This is JAGSA. I'm the first edition in our brand new podcast studio in our brand new building, the Miller Electric Center. Guys, what's your favorite thing about the NEC The.
Windows, every single one of them. Twenty nine years in a building without them, natural light is appreciated.
Well, look around you at the TV studio, the TV studio and the podcast studio.
Jags A. I'm presented by Carshield. You can call car shield now if your cars out of manufacturer's warranty. Do not get stuck with expensive mechanical and computer repairs. Call car shield Now. I'm your host, Ka Nannie Stevens, Brian Sexton, John Osier with me today. Not to brag, but look at where we are a little bit of a change of venue. I'd say we're going up here. Obviously everyone has seen what the practice facilities look like for the players,
but we've got our new studios as well. So I'm enjoying the new digs, the new normal, if you will.
Well, you know we're talking about being a consistent playoff team. They're talking about championship caliber football. Here you have championship caliber facilities, both for those of us at broadcasting and for the football folks. It feels like it's happening at the right moment, not an accident.
If you're going to be one of thirty two, you have to keep up here in the stadium, which we're gonna be talking about, you know, for the next couple of years. You must be state of the art and you must be you know, the best that there is out there, and this is that And.
We joke around, oh yeah, there's windows, there's natural light. But that's talking about the word joking, because when you go to work and you don't know what time of day it is, it's a little bit different. And not only that, you're trying to recruit players to come here. Jacksonville's on the up swing. You've got a great young quarterback, and when you want to come to work, maybe you want to stay in the off season and actice out of this facility that has to help this team moving forward.
I would think.
So.
I can't tell you how many times I talked to coaches who would come through here over the years and they'd be like, yeah, you feel disconnected when you're in the cave, right, And Tom Coughlin loved that because he wanted the guys focused on nothing but football. But it
tend to your mind, Wanders. It's it really It matters that you can see what's going on in the world outside, and then I can tell you, for one, that sitting at a desk with a window is I'm not going to be in such a hurry to get outside like I had been all these years.
John, I know you like your corner office in the darkest.
We well, let's not call it a corner office.
I'm being generous by calling it a corner office. It's literally a corner of a room. Are you going to come over here now that we have some more space?
If invited, I will attend fair enough.
We're gonna get into the details of nitty gritty all the fun fancy stuff that they have in this building a little bit later on in the show. But let's talk about one of the bigger stories this offseason. Evan Ingram has signed a new deal. We did not know if it was going to be a franchise tag or if he was going to get a longer term deal done. I think the team wanted it done, Evan Ingram wanted it done. Finally we get the specifics of it, that
three year deal. Brian where what does this mean. For it to finally be the offense that we've already talked about is excellent. But to now have this back.
And well he is going to in today's game. It's about space. It's about creating space and letting your playmakers go one on one with someone out in space. And Evan Ingram is going to create space, Calvin Ridley's going to create space. Guys like Christian Kirk and Zay Jones and Travis etn we'll all benefit from the space. Let me take it from a different angle, right, John can talk a little bit more about the football.
Side of it.
For me, it creates space with the salary cap, right, because there were only a few guys kai where they could go and create room. One of them is obviously Evan Ingram, and you did it. You're not going to do anything with Josh Allen because he's on his fifty year ten. You're not going to do anything with Kyviri Ridley because you want to see something from him. And then you come up against Cam Robinson and you're probably
not gonna do anything there either. So he was one of the few places where you could create salary cap room heading into the season, John The Jaguars have the fifth most salary cap space, and if they need to go and sign a veteran pass rusher, if there's a corner that they decide they want to chase, they've got the room to be able to do it.
Yeah, it gives them some flexibility. If they don't do it, then it gives them some options at the trade deadline. I don't know that they're going to be in it, like, I don't know that they feel panicked to do anything. Keep getting questions about pas Rusher, et cetera. You still want to not be silly with what you do now because the roles are in the future and they've got issues going forward.
So then they got another guy they're gonna have to pay a lot of money to coming up.
Yeah, so you got to be smart about it, you know. I think it's more of it of a cap space story than it is a twenty twenty three story. Evan was going to be here. He had the right attitude. What was impressive was, even if he had had to play under the franchise tag, you never got any impression that it was going to be a negative situation. He'd gone out to Arizona with the guys he was going to be here. He was all in on this. What this does is he keeps them all in for two years here.
I was able to cover the giants a little bit while Ingram was there, and he was a completely different person. I'm sure he's told you guys as much, just what he was able to come here in a one year and do. Brian, I know you said he's one of the guys you go to go to God. He's become that vetter in presence a little bit.
Well, first of all, every time I talk to him, he was grateful to be here, right. I mean, he's from outside of Atlanta, he played at all this He had nothing negative to say about playing in New York. But we all know that's a completely different planet, let alone a different part of the country. I mean, that's
completely different. He felt comfortable here with the coaching staff, with the ski, especially with the quarterback, and all season long, even during that five game losing streak where they were losing at the end of the game, he saw something and he kept telling his younger teammates just keep working. This thing is starting to arrive. I was not surprised that they got something done maybe the timing of it, but it was clear he wanted to be here.
John, You've worked in other markets, obviously, you've seen free agents come and go. It really feels like he just felt at home here and this was a place where he could blossom and it was the right time for him to come to Jacksonville.
Ya as Brian was talking just now, the comparison, and it's so far removed, it's three decades later. But remember Jeff Lockman was drafted in New York, came here, played I think three seasons with the Jags, and if I'm misremembering his career, I apologize three or four seasons here, and it made his home here. Clearly thinks of himself as a Jaguar. Now he's gone on to work for the team for years. All that makes but you know, it feels to me like Evan, even after a year,
considers this his football home. Maybe I'm exaggerating that, but that's how it felt. So a good move. Happy for him, and I think it settles him going into the season, which can be nothing but positive.
And I think it bears mentioning this a couple of years ago was thought to be a place you didn't want to go right.
And now we're getting.
Exactly the facility, the coach, the quarterback, the market, the state right with all of the weather and the tax issues that worked to a player's advantage to play here as opposed to a California or in New York or in Illinois. This is a place where all of it, and the quarterback in particular is going to attract a lot of people. And you can tell we.
Talk a ton about the offense. I do want to get to the defense a little bit because I know, Brian, you have a little bit of a hot take that you read it and brought to me. I won't give it to you. I won't like to make you go with it, but you brought it to me that I've found very interesting thought. Let's discuss it.
Randy Mueller, right, longtime general manager in this league, most visibly in Minnesota. Recently he was in Seattle. His brother Rick was one of the key personnel guys here as Tom Coughlin built this team twenty nine years ago. I know you remember him, John. He writes for the Athletic Now and he wrote a sentence about the Jaguars defense that really caught my attention and that was that the Jaguars defense has more players who are tough to block than any other team in the league, any in the
league exclamation point. He said, it hasn't shown up yet, but when you look at these guys, you see big guys who run, who have the measurables, and they will be a good defense this year if given the chance to go and chase the quarterback.
It's very interesting wording.
John.
Do you feel like some of that is the uniqueness of certain position players that we.
Have maybe some so much of its projection, because I can't say that any fan who is reading that and saying, well, that's ridiculous is wrong because we haven't seen it.
I haven't proven yet.
It hadn't been proven yet. I still think a lot of it goes back to what Brian alluded to. This defense really in recent memory, even last year when this team was good, did not play with a lot of leads. You know, you think about the playoff game. I think they led for what thirty seconds in that game, So that was the trend coming down the stretch late in
the season. If you think about it, in games where the defense stood out late in the season, you really think of the Jets and the Texans, well, they never got down in those games, so the defense was able to play its game against offenses that had to be bound. You know that we're not able to run and protect the quarterback the whole time. I believe they will play with more leads. I think if they do, you we'll see players like Trayvon, like Josh Allen, make Randy Mueller look like a prophet.
Not just him though. Roy Robertson Harris is a really big, long, physical guy. Fully fought Takasi. I don't think he was healthy all season long. Devin Lloyd, I mean, here's a guy, and of course Tyson Campbell is a big corner. So I think that there's just a lot of guys to choose from. One other thing that he said that is worth mentioning is he said, if you have a couple of bucks just for giggles, throw it down on Trayvon Walker to be the defensive player of the year.
He's that good. And even hotter take within the hot take. I love a hot take, not us. Oh no no, we're all absolve ourselves. We just heard about it, so we'll bring it back. We'll do the receipts later hopefully he is a prophet and that all comes true. Stay with us. We're going to look ahead and a little bit about seeing who will be needing to make this training camp roster or make their best effort out there in training camp coming up. Jags Am is back with
you. You can call car shield now if your cars out of manufacturer's warranty, do not get stuck with expensive mechanical and computer repairs, call car shield now. We are certainly happy to be in this new studio with jags Am. We got a new name for you guys as well. We're going to try out some new things. We want, you know, our fans and everyone to be involved a
little bit more so. We hope that you get to us on social media or wherever, right into John and let us know what you think or what you want to see, because we've got some new things we're working on and hopefully you like them. One of them is the fifty three we're looking at. His early training camp has not begun yet, but who's going to make this final roster and who are some people we're looking at that need to have a good training camp if they
want to make the roster. Brian will start with you y, I'll be getting.
The fifty three with Gregory Junior. It's no surprise because quarterback was an area of emphasis this offseason. We talked about it a lot, and the Jaguars were often identified in the first round of the draft with one of those cornerbacks, and there were a number of them. Of course, they didn't end up that way. They took Canton Harrison. The Jaguars grabbed a young man last year in the sixth round named Gregory Junior from what Cheetah Baptist in Arkansas,
smallest of schools. He's the first player ever drafted from that school. Now, he's not the first player to play in the NFL. A guy named Cliff Harris is in the Hall of Fame. He went undrafted back in seventy and was a great safety with Cliff Waters or pardon me, Charlie Waters during the seventies. Okay, that's a sidebar.
That's me.
Here's the pro ready. He's a big corner. He's six foot, one hundred and ninety pounds, but he's muscular. He's big up top. He's got a big set of legs on him. He's got long arms. He looks the part of a physical corner. What he lacks, John, is that experience against elite level athletes, because you didn't face that NCAA Division two right, you faced small college players. So he's behind the curve of players who played in the SEC or
the Big Ten. He needs time on task. But talking to guys last year about him, he got better on the practice field and a number of the coaches said he's got a chance, which coming from which he'd a baptist in the sixth round. You didn't say that necessarily. He earned the chance to be in the conversation this year.
I don't know whether it's fair to say, but the Jaguars really need him to step up and to have a great training camp because he's a guy with the physical capabilities to play John, But you and I both know it's an intellectual game. You got to know how to read an offense and figure out what's coming, and we'll see if he can get there.
I think got cornerback depths. As much as people have talked about past rush, I think got cornerback depth in training camp is a huge story. You've got Tyson Campbell, Trey Herndon, and Darius Williams well you got those three guys who you feel good about. We're not sure what's going on with Chris Claybrooks some off the field stuff lately. Where is the fourth, fifth, sixth corner. I think he's got to come out of the group. They have drafted it late last year, they drafted it late this year.
At some point, if you're going to take that approach, somebody from that group needs to step up and be that death we're talking about. They have to have some production and have to have those guys develop.
And I think going into training camp, you know, having that depth is never a bad thing, so no matter what position it is, so hopefully we can get that. And if you're trying to make you know, cornerback or anything like that, obviously playing special teams is a huge part of that as well. John, is there anyone you have your eye on that needs to have a good training camp? In your eyes?
I'm always tight end. Garrett Prince. I think he's a first year guy, second year out of school, was on the practice squad all last year. I think people who have watched these shows, who've listened to us is not surprised that I went that direction. We talked about him a lot during the off season. The tight end room. I don't want to say it's set, but you've got Ingram, Luke Farrell, and you have Briton Strange and I think I think Prince will be.
The fourth guy.
You usually have four that you like that you sort of have interchangeable parts with. I think Ingram and Prince feel like the move guys. Feral and Strange feel like guys who can block and bring a little bit more of that. That's usually the combination, Brian, that you go with out of that bunch. But out of the four, Prince is clearly the guy who needs training camp to sort of solidify what's been whispered and talked loudly within
this building about. They like him, they think that he has a lot of potential, but he has to show that with pads during practice and in preseason.
So you recall we were standing on the practice field one day last year and a member of the personnel department kind of tapped us on the shoulder. Don't sleep on him. He's got good height, he's got really good length, he moves well, has a feel, and he's not scared in the middle of the field. You know, not everyone operates well in the middle of the field, but he clearly is comfortable out there. I think he's a terrific
looking prospect. Whether he becomes a terrific player or not, that's up to him, but he certainly has a chance and.
He's in a good position here. Obviously, Evan Ingram has been around a little bit, and he's really taken on that veteran role where he's helping younger players now that he's come here and felt comfortable, So I have no doubt he'll be very helpful in that tight end room. I think I'd be really.
Helpful with thirteen point six million dollars, I think anything could make me for a year. Yes, you need baby, really I wish for me.
I'm looking at one of the picks from this year. We had a lot of draft picks this year. Yeah, Cier Abdullah out of Louisville. A lot of people think he's undersize. You know, he's not gonna be able to translate that numbers. If he's a sack guy in college, as some would say, he can be a sack guy in the pros. I'm a fan. Just in our limited interaction they talk about culture around here. This man will fit in absolutely perfectly. And just to see the way
he goes about things. You see some of these rookies come in. Their eyes are real big. They don't know what's going on. They're just trying to figure it all out. He seems like he's been here for five years already.
You're looking for guys who can multitask, who could do different things, and he's got the body because he's a bigger pass rusher. He's got the body to be able to get up towards the line of scrimmage and be effective against the run and not just that edge rusher. But he's also got the quickness based on the numbers that he put up at Louisville, when you have twenty three twenty four sacks in his career, he's got the
ability to play in space as well. In today's day and age, you get a fourth or fifth round pick, you need the guy to be able to do multiple things and probably play on special teams. He looks to me like a guy who can handle that.
Yeah, it's always tough. People have listened to me for a long time. No, I don't love talking about rookies in training camp because I'm always skeptical how much a rookie's going to produce in this league, especially outside the first round. But there is a spot edge rusher, pass rusher on this defense. I think the team will be watching to see if they have that depth we were talking about earlier Trayvon, Josh Allen and obviously youre set
calebon Chase on. We'll see there's a spot for a young player and if do it can be that spot to step in and I get a real opportunity. I think for him, there's an unusual opportunity for a rookie to come in and produce early on a lot of teams. I don't know that you would have that clear cut spot if it was last year with arden Key still here, I have a clear cut spot. There is an opportunity for Abdula to make an impact.
This year, and if anybody's gonna come take it, I wouldn't doubt that it would be him. He certainly isn't starstruck by the lights or anything like that, so we'll see what he's able to do in training camp. We want all of you to stay with us. Coming up, we're going to talk about the Miller Electra Center, our new studios and all of that right here in the Hyundai studios. So stay with us. Yes, move the freight, Move the freight. Magellan Transport voted coolest office space in Jacksonville.
You can apply online at Magellanlogistics dot com. I know they're the coolest office space, but when they vote again, we might have a chance of that because this new facility here, this is just our podcast studio. We also have a new studio where jags Am will be in the future, and just this building as a whole. It's better than advertised, at least in my opinion.
I gotta think Dougiep's office is gonna trump Magella in now than you's pretty good. It's pretty good, I'm sure. And yeah, it's an unbelievable facility, and I would think pretty cool on the cool scale.
We want you guys to take a look at a little bit what this ribbon cutting was like earlier this week and what the new facility looks like on the inside.
Jacksonville is rising, Our football team has a great promise, and downtown Jacksonville is beginning to fulfill its potential.
One two three.
The Miller Electric Center is symbolic of our core value of community in Miller Electric and our shared commitment with the Jaguars and investing in the city of Jacksonville.
The Jacksonville Renaissance is underway, and I am so glad to see the Jaguars playing such a big part of it.
It takes all of us. It's not about one individual or one person, you know, it takes a village to build something.
Like this, and that's what we have here in Jacksonville.
And that's why I'm so proud to represent this football team.
I look forward to our shared future and I know that no matter what it holds, we're gonna all take it a play at a time and we're gonna get it done.
You guys have been here longer than I have, so this has been in the works. Brian. Are you impressed with what they were able to deliver here?
Oh?
Yeah, It's hard not to be. And I've been fortunate. I have friends around the league have seen some of these standalone facilities. I've seen the Star in Dallas, which is obviously a huge deal. You talk about keeping up with the Jones, is that's what the rest of the league has been doing for all these years. Try to keep up with Jerry Jones. But you know, you judge a job number one on the quarterback, right, the ownership,
the quarterback, the facilities, it's a big factor. And we talked earlier about this not having been a job that people would associate with being a good one. It's a great one right now. I mean the facilities, the ownership, The market showed itself off well late last season against the Chargers and Titans, and now you mix in these facilities. Yeah, this is a really good job.
And these things are always a process, and you know, I don't want fans to sit here and think, well, the Jeduares have been behind forever. There's usually a cycle with these things. Facilities last and there's a shelf life on them. The Jaguars facilities were built twenty eight, twenty nine years ago. It was it was time for this. It's going to be time for the stadium soon. They're back where they ought to be.
We talked earlier. You know, you joke about the windows, but it's different when you're not joking, when you're not underneath the stadium. I know, it's not a joke. Like when you have no time, no idea what time of day it is, it's different. You know, you have we live in Florida. Like, if players want to practice in the off season, they have a nice facility to come to. They're going to stay in town and they're gonna do that.
And when you're trying to attract free agents, that's something you can roll out there of course, as well as this is where you're coming to work and have some pride in that. Uh, you guys said your favorite things. My favorite thing is actually for the fans because to see the stands there with shade, with fans, physical fans to blow the air around and chuirbacks and bucks. Not to miss that, it's actually going to be comfortable somewhat
for you to watch training camp. You're not gonna be out in the beating sun trying to you know, stand dround and see a practice and that was no fun.
The NFL is supposed to be fun for fans. You don't necessarily want to make people work and suffer to see you. And as much as people love the Jags, it is tough on August sixth just to stand out in the blazing sun. I don't know that most fans we qualify it as being fun for the entire time. I think it's got a chance to be really cool. Think fans are gonna love it.
I think there's what two thousand seats times thirteen open practices. I mean, do the math by twenty six something like twenty six hundred, John Oh, twenty six thousand.
Yeah, math is in our strong suit.
There will be a lot of fun. You got it right, You got it right. I think almost all of them are claimed fair enough.
If they aren't sold out, they will be sold out by the time we're talking about this right now. I'm sure it has been by this point. Coming up, we're going to talk a little bit about what we have for content coming up now. The training camp is around the corner, and also some feature pieces that we worked on during the off season. Chad's fans, If you want customized Jaguars furniture for your home, you can check out zipchair dot com to browse all customizable options. That's zip
chair furniture for fans at zipchair dot Com. I don't know if they got any of that gear in here, but this place is decked out to the gills, so I wouldn't be surprised if zip chair had something to do with it. I know we talked a lot about the studio. We are happy to be in here. This has been a work in progress, especially because of the off season. We haven't done our shows for a while, so we're happy to see everybody back. We're going to
start doing shows more frequently. But it did give us a little bit of time to work on some other things. John and I were able to go to Thomaston, Georgia, which is where Trayvon Walker is from, and we got to do a video piece and also a written piece. And I want you to take a look at just the beginning of the video piece. Guys, sound tracked Thomason. What do you tell people ask where you're from?
How I said, A small town, like twenty five minutes outside of making Then I'll come and be like Thomas and Georgia for the simple fatal Not many people going to know where it's at. It's home to me, but a lot of people still want But even if I try to explain it to them, they still want to know where it is. You see the same people every day, like you go to school, see the same people in school every day you get out of school. You got a little routine, go to the store after school, like
you go see the same exact people every day. When I was younger, I always wanted to get away from just for the simple factor is not not really many businesses h I supposed to be doing, being raised in this small time. I have to say it was obviously my family who put the most into me. Everybody in the town knows me, shows support, been showing support since I was a little kid. Veroh appreciably.
Now that's the opener to the piece if you have some time. The full video is on the Jaguars YouTube page. The companion written piece written by John is on the website at Jaguars dot com. I think what I enjoyed most about this is just the chance to go and see where someone is from. Is a completely different view
of them than maybe what you see at work. And Trayvon is very kind, but to actually meet in person, when you meet him, but when you meet his family, see where he comes from, it's just a different level of understanding. And if you don't come out of watching that or reading about him and your rooting for him this season, then I don't want to meet you, because I'm now hoping for success for him on the field and off the field.
Yeah, I think it gives you an idea. When you meet and talk to Trayvon, you get the idea of reserved kid who's very solid, confident in himself and doesn't feel like he has to shout to be an effective person. If you follow me, he's confidence in himself. And then once you get to that town and you meet his parents and spend time around people have been around him, you see that he gets it honest, so to speak. That's where he's from, and so I enjoy talking to him.
I think the pieces that we did portray him accurately, and I think if people watch them, they'll get an idea. And like you said, I don't think any Jaguars fans are rooting against this guy. He's a very easy kid to root for and I'm expecting a big season from him.
If they watch the video, they will be rooting for him rapidly because he is a great young man and if he's half the player that he is as a personnest he will be in great shape.
Absolutely check that out. If you guys have not the videos on YouTube and Jaguars dot Com for the written piece as well. This has been our first edition of jags Am. We're in the books. Things are a little bit different. We're going, we're moving, We're figuring out as we go along. We thank you for joining us throughout this process. We'll see again soon. We're here in the Hyundai studios. We'll see you on Jack's amm