Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 217 | Recapping the First Days of Free Agency

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Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 217 | Recapping the First Days of Free Agency · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:17
Speaker 1: Poke them into a special edition of Jags Am and
0:20
Speaker 1: the PM Beautiful Day in Florida, And it's officially now
0:24
Speaker 1: the beginning of free agency. I'm Konnannie Stephens, fran Sexton
0:28
Speaker 1: and John Oger are in with me this afternoon as
0:31
Speaker 1: everything's now official, So we're gonna bring you all the
0:33
Speaker 1: free agency news and we'll start out with our big
0:36
Speaker 1: things today. And our first big thing is no new friends,
0:39
Speaker 1: because as of right now the taping of this show,
0:42
Speaker 1: the Jaguars are one of three NFL teams that haven't
0:44
Speaker 1: signed an outside free agent. Brian and we knew it
0:48
Speaker 1: was gonna be different than last year, but it's all
0:50
Speaker 1: quiet right now in Jaguars front well.
0:52
Speaker 2: And people aren't used to that because the Jaguars have
0:54
Speaker 2: always been one of the prominent spenders in the early
0:57
Speaker 2: days a free agency, but in recent they have constricted
1:02
Speaker 2: their caps somewhat with some big contracts for players, and
1:05
Speaker 2: then they went last year and signed Jacobe Myers to
1:07
Speaker 2: a new deal. Plus they've also got guys on their own.
1:10
Speaker 2: Breton Stranger guy, they like to get something done with him,
1:13
Speaker 2: so they're thinking instead of just these few days at
1:17
Speaker 2: the start of free agency, they're looking at the calendar
1:21
Speaker 2: over the course of an entire year and seeing where
1:23
Speaker 2: they can spend their money wisely. Honestly, John, after years
1:27
Speaker 2: of the Jaguars jumping into the pool to see teams
1:30
Speaker 2: like the Raiders and the Browns and the Titans spending
1:33
Speaker 2: like crazy, I'm fine to just sit back and let
1:36
Speaker 2: the water subside.
1:37
Speaker 3: You remember, way way back at the top of the
1:39
Speaker 3: show and we showed the picture of the the Matthews
1:42
Speaker 3: Bridge on a glorious day. It is a glorious day
1:46
Speaker 3: for the Jaguars, And I get that fans are refreshing Twitter.
1:50
Speaker 3: And when you fresh Twitter looking for free agency news,
1:52
Speaker 3: you get in a tizzy. Brian, you know what a tizzy? Yet,
1:55
Speaker 3: you know if you go to if you go to
1:57
Speaker 3: an auction. My wife and I went to an auction
2:00
Speaker 3: and like you know, nineteen ninety five and bought like
2:02
Speaker 3: a bench. We got the bench home and it was awful.
2:04
Speaker 3: But we had to have that bench and we got
2:07
Speaker 3: rid of the bench like two years later because it
2:09
Speaker 3: wasn't very good. Fortunately we had no cap hit on
2:11
Speaker 3: the bench. My point is, people who are worried about this,
2:15
Speaker 3: this is a great sign for this organization. I don't
2:18
Speaker 3: know if they'd have had more cap room if they'd
2:20
Speaker 3: spent very much. They're being smart and I'll get into it.
2:23
Speaker 3: I am worked up, kai really, I am. I am.
2:26
Speaker 3: I'm in my own free agent frenzy. This was the
2:31
Speaker 3: right way to approach this, and everybody who's panicking calmed down.
2:34
Speaker 3: This is a good organization doing things the right way.
2:37
Speaker 2: I think it's worth pointing out that the Jaguars have
2:40
Speaker 2: about fifty one million dollars in dead camp bunny for
2:43
Speaker 2: this year, and the big chunk of that is Gabe Davis,
2:45
Speaker 2: who was a free agent two years ago. So Allington
2:47
Speaker 2: two is remember some of the mistakes of the past
2:50
Speaker 2: to understand why they don't want to repeat them in
2:52
Speaker 2: the future.
2:52
Speaker 1: Absolutely, this is all different, but it's different in a
2:55
Speaker 1: good way. And they did make some moves this week.
2:57
Speaker 1: Or I go to our second big thing, which is
2:59
Speaker 1: running it back, because because they are running it back
3:01
Speaker 1: with some of their own, they're bringing back familiar faces.
3:03
Speaker 1: One of those is gonna be Monteric Brown, who they
3:05
Speaker 1: signed to a long term deal, and he said his
3:07
Speaker 1: focus was Stanton Jacksonville.
3:10
Speaker 4: Just somewhere I always wanted to be, you know, I
3:12
Speaker 4: got drafted to hear you know, Dad Warsh took a
3:14
Speaker 4: chance on the seventh rounder. And man, just I enjoyed
3:18
Speaker 4: my time since I've been here. Man just played with
3:20
Speaker 4: these guys, these coaches, this organization.
3:22
Speaker 5: Man, it just means a lot to me.
3:24
Speaker 4: And I want to continue that.
3:28
Speaker 1: So John, they're bringing back some more familiar faces to us.
3:31
Speaker 1: In terms of Buster Brown is coming back, Dennis Kardak
3:34
Speaker 1: has another deal, Quinton Morris another one earlier this week apart,
3:37
Speaker 1: and all of them saying similar things and that they
3:39
Speaker 1: want to come back to Jacksonville and be a part
3:41
Speaker 1: of what's being built here. And Buster Brown specifically, I
3:44
Speaker 1: think probably could have made more money on the open market,
3:46
Speaker 1: but it was important for him to be a part
3:47
Speaker 1: of this.
3:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's real. And look all of the years where
3:52
Speaker 3: fans have you know, been hurt when players left, when
3:56
Speaker 3: players said bad things. I remember Aaron Ross vacationed here
4:01
Speaker 3: one year. You know all the years of that and
4:04
Speaker 3: the NFLPA survey, you know all that stuff. Players want
4:08
Speaker 3: to be here, and Monteric Brown is a prime example
4:12
Speaker 3: of that. He did come back for I think less
4:16
Speaker 3: he texted the market, he might have gotten more what
4:20
Speaker 3: a cool thing. Brian to see him on camera the
4:23
Speaker 3: other day, sincerely talking about being here. I ran into
4:26
Speaker 3: him right after he signed. He's here with his family.
4:32
Speaker 3: A lot of guys have symbolized this thing. Jacobe Myers
4:36
Speaker 3: players last year as this thing started to feel like
4:39
Speaker 3: a family so to speak, which sounds cliche, but it's
4:41
Speaker 3: real all of that too, and he is the kind
4:46
Speaker 3: of guy you want. He grew from a seventh round pick.
4:49
Speaker 3: He is now a legitimate number two corner in this league.
4:52
Speaker 3: Fits what they want to do. He's a Jaguar that's
4:57
Speaker 3: pretty cool and very indicative of where this franchise is.
4:59
Speaker 2: Here's a hundred nine pounds, but he's got this mindset
5:01
Speaker 2: that he's Jalen Ramsey, you know. I mean he's always
5:04
Speaker 2: been a guy. He led the SEC in interceptions his
5:07
Speaker 2: final year at Arkansas and was a seventh round pick
5:10
Speaker 2: that pissed him off. I mean he's carried that with
5:12
Speaker 2: him the last couple of years, and he plays so much.
5:15
Speaker 6: Bigger than he is.
5:16
Speaker 2: Fack to just the Titans, the Raiders and the Browns
5:19
Speaker 2: for a second, those three teams signed players that their
5:22
Speaker 2: coaching staff was familiar with, guys from New York with Sala,
5:25
Speaker 2: New York and San Francisco, guys who these coaches knew
5:29
Speaker 2: and could count on. Well, what's better than keeping the
5:32
Speaker 2: guys that you've drafted and that you have developed, that
5:35
Speaker 2: you can already count on. It generally costs you a
5:37
Speaker 2: little bit less and you don't have the transition period
5:40
Speaker 2: of bringing a free agency a free agent in during
5:44
Speaker 2: the open free agency period.
5:45
Speaker 6: The Jeckers made really smart moves with this.
5:48
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised you for the next couple of
5:50
Speaker 2: days they don't find a couple of guys like a
5:52
Speaker 2: Robert Hainsey, right, I mean, who was a huge addition
5:55
Speaker 2: last year, but not this, and find guys who can
5:58
Speaker 2: come in and fill some hole. They're not gonna sit
6:01
Speaker 2: pat and do nothing, but they're just not gonna go
6:03
Speaker 2: out and swing wildly for the fences, which again they
6:06
Speaker 2: have done in the past.
6:06
Speaker 6: Here, over and over and over.
6:08
Speaker 3: Here's the key to always remember Kai. A lot of
6:12
Speaker 3: teams would have won in Monteric Brown on their team.
6:14
Speaker 3: You know why he wasn't available because the Jaguars wanted
6:17
Speaker 3: him badly enough to go get him. When guys are available,
6:20
Speaker 3: guess what that means their former team didn't want them
6:23
Speaker 3: badly enough for their team to go get them. You've
6:26
Speaker 3: always got to remember that in free agency, you're paying
6:28
Speaker 3: prime money for non prime product.
6:30
Speaker 1: It's a good point of view. Now, look, our final
6:33
Speaker 1: big thing today is gonna be draft focused, because I
6:35
Speaker 1: feel like we'll talk about this in the coming weeks
6:37
Speaker 1: as well. But what they do or don't do today
6:40
Speaker 1: in the next couple of days is gonna be very
6:42
Speaker 1: indicative of what they might be focusing on in the draft.
6:45
Speaker 1: Because Brian, now that Travesey's yen is heading out of town,
6:48
Speaker 1: maybe the draft focus goes to a running back, or
6:50
Speaker 1: maybe they'll sign a free agent. But I think this
6:52
Speaker 1: will be very indicative of what they're gonna do next month.
6:54
Speaker 2: Well, I think when you look at this team, and
6:56
Speaker 2: we were all here last season and we listened to
6:58
Speaker 2: coaches when they talk, the focus for this team in
7:02
Speaker 2: the draft is a best available player, right because they
7:05
Speaker 2: can go and find guys and there are some places
7:07
Speaker 2: where it makes sense, but really on the defensive side
7:09
Speaker 2: of the football, this team has enough picks, especially for
7:12
Speaker 2: in the top Hunter John where they can really turn
7:15
Speaker 2: their attention to retooling some of the defense and they're
7:18
Speaker 2: going to have to do some of that. Eric Armstead
7:20
Speaker 2: is getting older. They do not have that pass rushing
7:22
Speaker 2: defensive tackle. For all of the things that they did
7:26
Speaker 2: have with the number one run defense on the interior
7:28
Speaker 2: of it, they didn't have that. They've lost a linebacker.
7:31
Speaker 2: They need to go replace that. There are some things
7:33
Speaker 2: that they can do. But all these players that we're
7:36
Speaker 2: talking about, the Monterk Browns, were draft picks.
7:39
Speaker 3: Look, there's a couple of spots on defense where they
7:44
Speaker 3: still got to work. They can line up all over
7:47
Speaker 3: their roster really accept maybe outside linebacker after after losing
7:52
Speaker 3: Davin Lloyd off the ball, but they can line up
7:55
Speaker 3: over there, Vnrell Miller, Jack Kaiser. Maybe they'll draft over
8:00
Speaker 3: that position. And I do think that they still think
8:05
Speaker 3: they would love to figure out a way to get
8:06
Speaker 3: more interior pressure. But you can line up there, you
8:09
Speaker 3: can move Trayvon Walker in there. They can get things done.
8:14
Speaker 3: They feel like right now they can go into the
8:17
Speaker 3: draft and truly a draft best available player that's always
8:20
Speaker 3: the goal. In free agency, they feel like they've done it. Look,
8:24
Speaker 3: I'm going to go on and on in this show.
8:26
Speaker 3: I think they are doing things the right way they
8:29
Speaker 3: showed it last year. This is an extension of that.
8:33
Speaker 3: Try not to think so much about player acquisition as
8:37
Speaker 3: a two day period. It's three sixty five and that's
8:39
Speaker 3: how this team's approaching.
8:40
Speaker 6: And Kyle's worth pointing out.
8:41
Speaker 2: I think you mentioned off the top there are three
8:43
Speaker 2: teams Broncos, Seahawks and Jaguars who have not yet signed
8:47
Speaker 2: an outside free agent. Well, I mean the Seahawks last
8:49
Speaker 2: year when got the pass rusher from the Cowboys and
8:51
Speaker 2: the quarterback from the Vikings. But they pick their spots,
8:55
Speaker 2: their spots, but they like their roster now. They're very
8:57
Speaker 2: happy with the roster. I think both of their running
9:00
Speaker 2: left in free agency, they're still fine with their roster.
9:03
Speaker 2: Same thing with the Broncos, and I think what's paramount
9:06
Speaker 2: here is the same thing with the Jaguars. And how
9:08
Speaker 2: long has it been since we've been able to say
9:10
Speaker 2: they like their roster. Do they want to improve it?
9:13
Speaker 3: You bet?
9:14
Speaker 2: But they like the roster enough to not go out
9:16
Speaker 2: and spend like drunken sailors.
9:18
Speaker 1: Not at premium cost, for sure. Say with us here
9:20
Speaker 1: in a special edition free agency edition of jag Zam,
9:23
Speaker 1: we'll tell you a little bit about what this roster
9:24
Speaker 1: is looking like. Coming up after.
9:25
Speaker 5: Break, people that are in the building, like you can
9:37
Speaker 5: have those like honest conversations that and you just really
9:41
Speaker 5: become you know, close with these guys. And I knew
9:44
Speaker 5: from the jump just coming in with Liam, just in
9:48
Speaker 5: training camp, he would just come up to me and
9:49
Speaker 5: have you know, conversations just not only asking about like
9:54
Speaker 5: you know, me, but asking about my experience other places,
9:57
Speaker 5: like things that I see around the building, maybe that
9:59
Speaker 5: things that can be change and you know, things like that.
10:01
Speaker 5: Just showing that type of.
10:03
Speaker 1: Care and welcome back into jag zam free agency audition.
10:06
Speaker 1: Here this afternoons, we're talking about what the Jaguars are doing,
10:10
Speaker 1: what's going on around the league. And that was Quint
10:11
Speaker 1: Morris talking about his one year deal. He's going to
10:15
Speaker 1: be coming back again. He was one of those people
10:17
Speaker 1: they kind of took a flyer on. There's a lot
10:19
Speaker 1: of guys last year in free agency that they brought
10:21
Speaker 1: into camp maybe want to work them out. And he
10:24
Speaker 1: was just talking that SoundBite about you know, having the
10:27
Speaker 1: coaching staff and the GM talked to you throughout the
10:29
Speaker 1: year about whether you want to be here, whether you
10:32
Speaker 1: want to keep going and like having that open communication.
10:35
Speaker 1: And we've seen that firsthand, of course, but now the
10:37
Speaker 1: player's really noticing that as well. You have to imagine
10:39
Speaker 1: that's making a difference.
10:40
Speaker 2: Listen, if four thirteen to thirteen and four doesn't buy
10:44
Speaker 2: this administration a lot of grace, a guy like what
10:48
Speaker 2: More certainly does because he came in during training camp.
10:50
Speaker 2: He was cast off from the Bills, and it took
10:53
Speaker 2: a while for him to find a role. I mean,
10:54
Speaker 2: he was a player on special teams really early, but
10:57
Speaker 2: late in the year, especially against the Chargers, there were
10:59
Speaker 2: some goal line packages where he made the difference in
11:02
Speaker 2: the Jaguars getting a touchdown instead of having to settle
11:05
Speaker 2: for fuel goal. So you're talking about a guy that
11:07
Speaker 2: shows up in camp and they found a way to
11:10
Speaker 2: make him a pivotal player. And that's the kind of
11:14
Speaker 2: guy that they're looking at right now. And there are
11:16
Speaker 2: plenty of players around the league that if you're willing
11:19
Speaker 2: to find the right player at the right spot at
11:20
Speaker 2: the right cost and be patient with it, you can
11:23
Speaker 2: get some impact and free agency.
11:25
Speaker 3: Look, I understand that this time of year. I mean
11:28
Speaker 3: I was animated in the first block at some observers
11:33
Speaker 3: who are panicking over this, and I understand why because
11:35
Speaker 3: there's so much a Twitter fuel and you panic when
11:40
Speaker 3: you don't see anything. But what this organization is about
11:43
Speaker 3: right now is about Monteric Brown and Quintin Morris. Last
11:49
Speaker 3: year this time, did we think Monteric Brown was going
11:52
Speaker 3: to start twelve games for this team and play at
11:54
Speaker 3: a high level? He was. They draft Travis Hunter, Jordan Lewis,
11:57
Speaker 3: you had Tyson Campbell. He worked his way into it
12:01
Speaker 3: and the team allowed him to his way into it.
12:03
Speaker 3: Johnny Munt was signed last year to b B blocking
12:06
Speaker 3: tight end. Quinn Morris comes into the practice squad. They
12:09
Speaker 3: released Munt, good blocker. They allow themselves to see what
12:14
Speaker 3: the players are doing and play them. That's why this
12:17
Speaker 3: organization is going to continue to win because they're doing
12:19
Speaker 3: that the right way. Whatever they did in free agency
12:22
Speaker 3: where people are panicking.
12:23
Speaker 2: Over what you say, do we expect him to play
12:25
Speaker 2: Montic to start, you know, as many games as he did.
12:28
Speaker 6: No, But if you go back and look at twenty
12:30
Speaker 6: three and twenty.
12:31
Speaker 3: Four, they deserved it. There were image wise.
12:33
Speaker 2: Right right, But there were moments where you saw him
12:35
Speaker 2: and said, oh, he's he's improving. He's an interesting player.
12:39
Speaker 2: I remember played that he made in the game in
12:40
Speaker 2: New Orleans where you're like, okay, here you go. So
12:45
Speaker 2: the term drafting develop is thrown around, but that's really
12:48
Speaker 2: what they've done with him. A seventh round pick. They
12:50
Speaker 2: just moved him through the system. Coaches changed, scheme changed,
12:54
Speaker 2: he got better. And then this year it was the
12:56
Speaker 2: combination of him improving at a brand new scheme and
13:00
Speaker 2: it fit what he did perfectly.
13:02
Speaker 6: And he's a great story.
13:04
Speaker 2: Seventh round pick all of a sudden it got you
13:06
Speaker 2: couldn't pass up.
13:08
Speaker 3: In order to give you have to have guys like
13:11
Speaker 3: Parker Washington, Monteric Brown. You have to have a few
13:14
Speaker 3: late round picks come along and matter, and these guys do.
13:20
Speaker 3: And that's how doing it that way you can sustain
13:23
Speaker 3: it longer than just participating in this.
13:26
Speaker 1: Yes, I think the thing with Monterak Brown, when we
13:29
Speaker 1: talk about kind of keeping him here, him wanting to
13:32
Speaker 1: stay here, that was a position group where if you
13:35
Speaker 1: don't get him locked down in that spot, that's now
13:37
Speaker 1: a focus point where maybe you have to get a
13:39
Speaker 1: free agent and a draft pick there because we're looking
13:41
Speaker 1: at cornerback. That's an area of need for them, right
13:43
Speaker 1: We're already talking about Travis Hunter playing mainly on the
13:46
Speaker 1: defensive side of the football going forward, But if you
13:48
Speaker 1: didn't have Buster there, that's then almost.
13:51
Speaker 3: The main focus point for them.
13:52
Speaker 1: If they didn't get that done, Yeah.
13:56
Speaker 3: Everybody wants to know how they're going to improve. That's
13:58
Speaker 3: all the question. Well, they did this and they haven't
14:00
Speaker 3: gotten any better. Well, Caleb Ransaw and Travis Hunter in
14:05
Speaker 3: the secondary. That's how you're supposed to get better draft
14:10
Speaker 3: one year, get better at a position the second year,
14:13
Speaker 3: because these guys have developed. The secondary gives some big
14:19
Speaker 3: plays late last year, but you're adding two guys first
14:23
Speaker 3: and third round pick from a year ago that are
14:26
Speaker 3: supposed to elevate you. That's how you're supposed to get better.
14:28
Speaker 3: So they don't believe that they're not improving in the secondary,
14:33
Speaker 3: even though some fans may be looking at it that way.
14:35
Speaker 2: And to your point, Ky, the Jaguars don't want to
14:37
Speaker 2: make Travis Hunter exclusively a defensive player. They still want
14:41
Speaker 2: to be able to use him on offense where it
14:43
Speaker 2: makes sense. But if you don't have Buster Brown, that
14:46
Speaker 2: really limits what you could do because you're going to
14:48
Speaker 2: rely even more on Travis and his elite skill set
14:52
Speaker 2: on that side of the ball, so Buster Brown completes
14:55
Speaker 2: a lot of the puzzle for them.
14:56
Speaker 1: Let's talk all us a little bit about Dennis Kardak,
14:58
Speaker 1: who this timeline. Sure, he said he wasn't even running
15:01
Speaker 1: at this point. He was working his way back from
15:03
Speaker 1: a knee injury and now he's going to be staying
15:05
Speaker 1: here in Jacksonville to continue to work back. And that's
15:08
Speaker 1: another player, Brian, where we talk about these guys coming
15:11
Speaker 1: in earning themselves a spot. I don't think necessarily they
15:13
Speaker 1: thought he was going to be on the final roster,
15:15
Speaker 1: but they saw so much out of him in training
15:17
Speaker 1: camp and just the effort and what he was going
15:19
Speaker 1: to be able to contribute. They wanted him on this
15:21
Speaker 1: roster and he really was able to kind of flash
15:23
Speaker 1: later in the season. Obviously great on special teams as well.
15:26
Speaker 1: But for players like this, I imagine, whether it's free
15:29
Speaker 1: agency or being drafted, however you're brought in knowing you
15:32
Speaker 1: can earn yourself playing time and it isn't just given
15:36
Speaker 1: based on other politics. That has to be something as
15:38
Speaker 1: a player you really relish well.
15:40
Speaker 2: And he can do so many things, which is why
15:42
Speaker 2: they signed him up. They knew him because of the
15:46
Speaker 2: Rams connection, right because they played in the NFC West,
15:49
Speaker 2: and they identified some things that he could do.
15:51
Speaker 6: Now it turns out he's a nice pass rusher.
15:54
Speaker 2: He's a guy that got the ball for you a
15:56
Speaker 2: couple of times for a defense that caused thirty one takeaways,
16:00
Speaker 2: and anything they asked him to do. Anywhere they asked
16:02
Speaker 2: him to line up, he gave them something. He wasn't
16:04
Speaker 2: just a special teams guy that could find a very
16:07
Speaker 2: small role in the defense. They drafted Jalen McLeod, the
16:11
Speaker 2: kid from Auburn, but he never got in the field
16:12
Speaker 2: last year because he was injured. You talked earlier about
16:15
Speaker 2: improving with cayleb brands on Travis hunterback. They think Jalen
16:18
Speaker 2: McLeod is the future.
16:19
Speaker 3: Dennis Gardak mag If a guy doesn't contribute Week one
16:22
Speaker 3: Ryan as a rookie, he's not good.
16:24
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's how that works, Billyeams.
16:30
Speaker 2: McCloud will be hopefully healthy this year and be able
16:33
Speaker 2: to play that role. But so they've got the present
16:36
Speaker 2: in gar Deck in the future in McLeod.
16:38
Speaker 6: You want to know why they don't go out and.
16:39
Speaker 2: Get crazy for agency because that situation exists with a
16:43
Speaker 2: veteran that they trust and a young player that they're
16:45
Speaker 2: excited about. I don't know how much time you guys
16:47
Speaker 2: spent talking to Dennis A good kid. I spent some
16:50
Speaker 2: time with him in London doing a couple of different interviews,
16:52
Speaker 2: and I thought he was a guy who played with
16:54
Speaker 2: great intensity, and that was the word he used with me.
16:57
Speaker 6: I said, how should.
16:58
Speaker 2: People view Dennis guard Deck, because by the time we
17:01
Speaker 2: got to London, he was just starting to become one
17:03
Speaker 2: of those guys that you were watching every single week.
17:05
Speaker 2: He said, I want people to see the intensity with
17:08
Speaker 2: which I play, and it's pretty obvious he's a thousand
17:11
Speaker 2: miles an hour with that long hair on fire every
17:14
Speaker 2: time he's on the field.
17:15
Speaker 3: Yet, if you're gonna be good, you can't have all
17:19
Speaker 3: your plays come from your five or six core guys.
17:22
Speaker 3: And gard Deck made plays last year that mattered very much.
17:26
Speaker 3: And I'm with you, guys, I think this is another
17:29
Speaker 3: example of I think they thought he was going to
17:32
Speaker 3: contribute last year. What you wonder is he's now a
17:36
Speaker 3: year off the ACL He gave you two and a
17:39
Speaker 3: half sacks and some energy last year. If you can
17:43
Speaker 3: get a little more out of him. I don't think
17:45
Speaker 3: necessarily his return means you don't need that quote third
17:49
Speaker 3: edge rusher. Sure, but he can contribute in that way.
17:52
Speaker 3: And again, all three of these guys this week intangibly rich.
17:58
Speaker 3: That's what they I talk about around here. Those guys
18:01
Speaker 3: fit that.
18:01
Speaker 6: And they trust him a lot. No matter what they
18:03
Speaker 6: ask him to do, they trust you'll be ready to
18:05
Speaker 6: do it.
18:05
Speaker 1: Absolutely say with us here on the free agency edition
18:08
Speaker 1: of jags Am, we are going to come back and
18:10
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about what's been going on elsewhere
18:12
Speaker 1: around the league. Welcome back to Jagsam and the PM today.
18:21
Speaker 1: As we're talking a little bit about free agency. It's
18:23
Speaker 1: all quiet here in Jacksonville as most of the moves
18:26
Speaker 1: were made earlier this week, kind of retaining some of
18:28
Speaker 1: their own players. But now things are official throughout the leagues.
18:32
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk a little bit about what that means
18:35
Speaker 1: because a couple of familiar faces here in Jacksonville are going.
18:37
Speaker 6: To be headed elsewhere.
18:38
Speaker 1: So one of those is Travis Etn who's heading back
18:41
Speaker 1: home to Louisiana signing a four year deal with the
18:44
Speaker 1: Saints and John I think maybe we kind of expected this.
18:47
Speaker 1: I'm happy to see him get a long term deal,
18:49
Speaker 1: and it feels like this might be a good fit
18:51
Speaker 1: for him. But understandably, the Jaguars weren't gonna show out
18:54
Speaker 1: maybe that much money on a running down.
18:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think they were for what twelve or
18:59
Speaker 3: thirteen million, thirteen. I don't think they were gonna be
19:02
Speaker 3: able to get close to that with how they now,
19:05
Speaker 3: how they felt about Travis, but just how they feel
19:07
Speaker 3: about the running back position, how that has to be
19:10
Speaker 3: managed over the course of time. We all like Travis
19:13
Speaker 3: and you know, as good a guy as you as
19:16
Speaker 3: you want to have around. I think most people watching
19:19
Speaker 3: this know how professional he was and how much he
19:22
Speaker 3: impressed this regime with his approach. Last year. He wasn't
19:26
Speaker 3: really supposed to start, and he was the guy at
19:30
Speaker 3: running back and did everything right. Brian, you can talk
19:34
Speaker 3: more about on the field off the field. I've talked
19:36
Speaker 3: to Travis a little bit. You know, he loves Louisiana
19:39
Speaker 3: now he's from there. My impression he's a Louisiana guy.
19:43
Speaker 3: Good for him getting to go back. If he couldn't
19:46
Speaker 3: be here. My guess is Travis would have told you,
19:49
Speaker 3: if I can't be here, you know then New Orleans
19:52
Speaker 3: would have been number one. Hopefully he flourishes and has
19:55
Speaker 3: a great finish to his career. And you know, I
19:58
Speaker 3: think you guys feel this way too. Just because guys
20:00
Speaker 3: leave during their career doesn't mean they're not a quote Jaguar.
20:06
Speaker 3: Here's hoping he's a guy that is involved with this
20:10
Speaker 3: organization at some point going forward. He's the kind of
20:13
Speaker 3: guy that you want around and that you want people
20:15
Speaker 3: to think of the Jaguars.
20:16
Speaker 2: Listen, in two of the last three years, he had
20:18
Speaker 2: more than fourteen hundred total yards from scrimmage, and he
20:20
Speaker 2: had more than eleven touchdowns. And last year he had
20:22
Speaker 2: thirteen touchdowns. And I even said it late in the
20:25
Speaker 2: year one of our hot takes on Monday morning after
20:28
Speaker 2: he had a two touchdown performance. I think the Jaguars
20:30
Speaker 2: try to find a way to bring him back, and
20:32
Speaker 2: I don't know that they didn't. But twelve and a half,
20:34
Speaker 2: almost thirteen million dollars a year, you're you just don't
20:38
Speaker 2: pay that not very often. The Saints are a completely
20:41
Speaker 2: different roster. They're in a rebuilding mode. He's a touchdown maker.
20:45
Speaker 2: I think the Jaguars have a hole they've got to fill.
20:47
Speaker 2: But they've got two young guys that they like, and
20:49
Speaker 2: they've got eleven draft picks. They've got plenty of picks
20:52
Speaker 2: to go and find a couple more to bring in.
20:55
Speaker 2: You know, for years and years we saw guys get
20:57
Speaker 2: cut around here, but we didn't see star players leave,
21:00
Speaker 2: even free agency. That's part of the growth factor is
21:03
Speaker 2: that you got the most out of guys.
21:05
Speaker 6: And I just I want to say this about Travis.
21:07
Speaker 2: He came in last year and he could have just
21:08
Speaker 2: been chewing on the fact that he didn't appear to
21:11
Speaker 2: be part of the future. They drafted two young guys
21:13
Speaker 2: and he had the best camp of any player.
21:15
Speaker 6: Nobody had a better camp. Nobody had a better camp
21:18
Speaker 6: than he did last.
21:18
Speaker 2: Year, and it was a consequential player for your football team.
21:22
Speaker 2: He earned the right to go to free agency. And
21:25
Speaker 2: I'll miss him as well because he was a Wednesday
21:27
Speaker 2: Sunday guy. You could always count on him standing in
21:29
Speaker 2: front of the microphones and talking win or lose. But
21:33
Speaker 2: for the Jaguars, they had to move forward and couldn't
21:35
Speaker 2: afford to pay a running back almost thirteen million dollars
21:38
Speaker 2: a year.
21:39
Speaker 1: It'd be a little different not seeing him out there
21:41
Speaker 1: and of course, also different for him because first time
21:43
Speaker 1: he hasn't played with Trevor Lawrence as his quarterback and
21:45
Speaker 1: almost a decade.
21:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, so great, great little story.
21:48
Speaker 1: Right, It's great to see what they were able to
21:50
Speaker 1: do together in college and in the pros. But we
21:53
Speaker 1: wish him all the best, of course to Travis, and
21:55
Speaker 1: then we also wish the best Devin Lloyd, who's ending
21:57
Speaker 1: up in Carolina. He's gonna sign up longer term deal
22:01
Speaker 1: to play with the Panthers now. And that's another person
22:04
Speaker 1: where Devin Lloyd just really had himself a year last year.
22:08
Speaker 1: I feel like Travesey Dams played really well last year
22:09
Speaker 1: as well and made a market for themselves just what
22:12
Speaker 1: they were able to.
22:13
Speaker 6: Do lessons well.
22:14
Speaker 2: Credit him. The check Wars did not pick up the
22:16
Speaker 2: fifth year option on him. They let him play it out.
22:20
Speaker 2: And this is what happens when you do that, you
22:22
Speaker 2: become Listen, everybody saw the ninety nine yard pick six
22:27
Speaker 2: over and over and over, and that was a signature play.
22:30
Speaker 6: John.
22:31
Speaker 2: How many times this year did he stick up his
22:33
Speaker 2: hand and pull a ball down or knock a ball free?
22:35
Speaker 2: He had seven takeaways, He had almost twenty five percent
22:39
Speaker 2: of the Jaguars takeaways.
22:40
Speaker 6: He was going to get paid, but he's.
22:43
Speaker 2: Not a pass rushing linebacker, and so you've got to
22:45
Speaker 2: make a decision about how much you want to spend
22:48
Speaker 2: on that position, and the Jaguars weren't willing to go
22:50
Speaker 2: to the fifteen million dollars.
22:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, this one's so tough because I understand why fans
22:57
Speaker 3: are very anxious about Devin Lloyd leaving. When you're looking
23:01
Speaker 3: at a roster and a player, though off the ball linebacker,
23:05
Speaker 3: even if they had a lot of interceptions, it's really
23:07
Speaker 3: hard to pay off the ball linebacker for turnovers created
23:11
Speaker 3: because it's hard to repeat seven turnovers? Have they gotten
23:16
Speaker 3: the best out of Devin Lloyd? You know, a career year. Realistically,
23:22
Speaker 3: if they brought him back, was he going to get
23:24
Speaker 3: seven again? I hope for his sake he gets fifteen
23:26
Speaker 3: in Carolina. A good on him if he does. But
23:29
Speaker 3: from a philosophical roster building point of view, there's almost
23:33
Speaker 3: two sides of the same coin, meaning Travis Etn and
23:37
Speaker 3: Devin Lloyd really good statistical players. The belief in the
23:41
Speaker 3: building is, yes, we're gonna miss these guys, but they're
23:44
Speaker 3: playing at positions that you are supposed to be able
23:47
Speaker 3: as you build a franchise, and as you move forward,
23:50
Speaker 3: you were supposed to be able to replace those Maybe
23:53
Speaker 3: not the huge stat put but those are not supposed
23:56
Speaker 3: to be positions even when they're productive that you pay
23:59
Speaker 3: frames in size shaking money for in free agency. So well,
24:04
Speaker 3: see it works out the reasoning behind it. It's now
24:09
Speaker 3: they don't like these guys. It was sound reasoning even
24:12
Speaker 3: if they even if they had more cap space, I'm
24:14
Speaker 3: not sure you see these guys come back. Listen.
24:16
Speaker 2: They've got two young backers you mentioned Jack Kyser earlier
24:19
Speaker 2: and Branson COLEMs signed here in unrestricted, our pardoning undrafted
24:23
Speaker 2: rookie free agency.
24:24
Speaker 6: And those are two guys that they have high hopes
24:26
Speaker 6: for them.
24:28
Speaker 1: Yeah.
24:28
Speaker 2: I mean, we just saw Quintin Morris in the last
24:31
Speaker 2: segment talking about his evolution here the same thing. I mean,
24:35
Speaker 2: this is a young player that they have high hopes for,
24:37
Speaker 2: very talented, has the high length, speed profile that they
24:41
Speaker 2: want from the position. At some point when you have
24:44
Speaker 2: a quarterback and a couple of pass rushers, and we
24:46
Speaker 2: can say this over and over, there are other guys
24:48
Speaker 2: on this roster that they want to sign guys that
24:50
Speaker 2: they really need to be a part of the Jaguars DNA,
24:54
Speaker 2: and you can't spend money on every position.
24:57
Speaker 6: You've got to make hard choices. Etn and Lloyd were
25:00
Speaker 6: hard choices, but theoretically it frees up better.
25:04
Speaker 2: Choices, easier choices about players who you want to keep.
25:08
Speaker 3: Here here's the main argument I get from fans on this. Well,
25:11
Speaker 3: you've been saying for years that you have to draft
25:14
Speaker 3: and develop. And as you've drafted and developed and you
25:16
Speaker 3: let these guys go, here's the thing. If you draft
25:19
Speaker 3: and develop, well, you draft and develop too many guys
25:23
Speaker 3: to do that with. So part of draft and develop
25:25
Speaker 3: is making the right choice once they're developed on who
25:28
Speaker 3: you have to say, look, we really liked you. You know,
25:31
Speaker 3: you have a home here for the rest of your
25:33
Speaker 3: life after your career, but we have to make choices. Ideally,
25:38
Speaker 3: they would draft so well that you have this kind
25:40
Speaker 3: of heartache every year.
25:42
Speaker 1: Ye and as you mentioned, some of those players that
25:44
Speaker 1: are coming up, Treyvon Walker in the last year, the deal,
25:47
Speaker 1: Pats Parker, Washington's strange. There's a lot of names that I'm.
25:51
Speaker 6: Sure An's on.
25:52
Speaker 2: Harrison, I mean, he's a guy again he's coming into
25:54
Speaker 2: a position where if you like him and they do,
25:57
Speaker 2: offensive tackles are not inexpensive and they're harder to fine
26:00
Speaker 2: then off the ball linebackers at running backs.
26:03
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about another This doesn't involved
26:05
Speaker 1: the Jaguars in any way, but very high drama. And
26:08
Speaker 1: this is why if we had the show yesterday, we've
26:10
Speaker 1: been talking about something completely different. Max Crosby deal following through,
26:13
Speaker 1: the Ravens pulling out, end up signing Trey Hendrickson instead,
26:18
Speaker 1: and Brian, I feel like this is one of those
26:20
Speaker 1: things where you're like, you forget. Things aren't official until
26:23
Speaker 1: four pm on Wednesday, and they can pull out with
26:27
Speaker 1: the physical doesn't go through or whatever the case may
26:30
Speaker 1: have been why the Ravens didn't want to go through
26:32
Speaker 1: with it, But this is why things are reported until
26:36
Speaker 1: it's official.
26:36
Speaker 2: Listen, everyone's casting shade at the Ravens and I get
26:38
Speaker 2: it right. I mean, it's a bad look, especially when
26:41
Speaker 2: they sign Trey Hendrickson. But the fact of the matter
26:44
Speaker 2: is what if they got in there and saw something
26:46
Speaker 2: that they really didn't like and thought man given up
26:49
Speaker 2: two first round picks. Here, deals aren't done until they're done.
26:51
Speaker 2: That's the way it works in the business world, and
26:53
Speaker 2: it's the way it works in the NFL until they
26:55
Speaker 2: change the rules.
26:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, you do wonder. None of us know details enough
27:04
Speaker 3: about either Raiders or Ravens to know anything inside beyond
27:08
Speaker 3: what we see on Twitter. You do wonder if they will.
27:13
Speaker 3: I'm sure there will be meetings and conversations within the league,
27:16
Speaker 3: not about this specifically in terms of penalties or anything
27:19
Speaker 3: like that, but is there a better way for these
27:23
Speaker 3: two days to you know, calm it down, to make
27:28
Speaker 3: it a little more to where this sort of a
27:32
Speaker 3: domino effect doesn't happen. I'm not sure there is, but
27:35
Speaker 3: I'm I think those conversations are legitimate because it is
27:40
Speaker 3: tough because you are, you know, the Raiders built a
27:44
Speaker 3: lot around the presumption of this trade, and they really
27:47
Speaker 3: didn't have a choice but to do that because of
27:49
Speaker 3: the timing of things. So I don't know the answer,
27:53
Speaker 3: but I sense that the league will ask questions, is
27:57
Speaker 3: there a better way to set this up? So it's
27:59
Speaker 3: not as I risk for team Well.
28:01
Speaker 2: This will certainly propel that conversation forward, But the Ravens
28:05
Speaker 2: were excited enough about him to give up two first
28:07
Speaker 2: round picks on Saturday, So I look at it and
28:10
Speaker 2: think that perhaps they really found something that they didn't like.
28:13
Speaker 2: Now I understand the side of it that says, well,
28:15
Speaker 2: of course they like the fact that Trey Hendrickson was available.
28:18
Speaker 2: But you know, if you put a contract on the house,
28:20
Speaker 2: you have a ten day instrofection period. It's kind of
28:22
Speaker 2: the same thing. You find something that you really don't like,
28:25
Speaker 2: you walk away from it. And that's the way the
28:27
Speaker 2: rules are written right now. So the legal will have
28:29
Speaker 2: to come back around, the owners will get involved, the
28:31
Speaker 2: Management Council will get involved. We'll see where this one goes.
28:34
Speaker 2: But it's high drama, and boy doesn't the league love drama.
28:38
Speaker 6: Well, they don't mind.
28:39
Speaker 1: It at all, as they got their money's worth with
28:40
Speaker 1: the drama this week. Because we'll have to see what
28:42
Speaker 1: ends up happening with that. The Raiders at this point,
28:44
Speaker 1: I think, are expecting to go forward with Max Crosby,
28:46
Speaker 1: but at any point I'm sure a trade could happen,
28:49
Speaker 1: so we'll keep an eye on that as well. Stay
28:51
Speaker 1: with us here on jaggs AM and the PM. We'll
28:53
Speaker 1: come back and tell you what's up the next The
28:55
Speaker 1: rest of the week, Jags fan's time to lock in
29:01
Speaker 1: your seats for twenty twenty six. Place your deposits now.
29:04
Speaker 1: Of course, Everybank stadium undergoing renovations, but the seating capacity
29:08
Speaker 1: is gonna be limited due to those renovations in Bowl,
29:11
Speaker 1: so the spots are going very fast. You don't want
29:13
Speaker 1: to miss out on these matchups next season, as we
29:16
Speaker 1: know the games and the opponents. Check out Jaguars dot
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Speaker 1: com slash tickets have you.
29:27
Speaker 3: What's up, Moody, what's going on? Okay? Yeah, what happens
29:39
Speaker 3: to be able to come up? Well? Said ranging that
29:52
Speaker 3: you got pods. That's uh.
29:56
Speaker 1: A lot of big news here in the Miller Electric Center.
29:57
Speaker 1: Construction across the street, but Ontek's was in here on Monday,
30:01
Speaker 1: and a little family affair Coach Campbell and raspberries. There's
30:04
Speaker 1: a lot of focus. They are working, I promise, I promise.
30:07
Speaker 1: But I think maybe later in the week we might
30:09
Speaker 1: hear a couple names or we haven't had any outside additions,
30:13
Speaker 1: but maybe something to keep an.
30:14
Speaker 3: Eye on later in the week.
30:15
Speaker 2: Don't make the mistake of thinking that just because nothing's happened,
30:18
Speaker 2: nothing's being done, right, I mean, just because they didn't
30:22
Speaker 2: get the deal that they wanted doesn't mean that they
30:24
Speaker 2: weren't looking for a deal, right, And so you know
30:28
Speaker 2: these guys, they proved it last year. They're always looking
30:31
Speaker 2: for players, and I don't know what's in the pipeline,
30:34
Speaker 2: but I wouldn't be surprised at all if there aren't
30:35
Speaker 2: a couple of editions. Again and that I keep going
30:38
Speaker 2: back to Robert Hainsey, but I thought he was the
30:41
Speaker 2: perfect example of a guy who came in and filled
30:43
Speaker 2: an important role and played really well at a good
30:46
Speaker 2: number that worked.
30:48
Speaker 3: And never forget too many people look at free agency
30:52
Speaker 3: as always bringing in Colvan Lannon, Jakobe Myers, Montera Brown,
30:58
Speaker 3: three pretty big signs that they feel like they had
31:01
Speaker 3: to get done. Jacobe, in a lot of ways, was
31:03
Speaker 3: this year's free agent because of how he came in
31:06
Speaker 3: midway through last year. If people say, well, of course
31:08
Speaker 3: that's what the team's gonna say, but there's a lot
31:10
Speaker 3: of truth to that. And again, I can't you know
31:14
Speaker 3: to me, this is how you do free agency.
31:16
Speaker 1: But yes, not as dramatic, not as much drama, but
31:20
Speaker 1: quietly doing the right things and keeping the right players
31:23
Speaker 1: here in Jacksonville. So joy the rest of your week.
31:25
Speaker 1: We'll see you back here next week on Jack XAM