They're approaching the final game of the preseason. So who for you guys has been the MVP of the preseason and training camp so far, Tank.
Bigsby, maybe the rookie coaches who call running plays now I would say Greg Junior.
Welcome in. It's Wednesday's edition of Jags A. I'm presented by Jet Home Loans. I'm Kennannie Stevens, Brian Sexton, and John Oser are with me, and as John so eloquently mentioned, we're slogging along. We're trying to get through training camp right now because the regular season is around the corner, and we're.
All very excited.
Running clock, baby, running block.
I wouldn't be mad about it. We're gonna start off with big things today as indoors. The team practiced indoors yesterday and they're gonna practice indoors, or they practice indoors two days or stay indoors.
As well outside.
Okay, so the last two days they were indoors and they'll be back outside today. But after a week away in Michigan, they're kind of losing their South Florida.
Will you you know? To me, I think part of it is. And Doug hasn't talked about it is that they're beat up, right, get a chance to get your legs back. You've got one more week and you're gonna play your starters on Saturday. It's not like the guys are sitting this week. So it made sense to me that they would go indoors. Now, yesterday they were in pads indoors, even though it wasn't all the way to
the ground. It just seems to me like it's a way to lighten the load a little bit, keep your guys fresh because you're gonna play them on Saturday.
Yeah, I thought yesterday was to call it a padded practice, it would be generous. Yeah. I mean, it had pads, but it was not what people think of as a padded football practice with like a major hit.
Honestly, how many of those were they're in camp?
Not many, right, But if it's so, I thought yesterday was light my understanding from looking at the schedule in terms of time, this is.
A long practice. Today.
I guess it'll have some physicality to it, and then that'll be the last really physical practice that we see because these are the last couple of practices that will see except for the twenty minutes.
And I think a little bit of it probably too. After you go away and you joint practices. Those are always physical, so coming back maybe and with the injuries we saw as well against Detroit, to try to keep everything level and keep everybody healthy going into that last game.
The beggest point you've learned what you're going to learn by hitting in Like Doug clearly stay with last year. He likes to get a couple of big hit days in. He had one this year. He gets Detroit and won against themselves in this day and age. That's about what you can do underscore this day and age.
It's the way it is, all right.
Big thing Number two is special teams. Brian, I want to let you go into that because you talked to our special teams coach and kind of you know, we've talked for a while about if you want to make this roster and you're on the edge, you got to do something on special teams.
Well, and your buddy Bucky Brooks and I John talk. He is my pal. I talked extensively during the broadcast last Saturday about the final spots that are available on the roster. John, from one to fifty three, how many do you think you know right now, I'd say forty eightish. Yeah.
Yeah.
So we're talking about the bottom five spots on the roster and what determines those spots well, almost exclusively special teams. So caught up yesterday with he Farwell and he had this to say about the decision making process when it comes to special teams.
It's a collaborative effort. I think there's a there is some spots at the end that kind of maybe I can persuade, you know, the organization coach Peterson, Trent Balky, if everything is equal, Hey, this guy's a little tad better on special teams, he can help us, or he's a four phase guy we can't let out of the building. I like to think that I have a little influence on that.
Now, there's one guy in particular that he pointed out who has done that, and that's Dewey, who's gonna make the roster anyway, right, So he's not that final five. But the wide receivers John that we've talked about, they've got to prove it on special teams. Jacob Harris in particular was really good on coverage teams. He's so long and got that stride he can get down the field. But whether we're talking about a backup linebacker, safety, a wide receiver, it's going to be earned on special teams
on Saturday Night. Not exclusively, but a big play out there on Saturday Night could be the difference between say, Jacob Harris and Seth Williams.
Kai probably recalls an argument a couple of weeks ago where I insisted to do he would make the team.
You know, said yeah, But if you recall the hot take, I didn't say that he was not going to I said he was going to be pushed, and.
So it was a warm take.
Then well he was, he was. Well, I didn't. I never said he wasn't going to make the team, so I couldn't have been ruber Lebron. But what I said was was that he was going to be pushed, and he was until Antonio Johnson pulls hamster.
All right, Our big thing, number three is that calm before the storm we're talking about. You know, maybe there's only a handful of spots left on this roster, but how much of those decisions have already been made? In your opinion, john going into this final preseason game, is there ill spots up for grabs? If someone goes out there or they already kind of know.
I'd say again, I think the last four or five spots, especially at corner, I would say linebacker. I'm curious see what they do with Shack and Ventrel Miller and Caleb Johnson out of that group. I do think they pretty much know. If he asked Doug and Trent to cut the team, they could probably get it to fifty one. But I think there's a there's always a couple of spots.
Maybe you're not doing it based on that game, but that they still need to have conversations after that game, that the game will influence a little bit.
There's only one player I know of in Jaguars history that made the fifty three based exclusively on his final preseason action points. There was a running back twenty three twenty four years ago named Stacey Mack, big kid out of a Orlando, played a Temple. He had a reverse field sixty five yard touchdown against Dallas in two thousand and When he did that, they knew they had their guy,
their backup running back. Other than that, you know, they're just looking for one thing that might push it between two players or three players. Just that one thing.
I know, Doug's talked a lot about consistency, so you really are going to have to show out in Game three, and it's only going to be about a half of play as well, because we know the starters are going the first two quarters at least, that's what Peterson is planning on doing.
They want to trust you. They want to know that what they get when they put you on the field is going to be what they get if they need to put you on the field at any point during the season, and it's about building that level of trust.
Yeah, there's probably more jobs lost in the final preseason game where a guy shows up and or not lost, but sort of confirmed of Okay, we thought this was trouble here, probably not going to be able to keep them on the right. You know, it's more confirmation, I think than it is guys winning jobs.
All right, Coming up, we're going to talk a little bit more about the fifty three man roster, who we think is kind of on the Edgora has showed out so far in camp, and don't forget Saturday's final preseason game versus the Miami Dolphins is brought to you by Ticketmaster, the official ticket marketplace of the Jaguars and the NFL JAGSAM presented by Field's Auto Group Jacksonville step up to
Luxuryfieldsauto dot Com JAGSAM. On this Wednesday, August twenty third, we're in the Hyundai studios and getting down to those final cut times, so we do a segment called the fifty three. Either people that have made the case for themselves or you know, need to have a good training camp, or are just coming back and they're going to be making this fifty three ran roster or trying to Brian, who do you want to highlight today?
I'll go with Jeremiah Ledbetter for the obvious reason, with Devon Hamilton's injury, they need this guy to play well, and luckily for them he has. The last two weeks he's been a force at the line of scrimmage against the run, and just like Hamilton, he's been a guy who's gotten good push off the line of scrimmage into the backfield and broken plays up or as we saw last week, finished off the sack that calebon Chason could not.
He's an interesting guy. Was drafted by the Lions in twenty seventeen, has been on the Buccaneers and the Ravens and the Buccaneers, the Cardinals and the Jaguars practice squads and active rosters over the last six years. He's a
wide body. You know, when you look at Devon Hamilton, John, he's really big from the waist down and he's got a wide hip, bass right, big butt, and which is what you need in that You need a guy who can anchor in and he is the guy on that line that could probably anchor in the best, you know, beyond Devon or maybe fully fought to Costsias.
What Mike Caldwell said the other day, he can also play all spots along the line.
Yeah, say that is versatility.
I think he's on the roster no matter what would have happened with Devon, and he's another guy, Brian, we talked on Monday about guys that Balkey signed as free agents from other teams who aren't necessarily high profile guys, but they are good NFL players. So so Kudo's pro scouting because to me, that's a huge reason why this team seems so deep.
He's a journeyman who has earned the right to be on the roster, like John just said, and it just so happens they need him also.
And a segue guy. You know, a segue in radio is one of those things where you bring I mean Dernis Johnson, who's exactly the same kind of free agent, is my fifty three. I don't know that he is a lock to make the team. I don't think he thinks he's a lock to make the team. I think he's earned it. He's he's going to be right on the bubble. It may come down to whether they keep four running backs, which may means numbers at other spots. My gut is that he will be on the team.
He looked awfully good.
The other night. He's a veteran for a running back. What you want to see in the preseason is do they still move and make people miss like they did when they were rookies.
Looks to me like he does. You know. The interesting thing is they trust Michael Hasty. You know, he gave him the sixty yard touchdown in Indy last year and the thirty yard touchdown against the Ravens that gave the Jaguars an early lead in two important games. So they trust him. But I think Johnson is a more versatile player than Hasty. I think he's a better receiver out of the backfield. I think he's a guy who could pick up the blitz schemes. I think he's aware. I kind of like him as the three.
Well, think about what he gives you in the backfield if you're Doug and Trent last year. With respect to Hasty, who I think is a very important player on this team, I don't know that you feel great if he is your lead back going into a three game stretch with Ernest Johnson and Tank Bigsby, I think they feel like they have three guys who they're okay.
If with that, they're okay.
If they have to go with those guys as your main back, that's significantly more depth than I think they had a running back last year.
You know, the roster moves, how they structure it is so heavily impacted by the injury situation on the offensive and defensive line. So a guy like this or Hasty, you know, or a fourth tight end like Garrett Prince you know, could fall into it. Can we get into the practice squad because of the needs at those positions. But Hasty and Johnson both are worthy of a roster spot. Yeah, Johnson's going to be in the NFL. Yeah, and I think he'll be here.
And again another example of guys who can play in this league anyway.
And we hammered on this a bunch, but there are going to be a lot of people that are cut next week that end up on a different roster, especially in those skill positions.
It's been that wait a long time around here.
I know it's a nice feeling, right. I want to highlight Ben Bartch, not necessarily that he wouldn't have made the roster, but we're seeing in practice for the first time because he's been on the pup list after that knee injury he suffered last year, and after all of those offensive line injuries and issues we saw against Detroit.
He's coming back at the absolute perfect time. Obviously, everybody on the offensive line is super versatile, can play multiple positions, but you have to imagine that Ben Barch's coming back at this point is like a breath of fresh air for Rauser, who's been dealing with all these unknowns with all of the injuries and then of course Cam's suspension as well.
Start they think about it like this. Last week you had to have Walker Little play at left guard because they weren't going to put BArch into the game in Detroit this week. If Anton Harrison's shoulder is bothering him and you want to give him more time to get ready for the regular season, you can move Little to
the right side. Because BArch is back and Cam Robinson is still here, so it's critical that you've got him for this game and maybe even Opening Day to give you some sort of depth and versatility, which is the thing we've talked about with this offensive line group.
Well, as much as you know, we're sort of gnashing teeth on Monday about the depth and depth is still a worry. Getting BArch back means you've got a decent chance to have a very legitimate NFL starting line Week one with little BArch, Fortner, Sheriff and Harrison. That's not very far from what you would want your ideal starting
line to be around here. So depth a little bit of an issue, particularly with Hodges being hurt and Wells, but I think they feel okay with their depth other than those guys, and they certainly feel good about that five start.
You have to feel good about that position group, even with what they have going on. So stay with us. We're going to talk about some things going on around the league coming up after the break. Price dot Com is the easiest way to save money with comparison shopping, cashback coupons all in one. It's free. Tryprice dot com today. Welcome back to jag zam and the Hundai Studios. We're gonna talk a little bit about what's going on around the league because we're getting ready to start the season,
so we got to keep track of everything. Jonathan Taylor, all that drama in Indianapolis. They finally decided to let him seek a trade. John to want to touch base with you. I'm sure you're not surprised by all that's gone down, but it's gotten to this point.
I guess I'm surprised. I'm always amazed these days when teams. I was amazed three or four years ago when this team allowed Jalen Rams that he sort of forced his way out. I guess I'm so old school Brian that I think if you've got a great player and he doesn't want to play there, you tell him, Okay, you're gonna sit establish a precedent. GMS evidently don't believe in that, and I'm sure there's some reason they don't. But for the Colts, it's certainly if he seeks a trade.
It's hard to interpret.
That franchise as anything right now. But in major rebuild, even if he doesn't seek a trade, he's a great back. I understand his side of it, trying to get whatever contract he can get at this age. But it's a mess, and I guess they're trying to clean up eever they can. And that feels like Major League hitting the reset.
But you remember when it seemed like the Colts were living a charmed life. They went from Peyton Manning right to Andrew Luck. They just had it all going and you thought, you know, when's luck going to fall for this team? Well now, I mean they seem to be a complete disaster. I know the owner is unpredictable. Why did he say we're not going to trade him if two weeks later he says, all right, go ahead and seek a trade. I mean that's the part. Who's in charge.
Is it Chris Ballard? Is he making the decisions and leading the football strategy or is it Jim Mersay? And if it's Jim Mersay, they're not anywhere close to being out of it.
Yeah, you can spend a long time trying to figure out Jim Mersey's thoughts.
I'm sure we have enough show for that man.
And by the way, Anthony Richardson, who they're putting into the starting lineup right away, even though nobody thinks that he's ready to be an NFL quarterback this year, that would be his best friend. I mean, how much more effective is that young quarterback with that superstar back?
And you're really I'm questionable. I know they different philosophies about playing rookies quarterbacks right out of the gate, but the way it's set up in Indie right now, I'm curious how that's actually going to play out. Actually, our second thing we're going to talk about around the league, the Colts and Eagles gotten into a little bit of a brawl yesterday at their joint practice, and we saw some other teams calling off their second week of joint
practices because of this very thing. It's getting a little too competitive right at the end where you're kind of feeling that physicality where we saw the Lions and Jags get a little chippy, but nothing bad at all, and I think that's where you want to keep it. But some other teams are struggling with that. John, how do you keep things light the last week before.
The I don't know. I've always considered training camp fights like remember when you were kid, Brian hit sniffle fights. Neither one wanted to fight, you know, that's sort of what it feels like. You know, you're hitting each other with helmets on. I get the boys that we boys thing. Everybody's trying to man up or whatever that is. You know. I think if you've got two teams, the Lions and
Jags kept things moderately under control. I thought the Jags handled themselves well in that situation, trying to get good workout of it. Of the Lions seemed like they stepped over the line a couple of times. It wasn't tragic. I think you've got to get the coaches where they have the same philosophy on it.
Yeah.
I don't really think it's a big deal of teams don't do this, But I think maybe in the future teams will try to find like minded approaches, maybe a little better than they have this year.
Oh you know, I thought last week the Lions and the Jaguars represented the coaches pretty well, right. I mean, Doug is reserved and very intellectual in his approach to it right. You never see him get too high or too low. And he told us in the production meeting that he was really impressed with the way that his team handled the Lions' aggressiveness. The Lions coach Dan Campbell was a scrapper as a player, right, and the guy whould to fight his way into the NFL and stay
by all means. The players love playing for him and they've adopted some of his personality. Jack Campbell, the middle linebacker Kamiski, the defense of Lyneman who was scrappy during the game. I get it. Doug was really and it sounds self serving on a Jaguar show, he was really glad that his team just kind of walked away from that and let it diffuse. I guess the Jets threw the Buccaneers out of don't do practice, So maybe you just do a one day, right, I mean, maybe maybe
day two is too much. Maybe if you're going to travel, you have one day and then a day with your own practice at the local high school or something like that. They say they get good work out of it and they want to do it. Or maybe you just choose your team that you're going to go work with very carefully, Yes, a little.
More particular about who you choose. Perhaps our final thing from around the league, Aaron Rodgers and State Farm are no longer together, so we're gonna have to get a new celebration out of that. And then also in sponsorship deals, Will Levis, the quarterback for the Titans, or at one point will be the quarterback for the Titans, has a lifetime deal with Hellman's Mayonnaise after he put mayonnaise in
his coffee for those tiktoks. So I wanted to ask you, guys, if you could have a sponsorship deal, who would you want it to be with, Because I would not pick.
Man a lot of times.
Supply of mayonnaise would would mean about three jars for me. Probably it would.
Be none for me. I hate it.
I'll pass. Go ahead, Brian, I'll come back to it.
Well.
In the line of food, is that anything you want to do, like, what would you never get sick of having?
Like?
I would do Dunkin Donuts because I want caffeine and donuts at all times, so I would never get sick of that.
I can appreciate that. Just from local flavor from last week, I really like Buddy's pizza that pizza place you went to, if you'd send if they'd send me one from Detroit every week, just one, right, because I'd have to share it so I wouldn't blow up like a balloon. But it was delicious.
Does Mercedes Benz give I'll go Bell's Two Harded Brewery my lifetime sponsorship. They're they're a Michigan brewery and uh, all right, they're my They're kind of my I p a.
Were they before last week or did last week cement it for you? No, they've been for a long time.
Okay, A man, unfortunately probably don't listen to this show, so there'll be no deal coming.
Well, I'll just send that there way, all right, stay with us. We'll talk a little bit about what we've got coming up tomorrow and the rest of the week. Jags fans, if you want customized Jaguars furniture for your home, check out zipchare dot com to browse all customizable options.
Zipchair is furniture for fans. The practice is back outside today and it's later in the afternoon, right in the sun, so they're getting ready for them weather a little bit, and then they're going to face off against the Dolphins on Saturday, this final preseason game we've heard so far, we're going to hear see the starters, hopefully the entire first half, depending what we see from the Dolphins, how much of their starters we see. What are you looking
forward to in that game? Is it just getting off to a fast start.
I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle Wattle and Hill.
Right.
We didn't see that combination last year, and that is legit, world class speed. What a great tune up for Tyson Campbell and Darius Williams and anyone else that the Warsgregg Junior, whoever they put out there against that kind of ability.
Yeah, I think you'd like to see some offensive efficiency the first team offense. I feel confidence this offense is going to be really, really good. I think as an offense, they would love to see you've got what fifteen days until the opener. From that, it's always good to get a couple of touchdowns. I feel like you've moved efficiently for this team. I think that would be a great tone setter going into Week one.
As a broadcaster, the final preseason game always felt like a big lift, right. It felt like it was laborious because there were so many young guys that were gonna play. This is exciting to me because the final preseason game we get so much of a look at what they're going to be. That'll make it fun and I think there'll be a lot of people watching, listening, and in the stadium because a it's the only home preseason game and be they're playing starters.
In the final an actual peak at what we're gonna see in the regular season. Tomorrow will do a full deep dive into Miami and what they're going to be facing off against in that game. But until then, we'll see you on Thursday morning.