Welcome into de exam. I'm kind of on a Stephen's free agency in the NFL kicking off last Wednesday, and a whole lot of changes to this Jaguars roster have come about since that time. Brian Sexton is with me today, John Osier is off, and Brian, I think the big thing we need to talk about because at this point last week Calvin Ridley was still in the mix, but he has since signed with the Titans. So our first big thing today is zeroed in because Zero is no
longer on this roster. Calvin Ridley getting a huge guaranteed deal fifty million guaranteed over ninety two million over four years as he heads to the Titans. Now, Brian, no one's excited when a Jaguar goes to play for the Titans. But when you saw that contract deal, it kind of made sense.
Yeah, you didn't want to pay that.
The Jaguars had him here all year last year, and you know it was a contract year for Calvin, and yet he still struggled to be in the right place at the right time way too often.
If you watched the.
Jags last year, you know there were moments where you're thinking, what is he doing so. If he's going to get fifty million guaranteed dollars to go to a place where he might not be in the right place at the right time with the quarterback who's not that accurate, I say good luck.
To you, Titans.
Calvin Ridley's a dynamic talent. We watched him on the training camp field last year and had huge expectations for what he would do, and at times kai I mean, we went wow, what he has done, what he did in his only season in Jacksonville was you know, give us a glimpse, give us a taste.
Of what he was capable of.
And the Titans said, we love him, we'll pay him, and the Jaguars said, we'll move on a.
Little bit of what could have been right because if you look at the situation a little bit differently, maybe if Josh Allen's contract gets sorted out a little bit sooner, you can franchise tag him, maybe get another year and see what that would turn into. But all for not, as Calvin is now headed to Tennessee. Our second big
thing today is a big addition. Because they didn't spend that money on wide receiver Calvin Ridley, they were able to send it on a big guy, the big addition being Eric Armstead and the defensive lineman Brian We've been talking for a while about, you know, adding some big guys to line Those were big issues for this team last year and certainly fills a need both in leadership and on the field.
Well, he's big and he's got great wingspan.
When you watch him play as we are right now, you see a guy who can make a play even when it seems like the play isn't there to be made. The quarterback sliding out of the pocket, but he can reach and pull a guy to the ground. Imagine what you can do with a big body like Eric Armstead pushing the pocket a We didn't have that last year where the pocket was making the quarterback decide to go to his left and Josh Allen or to his right
and Trayvon Walker. So what you've got now is quarterbacks, if there is not a lot of time to throw the ball, are going to have to get on the move, which should set up the edge guys to make even more plays. And the other thing I think is really interesting is what you can do with two guys with great wingspan, both Trayvon Waller and Armstead are tall, have great length of shoulder, length of arm and are guys
who can make plays. I think it's gonna be really interesting to see how Ryan Nielsen dials up different games and stunts with those guys on the same side of the line.
Absolutely. One final big thing for US today receiver rumor. Now there was some talk of fellow forty nine er Brandon a Youth possibly getting traded over here, but now the focus kind of shifting to the draft. Is a wide receiver in the mix for seventeen because this is a deep wide receiver draft. Do we think that the team is done yet, Brian, or is this something where they're going to try to make a trade happen or are they already focusing on the draft?
Well, I don't know how you get anything, looks, I don't know how you got what you got done last week with as little cap room as they had, and with Josh Allen seeing they were twenty four million dollars on the cap.
I don't know this, but I would.
Guess that they can't do anything more really until they get something done with Josh Allen, and they have until July fifteenth, which is when they either have to stick the tag on him for the rest of the year, or get a deal done to get that number down and if they want, they can go play there. But you know, kay, look, the draft is filled with receivers. College football now plays the passing game that the NFL does,
So receivers. I don't want to say they're a dime a dozen, but you can find good receivers later in the draft. If you have a chance at a Marvin Harrison junior, a Roma Dunze from Washington, all right, then maybe because that looks like a game changer. But where the Jaguars sit and where need is for them, we've
talked about this. They have one offensive tackle under contract beyond this season one Cam Robinson and Walker Little's deals expire at the end of twenty twenty four, so you're going to want to go and get a young tackle somewhere in the first two rounds.
They need a corner.
Also, know what they've got will last for now, but you want a young corner to develop opposite of where you're sitting. So I can't imagine that they're going to spend a whole lot of time at wide receiver on seventeen unless the unthinkable happens and one of those guys starts to drop down the board and they say, well, what a the cost to go up?
But I would say that receiver's going to be done until the draft.
All about how the board falls. So we still got a couple of weeks, so as we look forward to the draft in April, try to figure things out exactly what they're going to do. Stay with us here on Jagsam. Coming up after the break, we're gonna hear from some of those new additions from free agency. Freight Move the Freight, Move the Freight. Magellan Transport voted the coolest office space in Jacksonville. You can apply online at Magellanlogistics dot com. Today,
welcome back to Jagsam in the Hyundai Studios. Brian Sexton is with me today, John oser Off, I assume on a beach somewhere with a cocktail in his hand, at least I hope.
So for John Stone, I strike you as a beach.
Guy, absolutely, probably a giant I've seen his giant beach hats at training camp, so I assume he's a giant hat guy on the beach.
I've never seen him at the beach. I like you would think the hat would be there if he was.
All right, guys, if you're on a beach somewhere, go look for Ozone. I think he might be out there. He'll be back with us next week. But a lot of going on this week. I mean, we've had some different shows since then, but we haven't had a jags Am since all these new additions to the team. Brian, is there a name that sticks out to you so far that is kind of the jewel of the class. I feel like everybody kind of fits a need. Obviously Armstead is the newest and latest, which is great, but
all of them kind of fit a need, which is great. Well.
Trent Balkey, when he sat before the media in late January, Kai talked about getting more physical up front on both sides of the ball, and we assumed obviously that on offense that meant changing center right, finding a guy that you could count on that would help.
You on third and short, which the Jaguar struggled at.
So Mitch Moore immediately comes to mind when you watch the highlights of him and what he was able to do in that Bill's offense, which was more past centric, right, I mean, they threw the ball first, but Mitch gets out there and moves guys, which we didn't see enough of with Luke Fordner last year. You need someone who can clearer space, especially on third down and short so Mitch Moore strikes that.
But then you bring in Eric Armstead, who he.
Came through here nine years ago on a rookie prospect visit, and I will never forget how tall and long he.
Was for defensive tackle.
Right We're all used to Calais Campbell, who plays out on the end, but this is a guy who's been an interior guy. And of course he went on to great success with the Niners and is not just a stud on the field but off the field as a four time NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee from the Niners. So you're bringing in a big guy who will create a lot of havoc in the middle of the line.
Makes we hope that he does.
And I think those two guys are the ones that meet the test that Trent set out that day, which was we have to be more physical.
I think Armstence specifically, probably one of Trent Balky's better draft picks. He was drafted by Trent Balkey in San Francisco. That relationship certainly has withstood time because he got him to sign here in Jacksonville, and Armstead spoke to us yesterday and said a little bit about what he's hoping to bring to his new team.
The Jags were a good team before me, and you know, whenever I entered the situation, you know, not just football, but in life in general, and when I'm meeting people, when i'm you know, answering situation working with people, you know, I want to make the place better than what I founded. I want to make a positive impact on So I think this team was already a phenomenal team, and I think I can help get them to the next level. So having that opportunity is something I look forward to as well.
I'm kind of interested to see how he is and Roy Robertson Harris play next to each other. He played at Oregon with the Forest Buckner, who we now know obviously is in Indianapolis, but he was drafted by the Niners, and so is Buckner, and they played next to each other in the same line in San Francisco. You know, you've got that size, that height, the length, the ability to block passes in the middle.
Well, Roy's that guy.
I mean he's six foot six and he's got the long arms as well.
So you put those two guys next to each other in the middle.
Longtime Jaguars observers will remember what it was like when you had Marcus Stroud at six six and John Henderson at six seven in the middle of the line. I mean it was like having a coke machine next to a Pepsi machine, right. I mean you had these two big bodies and you had to move around them.
You had to go to the outside.
And now on the outside here you've got Trayvon who's tremendous against the run, and Josh Walker, who's playmaker in every aspect. But the defensive line took a big step forward hitting a guy like Eric Armstead, and I think if you get Devon Hamilton back to himself, now you've got a game change up where you can completely flip the script and move things around and create some habit.
I think one of the first things Armstead said when he was talking to the media yesterday is he wants to stop the run, which as we know, got away from the Jaguars at the end of last season. But they have the skill and talent level to be. You know, at the beginning of the season, we saw they were one of the better teams at that So hopefully with that new defensive scheme with Ryan Nielsen and what they can work out with these new players, it's going to be a lot different.
Well, and listen, you know what you've got in Indianapolis Jonathan Taylor, right, although the Jaguars have done a nice job on him in recent matchups. And you're grateful that Dereck Henry has moved on to Baltimore and you don't
have to face that runaway train. Although Joe Mixon now is in Texas and he always gave this franchise problems when he was with Cincinnati, so Houston has him, and you just better buckle up because it seems every particular Sunday afternoon in this division, what is jaj Spears kid in Tennessee.
You better be able to stop the running.
This out global quarterbacks as well to also keep an eye on so some of our other editions gave Davis coming down from Buffalo, he said he was pretty excited just you know, when he saw some of the team names coming in. When he saw that Jacksonville was one of the teams I called. That was kind of a relief for him.
As soon as I heard Jacksonville, I was like, thank god they call. I was like, thank god. I wanted to come back to Florida. I wanted to be around in guys that I knew, you know, coach that I loved, and you know, the team's great. See, we can never we.
Can never beat him, you know what I mean.
So came, uh, came came here, and you know, soon as soon as they sent it in, you know, Negoshans winning and then boom. I was like, yeah, I'm a Jaguar man. Pretty easy decision.
You know.
You look at him.
People wanted to compare him to Calvin Ridley. How is he going to compare, you know, numerically catch his yards, touchdowns. I would offer to them to look at it a different way. Look at it as if he is Marvin jones replacement two years ago. Marvin Jones, Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, and Evan Ingram were the basis for which Trevor Lawrence, you know, launched into that second half of the season and really looked like that franchise quarterback that everybody expects
to see every single Sunday. Gabe is taller, he's got longer arms. I don't know that he's faster, but he's at least as fast as Marvin Jones is.
And it's been a clutch guy in Ball Tomorrow part in Buffalo the last couple of years. So I think that it is. I get it.
Calvin Ridley is one of those guys that can put up fourteen hundred yards and I don't see that. I mean, Gabe's never had a thousand. But if Gabe is a seventy catch, a nine hundred yard, eight touchdown guy, well then he's completely productive in this offense because we saw Trevor Lawrence comfortable, willing to drop back, hit his back foot and find who's ever open, not try to force the ball to Calvin Ridley, which honestly, it felt like at times last year they were trying to force feed
and that didn't work. So I think that they go back a bit to twenty twenty two where it's simply everybody is functioning in the offense. Whoever's opened, that's where the ball is going.
And that's the best success we've seen so far. With Trevor Lawrence obviously not feeling the need he needs to go somewhere in particular, but having those options open to him seems to open up the offense as a well.
And before we say that Gave Davis can't do what Calvin did. He had twenty seven touchdowns in four seasons and he wasn't the go to guy that was Stefan did. So you've got a guy that's used to getting the.
Ball in the red zone.
He had the four touchdown game in the playoffs when they played in the AFC Championship game in Kansas City
a few years ago. This is a guy who knows how to make big plays and you bring him in now, it'll be interesting to see how long it takes to develop the chemistry with him, between Trevor and him, because you know Christian, you knows that you know Evan, but you get the sense that this is a guy who's going to get open and even if he's not, because fifty to fifty balls right, it looks like he's got the size and the length to go take that away.
And we've talked about the team not really having that. Right now, you know that big receiver that can go up and take the ball from somebody else and that's a new you know, talent and skill.
And an element that you're looking for is that tall receiver.
Absolutely all these players seem to have one thing in common. They all come in from winning franchises, winning teams. They know what that's going to take to win. Even Ron Darby talking a little bit about his previous experience with Doug and why that made him want to come and play on.
This team, I'm miss saying it all day. He is straight for a coach, Like that's all of you ask for in a coach. You know, he gonna make sure you work, You're gonna make sure you know things get done the way and need to get done. He liked to wins just as much as the players, and like I trusted his schemes and we like he has success like a great coach.
I have to remember in free agency, obviously these guys can pick where they want to end up, and I'm sure money is a big motivating factor of that, but you also want to go somewhere where you're comfortable, you feel like you're gonna win. There's other intangibles and you like your coach, and Doug seems to be winning over a lot of people in some of these interviews.
And the other factor there kai is scheme, right.
I mean, Ronald Darby is a press corner, and the Jaguars didn't really have a press corner. Tyson Campbell is not necessarily a press corner, so they're gonna have to teach him to play that better than he did when he was a rookie and they tried to with him.
Ronald Darby. That is to say, you've got a guy.
That knows the scheme that's going to come in and do exactly what Ryan Nielsen wants to get done. He's thirty years old, he's a guy who's won. Before you mentioned he was with Doug and won a championship. So that's why you think, all right, in the first or second round, if one of those corners is available, we all know the names, you've got to go get yourself one of those. So they can learn from Ronald Darby how to play the position at the NFL level and how to play this scheme.
I'm so excited to see what Ryan Neilson actually does with all this, because we're getting all these new parts. It's looking like a completely different situation. Obviously, we'll have to see what that looks like in training camp, but it's just gonna be a totally different vibe from the team.
Yeah, I would imagine that Ryan's having a little trouble sleeping. He's so excited about some of these guys. Right when you walk in and you've got Josh Allen and Trey Von Walker twenty seven and a half sacks, the most productive one to two tandem in the league last year. Now you get some strength up front, not just a little strength, but a big, strong guy.
If they could push.
The pocket and force guys outside, now you can get more production. Quarterbacks are going to be jumping, They're going to throw the ball up, which means there's more opportunity for turnovers and takeaways. We didn't talk about Darnell Savage coming in and what that means for the rest of the guys on the back end.
There there's some versatility.
Now there's some question mark still, right, but there's enough pieces that he can go out and do what he wants to do.
There's enough and talent there to hold it together. But then also the young guys are going to get a chance, right if it's Antonio Johnson or whoever it might be. On the back end to kind of see what they're going to be able to contribute going forward. Even Andre Cisco, some of tho people are going to Tyson Campbell, whether you're going to want to resign them long term? Is there big prove of years for them.
The name that you said that has the most excited Antonio Johnson, because we saw him in training camp last year and you just you saw a guy who was comfortable right just coming out of Texas, a m was comfortable on the field with what they asked him to do. He had the ankle injury and just wasn't healthy. But late in the year he was blitzing right, he was playing back in coverage. He could do anything you want
him to do. He's big, he's fast, He's got great length, which means that he is a problem for smaller receivers, and he can step up and play the run.
He's going to be on the field a lot.
A good young talent for sure. Stay with us on jag Zam. We will be back and we'll answer some of our fan questions after the right Daguars fans ere up at fanatics dot com and all the latest drag styles you can shop now and get today's special offer fanatics dot Com officially licensed everything. We don't have our guy with us today, We're going to do our best
ozone impression. We've try to answer some of these ozone questions presented by fanatics today because obviously viewer questions do not halt just because Joan Oser is out at the beach.
So people have things to.
Say, people have things to say, people have questions. We're going to start out with Joel from Jacksonville says last season, there were several times where the coaches felt that an injured Lawrence with limited practice was a better choice than backup quarterback C. J. Betheart. So does the addition of Jones change those and any future decisions? Also, since Jones is that first round pick and they still have the
fifth year option with him. So for me, I'm thinking this is kind of low risk, high reward right with Mac because what he went through in New England was not great. You know, so many different offensive coordinators, one of which was not an offensive coordinator at all, and it was a tough situation.
So well, let's start with the back end of the question.
Because they traded for Mac Jones, Because because they traded for him.
His contract comes with him, so they.
Do have the fifth year option, but the fifth year option for a quarterback, and I think I looked at his numbers something north of twenty million dollars, so you're probably not going to use that now.
Do I think it's an upgrade?
Yeah, he's a young, smart quarterback who's had success as a starter in this league. Things went south, but you know when you look at the Patriots and you covered the Patriots, so you know this wasn't the same Patriots team. It wasn't like he had the same talent level around him. They were grabbing receivers in and out, trying to find running back combinations that worked. I think the long short of it is you're taking a flyer on a talented,
smart quarterback. You're bringing him home and hoping that the surroundings helping him get comfortable. And we heard him last week when he was here talk about getting the trained back on the track, so he's obviously motivated to come in to a quarterback friendly system and see if he can become the best version of himself.
This is something to me where if you can rebuild his confidence, you can get something out of him, and.
Without a doubt Doug Peter now if you mean get something out of him on the field or perhaps be able to convert him into.
A draft pick.
I'm saying it based off knowing what the NFL is currently, as the many games as they play, your backup can be a huge difference. We've seen it on several different teams last year. I mean the Browns, the Bengals. We saw it's that can play a role. If Trevor missus one or two games, that can be the difference. We would have made the playoffs if you win some of
those games. So I think that Mac can play a huge role being given that confidence playing for a former quarterback like Doug Peterson because a lot of Mac Jones's issues. The back end of that, we're just having no confidence in yourself. When you're going out there as a quarterback and you don't think you can do it, you're not going to be successful.
He's got more experience than C. J. Bethard, even though Bethant's been in the game longer, he was a starter. Bethard has you know, twelve thirteen starts under his career. This guy has started for two and a half seasons in the NFL. He was a first round pick for a reason. He was hyper productive at the top of the food chain in college football. I mentioned smart and he was a four to zero, you know, academic All American. So you bring him in and give him a chance
to supplant. He's going to cost more than CJ. Bethard, but he's a guy that you can perhaps, as we mentioned, reclaim and have a guy on the field that can get it done. And then you don't know what the market does. Maybe you've got him for two years, or maybe you get him to a year or two of the contract and someone comes and says, I'll give you a third round pick. I need a quarterback, and then maybe it works out best for everybody.
An intriguing option for sir. We'll see what Doug Peterson can kind of work with mac. Another question from Fanatics fan Questions for ozone mailbag is going to be Nick from the Palm Coast. He says, with our new defensive scheme, who covers Ridley two times a year? Do we just get up on the line of play physical with him because that's shown to be less productive for him when he's been harassed a little bit at the line.
Well, Ryan Nielsen plays press right and press meansor at the line harassing. I would think that this would be Tyson Campbell, not only because he's the best corner the Jaguars have right now, but we watched and we talked a lot about watching Calvin Ridley and Tyson Campbell lined up one on one against each other and how much fun it was. Anyone who was here at the open
training camp practices last year remembers watching those two. And that was of course Calvin at his peak, when he was playing so well in training camp, when all eyes were on him, all cameras were trained on zero there.
So I would think Tyson Campbell because he knows him.
He practiced against him every day last year and they were some of the most fun moments during training camp. Now they could draft somebody, right, and if they do, give him the opportunity, but I would think Tyson would be the guy.
Curious ligning up with Hopkins. It's like pick your poison a little bit. Then, Also, how the Titans end up using him, because Calvin talked I think a little bit in his press conference saying he didn't really get to play different positions while he was hearing I mean he kind of just you know, went deep most of the time on the edges, didn't crossover. I mean, Christian Kirk's the slot guy here, so he wasn't going to get those opportunities. But maybe they'll utilize him.
In the figure it out.
You know another guy that I think has the ability to play a little bit of corner and as a nickel, he might and that is Antonio Johnson. And he's got the length and especially the strength to play at the line of scrimmage, to play a bit of press.
Well, that would be fun.
Calvin would probably really not enjoy the afternoon with Antonio Johnson, as long and lanky as he is in his face the whole game, harassing him at the line of scrimmage.
Here's hoping. I'm sure that's exactly what Jaguars are hoping happens. Stay with us here on Jags Aam. We're gonna take a quick break and talk about what we're coming up the rest of the week. Join us on Tuesday, April sixteenth, from six thirty to eight thirty at EverBank Stadium for the be Inspired by Jags Jobs event presented by the Florida Lottery. You can register now at Jaguars dot Com slash Bright futures. We're looking forward to the draft. Of course, you're heading to Detroit this year.
Going to Detroit, see if they can do as good a job. Kansas City was outstanding last year.
Impartial to Kansas City, I am so.
I'll tell you that the place I think that's done the best job, but the draft is Nashville.
Okay, it was there in twenty nineteen that it was like the party year that was the Josh Allen Draft.
If you've ever been to Nashville, you know Broadway. They had cameras strung all the way up by the hockey arena. They're doing all the way down to the very end of Broadway, running back and forth. Nashville is just a great city to go and have a good time in. And they did an amazing job. Kansas City wasn't that far behind. And yes, I am impartial, No, I'm sorry partial. I am partial to Kansas City because it's home. But
they did an exceptional job. And of course, you know when you walk out with the trophy to start every night and the crowd.
Goes wild, it gives a a vibe that most places don't have.
Absolutely, Detroit will try. We'll see what they can put together.
They had a really good year.
It's gonna be good, it's gonna be eventful no matter what. Just their fan base alone, I'm sure, so that's exciting. We'll be of course, looking ahead the next couple of weeks, giving you an idea of where the Jaguars may go with their draft picks. But thanks for joining us on Jagsam. We'll see you again next week.