Latest / Duval Daily: A Jacksonville Jaguars Podcast / IS THE JAGUARS DEFENSE GOOD ENOUGH?!
Transcript
- 0:00[SPEAKER_00]: Jacksonville Jaguar's fans welcome in to do vault daily presented by jingyag.com and fueled by brass tax coffee right now we have
- 0:07[SPEAKER_00]: Jaguar's roster grades were continuing this thing over to the defensive side of the ball.
- 0:11[SPEAKER_00]: Yesterday we took a look at the Jaguar's offense and I ended up giving them a 85 right in the middle of the B range and that is not to say that I think that the Jaguar's will perform as a slightly above average offense.
- 0:27[SPEAKER_00]: I think that they'll actually perform a good bit higher than that because I tried to
- 0:35[SPEAKER_00]: individual assessments from the coaching, just from a roster standpoint.
- 0:40[SPEAKER_00]: I think when you include Liam Cohen and Grant Yudinsky and the addition of Ryan Picucchi as somebody who should help the run game a good bit, I expect them to perform more like a and a lead offense honestly.
- 0:56[SPEAKER_00]: I think they're going to perform an extremely high level and also have their quarterback
- 1:05[SPEAKER_00]: then I do the overall offense.
- 1:06[SPEAKER_00]: I think when you combine quarterback receivers, offensive coaching, I think that those things are going to help out the Jaguars a lot.
- 1:14[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to perform an extremely high level offensively.
- 1:16[SPEAKER_00]: And that takes us over to the defensive side of the ball.
- 1:19[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're going to get into these grades, try to do the same thing here, try to isolate the players from the scheme, which is difficult to do, nearly really impossible to do, but that's what we're trying to do here.
- 1:30[SPEAKER_00]: So,
- 1:31[SPEAKER_00]: really and we'll also talk about like how the scheme impacts things as well.
- 1:34[SPEAKER_00]: But I do really appreciate y'all tuning in.
- 1:37[SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoy the content here, it's all jags all the time.
- 1:39[SPEAKER_00]: Please like and subscribe.
- 1:41[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll just hit that high button and drop your grade for the Jaguar's defense in the comment section below.
- 1:46[SPEAKER_00]: We'll go position by position and then give it overall grade for the defense.
- 1:50[SPEAKER_00]: So,
- 1:51[SPEAKER_00]: getting it kicked off up front with the Jaguar's Edge players.
- 1:56[SPEAKER_00]: I've got the Jaguar's Edge group at an A- minus, which not like right at 90, but just above 90.
- 2:02[SPEAKER_00]: I think that Josh Heinz Allen is an A-edgerusher.
- 2:06[SPEAKER_00]: I think that a lot of people criticize him for not getting as many sacks as they would like.
- 2:11[SPEAKER_00]: I think he would like to have more sacks than he got last year certainly.
- 2:15[SPEAKER_00]: But I think when you look at his overall game, the impact every single down, the effort, the energy, the leveling up, he's done as a technician.
- 2:27[SPEAKER_00]: the overall athleticism, power, explosiveness that he possesses, high impact player.
- 2:33[SPEAKER_00]: I think Trayvon Walker has shown you even through last year when he didn't get a lot of sacks because he was dealing with the hand injury and knee injury as well throughout the season.
- 2:43[SPEAKER_00]: He showed a lot on film that I don't think necessarily pops up in the box score last year and before that he had had multiple seasons of double digit sacks.
- 2:52[SPEAKER_00]: I think he has ascended every single year.
- 2:56[SPEAKER_00]: And so I look at him as a player that's right around that be plus to a minus range as well again High impact on all three downs when you have edge guys like that That's damn good group and then you look at the depth of the edge group and and that's honestly
- 3:16[SPEAKER_00]: you could say it's a question mark, but for me, I have seen Danny Sturgo perform as like a do your job, do your job type of player throughout last off season, into the season when he actually got reps, and into this off season and training camp and preseason as well, so
- 3:36[SPEAKER_00]: I have confidence in Danny Strigo.
- 3:38[SPEAKER_00]: I have a ton of confidence in BJ Green as well because you can say the same exact thing about him.
- 3:43[SPEAKER_00]: When he got his ops last year to go out and rush the passer, he did it and then he carried that over into this year as well so far.
- 3:50[SPEAKER_00]: So I feel good about those two depth guys.
- 3:52[SPEAKER_00]: And then you also have a Wesley Williams who you brought in who I think has shown a lot of good things.
- 3:58[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously has yet to prove it at the NFL regular season level.
- 4:02[SPEAKER_00]: I think he had a good preseason.
- 4:03[SPEAKER_00]: a good training camp.
- 4:05[SPEAKER_00]: He's a physical player that you can move around a little bit, but I think at the very least he's going to set the edge for you to do his job and play through the whistle to where the effort will be there to be able to finish plays.
- 4:17[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think he's going to come in and be like this immediately high upside pass rusher on third down, but in base settings in a role where you're just being asked to execute your assignment.
- 4:29[SPEAKER_00]: I think Wesley Williams is going
- 4:32[SPEAKER_00]: And then you also have, you know, Brian Thomas Jr., who, again, has yet to show it at the NFL regular season level, but every step of the way so far this year for the rookie undrafted free agent has been impressive and he capped it off with a
- 4:50[SPEAKER_00]: incredible, preseason finale.
- 4:52[SPEAKER_00]: So I like the Edge Depth.
- 4:55[SPEAKER_00]: Could you have more experienced Edge Depth?
- 4:58[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, could you have, you know, Edge Depth that has more, I guess you would say like investment in terms of like a higher priced free agent or a mid tier free agent or or somebody who was drafted higher in the draft.
- 5:13[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, you could.
- 5:14[SPEAKER_00]: But
- 5:15[SPEAKER_00]: That, to me, doesn't always equal results.
- 5:19[SPEAKER_00]: What I think is going to equal results is these guys playing how they have played.
- 5:23[SPEAKER_00]: Again, Strigo, B.J.
- 5:25[SPEAKER_00]: Green, 200 at Fridge from last year, your rookie's this year, Brian Thomas Jr. West of Williams, I like the group.
- 5:32[SPEAKER_00]: I think that the Jag War is having a minus edge group.
- 5:35[SPEAKER_00]: I think if you were just grading,
- 5:37[SPEAKER_00]: the top two, I would give them an A, not an A plus, but an A, because again, people really under value stopping the run, and I think the Jaguar is probably have the best edge duo and football at stopping the run, and then you also have the fact that both of those guys are good pastructures as well.
- 5:55[SPEAKER_00]: Interior defensive line.
- 5:56[SPEAKER_00]: I've got to be.
- 5:57[SPEAKER_00]: It's an interesting situation here because you're led by Devon Hamilton upfront, right?
- 6:02[SPEAKER_00]: With the interior of the defensive line, anchor of the best run defense in football last year.
- 6:07[SPEAKER_00]: I have no reason to believe the Jaguars won't continue to be the best run defense in football.
- 6:15[SPEAKER_00]: or, you know, at the very least, right up there at the very, very top of the league.
- 6:18[SPEAKER_00]: I think Devon Hamilton is a huge part of that, but he doesn't give you much as a past rusher, at least he hasn't recently.
- 6:27[SPEAKER_00]: I have seen flashes throughout his career of that.
- 6:29[SPEAKER_00]: Like when he was a little bit younger, I thought he was showing more explosiveness, more pocket-plush, all of that type of stuff.
- 6:37[SPEAKER_00]: Coming out of Ohio State, he was a player that I was super high on.
- 6:41[SPEAKER_00]: I had him as a second round pick.
- 6:42[SPEAKER_00]: The Jaguar's got him in the third round.
- 6:44[SPEAKER_00]: One of their only good picks that year.
- 6:46[SPEAKER_00]: But,
- 6:49[SPEAKER_00]: he could tap into more past rush, but as of right now I'm not giving him that, like I need to see that to feel that.
- 6:56[SPEAKER_00]: And so he's like an A, run defender, but he's like probably like a C minus in terms of past rush.
- 7:05[SPEAKER_00]: So that's kind of like an interesting,
- 7:10[SPEAKER_00]: point of like how do you grade him?
- 7:13[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think he's going to be out there in a lot of exclusive past rushing situations.
- 7:17[SPEAKER_00]: So that is something to keep in mind.
- 7:19[SPEAKER_00]: But um...
- 7:22[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that he is a absolutely very useful player.
- 7:27[SPEAKER_00]: And then he also got to give him credit for making that play against the Raiders in overtime.
- 7:31[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's, I think he is somebody you can rely on.
- 7:35[SPEAKER_00]: But then you look at Eric Armstead and Armstead, I think last year when he was healthy and throughout most of his career when he's been healthy has shown that he can be a high impact.
- 7:44[SPEAKER_00]: interior your past pressure.
- 7:46[SPEAKER_00]: And so I give him a lot of credit for that.
- 7:48[SPEAKER_00]: And then I give Eric or I'm said a ton of credit for the Jaguars they want their main goal against the bills was to stop the run.
- 7:57[SPEAKER_00]: And Eric or I'm said went out there and did his job in extremely high level stopping the run in that playoff game.
- 8:03[SPEAKER_00]: That was not the reason they lost that game.
- 8:06[SPEAKER_00]: I like those two guys a lot Matt Dickerson as a base down interior defensive line runstopper you know again do your job type of guy I think is a good player as well and then you bring in Rook Aurora who I think showed a good amount through training camp and the preseason
- 8:23[SPEAKER_00]: as an interior penetration style player.
- 8:25[SPEAKER_00]: I like that depth.
- 8:26[SPEAKER_00]: I like the depth that Albert Regis brings you, even though we haven't seen that yet.
- 8:31[SPEAKER_00]: So I give the Jaguar Z-Fint interior defensive line, a solid B, not like 85, probably like 83 somewhere in that range.
- 8:39[SPEAKER_00]: I strongly believe in the top two guys in my mind.
- 8:42[SPEAKER_00]: I know the Jaguar's kind of view Matt Dickerson as a starter, but that's kind of more semantics than anything else.
- 8:47[SPEAKER_00]: There's starters on the interior, defensive line, are basically Devon Hamilton, Eric Gromstead and Matt Dickerson, and I think Gromstead will get more snaps than Dickerson.
- 8:55[SPEAKER_00]: I really do.
- 8:56[SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, and then I'm good with the depth there.
- 8:59[SPEAKER_00]: So, I give them a be there around like 83-ish type of grade linebacker.
- 9:06[SPEAKER_00]: You look at foe Luke and I think he's a consistently underrated player.
- 9:10[SPEAKER_00]: I have him as a B But not like a 83-84.
- 9:13[SPEAKER_00]: I it's like a 87.
- 9:15[SPEAKER_00]: He's a complete He's a leader.
- 9:18[SPEAKER_00]: He's a captain and we haven't talked about the captains I don't think I need to do a whole show on the Jaguar's captains, but I think they have a really good
- 9:26[SPEAKER_00]: leadership group there, and that locker room and foyer Lou can is certainly part of that.
- 9:31[SPEAKER_00]: But he's a tackle machine.
- 9:33[SPEAKER_00]: He can make plays in coverage.
- 9:35[SPEAKER_00]: He's a great communicator as well.
- 9:37[SPEAKER_00]: I think foyer is awesome.
- 9:38[SPEAKER_00]: Then you look next to foyer.
- 9:40[SPEAKER_00]: I have Vintro Miller as the starter.
- 9:42[SPEAKER_00]: The Jaguars have said, Vintro Miller and Branson Combs will have roles to play, but I just cannot see Branson Combs.
- 9:50[SPEAKER_00]: being a player you feel comfortable with on the field right now in potential running situations.
- 9:55[SPEAKER_00]: So I, in Ventrella, I have more confidence.
- 9:58[SPEAKER_00]: I have more confidence in Ventrella as a past coverage guy.
- 10:01[SPEAKER_00]: Then I do in Branson Combs as a run defender.
- 10:04[SPEAKER_00]: So I think he's the more complete player right now.
- 10:07[SPEAKER_00]: That can obviously shift.
- 10:08[SPEAKER_00]: Branson Combs can develop all these things.
- 10:11[SPEAKER_00]: And Branson Combs,
- 10:13[SPEAKER_00]: was not playing behind the starting defensive front in the preseason when I kind of started having some of those worries about the run defense from him.
- 10:21[SPEAKER_00]: So he could do better against behind a defensive line that features Devon and Josh and Trayvon and all those guys.
- 10:27[SPEAKER_00]: So but yeah, I have ventral Miller there and I would give ventral Miller a B-minus grade.
- 10:33[SPEAKER_00]: I know that's probably pretty high for a lot of people, but I think he is
- 10:37[SPEAKER_00]: a borderline elite run defender and a head-y coverage player who can make plays in coverage and execute assignments as a zone dropper.
- 10:46[SPEAKER_00]: So I feel very confident in ventral Miller.
- 10:51[SPEAKER_00]: And then you have Dennis Gardett, who is also a pseudo starter, there's going to be games in which he plays starter reps, and there's going to be games in which he just doesn't play all that much.
- 11:00[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to depend on the defensive game plan for how often a Sam linebacker, a third linebacker.
- 11:06[SPEAKER_00]: is really on the field and then obviously he can also drop down and rush the pass or a little bit so there's versatility there that you like.
- 11:13[SPEAKER_00]: Behind the starters you have fairly thin group you only have five landbackers on the roster right now.
- 11:24[SPEAKER_00]: Part of that is you know Parker.
- 11:25[SPEAKER_00]: He's got injured part of that is they decided not to keep a backup Sam on the active roster.
- 11:32[SPEAKER_00]: They they released
- 11:34[SPEAKER_00]: or waived, you see Rob Dula, they waived him and he got claimed by the Falcons, they do still have Jalen McLeod on the practice squad.
- 11:43[SPEAKER_00]: So he is somebody who can obviously step up and be your backup Sam.
- 11:48[SPEAKER_00]: If you feel like you need that in a specific game, you can do the standard elevation there from the practice squad.
- 11:54[SPEAKER_00]: But the
- 11:55[SPEAKER_00]: The other two guys that are on the roster besides ventral foie and Dennis are Branson Colms and Jelonning Tovi.
- 12:01[SPEAKER_00]: Tovi I think is a good fit for this defense as a guy who can certainly blitz at a high level and stop the run.
- 12:09[SPEAKER_00]: So Jelonning Tovi there.
- 12:11[SPEAKER_00]: I have the Jaguar's linebacker group as a B, you know, kind of a lower and be not a B-but probably like 83-ish type of grade.
- 12:20[SPEAKER_00]: I just feel very strongly about
- 12:23[SPEAKER_00]: FOIA, Ventrel, and Dennis Gardening.
- 12:25[SPEAKER_00]: So that's where I'm out with that group at safety.
- 12:28[SPEAKER_00]: I also have AB.
- 12:30[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to get into the guys that kind of lock it down in the second area here, but first, we've got the MyBookie lock of the season.
- 12:38[SPEAKER_00]: It's back, and the first one is an absolute no-brainer with the Patriots in Seattle for NFL Kickoff.
- 12:43[SPEAKER_00]: MyBookie is asking one simple question.
- 12:45[SPEAKER_00]: Will this y'all raise their championship banner that night?
- 12:47[SPEAKER_00]: And the answer is, of course they will, they're defending champs, home opener, raising the banner, before kickoff is part of the celebration, you're getting that bed at plus money odds, you're getting paid to say yes, the Calex will do the thing, the entire night is built around, that is the first my bookie lock in the season, there will be more coming all season long, get in before kickoff, sign up at my bookie with my promo code DoveWall, the UVAL all caps,
- 13:09[SPEAKER_00]: start your season off with a win any time anywhere that's my booky code do wall must be 21 plus 18 plus in selector's fiction stems in addition to play gambling problem call winning under gamble or visit 1-800 gambling.net for free confidential support available 24-7 so as I mentioned get into the the second area here
- 13:27[SPEAKER_00]: safety.
- 13:28[SPEAKER_00]: I've got a solid solid B.
- 13:31[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think Antonio Johnson, the way he was playing as a starter for the Jaguars last year was worth worthy of an A grade.
- 13:40[SPEAKER_00]: I do also believe like probably need to show it for another year because it was about half a season of starting for Antonio Johnson.
- 13:48[SPEAKER_00]: But we knew he had the talent.
- 13:50[SPEAKER_00]: You just needed to be in a better situation
- 13:53[SPEAKER_00]: and development standpoint, Antonio Johnson got that.
- 13:57[SPEAKER_00]: One of the league leaders in Interceptions last year was tied for the AFC lead and Interceptions with Devon Lloyd, Shadow Devon Lloyd.
- 14:07[SPEAKER_00]: He's a great run defender, he's a versatile player.
- 14:09[SPEAKER_00]: I have Antonio Johnson as like a B+.
- 14:15[SPEAKER_00]: even though I think you just grade what you saw at the end of last year it's an A, but I say we need to see it a little bit more.
- 14:21[SPEAKER_00]: Eric Murray, I have as a C plus, great leader.
- 14:27[SPEAKER_00]: Usually is Johnny on the spot, does make plays in coverage in terms of past breakups and interceptions.
- 14:33[SPEAKER_00]: He's a pretty good run defender as well.
- 14:36[SPEAKER_00]: I just think that there's some moments where Murray, there was a few two moments where Murray gave up big place last year.
- 14:44[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's why I have him as a C plus.
- 14:47[SPEAKER_00]: And then I like the depth a lot.
- 14:49[SPEAKER_00]: Like I think that Caleb Ransal and Jalen Husky are both exciting young players.
- 14:54[SPEAKER_00]: Ray Lane, when he had to get on the field last year, obviously he's a great social teamer.
- 14:57[SPEAKER_00]: But when he had to get on the field last year as a safety, he actually did a decent job as well.
- 15:02[SPEAKER_00]: So I've got them as a solid B here at safety, Antonio Johnson leading the way.
- 15:09[SPEAKER_00]: And then Eric Murray is a solid player next to him and a leader, a good communicator on the back end.
- 15:15[SPEAKER_00]: And then you have good depth, very solid up, you know, three players that you've drafted in the last two years as your depth.
- 15:22[SPEAKER_00]: Some athleticism back there, some good football players.
- 15:25[SPEAKER_00]: And then you get to corner.
- 15:27[SPEAKER_00]: Another position group that I have as a B.
- 15:31[SPEAKER_00]: Look, I think that it very well could look like an A.
- 15:37[SPEAKER_00]: that would not surprise me at all.
- 15:39[SPEAKER_00]: But the bottom line is we have not seen a lot of Travis Hunter at corner.
- 15:43[SPEAKER_00]: What we did see of him last year was impressive.
- 15:45[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it was all context included, I would give him an A for what he did, but when you're just evaluating the snaps you saw, which was about 150, I think, 150 for something like that.
- 15:58[SPEAKER_00]: I would put him in the B range.
- 16:00[SPEAKER_00]: Do I think that there's upward trajectory from there?
- 16:02[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely I do.
- 16:08[SPEAKER_00]: Jordan Lewis in the B range.
- 16:09[SPEAKER_00]: I would have Jarring Jones and probably B minus to B range.
- 16:13[SPEAKER_00]: I would have Buster Brown in the B range as well.
- 16:16[SPEAKER_00]: So like you look at all those guys and those are your guys going to be playing a lot of snaps Christian Braswell is okay at depth as well So it's just a solid B for me right now when it comes to the corners I think that again, there's a lot like it could
- 16:32[SPEAKER_00]: It could really ascend from there because Travis Hunter, I think, has the ability to play a lot better than that.
- 16:37[SPEAKER_00]: I think Jarian Jones has the ability to play a lot better than that.
- 16:41[SPEAKER_00]: Down the stretch last year, you were without Jordan Lewis and Travis Hunter, but I think from what I have actually seen, I'm giving it a B, and so, and right right in the middle there around 85, I think that my big question for this team, I've talked about this
- 17:02[SPEAKER_00]: In big moments, can they stop the opposing quarterback one, why do silver one combinations?
- 17:09[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that that is something they also identified.
- 17:12[SPEAKER_00]: this offseason and that's why they brought in Matthew or Rujo to try to upgrade things and they want to play a little bit more match coverage in certain moments versus just that vision zone as Liam Cohen likes to put it where they have eyes in the back field.
- 17:27[SPEAKER_00]: They play off the ball.
- 17:28[SPEAKER_00]: I think they want to play a little bit more sticky at times.
- 17:30[SPEAKER_00]: They want to play some more match concepts at times.
- 17:33[SPEAKER_00]: They want to dissuade opponents from playing quick game in the passing game.
- 17:39[SPEAKER_00]: And the question is, how effective will they be at doing that?
- 17:43[SPEAKER_00]: I still haven't seen that I think it will be a super smooth transition early on.
- 17:49[SPEAKER_00]: I think that they do have the coaching and the talent to get the job done there and to figure it out.
- 17:55[SPEAKER_00]: But it still kind of remains to be seen a little bit for me in that regard.
- 18:00[SPEAKER_00]: So that's the big question for me.
- 18:01[SPEAKER_00]: I do think Anthony Camponele, you know, I mentioned like, I have basically have the Jaguar's offense and defense with the same grade right in the middle of the beat, the B-range right around 85.
- 18:11[SPEAKER_00]: I have the Jaguar's offense right at 85, I think, and the defense was like 85.6, something like that.
- 18:20[SPEAKER_00]: I think that Anthony Camponele does elevate the defense.
- 18:24[SPEAKER_00]: I do because the way he marries, well, for one, the way he gets them to play against the run.
- 18:32[SPEAKER_00]: excellent, too.
- 18:34[SPEAKER_00]: When you talk about what he does as a play caller from a past game standpoint, they mix up the defensive fronts a ton.
- 18:43[SPEAKER_00]: They are not a true 4-3 or 3-4.
- 18:45[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I would say they're base 4-3, but they are not true 3-4 or 4-3.
- 18:49[SPEAKER_00]: They do so much up front with that group.
- 18:56[SPEAKER_00]: And they move things around so much.
- 18:59[SPEAKER_00]: and they marry that with, again, last year it wasn't a lot of confusion on the outside at corner, but the way they would mix up the cover rotations from the defensive front, basically the spine of the defensive for the most part.
- 19:13[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes the edge guys would drop out and that's a little confusion more on the edge, but
- 19:18[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of times like the linebackers and safeties you don't know their exact coverage assignments until post-snap cover rotations happen, and that makes it pretty confusing at times, and that helps lead to turnovers and big plays for the defense and things of that nature.
- 19:33[SPEAKER_00]: I just think Anthony Camponele is a great leader, a great teacher.
- 19:36[SPEAKER_00]: I think he has a really good staff as well.
- 19:39[SPEAKER_00]: When you look across the board, I think Tim Lukov was great.
- 19:41[SPEAKER_00]: I think Eruja was great.
- 19:43[SPEAKER_00]: I think that the entire defense of staff is very impressive.
- 19:46[SPEAKER_00]: So I think they do elevate that group to play more like a B plus to an A minus type of range.
- 19:54[SPEAKER_00]: And I think when you have that complete of units on both sides of the ball, as I mentioned, when you combine the talent and the coaching, and then you also throw in the fact that you have
- 20:06[SPEAKER_00]: maybe arguably the best special teams group in football when you combine heaps far well with Logan Cook, Cam Little Ross, Mattisick and all the other guys that they have throughout the roster that can contribute on special teams.
- 20:18[SPEAKER_00]: at a high level, the emphasis that they've placed on that.
- 20:21[SPEAKER_00]: I think that this is a very complete team.
- 20:23[SPEAKER_00]: I think they absolutely have the opportunity to achieve all their goals this year.
- 20:29[SPEAKER_00]: I think that there's just a couple questions holding me back from saying, book the Jaguars to the Super Bowl, which earlier today I did my final record prediction.
- 20:37[SPEAKER_00]: And I said, I think the Jaguars are going to appear in the AMC title game.
- 20:41[SPEAKER_00]: and probably need another year of upgrading the roster of seasoning to potentially get to the game in February.
- 20:52[SPEAKER_00]: That's my opinion.
- 20:53[SPEAKER_00]: Let me know what you think in the comment section below.
- 20:55[SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoy the content, please like and subscribe.
- 20:58[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all have a great one.