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Perspectives - Dave Caldwell · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

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Speaker 1: The following presentation of the Jaguars podcast Network is presented
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Speaker 1: by by Star Credite. Jaguars General manager Dave Caldwell is
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Speaker 1: writing the Jaguar story right now, nearly seven years into
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Speaker 1: his tenure at the top of the Jaguars personnel department.
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Speaker 1: The thoughtful, soft spoken Caldwell is laser focused on getting
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Speaker 1: his roster right for a run in twenty There is
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Speaker 1: a quiet confidence in the analytical personnel boss. He knows
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Speaker 1: the Jaguars have a good plan, and he thinks he's
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Speaker 1: put together a roster capable of executing it in the
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Speaker 1: twenty fifth season. This is perspectives, the story of the
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Speaker 1: Jaguars first twenty five seasons, pulled by the people who
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Speaker 1: built the franchise from the ground up. This is Dave Caldwell.
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Speaker 1: He was young, but he was experienced when Shod Khan
0:56
Speaker 1: made the call in January. He'd worked with Hall of
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Speaker 1: Famer Bill Totally getting Carolina and Indianapolis, and he helped
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Speaker 1: build a winner with Thomas de Bedrop. He didn't land.
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Speaker 1: Caldwell knew he wanted a shot at his own team,
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Speaker 1: but he wasn't entirely ready when the coal came and
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Speaker 1: I remember my boss, Thomas to Metrop come in and say, hey,
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Speaker 1: you know, I just got permission from the Jacksonville Jaguars
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Speaker 1: and they'd like the interview as a GM candidate. And
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Speaker 1: I said, Okay, when's it going to be at the
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Speaker 1: end of the season or when the season's over And
1:25
Speaker 1: he said, no, Shot Cotton's gonna be here at three o'clock.
1:28
Speaker 1: And I was like today, and he said, yep, he'll
1:31
Speaker 1: be here today. So I kind of went in a
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Speaker 1: scramble mode and called my wife and made sure I
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Speaker 1: had the proper clothes and so I could present myself
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Speaker 1: like a GM I guess and m Jod showed up
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Speaker 1: at three and we had a great visit and UM
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Speaker 1: really kind of kicked off the starter of our relationship. UM,
1:50
Speaker 1: you know. And then through the process there was other
1:52
Speaker 1: interviews that I took and I just kept being drawn
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Speaker 1: to Shod And then I got to meet Tony and
1:59
Speaker 1: really hit it off with Tony Kahn. UM a lot
2:02
Speaker 1: of similar visions and and how we want the organization
2:06
Speaker 1: to be run, how you treat people. The process span
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Speaker 1: for about two weeks. I did multiple interviews there, I
2:12
Speaker 1: did multiple interviews here. Uh, there was another team that
2:15
Speaker 1: UM that I was going to interview with, but then
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Speaker 1: just decided that we followed my my heart and UM
2:21
Speaker 1: kind of this really kind of wanted to side myself
2:24
Speaker 1: with the con family and M I really kind of
2:29
Speaker 1: tuned a lot of people out, and there was a
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Speaker 1: select number of people that I confided in. UM. A
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Speaker 1: lot of people thought that it could never work in Jacksonville,
2:38
Speaker 1: and UM, don't forget you know, there was always rumors
2:42
Speaker 1: of the team moving and is it going to go
2:44
Speaker 1: to l A Is it going to go to London?
2:45
Speaker 1: And there was always those rumors, and and when I
2:48
Speaker 1: interviewed a shot, he assured me that they were committed
2:50
Speaker 1: to Jacksonville. UM did informed me that we may play
2:54
Speaker 1: a game in London, and UM felt like that would
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Speaker 1: be a competitive advantage for us. And I'm sure enough
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Speaker 1: he was right. Caldwell showed up in Jacksonville prepared, but
3:04
Speaker 1: was he ready for a job that wasn't considered a
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Speaker 1: good one. Everybody who knew the Jaguars situation knew he
3:09
Speaker 1: had his work cut out for it. The franchise had
3:11
Speaker 1: endured four losing seasons in its previous five years and
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Speaker 1: won just two games in twelve the arrow was pointing
3:18
Speaker 1: down the day he arrived, but he was ready to
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Speaker 1: roll up his sleeves and get to work. The vision
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Speaker 1: was that we were going to try to build this
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Speaker 1: thing from the ground up. UM. It wasn't a tear down,
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Speaker 1: which I think a lot of people thought it was.
3:30
Speaker 1: It was pretty much there. We had to fill some
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Speaker 1: roster spots too for immediate starters. UM. Our first draft class,
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Speaker 1: I think UH, we drafted four guys and they all
3:40
Speaker 1: started in the secondary at some point in time, and
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Speaker 1: offensive line. The salary cap wasn't um where we wanted
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Speaker 1: it to be. UM. They had some contracts that were
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Speaker 1: at the time a little bit over inflated and which
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Speaker 1: happens to every team and and through free agency. UM,
3:56
Speaker 1: but we really wanted to take a year to two
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Speaker 1: years to really generate it some cap space so that
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Speaker 1: we could build it. And then when we felt like
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Speaker 1: we were going to be a competitive team, that we
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Speaker 1: can go out and we can get the marquee guys
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Speaker 1: like a Malik Jackson and Clays Campbell, UM, guys that
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Speaker 1: turned out to be Pro Bowlers for US. UM and
4:13
Speaker 1: felt like that that that was a good UM. A J.
4:16
Speaker 1: Bouyer was another one all pro and kind of bring
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Speaker 1: those guys along. Obviously that we made some mistakes along
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Speaker 1: the way that didn't work out, but um, I think
4:27
Speaker 1: for the most part, you know, Shod wanted to be
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Speaker 1: in the playoffs uh within five years, and um I
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Speaker 1: said that we'll try to get a playoff team together
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Speaker 1: in five years, and sure enough we did well. Really,
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Speaker 1: the most important thing was to get this talent level
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Speaker 1: to a competitive uh state through all facets. Obviously, you
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Speaker 1: want to do it through the draft. UH. It's hard
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Speaker 1: to do a year and year out through the draft.
4:51
Speaker 1: So you have to supplement through whether it's pro free agency,
4:55
Speaker 1: college free agency, whether you can get a player from
4:58
Speaker 1: another league Canadian Football, all league. However, you had to
5:01
Speaker 1: do it. We had to get this to where we
5:03
Speaker 1: felt like we had fifty three players that can compete
5:06
Speaker 1: on a weekend, week out. Basis the philosophy of drafting players.
5:11
Speaker 1: I gotta give credit to Bill Polian and the late
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Speaker 1: Domineely who really taught me, you know, the the scouting
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Speaker 1: one on one uh what we'd like to call it,
5:20
Speaker 1: and just um you know, being around them, listening to them,
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Speaker 1: how they make decisions, why they make decisions, was very important.
5:29
Speaker 1: And then uh, as as my career went on, I
5:32
Speaker 1: tried to learn there's there's other people like John Becker
5:34
Speaker 1: who about built the St. Louis Rams when they won
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Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, and he was Dick ru Meal's right
5:39
Speaker 1: hand man. Learned a lot from him when he came
5:41
Speaker 1: to Indianapolis to work with us, and then um throughout
5:45
Speaker 1: throughout the time and then became um the director of
5:47
Speaker 1: college scouting under Thomas the metroph in Atlanta and really
5:51
Speaker 1: kind of started honing in on the big butcher and
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Speaker 1: he involved me in a lot of meetings with coaches,
5:56
Speaker 1: with with with really everybody in the organization, Arthur Blank,
6:00
Speaker 1: who was a tremendous owner, and really how organizations should
6:04
Speaker 1: operate and work. Every situation is different, and um, you know,
6:08
Speaker 1: every situation has its pros and cons and and you know,
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Speaker 1: Jacksonville was a small market team. It wasn't a destination
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Speaker 1: spot at the time. UM, we had a challenge, you know,
6:17
Speaker 1: getting free agents to come for visits for for whatever
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Speaker 1: the various reasons were. We weren't competitive at the time. Uh,
6:24
Speaker 1: they didn't know enough about the city. So we really
6:26
Speaker 1: spent a good year to two years kind of talking
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Speaker 1: up the city to agents, building relationship with agents, building
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Speaker 1: relationship with players, and and uh kind of trying to
6:35
Speaker 1: make this a spot where players wanted to go. And um,
6:39
Speaker 1: we had to sign some big deals to to prove
6:42
Speaker 1: that we could get some players. And we did that
6:44
Speaker 1: and then um, as people started to have good experiences
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Speaker 1: here and players came here and said they how much
6:49
Speaker 1: I loved the city, and we realized what what a
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Speaker 1: great city this is. UM, we finally got the perception
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Speaker 1: of Jacksonville turned around in our opinion. And to do
6:59
Speaker 1: that was was a major hurdle. And now you know,
7:02
Speaker 1: instead of us soliciting players to come and beg him
7:05
Speaker 1: to come for visits, we know agents and players everything
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Speaker 1: out to us, UM being proactive with that. More perspectives
7:14
Speaker 1: following this from Vice Star Credit Union Advice Star. We
7:20
Speaker 1: believe in better and that means treating people bet are
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Speaker 1: with friendly personal service that's kept our members happy since
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Speaker 1: that it's your money. All loan subject to approval insured
7:46
Speaker 1: by n c U A. Dave knew he needed the
7:51
Speaker 1: right personality for his first coach. The Jaguars wouldn't ever
7:54
Speaker 1: say it, but they knew it was going to take time,
7:57
Speaker 1: a few years perhaps to build a team that could win.
8:00
Speaker 1: They hope they'd be able to line up and compete
8:02
Speaker 1: at a high level in year one and year two,
8:04
Speaker 1: which met, they needed a coach players wanted to play for.
8:08
Speaker 1: Gus Bradley one called well and con over with his
8:10
Speaker 1: blend of energy, intensity, positivity and results. I think we
8:16
Speaker 1: interviewed five candidates that year, and uh he was the
8:19
Speaker 1: last one we interviewed. And by the time we made
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Speaker 1: it to dinner, I think uh um Shod was ready
8:26
Speaker 1: to offer the head coaching job. He became a narrator. Um,
8:29
Speaker 1: so I took the job. Week later, I flew back
8:32
Speaker 1: for an Atlanta Falcons playoff game, and um, they ironically
8:36
Speaker 1: enough played the Sattle Seahawks and just got to feel
8:39
Speaker 1: for their defense and how they you know, they were playing.
8:44
Speaker 1: And I was looking at their defense, and I was
8:46
Speaker 1: looking at fourth fifth rounders who became all pros, who
8:49
Speaker 1: late round draft picks. So they developed college free agents,
8:52
Speaker 1: and and I really was enamored by their defense and
8:55
Speaker 1: how they played. UM took me back to kind of
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Speaker 1: how our defensive is built in Indianapolis too, with some
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Speaker 1: late round draft picks that that end up being developed
9:05
Speaker 1: and ended up being coming all pro type of players. UM.
9:08
Speaker 1: So I figured that the best way to build this
9:10
Speaker 1: first was, UM, get a defensive minded head coach, a
9:14
Speaker 1: guy with a lot of energy, UH, bring some positive
9:17
Speaker 1: passion to the organization and and really kind of get
9:20
Speaker 1: people excited to play here. And sure enough he did,
9:24
Speaker 1: And that was the major thing. That got a lot
9:28
Speaker 1: of background information from people he worked with and I
9:30
Speaker 1: knew very well, and I just felt like he'd be
9:33
Speaker 1: a good fit. You have to believe in the same things.
9:36
Speaker 1: And and I think uh through that Thomas de metrof,
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Speaker 1: Mike Smith, Thomas and and Dan Quinn is current coach,
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Speaker 1: And I think there it helps the whole organization when
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Speaker 1: the head coaching gm are on the same page. And UM,
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Speaker 1: if you have that, you're fighting chance. A general manager
9:54
Speaker 1: is generally judged by two decisions. And man, he hires
9:57
Speaker 1: two coaches, team and the player he signs to be
9:59
Speaker 1: it's quarterback. He had Bradley, and we had to wait
10:03
Speaker 1: until to drop. Like portals, the process was very involved
10:08
Speaker 1: and it really involved everybody, even though the decision was
10:11
Speaker 1: only came down to a few people. But at the
10:13
Speaker 1: end of the day we had a uh have everybody
10:16
Speaker 1: unsolicited give their reports on the player and where there
10:19
Speaker 1: was a scouting staff, coaching staff, and and sure enough,
10:22
Speaker 1: he throughout that draft class and really out those those
10:26
Speaker 1: first couple of years, he was the highest graded quarterback
10:28
Speaker 1: that we've come across UM and through that he UM
10:32
Speaker 1: he met all the criteria, big, athletic, productive, winner, anything
10:40
Speaker 1: that you would want to have quarterback, he met those
10:43
Speaker 1: and UM, so we needed somebody to play quarterback and
10:47
Speaker 1: and we just didn't have one at the time. And
10:50
Speaker 1: at the time Lane was traded with Chad Henny was
10:54
Speaker 1: our backup, and we needed somebody, a young person to
10:58
Speaker 1: grow to be a starter. And sure enough, you know,
11:01
Speaker 1: we knew he was gonna need some development, and unfortunately
11:06
Speaker 1: for us, he came into first training camp and exceeded
11:10
Speaker 1: everybody's expectations and so that kind of sped up his
11:13
Speaker 1: development process and he probably got thrown in with a
11:18
Speaker 1: team that probably wasn't ready to compete or protect him,
11:21
Speaker 1: and through that he fought, he battled and UM. But
11:24
Speaker 1: you know, he was a consensus guy from the coaches
11:27
Speaker 1: and the and the scouting department of up the guy
11:29
Speaker 1: that we felt I could lead this team and we
11:31
Speaker 1: felt like that we'd be able to develop him. For
11:33
Speaker 1: all the criticism that that he's taken over the last
11:36
Speaker 1: five years, all I know is that if we would
11:39
Speaker 1: have said on draft day he was going to break
11:42
Speaker 1: virtually every franchise record for passing and be two and
11:45
Speaker 1: one in the playoffs and have you within three minutes
11:48
Speaker 1: of the playoffs closer to the super Bowl than any
11:51
Speaker 1: team in Jacksonville, jack where history has come, I think
11:55
Speaker 1: we probably all would have felt like that was would
11:56
Speaker 1: have been a successful pick. And I think as time
11:59
Speaker 1: goes by, people will realize, you know, what he did
12:03
Speaker 1: and how he did it, and it wasn't in a
12:06
Speaker 1: conventional way. It wasn't throwing it, it wasn't But Blake
12:09
Speaker 1: was a good football player. He may not have been
12:11
Speaker 1: the best pass or he may not have been, but
12:13
Speaker 1: he was a good football player that gave this team
12:15
Speaker 1: a chance to win. UM. Obviously it didn't work out
12:18
Speaker 1: for a long term, but we got five years out
12:20
Speaker 1: of him, and um, he he changed the narrative of
12:23
Speaker 1: Jacksonville and putting us in in the n FC Championship game.
12:28
Speaker 1: In the middle of piecing together a roster, managing the
12:30
Speaker 1: salary cap, and having input and responsibility for everything football,
12:35
Speaker 1: Caldwell was told his team would play in London annually,
12:38
Speaker 1: something no other NFL GM had ever done. On the
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Speaker 1: interview and two shots credit and the Mark Lamping's credit,
12:45
Speaker 1: I asked him about it and they said, yeah, we'll
12:47
Speaker 1: play a game and it might be a commitment for
12:49
Speaker 1: for many years that will play a game over there.
12:52
Speaker 1: And they felt like that we could turn us into
12:55
Speaker 1: a home field advantage. Um that we could take one
12:58
Speaker 1: home game played in London and and learn to do
13:02
Speaker 1: it better than any other team who does it once
13:04
Speaker 1: every three or four or five years. And sure enough,
13:07
Speaker 1: I think they're right. We've tried it every way possible.
13:10
Speaker 1: We tried it leaving from the road on a Sunday
13:13
Speaker 1: night after a road game. We've tried leaving Monday from
13:15
Speaker 1: a home game, and now we leave on Thursday night
13:18
Speaker 1: and on a short week, and it seems like we've
13:21
Speaker 1: kind of really made it very efficient and where our
13:24
Speaker 1: players don't really feel the effects of traveling over and
13:28
Speaker 1: then when we come back and then that they can
13:30
Speaker 1: hit the ground running woe and come back. We've played
13:32
Speaker 1: good football over there, um outside the first two years
13:35
Speaker 1: where we probably weren't ready to compete regardless of where
13:38
Speaker 1: we played. So we're three and three over there, and um,
13:41
Speaker 1: you know, we won three in a row and then
13:42
Speaker 1: we lost a last minute game to Philadelphia this past year,
13:46
Speaker 1: and uh, I feel like we've played good football over there,
13:48
Speaker 1: and I think players enjoy it. I think the atmosphere
13:51
Speaker 1: is a great atmosphere. Um, we don't like taking a
13:54
Speaker 1: home game away from our our home fans, but um,
13:58
Speaker 1: we feel like we got more pressure to perform in
14:01
Speaker 1: those seven games here because we got one less. So
14:03
Speaker 1: I think the the idea that were the the home
14:08
Speaker 1: team of London UM for one game a year is
14:12
Speaker 1: kind of resonate with both a lot of our staff here.
14:16
Speaker 1: You have to be grateful for having great support people
14:18
Speaker 1: Jimmy Luck and our equipment staff, Scott Truelock and our
14:21
Speaker 1: athletic training staff, Hams and his logistics and and and
14:26
Speaker 1: travel staff. Than they do a tremendous job where I
14:29
Speaker 1: don't think people realize the amount of work and preparation
14:32
Speaker 1: that goes into it, and it just goes very seamless.
14:37
Speaker 1: The Jaguars are in their first win in London in
14:40
Speaker 1: with a combination of precision passing from Portals to Allen
14:43
Speaker 1: Robinson and Alan Hearns, and a defense offerative glimpse of
14:46
Speaker 1: what was to come. Portals finished his second season with
14:49
Speaker 1: the most passing yards passing touchdowns by a quarterback in
14:52
Speaker 1: Jaguars history. There was plenty of reason to believe the
14:55
Speaker 1: arrow was finally pointing up, not the least of which
14:58
Speaker 1: was a draft. It stocked the Jaguars defense with a cornerback,
15:02
Speaker 1: a linebacker, and a pass rusher upon whom the future
15:05
Speaker 1: would build, and a scenario played out that no one
15:08
Speaker 1: could have predicted. I did think it was possible, but
15:12
Speaker 1: not likely. Uh at least for the first two um
15:16
Speaker 1: We went through it and felt like Jalen was the
15:19
Speaker 1: best player for us. He was the cleanest pick, he
15:22
Speaker 1: was healthy, he had no issues, played in all his
15:25
Speaker 1: games at Florida State, kind of once in a generation
15:28
Speaker 1: type of you know defender, and uh so when he
15:34
Speaker 1: fell the five, it was no brainer. We had some
15:36
Speaker 1: offers and maybe trade back a little bit, but we
15:38
Speaker 1: knew that we weren't going to get the same caliber player,
15:41
Speaker 1: so we we didn't The one time we had a
15:43
Speaker 1: chance of trade back, we didn't do it, and we
15:45
Speaker 1: decided to take Jalen. So as the draft went on,
15:48
Speaker 1: and as Miles started to fall, and and everybody knew
15:52
Speaker 1: the reasons why he started to fall, some questions about
15:54
Speaker 1: his health and and um, he just kept going and
15:57
Speaker 1: going and going. And then as he got into the
15:58
Speaker 1: twenties twenty five, I'm like, you know, I think it's
16:02
Speaker 1: about time we take a chance on this guy. We
16:04
Speaker 1: we had him rated as one of the top two
16:06
Speaker 1: players in the draft too, and um, you know, our
16:09
Speaker 1: defensive staff just talked about how much versatility could have
16:12
Speaker 1: with a player like that. And he's a great kid
16:15
Speaker 1: and and he's so when you started going, I'm like, well,
16:18
Speaker 1: let's maybe try to trade up and see if we
16:20
Speaker 1: could do it. Couldn't trade up into the first round,
16:24
Speaker 1: and I'm like, is he really going to fall out
16:25
Speaker 1: of the first round. It was amazing to me because
16:28
Speaker 1: there are some teams where he really fit their style
16:30
Speaker 1: of defense. Picking later in that first round, and I
16:32
Speaker 1: thought man, this is a no brainer. And then we
16:36
Speaker 1: he he fell all the way out and we had
16:38
Speaker 1: a meeting with UM our team doctor, and uh, he
16:42
Speaker 1: felt like that that his situation was manageable, and so
16:46
Speaker 1: we said, you know what, we're sitting there in a
16:47
Speaker 1: second round. It's hard enough to find a player that
16:50
Speaker 1: you know can play, UM, but we know this kid
16:53
Speaker 1: can play, and we know the versatility and his athleticism
16:55
Speaker 1: is is uncanny. So we just said, you know what,
16:59
Speaker 1: let's start trying to trade up. So he kept trying
17:02
Speaker 1: to trade up, and then eventually I got to Baltimore
17:05
Speaker 1: and uh, I called Baltimore before the second day started
17:09
Speaker 1: and I said, listen, I got a fifth round pick.
17:11
Speaker 1: It's about even. UM. You know, I got to come
17:14
Speaker 1: back a couple of picks. If you want to do it,
17:16
Speaker 1: we'll do it. And sure enough, at the time, Erica
17:20
Speaker 1: Costo was her assistant John manager, and said, hey, you
17:23
Speaker 1: know what, if if you guys there, we'll do it.
17:26
Speaker 1: So I called them, and soon do they call them.
17:29
Speaker 1: After the fact, he told me two or three other
17:31
Speaker 1: teams we're calling the trade up to. But uh, he
17:35
Speaker 1: did give his word that he would make the trade,
17:37
Speaker 1: and he did and we we selected him. That pick
17:41
Speaker 1: would have been Nick if it wasn't Miles. And so
17:44
Speaker 1: as the draft went on, and it kept going and going,
17:48
Speaker 1: and then Johnick fell the third it was that was
17:50
Speaker 1: a really no brainer for us because we were playing
17:52
Speaker 1: on picking him and the spit the second pick. There
17:55
Speaker 1: was momentum in Jacksonville for the first time in a decade.
17:58
Speaker 1: Expectations real, We're not we're heavy for a team that
18:01
Speaker 1: had made the playoffs since two thousand seven, they were
18:05
Speaker 1: not met. And as the Jaguars were seating a second
18:08
Speaker 1: half lead in Houston in Week fifteen, en route to
18:11
Speaker 1: a ninth consecutive loss, called what was preparing for a
18:14
Speaker 1: postgame conversation he knew he couldn't devoid. Well, I think
18:19
Speaker 1: it goes back to the relationship we had and I
18:21
Speaker 1: promised I would never lie to him and um, and
18:24
Speaker 1: that I would never catch him off car with anything.
18:27
Speaker 1: So after the game, obviously it was emotional, and and
18:32
Speaker 1: the question was asked, and I just said, yeah, it's
18:34
Speaker 1: gonna happen, and UM he asked when, And I said,
18:37
Speaker 1: you know, I almost left it up to him. Do
18:39
Speaker 1: you want to talk about an hour? Do you want
18:42
Speaker 1: to wait to the morrow, and I just felt like
18:44
Speaker 1: that it would have got out from a media standpoint. Um,
18:47
Speaker 1: but I didn't want him to not know what was
18:50
Speaker 1: going to happen and and and surprise him. It was
18:53
Speaker 1: very hard everybody involved. Tony shot Um. It was a
18:56
Speaker 1: decision that wasn't taken lightly, and we spent a lot
19:00
Speaker 1: of time ruminating over it and really trying to make
19:03
Speaker 1: sure that it was the right decision, and um, I
19:07
Speaker 1: felt like it was at the time, and I felt
19:09
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19:47
Speaker 1: n c u A. So that gust bus rolled away
19:53
Speaker 1: from Jacksonville and with it when a coach who was
19:55
Speaker 1: almost universally loved in the locker room and the front office.
19:59
Speaker 1: But Tom trained though would sooner rot returning a man
20:02
Speaker 1: to a franchise he wants put together piece by piece,
20:06
Speaker 1: and leaving Coldwell to take a hard look and rearrange
20:09
Speaker 1: his plan. A lot of this went on through discussion
20:13
Speaker 1: went on through the hiring of coach Moron and and
20:16
Speaker 1: the potentially bringing somebody else on, whether it was coach
20:19
Speaker 1: Coughin or somebody else. And uh, I've always been for
20:23
Speaker 1: whatever makes the team better, and whether that's diminishing my role,
20:27
Speaker 1: whether it's a greater role, or bringing people in under
20:31
Speaker 1: me or over me, whatever we could do to get
20:33
Speaker 1: this team to the point where it needs to be
20:36
Speaker 1: to win championships, I'm all for it. So Bill Polin
20:40
Speaker 1: used to always say, when you win, everybody will get
20:43
Speaker 1: enough credit, and and that's that's true. And when you lose,
20:46
Speaker 1: everybody feels the burden of that. So when and good
20:51
Speaker 1: things happen. And I just felt like Tom could bring
20:54
Speaker 1: He's a hall of fame coach, he's a hall of
20:56
Speaker 1: fame person, and I I felt like he could help me.
20:59
Speaker 1: There's I've never learned from him, And I think it
21:03
Speaker 1: was a great move for the organization, but it was
21:04
Speaker 1: even better move for me, not only professionally but personally. Obviously.
21:08
Speaker 1: If I can't learn from a guy like that and
21:10
Speaker 1: and implement some of his leadership traits and qualities that
21:13
Speaker 1: he has, well, then shame on me. And so I'm
21:17
Speaker 1: trying to take as much from him as long as
21:19
Speaker 1: he's here um to learn from and to um to
21:23
Speaker 1: pick his brain, because it's it's more knowledge than than
21:26
Speaker 1: I'll ever have, believe it or not. He and I
21:29
Speaker 1: we have a lot of things in common and and
21:31
Speaker 1: really things outside of football, whether it's our faith, uh,
21:34
Speaker 1: family and just how you treat people and uh and
21:38
Speaker 1: he's an incredible person and I guess people don't realize
21:41
Speaker 1: that he's got an incredible sense of humor too, and
21:43
Speaker 1: uh So working with him on a daily basis has
21:46
Speaker 1: truly been a joy and and it has really made
21:49
Speaker 1: a lot of aspects made my job a lot easier.
21:51
Speaker 1: We all had this common vision and common goal and
21:54
Speaker 1: that was really to win. And you know, I was
22:00
Speaker 1: enjoyed with the decision um for that to happen. And
22:03
Speaker 1: I think to have time and Doug and and there's
22:06
Speaker 1: a lot of aspects of having a former coach like
22:10
Speaker 1: coach Coughlin in that role for me to bounce things
22:13
Speaker 1: off of him, to bounce things off a Doug and
22:16
Speaker 1: vice versa. So um, Doug and I have always had
22:19
Speaker 1: a good relationship too, So I felt like, well, you know,
22:22
Speaker 1: my personality is a lot different than both others, trust me,
22:25
Speaker 1: and you probably know that. But but um, I don't
22:28
Speaker 1: think probably having three people with the similar personalities would
22:32
Speaker 1: have worked. But um, I think the fact that my
22:35
Speaker 1: personality is a little bit different than than those two
22:37
Speaker 1: kind of hopefully help helps bring it together. It worked,
22:42
Speaker 1: and Caldwell wasn't surprised the Coughlin and Marone turned the
22:45
Speaker 1: Jags on field fortunes quickly. Well, I felt like in
22:49
Speaker 1: two thousand sixteen, we had a team that compete. I
22:52
Speaker 1: think we lost ten games by less than a touchdown. Um,
22:55
Speaker 1: it was a large number, by a little points. So
23:00
Speaker 1: when you looked at the point differential, we just felt
23:01
Speaker 1: like that we could still we if a couple of
23:05
Speaker 1: things went differently earlier in the season, that this team
23:08
Speaker 1: could have been a five hundred team. And then we
23:10
Speaker 1: took a lot of that team over and felt like
23:12
Speaker 1: the defense was closed and if we added a couple
23:14
Speaker 1: of pieces defensively and then um, we played passable offense,
23:20
Speaker 1: that you know what, we have a chance to maybe
23:23
Speaker 1: win this division. And I didn't say it out loud
23:26
Speaker 1: to anybody, but I just quietly felt like this could
23:30
Speaker 1: be a year where we could do some good things.
23:32
Speaker 1: And and sure enough, um, and people don't realize about
23:35
Speaker 1: that season was we had top five defense, but we
23:38
Speaker 1: also had a top six offense. And to have both those, um,
23:44
Speaker 1: offensive defense in the top ten, that's hard to do.
23:47
Speaker 1: And um, sure enough that got us to the playoffs.
23:51
Speaker 1: Jalen Ramsey sealed the jack Wards first playoff we need
23:53
Speaker 1: ten years in front of a sold out crowd in Jacksonville.
23:56
Speaker 1: Then Boardles Miles, Jack, Kelvin Smith, and Leonard for Nett.
23:59
Speaker 1: How a second winned Pittsburgh in the divisional round, scoring
24:03
Speaker 1: forty five points and doing what they did all season
24:06
Speaker 1: on defense. They outplayed the Patriots for three quarters and
24:09
Speaker 1: a quick whistle took away what would have been a
24:12
Speaker 1: ten lead made way through the fourth quarter. Caldwell, like
24:16
Speaker 1: nearly everyone in Jacksonville, still shakes his head at dead moment,
24:20
Speaker 1: which would have defined his tenure with the Jaguars and
24:23
Speaker 1: in a way still sort of does no. To be
24:27
Speaker 1: honest with you, I was sitting on the couch, um,
24:30
Speaker 1: my wife was making uh dinner and sauce, and we
24:32
Speaker 1: had some friends over and on NFL Network, which I
24:37
Speaker 1: always go to, Jacksonville Jaguars or first New England Patriots
24:41
Speaker 1: was on TV, and uh, that's the first time I've
24:43
Speaker 1: watched it, and uh, and I watched it right up
24:47
Speaker 1: until the Miles Jack play and then and even my
24:51
Speaker 1: wife's like, how the cow could they call him down?
24:53
Speaker 1: But you know it is. But to be honest, you know,
24:57
Speaker 1: in a game like that, and in the NFL, you
25:00
Speaker 1: had we had our opportunities to win. Elsewhere, we had
25:02
Speaker 1: our opportunities to win a game, and very suddenly it
25:06
Speaker 1: doesn't ever come down to just one play. Ideally, that
25:08
Speaker 1: one play, if if he would have taken it and
25:10
Speaker 1: scored what he was on path too, would have made
25:14
Speaker 1: a very challenging for them to come back and win.
25:16
Speaker 1: But but we also had the ball a couple of
25:19
Speaker 1: times after that too, so and we had chances to
25:21
Speaker 1: stop him. So you know, he's the NFL and and
25:26
Speaker 1: probably games are decided by three or four plays. Soft
25:31
Speaker 1: spoken as he may be, there is a fire in
25:33
Speaker 1: his eyes for this team and this season. Called one
25:37
Speaker 1: knows he's in the right place, with the right people,
25:39
Speaker 1: at the right moment in time to write a great
25:42
Speaker 1: story his and the Jaguars well, hopefully for back to
25:47
Speaker 1: We don't want to move back, but but to the
25:49
Speaker 1: level that we were playing in seventeen and where we
25:51
Speaker 1: were playing dominant defense, we were playing good offense, and
25:55
Speaker 1: that we went into games expecting to win. And you
25:57
Speaker 1: come out year and year out expecting UH be in
26:00
Speaker 1: contention for the playoffs. Now that's not always gonna happen.
26:03
Speaker 1: We were on a pace last year. We were three
26:05
Speaker 1: and one. We felt like, hey, this is a thing
26:07
Speaker 1: that we can keep going from. Unfortunately, we got decimated
26:12
Speaker 1: with with injuries early in the season and I really
26:15
Speaker 1: affected UH the outcome of a lot of games. So
26:19
Speaker 1: the key is to get every way back healthy and
26:21
Speaker 1: and to continue to compete where now you go into
26:24
Speaker 1: games and you expect to win, and you expect to
26:27
Speaker 1: be in the conversation at the end of the season,
26:30
Speaker 1: and the more you're in the conversation, the better chance
26:33
Speaker 1: you have ending up in the final big game. And
26:36
Speaker 1: that's the goal. And I didn't know a whole lot
26:38
Speaker 1: about Jacksonville except for the fifteen years I came here
26:41
Speaker 1: as a visiting team and Shot assured me that I
26:45
Speaker 1: would love the city, and Joel, my wife, and my
26:48
Speaker 1: son would love the city. And uh, sure enough there right,
26:51
Speaker 1: And uh we decided to take a leap of faith
26:54
Speaker 1: because of the con family and uh, he's a very
26:57
Speaker 1: respected owner amongst the league. Uh he he makes very
27:01
Speaker 1: educated decisions. He's not going to rush to judgment. Um,
27:05
Speaker 1: He's gonna be very um detailed on on what he
27:09
Speaker 1: wants and how he wants it. And at the end
27:12
Speaker 1: of the day, he he's also never said no for
27:16
Speaker 1: something that could make this team or the city better.
27:18
Speaker 1: And I think that's that's probably the most underlying thing,
27:21
Speaker 1: that he has a strong passion to have the most
27:24
Speaker 1: successful team but but also the most successful city in
27:27
Speaker 1: the NFL. Ended up being the best movie we've ever made,
27:30
Speaker 1: and uh we now call Jack's bohme