A big day here with the Jaguars.
We're going to talk a lot about Fred Taylor today, but you guys, what are your favorite Fred moments or your favorite friends?
There are so many, but one of my favorite, which is often forgotten, is the fact that it week three of the nineteen ninety eight season, James Stewart was hurt against the Baltimore Ravens on the first or second play of the game. So Fred came in and on the third play of the game took his first hand off and went fifty two yards for a touchdown. It was a huge indication of what he was going to be.
Yeah, there's so many from that year. I was fortunate enough to cover Fred from ninety eight to two thousand. I'm gonna go with another moment from his rookie year, the one that Fred has told me often was his favorite. The Jaguars are down against the Bucks out here in one of the I think one of the great games that the Jaguars played in that era. He went Brian of.
The yards seventy yard the buccaneer sideline.
Fred had hung out with Warren Sap that summer. Warren had told him they were going to get him in that game, Fred really didn't say much. He was a quiet kid. And then Fred danced into the end zone and has always sort of held that over Warren's that set. That's Fred's favorite moment and it sure stands out to me as well.
You know, he is off Taylor running left cuts. In fact, he's got a hold there. He is thirty Taylor rock side forty there he goes to the forty five to fifty.
It's a foot race.
Forty Taylor, thirty Taylor to the twenty, takes to the ten. He's pulled down, but he gets into the episode touchdown in the first play.
Of the game.
How about that one of our Monday Night football moments, and of course a great moment for Fred Taylor. Our big thing today has to be finalist Fred Fred Taylor making it to the finalist list for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the first time. Obviously we're very excited about it. Brian, what does the step mean for Fred?
Well, I think he is one step closer now towards knowing that he's going to get into the Hall of Fame. I mean, I believe that I always have and I look at that list and there are great players on that list, but I don't think any of them are better than Fred John And so for Fred.
It was about getting into the room. And people could hold it against him that he didn't have as many.
Pro Bowls as other players, did have as many touchdowns as some other players, but he had big moments in big games and on big stages. Remember his two hundred and forty three yards at three Rivers Stadium in two thousand and four touchdowns against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I mean, he had those kinds of moments. So for Fred, I think this means that he's.
On the path. Yeah, I think he's getting in. I don't know it's gonna be this year. This can be a process, as we all know, and it's a weird process, not always a fair process. But getting in the room is very important in this deal because when you're not in the final fifteen, the voters think about you and they look at you, but they don't talk to each other that much about you. There's not as much convincing.
And I think once they start, this month will now be about these voters making calls to each other, making calls to people who played watching. And I've always thought once the voters go back and start watching Fred's highlights, his big moments, and they see the unbelievable combination of size and strength.
It's rare.
Maybe Oj Simpson had it. There's been a few guys in league history who have had his combination of size and strength, not many and speed. Once they start seeing the highlights, once they start seeing the moves and the moments, I think his status will rise among voters. Maybe not this year, but I think it's a sooner rather than later now for Fred. I hope so.
Sam Cauvares, the longtime sports director at WJXT Channel four here in town, he's the voter who matters now because he's the guy who's going to have to make the case to all those other voters. Of course, he covered Fred through all those years, and it's going to be up to him just by himself. There'll be a lot of people that will be assisting him in putting together the package.
You know, the.
Pitch if you will, to all those other voters. So he's got a lot of work to do. Luckily, he's got a lot to work with With Fred Taylor.
I was gonna say a lot of the video is definitely gonna help out that pitch, because if you watch it, you can see with your own eyes he's certainly a.
Hall of Famer.
We're gonna talk a little bit more about Fred later on in the show, but right now we'll come back to present day for our second big thing, which is will.
He or won't he.
Trevor Lawrence suffered his fourth injury so far this season. It's an ac sprain in his throwing shoulder. He talked a little bit yesterday about what it's gonna take, what his practice schedule is gonna be like to sleep.
That's the plan right now. I mean, obviously things can change, but yeah, as of right now, don't plan on doing much today and we'll see tomorrow. Kind of take it day by day, but yeah, not really gonna throw any to day and from there, like I said, it's just you never know how things are gonna heal up and how quickly you're gonna recover. But right now it's still and still kind of working through the beginning stages of you know, getting back, so we'll kind of see how
it goes. But that's the plan right now.
John, We saw that Trevor was physically at practice. He did not participate in practices out there in shorts, just kind of going through all the game plan and everything. Is this another situation where we won't know until closer to Friday or Saturday whether he's gonna.
Play well this one? Man, I know till Sunday. I don't really have a gut on this one. I guess I've guessed and projected so many times this season that it all sort of feels lost. Now. I think he'll play it if capable. If I'm Doug Peterson, I'll go back to what I've said all week, Brian. I would think about the practice time. I would think about the continuity element. Not that Trevor necessarily can't do it, but how much timing does he have with receivers based on
the week? Feels like that's been a thing. I would worry about that a little bit. But I kind of think he goes.
My gut is is that he doesn't.
John, and I think if you're a round this league for any length of time, you start to look at transactions on Tuesdays and start.
To read tea leaves.
And they went and signed Mad Barkley off of the Giants practice squad, and now they had to bring him to the active roster.
But they could have just elevated E. J. Perry.
I mean, if they thought that there was a legitimate chance that Trevor was gonna be able to go, you know you wouldn't. I don't think you would have gone to this trouble to bring in a guy that Doug has some familiarity with. I look at that, and I think there's just this is this is one injury too far down the road, and this is his throwing shoulder.
I like to read body language.
I listen carefully, I pay attention, and my gut told me yesterday that this is gonna be the one that he's not gonna be able to go, and they're gonna have to try to beat the Carolina Panthers without him this week, and I think they can do that. Keep in mind, you know, this is not just a decision for this year. This is a decision for his offseason.
That's his throwing shoulder. And if you want to know what happens when you're throwing shoulder ac joint is injured, just look at Anthony Richard and the surgical procedure that he had for the Colts and his timetable for coming back and being.
Ready to go.
So I think they're cautious with this thing, and I just have the sense he's not going this week. But that's there's no insight other than what I just told you. I got thirty years of doing this guy and reading the tea leaves.
We'll try to figure things out. We'll talk it out a little bit as well. Our final big thing today is turnovers. So Trevor has been playing hurt for some time, whether that's him playing hurt or some of the other communication issues, there's been a lot of turnovers, especially in the past couple of weeks, and they've hurt this team.
And Les Taylor talked about that yesterday.
You know, I think he takes that very personal. He's very accountable. That's one of the things that we really like about Trevor. You know, he understands where his responsibilities lie in terms of protecting football for this team, and so he takes responsibility of that.
Ryan. He's accountabile. He always owns up to it.
But he seems to be making a lot of those mistakes lately, a little bit more than we're used to.
Yeah, he leads the NFL over the last three year in turnovers, and I wrote this for quick thoughts after the game on Sunday. You know, he's kind of approaching Josh Allen's territory. Alan's a guy who, since he came into the league in twenty eighteen, has led the league in turnovers. Now Allen has more than made up with it with ninety seven touchdowns and kept his team in contention. And that's where you hope Trevor gets that he slows down the rate.
Of turnovers, takes better care of the football.
Tom Coffin John always used to have a saying and he'd say it with a sneer on his face and callous disregard for the football. I don't think he has disregard for the football. I just think on Sunday he was off and he just has a tendency turned the ball over because he's not quite as careful as he needs to be. This is something that he's gonna have to focus on because he's gonna be asked about it until it stops.
Yeah, and they tend to snowball. They snowball on Trevor a little bit, and he's certainly a snowball. In the last couple of weeks, I attribute a lot of it to especially last week, it feels like timing stuff. It feels like young receiver stuff when he's throwing, when he he's in the pocket, he said yesterday, And I think it's priority one figure out how to protect the ball in the pocket. It's one thing to gets sacked, it's
another thing to fumble as prodigiously as he does. I mean, he fumbels a lot in the pocket and it hurts you. Beyond that, though, what's really hurting them lately first half season, first eight games, I think the numbers thirteen turnovers, they give up nineteen points fifteen turnovers since week seven, sixty nine points off up. It's caused an avalanche and it's as press set. Those numbers are the reason for the slot.
And the defense has not been as productive at taking the bowl away in the second half of the season as well, which hasn't helped.
Yes, the turnover differential definitely not great right now. That's something they need to work on as well going forward. To stay with us here on jag Zam, we're going to talk more about Fred Taylor's career and his resume going into the Hall of Fame, hopefully on this time around as a finalist.
There he goes Freig Taylor, breaks the tackles, he's on the run, spend fine touchdown Freig Taylor and Checksonville reclaims the league.
Hollis puts it up and threw in the check.
Wars are winners over the Denver Broncos.
That on Monday night football moment for Fred always helps when you can have those big games on a primetime stage so other people remember it as well.
If you go back and look at that game, Fred had been hampered by a hamstring all season.
Long, and he hadn't played a whole lot.
That was a Monday night game and homefield advantage was on the line for the playoffs, and Fred didn't start that game and didn't play a whole lot till the fourth quarter. That may have been his third or fourth carry, and of course it was the game winning touchdown. And I love the fact that they show the highlight there at the end that about the four yard line he just put sort of jumped effortlessly from the four into the end zone. I mean, he was such a gifted football player physical specimen.
He could do things that other people couldn't.
What does this step mean to this process obviously we know he's made the semi finalist five times before, but to get to the final group to be heard, what is that process like and what does this mean?
Well, as we talked about it, it puts you in the room and the conversation, and that's when the voters start talking to each other. Hey, sell me on your guy, tell me why he should be in. It's when the voters start calling people in their area, in their world that they know, a team president, a scout who scouted this guy, a head coach, a player who played against him, and they start trying to figure out who should be in.
One thing that I think fans and observers of the process, when their guy doesn't get in, they get very upset and it's understandable, I can tell you from it, and they criticize the process. There's no great process for the Hall of Fame. There's not another one out there that's better. What I can tell you is it is from knowing the people and being at Super Bowls when I've heard
guys talking about this. The voters care about it. They spend a lot of time not with their jobs, but with talking to other people, asking questions, trying to get it right. They all want to get it right. There's fifteen guys. As Bisselli said multiple times, everybody on the fifteen list deserves to be in. So you're talking about sometimes it's not even the most deserving guy that year. It's how it falls. But there is a process in this that a candidate gains momentum sometimes over years. I
thought it happened with Tony. The more he's talked about then all of a sudden he finished his twelfth that year seventh and more and more voters say, you know what, I didn't vote for him this year, but at some point we got to get him in. And that's sort of the momentum that can build for a guy. And I think that's what will happened with Fred. I'm not sure he gets in this year, but I think once people start talking about him and watching him again, the momentum is gonna build for Fred.
How many locks did you see on that list? I mean, how many guys do you say, well, he absolutely is going in. I mean, I tell you Julius Peppers, I thought, Dwight Freeney for sure, Antonio Gates, Andre Johnson. I mean, I can make the case for those guys, but they have to go in.
Yeah, I don't know. I but again to your point, I think when you mentioned those guys, I covered Dwight and I think he's a Hall of Famer. When I looked at the list, I didn't think, boy, he's getting in this year. I covered Reggie think he's All of Famer. Of Reggie Wayne, I don't know there's any locks, but I think what might hurt Fred this year is there are a number of guys and when you talk to committee members, they talk about it, well, so and so
has been waiting for a long time. You know, Andre Johnson has been in this process for a while. Reggie Wayne is a lot of guys who've been in it for a while. Since it might be a year where the voters say, Okay, we're gonna take this year and get some guys in who need to be in. Because it shouldn't work that way, but that's how it does. At the same time, Fred's the only running back, and there wasn't a running back last year either who got in.
There's gonna be nobody else at his position that bumps him down in this process. That kind of thing can matter.
Teamage too, right, I mean, you wouldn't think that Dwight Freemy and Reggie would get in the same year.
Yeah, probably not. It usually doesn't work that way. And other position groups usually they usually but often multiple wide multiple position groups don't get in. I think he has a chance. I'd be surprised if somebody has been on the ballot five times. The semi finalist sort of races through the process and gets in as a finalist first year. But the other side of that statement is this voting process often surprises you, so it could easily happen.
You know, you can go back and look at a lot of different things about Fred. Randy Moss was the Rookie of.
The Year in two thousand and a party in nineteen ninety eight, he had seventeen touchdowns. Fred had seventeen touchdowns as a rookie, and four of sixty yards or longer, and some of those were game winning sorts of plays. I think people have forgotten that in two thousand he had a stretch of nine consecutive games where he rushed
for at least one hundred yards. At that time, only Marcus Allen and Barry Sanders had ever done more than that, and since then only Chris Johnson from the Tennessee Titans has done at least ten. So you're putting into the elite company.
I shouldn't say that you're putting him. He put himself an elite company with the way that he played.
I would put that's the last time I covered Fred was two thousand the street that Brian talked about as a Jaguars team that year that was falling off of what they had been. I I would put that year up with the forty nine touchdown season that I covered a Manning as the two most impressive years. Maybe throw more Eas's rushing title because of what he did when
he had no help around him. But two thousand eleven his year that year nine stra eight hundred yard games, and I forget the stat I knew was with the tu an unbelievable number of forty yard runs. Mixed in with that his ability to break the long run in a league where that's hard to do because of the speed and size of defenses. I mean, he's he's a Hall of Famer to me.
At some point he once was aggravated with me because he heard me say that I thought he was the best one yard back in football and I laughed, I said, fred, I didn't say one yard. I said one yard line, meaning he could score from your one yard line. Because of two hundred and thirty pounds, he was tough to keep out of the end zone, but he could score from his as well. His ninety yard touchdown run in the AFC Visual Playoff game here against Miami, which was
undoubtedly the fastest defense in football that year. That's Jason Taylor, that's Brock Marion, Sam Madison, and he made them look silly as he made them run all the way from sideline to sideline and then just went right.
Down the middle for ninety yards. It was spectacular.
Had a thirty eight yard touchdown in that game as well, where he stopped and started him at four different times and then finally got up the sideline and it was like the Dolphins were like, how did he do that? And just watched him go. It was breathtaking. And I have to say a quick story. In nineteen ninety eight, Tom Coffin was really in on Curtis Enis, the big running back from Penn State. He really wanted that big, bruising guy. It reminded him of Oh J Anderson, who
played with him at the New York Giants. But Fred's Pro Day was held on a Wednesday, and I had gotten word back then there was no Internet or social media. I'd gotten word from some scouting buddies that Fred had run really fast, really fast. So I'm sitting in the radio studio because we did a Wednesday night show, and Tom comes walking down the hallway said, Hey, Tom, was Fred as fast as everyone said? And he stuck his
head and he goes, you know, big eyes. He went four three, four point three, and then just turned and walked and went they're taking fread. I mean, at that moment, you just knew he was so blown away by the size speed ratio. Two hundred and thirty pounds to run four point three and I think Fred will take you ran four point two nine at the at the Florida Pro Day.
It was just it was it was obvious.
And Curtisinas never did turn into a great back, he had knee problems. And Fred is a Hall of Famer.
Here's what it's remarkable about the four two and now I was actually there and it's one of the few times that are Pro day that you heard scouts whoa like And it was across the field and you heard a collective whoa. Fred also told me later, and I think he's he's okay with me telling this. He didn't train, that's yeah, he showed up. He said he went. You know, he was young. He went to a lot of parties after his Florida season, and he he I'm sure he may exaggerate it a little bit, but it was not
a situation. I think this is right. I think he told me that he went to a speed camp, may have been Shaws maybe in whatever one's And after a couple of days they told me it's not thanking do for him. Yeah, because he was you should teach the class. Yeah, we're trying to get people where you are. I think that's right, and if it's not, I apologize to Fred. But I do know that he told me once that he was not in his best shape when he ran his four two nine.
So this thing about that, yeah, it's unbelievable, and I think we should just I mean, because at some point we've got to get off the air.
I'll just leave you with this. Fred showed up.
In nineteen ninety eight on a Suzuki Samurai right on a rocket and he had the gold teeth in and he ate. He was always had a bag of burger king or something. He was just this brash, just like you know, show up and run.
And from who he was.
Is this brash rookie to who he is now as this superstar you know, father, husband, businessman, member of his community in South Florida. In here, there are so many people who are so proud of Fred Taylor, the man, Fred Taylor, the Jaguar football player, Fred Taylor, the Jaguar representative. It was an incredible journey. He lost a lot of money. His wife Andy helped him get it back with Drew Rosenhaus.
His story is one of always overcoming the circumstances, whether it was being from Belglade, Florida, or he had an unfortunate incident with a backpack when he was a freshman at the University of Florida, or whether it was you know, his diet or his hamstring or the money that he lost. And he never let know define him ever, And so I don't expect that the Hall of Fame will be able to tell him no either.
He is truly somebody that I am proud to know.
Very cool. We've heard so much about him.
I will give my small outside perspective because before I came here, obviously, you guys know I all came in April. If you said Jaguars to me, Fred Taylor is absolutely the name that comes to my mind. And I think that's very relevant to everyone else, especially when you're pitching somebody you already know Fred that's top of mind. And then when you look back at the video like I have been this past week or so, it really jumps off the tape to you.
So it's just a matter of time for Fred.
And of course we'll have tons of time to talk about Fred as this process goes forward.
Stay with us here on Jagsam.
We'll get back to the game as we look ahead to who some of our big game players are going to be on Sunday. Jagxam brought to you by Suttuth, Florida's trusted and reliable moving company. Suttith is proud to be the official moving partner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. You can get a guaranteed quote by visiting suttif dot com slash jack. We also want to recognize our Florida Lottery
High School Scholar Athlete of the Month Taylor Shaw. Taylor has proven academic excellence, dedication in the community, and demonstrate the leadership on and off the field. The Bright Future Scholarship program, which is primarily funded by the Florida Lottery, assists students in pursuing post secondary education and career goals. Of course, congratulations to Taylors hopes to attend UF next year and of course is a member of the cheerleading squad.
I don't know about thinking about it like that. I just just.
Go out there and be me.
Let's kind of always have That's kind of always That's kind of how I always have been.
That's just the player I am.
That's the person I am, so never trying.
To force anything or try too hard to show anything.
I'll just go out there and be myself and just let it.
Just let it whatever, show the chart.
Welcome back to jag Zam here and Cam Robinson's going to be back in the mix. His window was activated. Everything goes to plan. He'll be back on the field this week. And John, I know he's your player that you're going to talk about. But the cool thing about Cam is Cam brings an energy. Cam brings something to see and Doug Peterson mentioned it earlier this week. We all have seen it before, but he doesn't think about it that way because he's just being cam.
Yeah. I you know there keeps on being talked better not being here next year.
I can't.
I hope that I get it. I get to talk.
Uh.
They need that guy. I mean, you know, I get everything else, but I don't see that guy walking out of the locker room. So uh, and I'm gonna go ready for it, you know. And something needs to happen around here. Something needs to change. I'm gonna blow your mind here. He won't now he will. First, he won't. He won't stay on IR this week. He'll be activated. He will play, and he will bring the energy that we're talking about. There's something about this team when he plays.
I think I think there's six and one with him, U two and six without. I mean, whatever it is, they're much better with them then without him. And I can't say that he's going to make them a great running team, but he might make them better enough for them to function in the offense better than they have that. I'm sorry that was a lot script.
Won't he will? He will? He might? Right, you're a friend setter.
That's the kind of guy.
Yeah. Oh no, yeah, we do know, don't We absolutely know.
Don't tell me to stay in the bottom.
I was one of those people who thought that Cam Robinson's salary cap number. He's an eighteen point seventy five million dollar savings and with all the players that they had to sign, I thought he was going to end up being a salary cap casualty, especially with Walker Little. But Little hasn't played as well as Cam Robinson, and all of a sudden, a bunch of these guys who who you thought you were gonna pay haven't met that standard and you probably don't have to go out and pay.
So my sense now is you're keeping Cam Robinson. You know, you may ask him to renegotiate a little bit, but if I'm him, I say I'll stand on my number.
Yeah. There's just certain guys right like you look at him, you see him talking there. He plays like a man out there.
And be a loss in several different ways.
Yeah, and he is the ass kicker that you need on the offensive line. You got to have one of those guys, and he's it.
He's the me of the locker room.
Oh I love it. I'm going with Trayvon Walker.
Did you know that Trayvon Walker has more sacks right Hudgins than the right just in cases you're wondering, and what was people that thought that Aiden Hutchinson was a better football player. Trayvon Walker is a terrific football player and he is coming on strong and he will keep that going this week.
I don't know.
He won't get three sacks necessarily in the next two games, but he might approach that ten sack number, which seems to be the barometer for people believing in players.
I know this.
This defense would not be as good without him. He is a dominant player on his side of the line, and he is learning how to pass rush. And the way he finished that sack against the Ravens and Lamar Jackson told me everything I needed to see. He's always right there. He's still learning the moves right. He always is right there. He's got to figure a couple of things out. But it looks to me John like he might be figuring those things out. So it was he will he won't.
He might. He might. For me, you can't stack to the script, but that's you.
I mean, I'm I'm more of a rebel.
You're well, I'm gonna do a little hot take with my he will, he won't, He might because we didn't do hot takes this week.
So my person is c J.
Bethard because I think he will play on Sunday against the Panthers. I just get a little bit of an inkling that because it's Trevor's throwing shoulder, it's a little bit different. Plus what we've seen out of Trevor when he doesn't practice hasn't translated very well. So I think CJ will be out there for them, and he won't be challenging anybody for the starting job. I don't think he's taking a job from Trevor, but he might impress you a little bit with his connections. As we've mentioned,
a lot of the starting wide receivers are out. We don't know if say Jones is going to be available. Christian Kirk obviously out for quite some time. But when you see a Parker Washington, when you see a Cook's out there, when you see even he's got a little bit of chemistry with Calvin Ridley as well, you might be surprised at what CJ is able to do with
this offense. And it kind of is are a little bit different in the terms of obviously you don't have the talent that Trevor brings to the field, not saying that whatsoever, but CJ has a way of setting things up for the wide receivers to make those plays, and when you get it to Calvin, then Calvin can do what he does. I think that might be interesting to see if they give some significant time to see j Well, it starts this game, and.
You're right, besides the shoulder, you know, he's the guy who's getting the significant reps on the practice field with guys like Washington, with Elijah Cooks, with Tim Jones, these guys who are gonna have to contribute. He's out there getting the reps in Trevor's not. So I get the talent, there's no doubt. I mean, one was the number one overall picking the draft for a reason. But this week it just seems to me like you're.
Right, especially when you take on the Panthers. Not to discount the Panthers because they're playing better than the Jaguars are right now, but this seems like a game where this can be done and with a good practice week, this is something that can definitely happen. Stay with us here on jag Zam. We always appreciate you joining us and we'll be right back as we look forward to that game on Sunday. Jags fans, if you want customized Jaguars furniture for your home, check out zipchare dot com
to browse all the customizable options. Zip Chair is furniture made for fans. This Sunday's game against the Panthers is brought to you by Johnson and Johnson, the makers of ACU brand contact lenses making vision possible. Probably based in Jacksonville, you can visit jjvision dot com. Let's go, let's go, let's.
Go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
A lot of urgency from Evan Ingram.
You know, he's been a big target as he approaches that catches all time catches. I know Jimmy Smith has the numbers, but Evan's getting up there and it's impressive for a tight end to be able to do that as well. We're looking forward to this Panthers game. For me, I don't know what you guys a looking for. I'm looking for just the effort out there, the focus they've
been lacking confidence. I just want to see them get out there, get something early and just let that momentum ride because they just got to get a win to kind of get over this hump.
In my mind, I'd like to see him grind went out, you know.
I mean, everyone wants to see a forty two to seven kind of game, but I don't think if you have your backup quarterback, especially.
That you can count on that.
I just want to see him get through and get to the end of the game and have something that they can go, hey, we're in that this week.
We're back on track.
Yeah, get a lead, make the Panthers play uphill and show them the better team. You're the better team, play like it, and they've played They haven't played like that enough lately, and I think they will, but we got to see it.
Have to go out and prove it.
Season is on the line against the Panthers this week, and of course we hope you guys enjoy the game. We'll be back here on Jagszam next week to go over everything that goes down.