your own guys in, and so
15:38
Speaker 1: a lot of times it's kind of out with the
15:40
Speaker 1: old end with the new and we'll see how it
15:43
Speaker 1: all comes together. But I do know that the Jaguars
15:45
Speaker 1: is certainly more dynamic on defense due to Alcona coming
15:49
Speaker 1: in Aluicon. That's all right, I got it's muscle memory now,
15:55
Speaker 1: j K. And just wait till you hear this one
15:56
Speaker 1: full of rooms. Okasi is the defensive tackle. His nicknames
16:01
Speaker 1: fully he goes by that, but he's in from the chance.
16:05
Speaker 1: Another former sixth round pick out of Connecticut, this time
16:07
Speaker 1: a noted run stop for one of eight players last
16:10
Speaker 1: season Bucky with fifteen or more run stuffs and fifteen
16:14
Speaker 1: or more quarterback pressures. Max Crosby to Mario Davis, Aaron Donald,
16:18
Speaker 1: Cam Hayward, Alex Highsmith, Cameron Jordan's and Christian Wilkins the
16:22
Speaker 1: other seven that's from NFL media earlier this week. Well,
16:27
Speaker 1: is he a run stop or what else can he do? Rostop?
16:31
Speaker 1: The things that you're seeing are kind of like old
16:33
Speaker 1: school traditional things. Great defenses are built strong right down
16:38
Speaker 1: the middle, and so uh you see it, and the
16:41
Speaker 1: defensive tackle and the linebacker right up front is to
16:45
Speaker 1: let's stop to run and force people to run to
16:46
Speaker 1: the edges, and then you want a defense that's fast
16:49
Speaker 1: enough to secure the edges when guys attempt to get
16:52
Speaker 1: around the corner um. This guy's unique because he is
16:55
Speaker 1: a very very stop I mean a very uh stout
16:59
Speaker 1: and steady run stopper. But he does have some pass
17:02
Speaker 1: rush ability. Now he's not an Aaron Donald type inside
17:05
Speaker 1: pass rusher. He is not a high im pass rusher,
17:08
Speaker 1: but he certainly can pressure the pocket from inside and
17:11
Speaker 1: a lot of times that's more disruptive and impact within.
17:14
Speaker 1: Maybe just generating sex constant penetration in the face of
17:18
Speaker 1: the quarterback right up the gut really forces those guys
17:21
Speaker 1: to move. It changes their trajectory which leads to overthrows
17:25
Speaker 1: and some bad at boss really really good player, really
17:27
Speaker 1: solid the point of attack, and the Jaguars had to
17:29
Speaker 1: address the interior of their defensive line because stopping the
17:33
Speaker 1: run has to be the number one priority of any
17:35
Speaker 1: good defense. Yeah, as much as I joked about the
17:38
Speaker 1: names earlier to me when the signings or the acquisition
17:42
Speaker 1: started happening on Monday, these two stood out, maybe even
17:48
Speaker 1: beyond the bells and whistles guys at receiver, because if
17:52
Speaker 1: you've watched this team for the last two or three years,
17:56
Speaker 1: there was a little bit of a decline from two
17:57
Speaker 1: thousand seventeen eighteen nineteen in terms of being stout up
18:00
Speaker 1: the middle and stopping the run and more and more
18:02
Speaker 1: they had to put guys in the box to get
18:04
Speaker 1: that done. To me, these two guys were about, let's
18:08
Speaker 1: get better at being stout in the middle and stop
18:10
Speaker 1: in the run without having to over commit other personnel.
18:13
Speaker 1: There Um, they were better at it last year, but
18:18
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody out of US three or anybody
18:21
Speaker 1: watching the team, I thought it looked great on that
18:25
Speaker 1: level last year. So if this is a step toward
18:28
Speaker 1: being much much better in that area that having over
18:31
Speaker 1: commit personnel, then it's money well spent. John. I think
18:34
Speaker 1: it's interesting that you brought up seven team becauld you
18:36
Speaker 1: go back and look at the components on their defense
18:38
Speaker 1: in seventeen. The things that stood out up front they
18:42
Speaker 1: were big and strong. Second level and third level they
18:45
Speaker 1: were fast and athletic, and that's just the calling card.
18:49
Speaker 1: That's the way you have to play defense in today's game.
18:51
Speaker 1: You have to be able to uh in a perfect world,
18:53
Speaker 1: be able to stop the run without necessarily having to
18:56
Speaker 1: drop extra defenders in the box. And then in the
18:59
Speaker 1: passing game, you have to be able to rust the
19:00
Speaker 1: pass or hopefully with four occasionally five, and you got
19:04
Speaker 1: enough speed to cover in the back end. That's the
19:06
Speaker 1: way you have to play if you can play these
19:07
Speaker 1: offenses today. Phokasi, by the way, has a brother who
19:10
Speaker 1: just played at Rutgers and tapped out of the Gator
19:13
Speaker 1: Bowl because he was going to the draft this year
19:15
Speaker 1: as well. Lakun lay photo Kai outside linebackers just as
19:19
Speaker 1: difficult for me, just like his brothers. Wednesday morning, word
19:24
Speaker 1: came out that cornerback Darius Williams is coming home. The
19:27
Speaker 1: Creekside High School product from down to St. John's, he
19:31
Speaker 1: went to U a B. It was one of three
19:33
Speaker 1: schools he attended. By the way. He was undrafted by
19:36
Speaker 1: the Ravens, claimed off waivers by the Rams back in October.
19:40
Speaker 1: Has been with him ever since. Now he's coming home
19:44
Speaker 1: with a thirty million dollar contract and now Jaguar's hometown team.
19:47
Speaker 1: He's twenty nine years old. He spent a few years
19:50
Speaker 1: away from the game of football, was working at like
19:53
Speaker 1: an ace hardware in town, went to F S c
19:56
Speaker 1: J for a little bit and ended up at U
19:57
Speaker 1: A B and it was undrafted. I mean, the guy
20:00
Speaker 1: has taken the scenic route to get to this point,
20:03
Speaker 1: but he's coming home. Well, what a cool I mean,
20:05
Speaker 1: that's an even cooler story to meet than somebody gets
20:07
Speaker 1: who gets drafted by their hometown team. Because you've worked
20:10
Speaker 1: for it. I'm sure there were people in his high
20:12
Speaker 1: school with oh man, he'll never make it, you know.
20:14
Speaker 1: So he gets to come back and Uh, good for him.
20:17
Speaker 1: I mean everything you hear is that he's a good kid. Uh.
20:21
Speaker 1: So I'm moving forward to meeting with him. Covered him.
20:25
Speaker 1: Uh And what's interesting And I'll ask Bucky this, Uh
20:31
Speaker 1: is he purely a slot corner? Can he play outside?
20:35
Speaker 1: What does that mean for the Jaguars defensive acts? I
20:37
Speaker 1: look at it and assume, maybe incorrectly, that it's Shaq
20:41
Speaker 1: Griffin and Tyson Campbell on the outside. How does he
20:44
Speaker 1: impact that? Bucky? Good player? He's a really good player.
20:48
Speaker 1: He made a ton of place for the Rams. Uh.
20:51
Speaker 1: I'll speak about his skill set. His skill set is
20:54
Speaker 1: terrific because he's a guy that can play off. I mean,
20:57
Speaker 1: he doesn't always have to be nose and nose on
20:59
Speaker 1: the wide receiver. There's a great job of reading rouse
21:01
Speaker 1: and recognizing what's happening in front of him. He will
21:04
Speaker 1: make place. He made a ton of plays throughout his
21:06
Speaker 1: time with the l A rams Uh. He could play outside,
21:09
Speaker 1: but he also can bump inside. I think this is
21:12
Speaker 1: a move where people have to understand. The nickel position,
21:15
Speaker 1: particularly the slot corner position is another starting position. UM
21:19
Speaker 1: the twelve starters on the defense, the nickelback counts is
21:22
Speaker 1: that and you need to have three high end corners
21:25
Speaker 1: to be able to play in this league. And so
21:28
Speaker 1: he gives them a guy who can play outstanding nickel
21:32
Speaker 1: coverage and it gives them maybe some versatility and flexibility
21:36
Speaker 1: in terms of how they deploy their stuff. This is
21:39
Speaker 1: a team that I would anticipate being a heavy zone
21:42
Speaker 1: blitz team, meaning where they're bringing uh five maybe six
21:46
Speaker 1: defenders that sometimes were playing zone with the eyes on
21:49
Speaker 1: the quarterback. And to succeed in that, you have to
21:51
Speaker 1: have guys that are very comfortable playing in space, being
21:54
Speaker 1: able to sort out all the stuff that happens in
21:56
Speaker 1: front of them. Williams is a guy that does that.
21:58
Speaker 1: UM I do under for Tyson Campbell, uh, Chad Griffin
22:04
Speaker 1: as they continue to evolve this defense, how these guys
22:09
Speaker 1: are best suited to play because those guys are better
22:11
Speaker 1: knows than knows and so I'm curious to see what
22:13
Speaker 1: it all looks like when they put it together. But
22:16
Speaker 1: this is a team that's gonna be aggressive, but they're
22:18
Speaker 1: gonna do it with a lot of smoking mirrors and deception.
22:21
Speaker 1: But you have to have guys who have a lot
22:22
Speaker 1: of tools in the toolbox to be able to do
22:24
Speaker 1: what Williams says that is it important for a nickel?
22:26
Speaker 1: But I thought they might draft this spot. But is
22:31
Speaker 1: it important for a nickel because of the complexity position
22:35
Speaker 1: to have a veteran as opposed to you can play
22:39
Speaker 1: a rookie, you can play a kid outside because there's
22:41
Speaker 1: maybe not as much Uh, it's not as complex. Is
22:45
Speaker 1: there any truth to that? A lot of truth to it, John,
22:48
Speaker 1: And in fact, you've been around the game long enough
22:49
Speaker 1: to know that the way that things used to work
22:52
Speaker 1: is your best corner and and nickel downs would move
22:58
Speaker 1: inside to the nickel and your most inexperienced corner will
23:02
Speaker 1: play right corner, meaning on the defensive right, the offensive
23:05
Speaker 1: left which is the backside of most right handed quarterbacks. Um,
23:09
Speaker 1: that's where you hide your inferior player. And so, um,
23:15
Speaker 1: what you want to do is you want to make
23:16
Speaker 1: sure that you have someone who has seen a lot
23:18
Speaker 1: of the game, who's kind of gone through a bunch
23:21
Speaker 1: of different situations and understands how to play it from
23:24
Speaker 1: a situational standpoint, from an experienced standpoint, he has a
23:27
Speaker 1: level of expertise and playing inside, Yeah, nicol is not
23:31
Speaker 1: necessarily a spot where you want to put a young
23:33
Speaker 1: guy because it's it's tough in there. It's it's a
23:35
Speaker 1: lot you have to kind of be able to tackle
23:37
Speaker 1: like a linebacker. You have to play in space and
23:40
Speaker 1: handle all of these adjustments, and so it's a high
23:43
Speaker 1: i Q very technical position and I think it requires
23:48
Speaker 1: some experience to be really really good at JP. One
23:50
Speaker 1: of the most underrated players in that seventeen defense to
23:53
Speaker 1: me was always Covid. Yeah, and I was gonna at
23:55
Speaker 1: high level. Aaron Covin told me one time that you're
23:58
Speaker 1: gonna have some dogging you to play that too. Um,
24:01
Speaker 1: so oh yeah, because when he's talking about that, like JP,
24:04
Speaker 1: he's talking about when you're the nickel. Remember you're removing
24:07
Speaker 1: a linebacker to put the nickel corner in. So the
24:10
Speaker 1: nickel corner has to be tough enough to handle the
24:12
Speaker 1: run responsibilities when they run it at you. He needs
24:15
Speaker 1: to be able to be courageous enough to make blitz
24:17
Speaker 1: is off the edge because a lot of defense coordinators
24:20
Speaker 1: like to use slot pressures, UH to impact the quarterback.
24:23
Speaker 1: He has to be able to cover slot receivers and
24:26
Speaker 1: occasionally a tied in depending on what the personnel is.
24:29
Speaker 1: And so this guy has to be a little different.
24:31
Speaker 1: So the toughness is definitely there. He almost has to
24:34
Speaker 1: be at decatholicte He has to be able to bring
24:36
Speaker 1: a bunch of different things to the table to be
24:38
Speaker 1: able to succeed inside in the slot. It's cold in
24:41
Speaker 1: these days. Anyways, he got yeah, he's out he uh
24:44
Speaker 1: Houston from play Houston for a minute, um and uh.
24:48
Speaker 1: I happen to follow him on Twitter and it seems
24:51
Speaker 1: like he's doing well and happy and I'm not sure
24:53
Speaker 1: what he's doing that right, So this is the Huddle
24:56
Speaker 1: Up Podcast. Let's say good by two miles Jack eight
24:59
Speaker 1: million dollars in savings, a little over four million and
25:02
Speaker 1: dead cap money. Jack had that great seventeen postseason, got
25:06
Speaker 1: a contract extension. Was constantly it felt like moving as
25:10
Speaker 1: the seasons went along. When the defense would change a
25:12
Speaker 1: little bit, he'd move some other position. The last couple
25:16
Speaker 1: of years, the story was the green dot on and
25:18
Speaker 1: off the helmet and back on again, calling the plays
25:21
Speaker 1: on defense. He's still young, he's twenty six, but there's
25:24
Speaker 1: some questions about his knees and his health there. For me,
25:28
Speaker 1: the highlight was that seventeen playoff run. Those three postseason games,
25:33
Speaker 1: he played big in big moments. Uh. He is a
25:37
Speaker 1: cap casualty. He's out of your job. I'm glad you
25:40
Speaker 1: brought that up as a totality of the seventeen postseason
25:44
Speaker 1: because everybody remembers, and it's be kind of you know,
25:49
Speaker 1: a legend in these parts that Miles Jack wasn't down
25:51
Speaker 1: to play against New England would have got in the
25:52
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. I think, Um, but what's forgotten exactly what
25:56
Speaker 1: you just said. A A huge play it's Buffalo. Uh.
26:01
Speaker 1: It was a huge game changing play against the Bills,
26:04
Speaker 1: either a tip or an interception. Um. And then a
26:08
Speaker 1: huge interception on sideline against Pittsburgh when they were getting
26:12
Speaker 1: that lead that you know, for Net was you know,
26:16
Speaker 1: monstrous early in that game to get in that lead.
26:18
Speaker 1: But the Miles jack play along with the Telvin Smith's
26:22
Speaker 1: play were the two key defensive plays in that game
26:24
Speaker 1: that probably without if they don't win it because they
26:26
Speaker 1: don't have that huge lead. I guess it's fair to say,
26:30
Speaker 1: either from being used or whatever happened, he never quite
26:35
Speaker 1: lived up to the hype because there was so much
26:39
Speaker 1: hype at the beginning. And if that's true, which maybe
26:43
Speaker 1: it is, it still shouldn't be lost that he was
26:46
Speaker 1: really good for a long time and made a lot
26:49
Speaker 1: of plays. He strikes me as a guy had the
26:52
Speaker 1: team been better around him, he probably makes Pro Bowls,
26:58
Speaker 1: makes more plays, more impact plays. Um. I hope and
27:02
Speaker 1: think he should be remembered very fondly by Jaguars fans
27:06
Speaker 1: as a really good player for this team for a
27:08
Speaker 1: long time. Yeah, it's unfortunate because it was ted up
27:11
Speaker 1: for him to really kind of go into the stratosphere.
27:13
Speaker 1: Is one of the star players in this league. Coming
27:16
Speaker 1: off the heels of that seventeen season, uh Jackson were
27:19
Speaker 1: making a deep postseason run. The expectation was that the
27:22
Speaker 1: Jaguars would remain a Super Bowl contender. That didn't happen,
27:25
Speaker 1: But if the Jaguars had continued to play at a
27:27
Speaker 1: high level, they would have been more eyeballs on Miles
27:30
Speaker 1: Jack and what he was able to do as a
27:33
Speaker 1: look a terrific talent at the position. Now his time
27:37
Speaker 1: has come to an end, but I still think there's
27:39
Speaker 1: some value to what he brings to the table. I
27:42
Speaker 1: still think he has a lot of good football left.
27:44
Speaker 1: I think the main thing for him is finding the
27:46
Speaker 1: right spot where his talents can kind of be showcase.
27:50
Speaker 1: You know, I think he's a run and chase player,
27:53
Speaker 1: meaning he needs to be a will linebacker that can
27:56
Speaker 1: run and do some things. He had chances here, but man,
28:00
Speaker 1: when you can't stop to run, you can't do those things.
28:02
Speaker 1: You're always playing from behind. It's really hard to showcase
28:05
Speaker 1: your off the ball linebacker. And so maybe going forward
28:08
Speaker 1: here I have an opportunity to really showcase all of
28:11
Speaker 1: the talents that he brings to the table. That'll do
28:13
Speaker 1: it for the Huddle Up Podcast and anyone he got
28:14
Speaker 1: coming up this week. Buck. Now, you know, we're just
28:17
Speaker 1: getting closer, man, Like everyone's going on Pro Day, so
28:20
Speaker 1: I'm getting ready for a big week next week. I
28:22
Speaker 1: think the Quarterback Pro Days are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Some
28:26
Speaker 1: of the covers there you can chance see some of
28:27
Speaker 1: these guys who think for us, we're not in the
28:31
Speaker 1: quarterback conversation right who? Yeah, who's gonna see next week?
28:36
Speaker 1: Uh So next week I think the top the top
28:38
Speaker 1: of you guys go. I think it's Kinny Pickett, uh,
28:41
Speaker 1: Malik Willis and Matt Correll. I think also goes next week.
28:45
Speaker 1: So we get a chance those Jags need one of
28:49
Speaker 1: those guys selected number one. Overall, that's not gonna happen,
28:54
Speaker 1: Like the league has already told you. No, the League
28:58
Speaker 1: has already told you what they think about those quarters backs.
29:00
Speaker 1: When as soon as we come back from the combine,
29:02
Speaker 1: after doing all that hype and hey man, these guys
29:04
Speaker 1: are good, every team in the league went like dominoes
29:07
Speaker 1: and got veteran quarterbacks and traded forming those things. Right now,
29:11
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of love on the street for
29:12
Speaker 1: those weird young guys. All right, well we'll aim you,
29:16
Speaker 1: but either way, we'll look forward to your coverage of
29:18
Speaker 1: the quarterback Pro Days coming up. But that's Bucky Brooks,
29:21
Speaker 1: John Oser for Joe Fortunato. I'm j p. Shadrick, Thank
29:25
Speaker 1: you for listening. It's Huddle Up Podcast.