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Media Roundtable: DiRocco, O'Brien, Reid · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:00
Speaker 1: There you go, testing one to three, four or five.
0:07
Speaker 1: All right, there we go three, two and one. O
0:11
Speaker 1: t A number nine in the books. The third week
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Speaker 1: of O t A s complete. It's another media round table.
0:17
Speaker 1: I'm J. P. Shadick and our special guests today from
0:21
Speaker 1: my left to my right. You'll have to just visualize this.
0:24
Speaker 1: We get it. It's a podcast. Mike Do, Rocko ESP
0:27
Speaker 1: and I'm Mike. Thanks for thanks for coming on. It's awesome,
0:31
Speaker 1: good to good to have you in the air conditioning. Yeah,
0:33
Speaker 1: there's no kidding. Mia O'Brien from First Coast News, fairly
0:37
Speaker 1: new to the beat me and well, yes, thank you.
0:39
Speaker 1: Second tier. Yeah, well I kind of joined in a
0:41
Speaker 1: little late last year. Second year. Fairly new though compared
0:44
Speaker 1: to guys. You know, we got a good mix at
0:49
Speaker 1: this round tib we Do and John Reid from the
0:51
Speaker 1: Florida Times Union. John, how are you, sir? Glad to
0:54
Speaker 1: be here, Thanks for coming in the confines of the
0:56
Speaker 1: studio and air condition but friendly cold time finds of
1:00
Speaker 1: the Jaguars radio studios. Let's get to some topics, shall we.
1:05
Speaker 1: Let's start. Let's start in the running back room. I
1:08
Speaker 1: think He's Carline had an article this week. I don't
1:10
Speaker 1: know if you all read it, connectl Uh kind of
1:13
Speaker 1: getting on for net about not being here the last
1:17
Speaker 1: few last week or so really of O T S
1:19
Speaker 1: and the reasons why he should be here. First off,
1:22
Speaker 1: are you all on the whole voluntarious mandatory thing? John?
1:26
Speaker 1: How do you feel about that? You know it's a
1:29
Speaker 1: volunteery period. Are you kind of on the guys that
1:32
Speaker 1: do they need to be here? Yeah? I'm on a
1:35
Speaker 1: guy like Lenark for that and needs to be here
1:37
Speaker 1: because I feel that he has didn't have the season
1:40
Speaker 1: that he wanted, didn't have a season that was aspected
1:42
Speaker 1: of him. And when you come in off a year
1:45
Speaker 1: the second year after he you know, he performed well
1:47
Speaker 1: the rookie season, and then come back that second year
1:50
Speaker 1: and don't put up the numbers and eight games missed,
1:54
Speaker 1: and then you you you you see what he says.
1:56
Speaker 1: He says he's being rededicated, going to why on men
2:00
Speaker 1: and he's lifting weights and doing all those kind of things.
2:03
Speaker 1: Then you gotta I feel, in my own opinion, I
2:05
Speaker 1: just feel that he has to to maintain that. You know,
2:09
Speaker 1: I think he's got he got a point to prove.
2:11
Speaker 1: I mean, he's got to prove himself again. He's I mean,
2:13
Speaker 1: I know he's a star. I mean, I'll covered this
2:15
Speaker 1: kid when he was in Louisiana and what he did
2:18
Speaker 1: in high school don't matter now, oh L s U.
2:21
Speaker 1: And it almost like he's restarting his career. And when
2:25
Speaker 1: you're under the gun and when you have to prove
2:27
Speaker 1: yourself and you gotta go out and redefine who you
2:30
Speaker 1: are as a football player, then you don't make any excuses.
2:34
Speaker 1: You go with his five practice attending practices O T
2:37
Speaker 1: A S. Then it doesn't it doesn't hurt. But I
2:42
Speaker 1: think he definitely needs to be that guy to be
2:44
Speaker 1: the first one running out out on the drills, first
2:47
Speaker 1: guy out there on the practice field, making all of
2:49
Speaker 1: those practices. And I think it shows um those coaches
2:55
Speaker 1: his dedication. And I when I think when he missed
2:57
Speaker 1: that was the last five or six, I think it
3:01
Speaker 1: shows what is his commitment. And I'm sure the Jaguars
3:06
Speaker 1: or Leonard for Nett didn't want to have to answer
3:08
Speaker 1: those questions. But when you lead the when you open
3:11
Speaker 1: up the door and and those kind of things are
3:14
Speaker 1: still out there, then he didn't do anything to to
3:17
Speaker 1: put it to bed. Mandatory is next week. I mean,
3:20
Speaker 1: you would think he would be around for next week, right.
3:22
Speaker 1: He's been in touch with the coaching yes, and not
3:25
Speaker 1: only has he been in touch with the coaches. And
3:27
Speaker 1: this is where I kind of was stunned that he,
3:29
Speaker 1: after being committed to Wyoming to hear showing up to
3:32
Speaker 1: the first few o t a s more over telling
3:35
Speaker 1: us when he spoke to the media last week that
3:37
Speaker 1: he and Nick Foles have been working together, studying the
3:40
Speaker 1: playbook together, and that not only were they working together,
3:43
Speaker 1: but that Leonard had initiated those meetings. That said to
3:47
Speaker 1: me that this guy, you know, he is trying to
3:49
Speaker 1: turn a corner. And then he promptly didn't show up
3:52
Speaker 1: to the next five practices. Uh. And so that's where
3:55
Speaker 1: I just want to know what happened. We don't know,
3:57
Speaker 1: but if he's in communication with you know, the coaching staff,
4:00
Speaker 1: and I guess that's okay. But to your point of
4:02
Speaker 1: whether voluntary is mandatory, I think Callias said it best
4:05
Speaker 1: on Monday, which is the people that need to be
4:08
Speaker 1: here are here. But as John said, I think Leonard
4:11
Speaker 1: is one of those people that needs to be there
4:13
Speaker 1: and he's not rock. Where are yous. I think he
4:17
Speaker 1: was the one guy on this roster that had other
4:21
Speaker 1: than Folds. Obviously that had to be at every single
4:24
Speaker 1: one of them for all the reasons John mentioned, but
4:26
Speaker 1: also look at the end of the season last year,
4:30
Speaker 1: he was in the doghouse and they've they've taken away
4:33
Speaker 1: his guaranteed money in his contract. He got yelled at
4:36
Speaker 1: by Tom Coughlin for the way he acted on the sideline.
4:38
Speaker 1: There there were some questions about his maturity. There are
4:41
Speaker 1: questions about his commitment. There questions about his um fitness
4:45
Speaker 1: level and his conditioning. There's questions about whether football is
4:50
Speaker 1: important to him. And look this this critical year from
4:55
Speaker 1: lettern four, Nette and I thought when they challenged him
4:58
Speaker 1: at the end of last year and said, you've got
5:02
Speaker 1: to be better. You've got to be the player we drafted.
5:04
Speaker 1: You have got to turn your life around, essentially your
5:08
Speaker 1: football life around, and make this the priority and be
5:11
Speaker 1: a true pro. I thought he had to be at
5:13
Speaker 1: every single one of those to really kind of prove that. Now.
5:16
Speaker 1: I asked Doug Moron about it, and he said, look,
5:18
Speaker 1: you know, when he's been here, he's done everything we've asked,
5:21
Speaker 1: which is a really, really good sign. But I just
5:23
Speaker 1: thought for Leonard he needed to be at all of
5:27
Speaker 1: these to kind of prove to them that he had
5:29
Speaker 1: kind of turned a corner on that stuff. But as
5:32
Speaker 1: a general rule, I'm like, you know what, They're voluntary.
5:35
Speaker 1: If you don't want to be here, I don't have
5:37
Speaker 1: a problem with it. Like John Os always tells the
5:39
Speaker 1: story ed and James told him one time, I may
5:41
Speaker 1: have going to Miami two years, but I know the
5:43
Speaker 1: definition of volunteery how it works. Um, John, you spoke
5:47
Speaker 1: with Terry Robiscuity today after practice and a new face
5:51
Speaker 1: and that coaching staff. He's in the running backs room again,
5:54
Speaker 1: a guy who's been through a lot, obviously throughout his
5:57
Speaker 1: career is a long career in the NFL. What kind
6:00
Speaker 1: of influence can he have on Leonard? And do you
6:04
Speaker 1: buy that connection Louisiana connection and all that and his
6:08
Speaker 1: rebiscis history and all that. Well, if I was Leonard,
6:11
Speaker 1: I would make it with my point to learn as
6:14
Speaker 1: much as I can from a guy like like like
6:16
Speaker 1: like like Ribiscuit, because he's been he's been through the
6:20
Speaker 1: struggles that a lot of us don't know even can't imagine,
6:24
Speaker 1: you know, and just I mean you go back. He's
6:28
Speaker 1: a legend in Louisiana as a high school star. This uh,
6:33
Speaker 1: he's only like I think it's the six black player
6:36
Speaker 1: to ever played at LSU, and and just the history
6:40
Speaker 1: and his knowledge and even if you just look back
6:43
Speaker 1: on his NFL career, I mean it not aut of
6:46
Speaker 1: assistance or head coaches. Who's been still in his game
6:50
Speaker 1: since nineteen two. I mean that's that's that's like that question.
7:00
Speaker 1: But I just think he shares a lot. I think
7:02
Speaker 1: he's got a lot of knowledge. I think I think
7:05
Speaker 1: even off the field, you can learn things from him.
7:07
Speaker 1: I think he's got a perspective that he's been through
7:11
Speaker 1: a lot of the ordeals. I don't know what you
7:13
Speaker 1: might want to call him, but I just think a
7:15
Speaker 1: guy who's been around and and experienced a whole different things.
7:20
Speaker 1: When he came up and said that Al Davis used
7:23
Speaker 1: to take them to the side, and and they want
7:25
Speaker 1: to teach him everything about the NFL, I mean those
7:29
Speaker 1: are things that you can't walk up to a lot
7:32
Speaker 1: of people in the NFL and they can share those experiences.
7:35
Speaker 1: So I would be all of the running backs in
7:38
Speaker 1: that running back room, I think you have to tap
7:41
Speaker 1: into somebody that has that vast knowledge and um and
7:44
Speaker 1: learn as much as you can. And I think that's
7:46
Speaker 1: what he's there for. Look forward to your conversation and
7:48
Speaker 1: you have a story coming up in the next few
7:50
Speaker 1: days with that conversation with Terry Robisky. Let's move along
7:53
Speaker 1: in office, shall we. There's a lot of focus on
7:55
Speaker 1: the receivers. You know, new quarterback, offensive line, hopefully he's
8:01
Speaker 1: gonna be healthy at camp. The receiving corps. I mean,
8:03
Speaker 1: you had some guys that underperformed last year or were
8:06
Speaker 1: hurt and out or filling the blank that the reason
8:09
Speaker 1: why somebody didn't go out there and play well. But
8:13
Speaker 1: you've got some guys back, you got some new faces there.
8:16
Speaker 1: Where's your confidence level right now? In was this June
8:19
Speaker 1: six on the receiver corps way higher than it was
8:23
Speaker 1: when O. T. A. S began. And I think we've
8:26
Speaker 1: talked about this before, but I I've felt like the
8:29
Speaker 1: Jaguars personnel people, you know, coaching, that they had a
8:33
Speaker 1: much higher opinion of the receiver group than I think
8:35
Speaker 1: most people outside the building did, which is you know,
8:38
Speaker 1: not a surprise, to be honest with you, but you know,
8:41
Speaker 1: I've been really impressed with that I've seen from d
8:43
Speaker 1: J Chark. He's caught everything. Keelan Cole, you dropped a
8:47
Speaker 1: kick off today, But other than that, he's been really
8:49
Speaker 1: really good. Yes, we did, and I'm sure people in
8:53
Speaker 1: Arlington in the north side heard as well from Jod,
8:56
Speaker 1: But I mean, he's caught everything. And you know Chris Conley,
9:00
Speaker 1: it wouldn't surprise me if Chris Conney ends up leading
9:03
Speaker 1: this team and catches um. But I mean, I think
9:05
Speaker 1: they've been really really good. And this is the time
9:07
Speaker 1: you kind of expect that they should be good because
9:11
Speaker 1: obviously there's no contact. There's not you know how it
9:14
Speaker 1: goes with dbs and stuff and and and Jaylen's not
9:18
Speaker 1: here and a J boy A has been out for
9:20
Speaker 1: over a week. But you want to see those guys
9:23
Speaker 1: make plays and dominate, and they have. In my opinion,
9:26
Speaker 1: in that group is a little bit higher. I think
9:29
Speaker 1: a large part of that is due to folds. I
9:31
Speaker 1: always I thought folds would make them better. Now the
9:34
Speaker 1: receivers and you know, I love Blake, but now the
9:37
Speaker 1: receivers when they come out of their break, they know,
9:40
Speaker 1: um where the ball is going to be. They don't
9:42
Speaker 1: have to turn around. It's gonna be right where it's
9:44
Speaker 1: supposed to be instead of feet behind up and stuff
9:48
Speaker 1: like that. So I think it's been to me, it's
9:50
Speaker 1: been the most impressive position group, and it's been the
9:52
Speaker 1: thing that's impressed me the most. In so Chris Conley
9:55
Speaker 1: thing is interesting me because we didn't really know. It
9:58
Speaker 1: wasn't even heralded offseas an acquisition from the Chiefs, friends
10:03
Speaker 1: with Nick Foles, from his time for a minute together whatever.
10:07
Speaker 1: But for the first three weeks out of here, that's
10:09
Speaker 1: quite a connection, especially on the deep balls down the field.
10:12
Speaker 1: And I would like to extend my empathy to Chris Connley.
10:16
Speaker 1: You could tell, much like myself having moved here from
10:19
Speaker 1: the northern country. The first week he was getting used
10:22
Speaker 1: to the heat. Some of my fellow media members the
10:25
Speaker 1: first day we're all look at him eyes he might
10:27
Speaker 1: retire by tomorrow, And honestly, I was like, you have
10:32
Speaker 1: to give him a day. He is. This is the
10:33
Speaker 1: first time this guy is played in the heat. I know,
10:35
Speaker 1: obviously he played in the South in college, but you know,
10:38
Speaker 1: this is the first time this guy has played in
10:40
Speaker 1: the Northern Florida heat save one or two games. Um,
10:43
Speaker 1: you know, So for this guy to really have to
10:45
Speaker 1: experience that, you know it's going to take some time,
10:47
Speaker 1: but it really only took what one or two days.
10:49
Speaker 1: Within one or two days. By the end of the
10:51
Speaker 1: first week, he looked like he was back in a stride,
10:54
Speaker 1: which somebody said to me today, you never get used
10:56
Speaker 1: to the heat. You just have to endure it um.
10:58
Speaker 1: And so that's good advice from my self and Chris,
11:00
Speaker 1: and I think he's really taken that to heart, because,
11:02
Speaker 1: like you said, I mean, even if it's not you know,
11:04
Speaker 1: some of these spectacular sixty yard catches we're seeing Kielan
11:08
Speaker 1: or DJ Shark making, which hey, they're holding onto him too,
11:10
Speaker 1: which is also great to see, especially for second year
11:13
Speaker 1: pro in DJ Chark. But I think with Conley, even
11:16
Speaker 1: if it is that slot receiver, he hasn't I haven't
11:18
Speaker 1: seen him drop that much. And this is a team
11:21
Speaker 1: that led the league in drops last year. So if
11:23
Speaker 1: nothing else, if they can improve in that category, that
11:25
Speaker 1: could help you win at least one or two ball games.
11:28
Speaker 1: John Kilan, Keena mccartell the other day, I said, killing
11:34
Speaker 1: Cole in the brain. Keenan McCarry all the other day
11:36
Speaker 1: called Markisley is Alpha dog in that room. We haven't
11:40
Speaker 1: seen Markisley this offseason. He seems confident he'll be back
11:43
Speaker 1: at some point in camp. He wants to be ready
11:45
Speaker 1: for a week one that's a major injury. But we
11:50
Speaker 1: all know markiss and his work ethic and the way
11:52
Speaker 1: he goes about his business. Where are you on Marquis
11:55
Speaker 1: Do you are you confident he could be back? What
11:57
Speaker 1: do you What did you hear from those guys this
11:59
Speaker 1: week that you like? Well, what I like is when
12:02
Speaker 1: you see him working on the side field, you don't
12:04
Speaker 1: see any brace. You see him running with with speed,
12:07
Speaker 1: and I think he's determined. I mean, you know, I mean,
12:11
Speaker 1: I think determination has a lot to do with rehab
12:14
Speaker 1: and and when you when you look at him, he's
12:17
Speaker 1: you know, he's determined that he's gonna be back down
12:20
Speaker 1: at some point in training camp and he makes you
12:23
Speaker 1: believe that. And I think he understands that this receivers
12:27
Speaker 1: group as a I think they've improved tremendously with with
12:32
Speaker 1: with that group. And when he's the alpha dog is
12:35
Speaker 1: meaning that he's the he's the leader of the group,
12:39
Speaker 1: and the leader of the group don't want to be
12:40
Speaker 1: at the bottom end of the group. So he's gonna
12:42
Speaker 1: compete in the John Reid from the Florida Times Union
12:48
Speaker 1: like the Rocket. Esp O'Brien from First Coach News. Let's
12:51
Speaker 1: get some final thoughts here on the Defense'll sloop it around.
12:54
Speaker 1: You know, we all know that the starting names on
12:56
Speaker 1: this defensive line. I mean Coles, Campbell, Marshall, darry As
13:00
Speaker 1: the first round pick and a great player obviously. Uh
13:04
Speaker 1: then you have now back to back first round picks
13:06
Speaker 1: on the defensive line to join those guys, I believe
13:08
Speaker 1: a bunch of guys out of course, you can got
13:09
Speaker 1: way all this. We all know the front line names.
13:13
Speaker 1: Some of these they like to come in waves though
13:15
Speaker 1: they want to have a different group of guys coming
13:18
Speaker 1: in here. I mean that's a question mark right now
13:21
Speaker 1: is how is that second group gonna look? And they
13:24
Speaker 1: won't ever call it a second group. I get that.
13:26
Speaker 1: I like, for example, who's the backup at big end
13:29
Speaker 1: right now? You know dwant Smoot made some plays today.
13:34
Speaker 1: It was encouraging to see he was working on drops
13:38
Speaker 1: um and getting out to the flat for a while
13:40
Speaker 1: with Todd Wash and then the first time he saw
13:42
Speaker 1: that in eleven on eleven. After that he was in
13:44
Speaker 1: the right spot, made to play. It was good to see.
13:47
Speaker 1: It's a big question. We're not going to know for
13:50
Speaker 1: sure with these offensive a defensive line, but obviously until
13:52
Speaker 1: the pads come on. But if if I were filling
13:55
Speaker 1: out the depth chart now, I probably would have smooth there.
13:57
Speaker 1: I know they're working Taven Brian there some a little
13:59
Speaker 1: bit as well. I don't think that's a good idea.
14:02
Speaker 1: I think they should just put him at exactly I mean,
14:07
Speaker 1: we saw it last year, you guys. He he struggled
14:09
Speaker 1: whole year then when they played him mainly at three
14:11
Speaker 1: tech because when he played his best. So, I mean
14:14
Speaker 1: there's there's there's a lot of depth questions on this defense,
14:19
Speaker 1: and we'll know more obviously when Camp rolls around. But
14:22
Speaker 1: that to me is one of the two or three
14:24
Speaker 1: biggest questions. What can they have behind plays? Yeah? That
14:26
Speaker 1: that the Taven Bryan thinks interesting. Can he come along
14:29
Speaker 1: in year two? He didn't quite make the impact that
14:33
Speaker 1: a lot of people think of first round pick should
14:35
Speaker 1: make and even as a rookie in this team, um,
14:38
Speaker 1: where are you at on Taven Man? So I spoke
14:41
Speaker 1: with Quincy Williams with Ben Murphy also first goes news
14:44
Speaker 1: after practice, and I liked the one line that Quincy
14:47
Speaker 1: have when we asked him about how, you know, how
14:50
Speaker 1: different is it going from college to the pros, and
14:52
Speaker 1: he said, you feel like you're in a bee hive.
14:54
Speaker 1: They spiked the ball and it's just going like this
14:57
Speaker 1: and you're looking left, right, left, right, And I think
15:00
Speaker 1: that's how Tavin Bryant was as a rookie. And not
15:02
Speaker 1: only was he in the bee hive, but you're also
15:04
Speaker 1: throwing two assignments at him, Whereas you know, as a
15:08
Speaker 1: rookie it's already hard enough to learn one role. Now
15:10
Speaker 1: he has to learn too, And so I think that
15:12
Speaker 1: you know that put him in an unfair advantage because
15:15
Speaker 1: no one really knew what position he was, where he fit,
15:17
Speaker 1: and now we're still kind of in that spot here.
15:19
Speaker 1: So I agree with the Rock. I think you just
15:22
Speaker 1: put him at in the middle and you say, learn
15:24
Speaker 1: as much as you can from Marcel Darius, Abril Jones,
15:29
Speaker 1: figure it out, and hopefully, you know that sets them
15:32
Speaker 1: up for year three. Because as many people have alluded
15:35
Speaker 1: to me, I know I wasn't here during the two
15:36
Speaker 1: thousand eighteen draft, but a lot of people felt that
15:39
Speaker 1: that was a pick for two three years down the line,
15:41
Speaker 1: while we're coming up on two years. So there needs
15:44
Speaker 1: to be something shown. Some good football players you listed
15:47
Speaker 1: there to final thought on defense, you're John Unique and
15:49
Speaker 1: got Way is not here. The word is he wants
15:53
Speaker 1: a new contract and all this um. Do you think
15:56
Speaker 1: they pay him beforehand before the season? Do they wait
15:59
Speaker 1: until this season is going to see how the alan
16:02
Speaker 1: the draft pick comes along. There's some different ways to
16:04
Speaker 1: go about to sink for the Jackson. I feel it
16:09
Speaker 1: once it gets the training camp, might as well just
16:11
Speaker 1: wait till the end of the season because when the
16:13
Speaker 1: negotiations stopped becoming a distraction. So to me personally, from
16:18
Speaker 1: what I've seen and what this guy can do, I'm
16:21
Speaker 1: trying to figure out why what's the hold up? Pretty
16:24
Speaker 1: pretty much for me, I think he's I think he's
16:28
Speaker 1: done everything. But also when you draft someone to play
16:31
Speaker 1: his position, that might change the way they might view him.
16:36
Speaker 1: But ya Nique is a is a ball player, and
16:39
Speaker 1: I think when you go out and get the sacks
16:41
Speaker 1: that he's done since to seven teams since I've been
16:44
Speaker 1: covering the team, I think you have to show your
16:48
Speaker 1: worth by your ability and not talk about it, and
16:51
Speaker 1: I think he's done that. I don't think that he's
16:53
Speaker 1: been on any air waves and saying anything about a contract.
16:59
Speaker 1: But now that his contract is up, I think you
17:02
Speaker 1: have to you know, you you you get paid for production.
17:06
Speaker 1: It's a production base league, and he's produced. I think
17:11
Speaker 1: he's I don't see what he has not done to
17:14
Speaker 1: warrant getting an extension. But you know, I'm a sports
17:17
Speaker 1: right and I have not a negotiating Okay, we'll end
17:23
Speaker 1: with that mandatory minicamp coming up next week. Joe Ramsey
17:26
Speaker 1: is gonna be the story at least are and I
17:28
Speaker 1: know that about you guys, and then Leonard or maybe
17:35
Speaker 1: one of those guys doesn't come and there's some fines
17:37
Speaker 1: going someone to risk it here to make a point.
17:44
Speaker 1: Someone might risk it. Thank you guys for coming in.
17:46
Speaker 1: Mike Rocko, ESPN, good to see you, Thank you O'Brien,
17:49
Speaker 1: First Coast News, Thank you man, Thank you, Sir John Hey,
17:52
Speaker 1: good to have you, John Reid, First Florida Times Union.
17:56
Speaker 1: Great to see you two, Sir, diod to be it,
17:57
Speaker 1: Thanks for being having me on. We'll see you next week.