Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 136 | Front Office Structure, Head Coach Coen on Current Players & Future NFL Tentpoles

Sign sex name don Oger. Are with me as we're going to recap the Combine for you from last week and also talk a little bit about free agency, which is about a week away at this point. So let's start out with our big things today. First big thing is first impressions GM. James Gladstone was introduced to us last week and kick things off right away by heading to the Combine and getting to work. And he's talking a little bit to us about what it's going to be like getting integrated with his new.

Team in terms of you know, what you may say is me getting up to speed. I'm going to calibrate my own mode of operation to the jaguars current mode of operation. One person changing rather than a large group changing in the immediate immediate mode is going to be a little bit more efficient and less disruptive.

Brian, there's a lot of new faces around here right now. They are all in Indianapolis last week getting to work together. What are your first impressions of James Gladstone from what we've seen so far?

Well, I told Jeff Logerman during our live broadcast before his introductor press conference that I had talked to a friend who used to work here, who now works there? Who said that James Gladstone in a building filled with stars, great people, very successful people, that RAMS organization has produced a spider web of people all across the NFL because of the way they do things. But that Gladstone in a building filled with stars who shined is bright or.

Brighter than almost all of them.

And the more that you listen to him and get a feel for a thirty four year old guy with the presence, with the wisdom to say what he just said, it just it verifies what I was told that the guy is made for this position. And no one out there in LA expects anything but incredible success from Gladstone.

So that's good to hear.

Yeah, he's really really really sharp. I mean and talking to him a couple of times the combine. Uh, the thing that stands out is his ability to communicate, and it's it's difficult to overemphasize that trait in a GM. His ability to take an idea, a concept, a trait that he wants in a player and make it so everybody in the organization clearly understands what a team is looking for.

Uh.

That goes to messaging, it goes to player trait, et cetera, et cetera.

Uh I I it's uh h, he's going.

To be really really good at this and you know it that doesn't guarantee results on the field, but and you know, because nothing does, but I H. This guy's communication skills along with Liam Cohen's uh energy focus, uh it gives you organization a chance.

Let's go to our second big thing today, which is gonna be hunkered down when we're talking about getting things going, you know, hitting the ground running with them.

Of course, James Gladstone.

Talked a little bit about with the new EVP Tony Bsseli, and of course new head coach Lilliam Cohen, all of them traveled to Indianapolis together, had a hunkered down right.

The fact that we're a new coaching staff, a new general manager working with our scouting staff, this is a great opportunity for an off site and just build some of the connective kissue that otherwise wouldn't necessarily exist because we'd just be in our normal mode of operation in Jacksonville.

John, you always send a team, if you work for a team, you always send some people to the combine. But they pretty much send everybody from the new front office out there to kind of work together and get things going.

Yeah, they did, and I'm not sure how long they will do it this way. The Rams historically don't go to the combine except for a small number of people, so maybe that's the Jaguars approach going forward.

I think this approach this year was about, Okay, we need to go to the combine. We need to get this thing established.

They also looked at it as very much let's move the facilities out there, let's move the workforce out there, as a chance for everybody to get to know each other, to build some camaraderie, to build some chemistry.

A very expensive team building, if you will.

But I think that's important at this stage, and they were certainly approaching it like that.

Well it's listen, it's every day now that they're back, kay. I mean, these guys are here in the building and they're working late nights, in early mornings some Saturdays and Sundays. It's hard to take a day off when you have as much coming at them as is coming at them. You mentioned free agency begins next week, and then you're going to have guys who are out on the pro day tour and before you know it, you'll have the off not off the field, the out of season program

That leads us into our final big thing, which is free agency. We've talked about all the changes in the off season, and now free agency is upon us about a week away at this point. So Brian, when you're looking at what the players are going to be in this because in the past the Jaguars have had to do a lot a free agency, but now with a new coaching staff, you might have to address the needs as well. So do we have any inkling of which way they might be going with that?

Not really.

I mean, listen, the DNA of this organization has been to use free agency to build the roster, but all at the same time professing they didn't want to do it that way.

The most successful.

Teams in the last ten years, fifteen years, maybe the modern era of the NFL have built through the draft. Now you're talking about a very strong Rams presence in the building now, and they're asymmetrical thinkers. I mean, they were trading first round picks to grab veteran guys. We know about Jalen Ramsey and many many others, Dante Fowler, junior players who ended up out there. So it'll be interesting to see how it evolves. It'll depend on their

John, Yeah, I think they'll They'll have a plan. They'll go after some guys, some trades.

It's important.

Remember the Rams did what Brian talking about when they were going after it, and they feel like they were close to the Super Bowl. I don't think the Jaguars will necessarily try to build the roster that way. When Gladstone talked philosophically at the combine last week, he talked for He talked far more about the fact that the Jaguars have more draft picks in the next two years and any other team he likes that. I think he's gonna lean toward that. No team really wants to build

They need to address quickly.

But I think overall it's gonna try to be draft and developed that they just have to draft.

Well, just draft well, it's easy enough. It sounds that way. Anyway, Staylas, We're gonna talk a little bit about what went down at the combine last week.

You know what, one of the most alluring and intriguing pieces to this opportunity was the fact that the leadership group and the dynamic actually mirrors what I'm most familiar with in Los Angeles.

So it was one that I.

Could see a clear visual for finding success.

So really excited about.

The opportunity to work with Tony and Liam and support both of them and bring Liam's vision to life here in these next few weeks into the later portion of the spring, through the draft to your.

General manager games.

Last on the final piece of this front office puzzle that they've been putting together for the last couple of months at this point.

Excited to all be.

In place now, Brian, I think we finally know where everything is going and now we can kind of get everything pushed.

Off that way.

Yeah, they've got a plan and he's mentioned it, We've all talked about it. We don't know exactly what the plan is at this point, but.

They're figuring their way out.

John, You figure the most important thing for them to be doing right now is to have a full evaluation of the roster. What each of these individual coaches thinks about what he's got.

Yeah, and that's a lot of what last week was about.

Meaning the coaching had clearly grinded through the roster in the week or so before the Combine, and then at the Combine last week there was a lot of meetings about, Okay, this is the roster, this is the free agency plan. How do you get that going with the draft preparations. It's important to note that and Glassow and Cohen both went into this deep last week. This is about the schedule that most teams have when you start getting ready

Biselli podcast, the EVP podcast Call It said Gladstone's interpretation of the roster already was dead on, very in line with what Tony had seen.

And Tony is, I guess, really the guy in the unique position.

He has some muscle memory on these guys, the ability to absorb what they've done over the course of time.

Or has everybody else is sort of cramming for the test.

How much should be made of We talk about each of them reporting to the owner separately, right, so it's maybe not a typical power dynamic of reporting to your.

Boss and reporting up.

They all kind of will report to Shad Khan and is there something he said for that or if you're all actually kind of working together on the same page, hopefully there's not a ton of infighting that you really need to be going around each other.

Well, they were very deliberate in their timeline to grab the right general manager because it was pretty clear, I mean, Liam is the leader over here in terms of football, and Tony's gonna handle football operations, and Sead said at the introductor news conference last week that what he was really looking for was a group of three guys who could work together so he didn't have to be the guy who.

Was the thread.

And at various times he has had to be that guy. So I guess that Gladstone coming in and the aliberate way that they went about finding the right guy means that those three men will be able to put their finger on the right moves, whether it's free agency, the draft, the execution from a football operation standpoint, and all three will communicate to the owner, who's not going to necessarily be that common thread like he has been in the past.

Yeah, there's certainly this plan works until you're oh to thirteen and everybody's like mad at each other. That's sort of the cynicists or cynical person's point of view. But I thought Cohen said it best last week when he said, look, if we're grinding through and talking about a player and we just can't find middle ground, this is clearly the

Glastone won't be involved with that.

So this, you know, final say thing comes down to those rare occasions, and it doesn't happen that often, even when guys aren't getting along, when you just can't agree. And I think they both saw with the Rams that you can get to a certain point and then you get a feeling of you know what, if we're at odds about this guy, then he's not going to work here.

It doesn't make any sense. So I think it works fine.

Look, it became a storyline in the early nineties when Bill Parcells left the Giants and went to the Patriots. He had a general manager everywhere he was and he uttered the famous line, if I'm going to cook the meal, I should be able to go and buy the groceries. And at various times that's worked. The model that really has worked is what's worked in Kansas City in recent years, and that is that Andy Reard hired Brent Viach, who is his GM, and he gets him the players that he wants.

That's the model that works. However they structure.

It, reporting to the owner. Liam had a strong say in who the general manager was going to be because those two men had to be able to communicate about exactly the players he wanted to make the system. John said, Liam's coaching the team. Gladstone's job to bring him the players that he wants.

I think the phrase coach centric organization which has kicked around, and SHOT's really talked about that really now since the urban Meyer higher that, you know that's what he wants.

It's certainly what Bisselli believes he's here to do.

He said any number of times, I'm the left tackle of the organization. I'm here to support what's going on. And I think that's really the spirit of what Gladstone and b Besselli are.

You know.

The other thing about Tony is he's a common sense guy, right. I mean he understands people, knowing from happy hour with Pete where the two were, you know, butt heads in battle and spar verbally. But Tony's a guy who can bring consensus to a room as well. I've seen it over time. He's a guy who can sit in there and talk through some things. He's got a little diplomat in him. People don't give him credit for that.

I think it's the offensive lineman in him.

You got to get everybody on the same page together.

In the Jaggars Golden Ear, he was the leader in the locker room, not the quarterback, not the receiver, and no one on defense. Tony Boselli was the leader, and he understood that he had to set the tone, and at times in this new arrangement, there may be times where he has to help bring everyone together for the common tone.

We're talking a little bit about James Gladston because he's the newest addition to this thirty four years old. Obviously it's a youth movement all around here in Jacksonville right now, John, did you hear anything at the combine? Obviously you don't hear a ton about front office people until they take over as a GM somewhere.

So what have we heard so.

Far about him?

Well, basically that what you see in the press conferences is what he is meaning. Sean McVay was on the Pat McAfee show and pretty insightful in terms of saying exactly what we've already said about James Gladstone, his ability to communicate. I think Shawn's quote was I could just sit in the room and listen to this guy, and you can kind of see that when he's on the podium, even though he's only thirty four. He has an interesting

That's not that easy to do.

It's a job of intelligence, player evaluation, but more than anything, it's a job of communication because you're dealing with a lot of moving parts.

I had it explained to me by somebody in Los Angeles who said that he is where he is because he was never scared to step into a challenging situation that maybe exceeded his skill set when he got there in twenty sixteen and went out there with less need, and it quickly became apparent that he could work his way through situations that were maybe beyond him at the point, and he raced to this point where he now nine years later, is the general manager because he is able

It's gonna be a challenge.

It's gonna be a good challenge. Stay with here on JAGSZAM.

Coming up after the break, we'll talk a little bit about free agency and the draft and what.

The focuses might be for the Jacks.

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He's so dynamic, being able to move him around where you saw him at LSU, maybe not do some of those things right where he was mostly outside running more linear routes, vertical posts, some overs and then this stop, you know, so the ability for him to snap down, get in the slot, be able to run some of the choice routes, lookie routes, and then oh, by the way, you can throw him a screen and he can go do something with it. You know, our past game will

I mean you have to be excited to get to work with Brian Thomas Junior. Obviously, Liam Colin talking about BTJ and what he's gonna be able to do with him going forward. I'm excited to see his second season as well, cause we saw him develop as the season went along. Maybe that second half even with Mac Jones at quarterback when he was able to do. Second year is gonna be fun. Well, working with Trevor Lawrence consistently,

Yeah.

W When you consider what Brian was able to do with Mac, who does not have the deep ball accuracy or even the deep bowl arm that Trevor does, it's easy to get excited.

Yeah.

And then there was the play against the Colts here when he basically showed everybody how he can separate and uh hit that second gear clearly at as Liam said, the offense.

Will run through him.

Uh, they have a potential franchise quarterback and a franchise wide receiver to work with.

Uh. That's a good start.

Alright, We're gonna do a little dis or that right now. And we're gonna go through some position groups and do this or that with draft or free agency. So we're looking at wide receivers. Obviously BTJ is going to be your number one. You're going to run the offense through him. But who's going to be surrounded Who's going to be surrounding him? There's questions about whether Christian Kirk will be here or not. Are you going to look at maybe

Or none at all?

Well, not knowing what's going to happen with Christian. Even at Evan Ingram, who I know he's a tight end, but let's be honest, he's a receiver. He had one hundred and fourteen receptions in twenty twenty three draft right there are because of the way the college football plays now, there are receivers throughout the draft, whether you're talking about a star at the top of the first round or you know, finding a good player somewhere in the middle round.

Draft, Yeah, I hope both Christian and Evan are here. For the purposes of this question, let's assume they're not, because you have to have some sort of parameters. I to answer the quest question, I think if they're not, then I think you could see an element of both a receiver, meaning either a relatively high profile free agent

Receivers become a premium position and as such they are expensive, which is why I would lean into the draft on that one.

A lot of these options can be expensive. We've talked a ton about the lines on both sides. The trenches need to get better. When you're looking at offensive line and defensive line. That could be a focus at five in the first round. For we don't know exactly where they're going to go with that yet, but you need depth on both of those positions. I think it's fair to say. So, is this a combination of both or do you think it just has to be draft?

Well, listen, it's a really good draft for defensive tackles, and not just at the top of the draft. There are good tackle options, you know, into the second and even the third round from what I'm hearing. So I would lean on the defensive side too. Young, You've got a couple of young guys that you want to develop already, and you know you still have Devon Hamilton here draft

Yeah, Unfortunately, only if you're gonna get great top of the market guy.

They're all expensive, But do you need that.

I mean, you want that, but do you need to go pay the top of the market. Do you need aj Can kind of guy who is a moderate price player.

Yeah.

I think on the interior of the line, they need somebody to come in and be a presence and be I think what.

They hoped that Sheriff would be.

Scheff was a decent player here past his prime, I think, but a solid play for three years, but didn't necessarily dominate the middle personality wise, didn't dominate locker room. I think you'd like to find that in free agency, so you have some immediate presence. Defensive line feels like, you know, everybody's Maulk and Mason Graham.

It feels like that has a good chance to be the pick.

Interesting, you wonder how long term they're going to develop the tackle position. I don't know that they go a premium there. At some point.

You wonder how they're going to build that long term, but that's to be played out.

Things.

You look at the best tackles at the top of this draft and everyone's questioning whether they belong inside a guard or not, whether they're tall enough or have the length to play there.

This is not a good draft.

For tackles, but it is a good draft for interior off fancy alignement, which.

Is what we need.

So perhaps that's the pick.

Not that all right.

A final position in group we're gonna go with is defensive back, safety and corner. Obviously, corner depth was an issue this year. Safety Andre Cisco's becoming a free agency, so there might be an opening there if they don't resign him. Do you think this is a free agency drafting situation? Where do you think they'll go with this?

John, Yes, all the things. Yeah, because they've got I mean, they have a lot of work to do. I mean it's.

You could see potentially, I Jerion Jones and Tyson Campbell are the guys that I know out of a group that was there last.

Year, will be on the field.

I think some of the other guys will compete and maybe one of them will be in it.

But I think they've got a lot of work to do, so.

A second, third round, one first tearish guy in free agency. It's I'm not trying to avoid the question, but I think when you've got corner depth, corner meaning fourth maybe two safeties, I don't quite know how to say where they'll go with what I think they may let the draft come to him and free agency come to him because it's sort of you have to throw some resources here.

Yeah, well, listen, we don't know if the Jaggers are going to stay five. They might get an offer and they could move back if someone wants to come up and get a cornerback. You know, the Raiders are shitting at six. Maybe this is a spot where the Jags can move back, and there are some first round safeties, some elite level guys. I would like the Cisco of twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three back the guy

There are some options in free agencies, so I'm sure they'll dabble in that a little bit. And we'll talk a little bit more next week about who they might be targeting, specifically, say with us and Jagszam coming up after the break, we'll talk a little bit about what's going on the runs the week Jack xam brought to me by Prush from Florida. It's always in season.

The development of Baker will be different than Trevor. It just will be because of the different type of player. But you see a lot of the same in tangibles in terms of the work ethic, the want to he wants to be great, he wants to be coach hard, and the process like, how do we get him on a schedule, a process every single day that he can follow to get him to the point that he feels like he's playing at a higher level.

And con talking a little bit about what it was like working with Baker Mayfield, but how it's going to be different working with Tyber Lawrence, and you know they want to get in the building kind of go over the xs and o's. There are some limitations to that, John with when they can meet, we'll see this probably hit the ground a little bit more in April.

Yeah, they can talk minimally because you're allowed to talk to human beings. But in terms of any sort of football real game planning meeting, anything like that, that starts up when the off season program, and that's plenty of time. I mean, that's but that'll be when the fun starts.

You know.

One of the reasons why Baker Mayfield was able to take that big jump last year was because the Buccaneers running game went from bottom five to top five, right, So we were talking about offensive line and getting that right, getting the running game going, and they proved it last year in Tampaly. Improved what he can do. I'm gonna

Be and being able to rely on that consistently in every game will be.

Here, which we have not had around here in a while.

Yeah, Gladstone at the combine didn't reveal everything they're going to do, obviously because you don't, but he did sort of open the hand a little bit when asked about the roster. He said, you know, the guys in the trenches I'm paraphrasing, and guys who can score, So you know, sort of keep that in mind when trying to figure out free agency in the.

Draft, free agency begins on Monday. Things open up, they can start talking. We'll announce things on Wednesday, and on Tuesday we'll be in here to talk to you about what we think the Jacks might do.

Enjoy your week,