Welcome to Dagdam.
I'm kind of honest. Stephen Spriin, Sexton and John Oser are with me today as we get ready to talk to you about OTA's the unofficial kind of start to the offseason workouts, and that's our big thing Number one OTAs Brian, we kind of make fun of this time of year sometimes, but with a new regime coming in, this is really important. And we saw pretty great turnout
from the players yesterday. I don't want to say it was one hundred percent, but I think only a couple of faces were missing, and seeing everybody buy in this early is really good to see.
Well, listen to all of the players from the quarterback going down talk about the energy with this young staff and the newness that comes with it, and they're.
All obviously revitalized by the fact.
That they finished four and thirteen last year, and anything would be better than that. I'll tell you what I was most interested in was when you look at the roster that they hand out to the members of the media by offensive line, there weren't tackles or guards or center.
It was all ol right.
And so that's interesting because we've been into OTA's in the last couple of years we knew there was maybe a competition between Cam Robinson and Walker Little at left tackle, but you here's Ezra Cleveland and they signed Mitch Morse last year. You kind of knew who it was and where they were going to be. John, It's fascinating to see it all jumbled up and not really have any delineations of who's where or when. Even the coach said it's going to go rep to rep from time to time.
Yeah, and I think that's definitely the plan. I think some of the guys that we assume will start in the offensive line probably will wind up starting, but they have to earn it. I'm gonna take the needle and put it back on the first song. And we've heard this record before around here about OTAs with the regime change.
I don't necessarily think that OTAs are always vital for every veteran on the team, But with the regime change and with a new offense, and with Trevor Lawrence talking on Monday about he's still learning this, well, guess what if he's still learning it, everybody else surround him needs
to be learning it with him. So while we really can't evaluate this or shouldn't evaluate it for you know, we don't know, based on an Ota price, who's going to start, but it is incredibly important for the players to be learning and to be absorbing the culture what's going on around here.
Good point, John, John Big thing number two is QB one, which.
We talked about Trevor.
We haven't seen him working with a lot of these new players. I've seen him working out in the off season, but now with the rookies here, everybody's here working with QB one, and Trevor talked a little bit about what he did with rehabbing through the off season.
Not a ton obviously, just getting back into throwing. You know, I went for a solid three and a half plus months without throwing, just with the shoulder deal, and so starting to throw a little bit for OTA's and then working into it.
I feel really good now.
I feel like my arm's back in shape, feel like I'm getting sharper and sharper every day.
John Wey saw Trevor out there. He's working learning a new system, but also a lot of new players he's got to work with, both on the line and the wide receiving group.
He's got to get used to. Yeah, and I think particularly key, obviously is the wide receiver group, which I know we'll talk about as a show goes on. They're really fast, they're much quicker, they seem much more athletic than maybe any group this team has had here going back to the nineties. So there is a crucial element of getting on the same page with those guys. But I think the biggest storyline for Trevor Lawrence is the footwork, and not necessarily that he needed to improve the basics.
Dramatically said there was some work he did there, but Brian getting his footwork right for this offense, it's fascinating. He talked about, he talked about several times this offseason how the footwork dictates where he's going with the ball and those things need to be muscle memory. If that's the case, and it is, then every rep is crucial as he tries to get this offense where it's second nature by the regular season, you know.
And there was some conversation on the sidelines yesterday because he threw a couple of passes that got tipped and intercepted.
And he overthrew one.
Listen, he alone is just coming back from all the time he missed last year. Let alone all of the new players, like you mentioned guy. But what we don't know is how much he's going to progress from day to day because we're not out there every day, right So he may have struggled a little bit yesterday just getting into the rhythm of things with people, but he may have a much better day today. I think when you look at the body of work, you can't look
at OTAs separate from training camp. It's going to be how he works his way through this new system and getting himself back into football shape all the way up to the start of the regular season. I think that's the best way to evaluate him. And you know, Johnny kept saying yesterday that this offense keeps giving you answers. He didn't elaborate. We didn't have enough time to really dive into that. I'll be interested to find out more what that means as we get into this thing with him.
Our final big thing today is going to be expectations. As we talk about OTA's head coach Liam Cohen talked about what he thinks is important this time of year.
Are we going to catch every ball and throw every ball out here in the first day at Phase three? I would assume not but more in terms of the operation, the communication. Are we understanding what we're trying to get accomplished out of the calls. It's a learning phase, not necessarily a competitive phase.
And do you want to be cleaner? Absolutely?
Do you want it to look perfect, yes, we all do. That's just not the reality at this phase this time, in this phase, ran I.
Love some brutal honesty, which is fair the first day out there, obviously not one hundred percent, not what you'd expect to see at a practice in November. But it's the little things that are important this time of year, right, communication, hustle, getting your conditioning together. That's all little things when you look at it. But in this grand scheme it's going to play a big factor coming up in a couple of months.
Well.
And obviously he understands what they're trying to do and expects that the players will get better from meeting the meeting in practice to practice, so that by the time they get out of OTAs and into mini camp and did the start of the training camp then to the start of the regular season, they'll get closer to where he wants to go. The thing I really enjoyed about him yesterday was just the candidates that you mentioned, but just the transparency.
He gets it.
He knows that people are going to talk about what the quarterback did yesterday or what the defense did. Having a couple of interceptions off the two starting well, the starting and the backup quarterback both through a couple yesterday, He's not gonna let that bother him. He's not gonna let that become the storyline.
I'm going to move the needle back to the start of the record again, right and look, it's the first practice of OTA's unpadded work with a new system, a new offensive system, a new defensive system, new players in that system, new coordinators however you slice it, and a quarterback who didn't throw for three and a half months this offseason. No unit is ahead of the other unit at this point because they're not competing like that. They are trying to learn what's going on and trying to
be as ready as possible for training camp. You don't want all the interceptions, but to think you weren't going to have any on day one was a little.
Selly here on jag Zam. The schedule released last week. We're going to go over all of the dates with you coming up after the break. Jag Zam brought to you by Fresh from Florida. It's always in season.
This this school, that, this school. Welcome back to jag Zam.
We're gonna go over some of the schedule for you and do a little this or that in relation to that. So this came out last week on Wednesday, and now we finally know where and when they're going to be playing. We knew the opponents already, but that first five games of the schedule is not going to be an easy set. I think we've talked about this obviously. We did a schedule release show. We talked a little bit about this, but I figured for our jag Zam fans we'll recap
a little bit. But for me, if you can go two and three here, I'm fine with that. This is pretty tough out of the gate, including a primetime matchup against the Chiefs here at home, which will should be a great game if nothing else except to have Monday night football back, which is always fun. John is the first game against the Panthers. Is that a must win game? I know you love call things must win.
No, it's not.
Because it's week one and if you say you must win it. If you win the last sixteen, you look pretty silly saying that was a must win game. But for energy, for belief, yeah, I think it's important only because if you believe that twenty four results will translate into twenty five, then this is a really tough start. That's usually not the way it works. But that's all we have to sort of gauge it on right now.
If you lose to Carolina, now you're looking at a Bengals team that thinks it's going to compete for the Super Bowl. The Texans are your big rival in the division. You've got the Chiefs, who look, you can play really well against Patrick Mahomes and not win. And then the forty nine ers. You can't believe they're gonna be six and eleven again, so must win. No, but you better win a couple of these. And that looks like the one that's the most gettable.
I'll take the other side of the coin. From an emotional side. You remember what it fell around here last year when they were one and.
Four, not great, and it felt like they were out of it, you know, And there are still players in the locker room who remember that. Despite the fact that there's a lot of new faces, both on the coaching staff and next to them in other lockers. One in four would be a disastrous start to this season, not because you couldn't overcome it, because recently they didn't, and it would it would be like the negative muscle memory, like, oh boy, here we go again.
What's really changed?
So from that perspective, yeah, beating Carolina here on opening day seems like a really important game.
And part of that too. Look, we're used to this team struggling because it lost the last or five of the last six and twenty three and four and thirteen last year, so we're sort of tend to look at the schedule with that sort of feeling. Still, these guys don't believe they're going to be that team. So if you're not that team, then that schedule at the top is just a difficult schedule.
But after Kansas City, if you're one in four, that's not good. They're still going to believe that they're not that team. That's right, right, I mean I don't I.
Think a little bit at this time we were all a little Dilall listen here.
The other thing is you don't know, you don't know who comes into the season banged up, right, What if one of those receivers gets hurt in Cincinnati and training campan isn't full speed. You know, what if the offensive line that they've rebuilt in Houston isn't there. We're judging them based on last season's results, and we're projecting that the Niners won't be as bad as they were last year, which seems fair to project, but we don't know where
they're going to be. So yes, it looks on face value like a very challenging schedule, but there's a lot of.
Unknowns there are, and it's important for us to remember too, as much as we remember how things didn't feel great last season. I feel like almost half this roster is different at this point, so they'll feel a little bit differently going into this as well. So let's look at that next chunk of games, week six through ten. I believe obviously they're heading to London during that stretch, and then there's a bye week. How important is it around the bye to have a winning record be five hundred?
Are you looking at it that way, Brian? Are you kind of just looking at it as a whole.
I'm looking at it as a whole because you can grab some momentum over the final six games of the season.
But let's put it this way.
You want to be around five hundred at the worst, because you've got these trips to the West Coast interspersed there, You've got some challenge as you come off Kansas City. You know, you've got a game against Seattle, who's been a pretty good team consistently for the last decade. And we know about the Rams in London, and then you come home. You got to go to Vegas and that'll be a different team under Pete Carroll. And then you're at Houston. So two and three gives you a chance.
With these four games, maybe you could go three and one and take advantage of that and find yourself at five and five, five to four, right, I mean, that would be ideal. When you look at the will stretch of the season.
The question is do you have to be five hundred to buy you know? I do you have to be three and four, four and three? I think you need to be three and four, you know, I think at least because it's easy to say, well, you know, you can be two and five and come back from look what they did in twenty two. But remember how historic and what heavy lift got to run the table for you, and you had to have a team come way back to you. You can't count on a late season dramatic run.
So I do think you have to tread water with what if the schedule is indeed difficult. I think you have to tread water and be five and five, six and six ish and then have a chance to sort of reel some teams back in with what looks like a more manageable late season schedule.
And we're also assuming that this team is gonna we are assuming that this team is going to struggle a little bit early.
New coach, some new players. Maybe they don't.
Maybe they don't, that'd be great.
Let's look at our third section, or a third chunk, which is games eleven through fourteen. I think, as we mentioned, there's those West Coast trips interspersed there some tough road matchups. When you looked at this schedule as a whole, Brian, what was the toughest road games on there?
I think going to San Francisco. I mean, even though they were six and eleven, we know the quality of that team, and that's a place that the Jaguars have never fared well against a team that they've never fared well with. That one is the one that stands out, is the biggest West Coast trip, you know. But when you look, you see the one against the Cardinals. That's a sneaky good team. Because the quarterback will be healthy
this year second half of the season. I think that Cardinals game is going to be a pivotal one for them.
Yeah, it feels like that you guys about road games, but that Chargers game here at home. Chargers feel like a team that's going to push Kansas City this year. I agree with Brian, and San Francisco feels like the toughest one coming up in this final stretch. Denver with Sean Payton feeling like he's got that thing go, and it just feels like they're going to be contending and it's gonna be a game that matters to the Broncos late. So I would go with that one as well.
I agree with you, John, when I look at that schedule and I see Denver in December, knowing what they did late in the season last year. You have an experience head coach of a rookie quarterback kind of coming together. We'll see what a sophomore campaign looks like but for me cool, if it's a game, it'll be a big game Meeta way, I think just in terms of the Jaguars on the road that'll be for us. I think it'll mean.
Something that's always a great environment too.
Absolutely all right, So let's here on Jagsam. Coming up in a little bit, we're gonna go over OTA's. You'll hear from head coach and your quarterback.
Move the freight.
Move the freight, Magellan Transport. But the coolest office space in Jacksonville. You can check things out at Magellanlogistics dot com. Back here on jags AM, OTAs are underway and we got to hear from head coach. Got to hear from the quarterbacks the first time in a while, so it was nice to get their perspective of Obviously, Trevor Lawrence mentioned he hasn't been throwing for a couple of months
due to that shoulder surgery. Now he's back out there, fully active with his teammates, but also learning a new system, which he talked a little bit about yesterday.
I really like it. You know, it has a lot of answers. You know, it's it's it's great. I mean, it puts a lot of the players you have to know your stuff, but it gives you all the answers. You know, you're not I don't feel like you're stuck in a play that's uh not set up for success. You know, gives us a lot of answers. And uh we changed the presentation a lot and make a lot
of things look the same. You know, there's there's a whole lot of without going into too much detail, you know, there's a lot of things that I like about it. And it's definitely unlike any system that I've learned before. So it's been cool to learn and just pick the coach's brain and try to get it down as fast as possible.
John, that was your question to Trevor Lawrence, and he said he likes that it has a lot of answers for him, kind of talking about that new system for him making things available to him. What did you take from his answer?
No, Core on first day of OTA is going to stand up and say this system stinks. But I do think it's a storyline to follow in terms of what this system gives the quarterback easily, meaning the footwork all ties into making the decisions easy and making the quarterback have to think. Let's quarterback always has to think, But it's about taking as many making as many decisions, feel like muscle memory, based on the footwork, based on the routine,
based on the pattern. So I think that's really what he's talking about liking, and it's going to be interesting to see how quarterback friendly because I think that's what I think that's the word they're looking for with this. It's supposed to make it easy to make decisions.
Back there, Well, I'm going to take the needle and move it forward a song. Okay, okay, well only in the sense that the running game I think is going to be the key to making the quarterbacks life easy.
I know the footwork is going to become a story, and we're focused on Trevor Is he comes back from the shoulder injury, and I think we have plenty of new viewers, Travis Hunter fans who come on who may not know it was the non throwing shoulder for him, So it's not like he wasn't throwing because it was
the throwing shoulder. It's the non throwing shoulder. But I think that the running back position is as interesting as any and we won't talk about it early in OTAs, we'll talk about it more when they're actually in pads in training camp. But as he kept talking about answers and answers and answers, I think the ability to convert on third down and shorts, which they haven't done, will give him as many answers as anything because it will keep the defense guessing.
Yeah, if the running game can get him in better, not only converting more second and fives as opposed to second and eight, it'll be key for him. So how the offensive line fares is going to be key for him and for everybody this year.
You read between the lines a little bit too when he says having plays where he feels like they're set up for success, where maybe some other times we talk about those third and longs, a lot of the first couple plays maybe weren't setting them up for success in past regimes. So we'll definitely see some changes alteration there. So I think everybody's looking forward to kind of seeing what they do there. Trevor Lawrence also finally got to
work with Travis Hunter. Right, We've been talking about that for a while. Travis Hunter have mostly been focusing on offense thus far, and Trevor talked a little bit about what he's seen from himself.
Far, I got a lot of juice. He can run all day, a lot of energy.
I love it. Good energy, always just dapping guys up, just bringing juice every day. And like I said, high motor can just go. It's like a kid just runs around all day. He doesn't get tired. It seems like so you can't have enough of that. And then as far as just talent, I mean kind of speaks for his self, ball skills, run after the catch, he's very explosive. She didn't realize how exposive he was in and out
of cuts. You know, he's impressive to watch. And we've gotten to connect a couple of times, just so lo'ly gonna keep getting better and better. You know, we've only worked together for a couple of days now, so we got some time to really dial in on the details.
Brian, you have to imagine he's excited to have then new weapon like that.
Yeah, I just thought though he was asked the question, if I was asked the question to answer it, I would have said, absolutely, the guy is fast, he's explosive. But did you see number seven out there today? Because there were a couple of plays throws to Brian Thomas Junior where he caught the ball and accelerated up the field. I've never I've never seen a receiver since Jimmy Smith
do that in Jacksonville. The explosion is how much better Brian Thomas is poised to be this year, and obviously having Travis Hunter on the other side will help him because they won't be able.
To key on him.
But for all of the things that Travis Hunter is advertised to bring to Jacksonville, he is showing those on the field. It's just that Brian Thomas Junior was the most impressive guy on the field yesterday.
Yeah, he BTJ feels like a great player who's about to make that second year jump. He was very good as a rookie, but he looks like a guy who all of a sudden is out there going, oh, this is what I can do. You know, and knew it last year, but now I was seeing everything. I thought. The most interesting quote from Trevor when he was talking about Travis Hunter was how quick he is in and out of breaks. That sometimes can be where fast receivers don't translate to the NFL, because you have to be
able to get open. I don't know how good Travis Hunter is going to be in terms of numbers this year. I don't know what his stats are going to look like. But if he can scare defenses on a play to play basis, which I think he will, and score eight touchdowns, and even if he's not a polished route runner, which I don't expect him to be yet, if his playmaking and his dynamic talent, quickness, all that stuff make plays that coordinators when they're writing down had a game plan.
If they're writing down seven, twelve and five, who's Dianny Brown. Well, then, all of a sudden, for the first time in a long time around here, you've got a bunch of guys that scare defensive coordinators. Travis Hunter willquably scared them more than anybody.
And we should probably point out that Brown showed it is the first time we got to look at him, showed his explosion is yesterday and his speed as well.
I was impressed with what he was doing yesterday. For me, not that I had little expectations for him, but just to kind of see them all out there, and especially Brian Thomas Junior. We talk about He's quickly gotten to that point where John, You've covered players like this before that are dynamic. You see them do crazy things and you just expected. At this point, it's not even oh, that's amazing, it's like, well, yeah, he's amazing, Like of course he's doing that.
Yeah, And this team hasn't had that level of blue chip enough. I would say Jalen athletically Jayalen Ramsey was that guy. There's been others, Jimmy Smith back in the day, Fred Taylor, in the history of the franchise, there has been that, but maybe at the receiver position, which has become the rock star position. This feels like the first Jaguars rock star since Jimmy Smith.
I just I see him move, and he just moves differently, right. I Mean I never watched Secretariat run, but you see Secretariat running in some of these clips and you realize he's completely different than everyone else. And all I think of when I see Brian Thomas out there is the guy is the Secretariat of wide receivers.
I mean, he's as good as they can count.
Makes everything look really, really easy, which is enjoyable to watch in terms of what things actually look like. As a whole. As we mentioned, head coach wasn't overly impressed with everything being on the button yesterday, but he did say the defense looked good to him from what he saw.
I actually thought they they did some really good things today. I thought, just from a communications standpoint, punching the ball out, doing it in the right way though, right we had a couple guys just trying to be intentional about getting the ball out and getting their hands on the football, something that we're you know, actively trying to be intentional about this whole offseason, and I thought the defensive staff has done a great job of communicating that in the
meeting settings. Bringing it out to the practice field, I thought that they did a nice job kind of setting the line of scrimmage, playing with length on the D line, and you know, the ball was out. I mean, the ball is on the ground too many times for us offensively, but hey, on the flip side of it, that's the first time as a head coach you actually kind of have to be very neutral in those moments where I'm kind of ticked off that the ball is on the
ground from an offensive standpoint. But ultimately, man defense did a nice job of getting the ball out that today for us, your.
Offensive head coach had to rein it in a little bit. He's like, well, I coached the defense too, so we're happy to see that.
John.
At this time of the year, defense is always, you know, by nature position, it's a little more reactionary, so there always feels like they're ahead of the offense. But we don't talk a ton about the defensive side of the football. But obviously new coordinators, there some new key players, and then Eric Armstead switching back to his original position. There's gonna be a lot of changes we see there as well.
Yeah, it's really hard to analyze defense well during the offseason because the pass rush is different. You're not really stopping the run. So much of defense in the NFL is how you stopped throwing early downs in a real life situation where you never get that you get to games. So how good are they going to be? I don't know, but I think they believe they have a chance to be pretty good defensively because they believe strongly in their
two edge guys. They believe in Foyer Lucon and they believe in Eric Armstead in the middle, and they believe that out of that is going to be is going to come a pretty good interior core for the first time in a while. So it's good that they looked good yesterday. Brian, I don't know what it means.
Well, the secondary had a good day yesterday, right, I mean, they got Trevor twice, They got Nick Mullens, the backup quarterback twice. From what you can tell, they were moving and they were communicating. And Eric Murray, the safety, the veteran safety they signed, the ten year guy from Houston, was in the middle of it all. So that's an important signing because you're dramatically changing the back end of
the defense. As much as we talk about the offensive line as a work in progress, and you're going to figure out who goes where as training camp goes on. Same thing in the secondary. You know, with Jordan Lewis, you can play inside or outside where just Trump's hundred fet into all of this. But they had a really good day yesterday on the first day of OATES and that's not a bad sign.
I think Tyson Campbell and Travis Hunter are sort of quietly huge stories. Meaning if Tyson is the cornerback that you paid, which I don't know that he's been that yet. But if he is, and the skill is there, the raw material is there to do that, and if Travis Hunter is impactful at corner, then all of a sudden, what seems like a weakness might become a strength. And as you said, Brian, that is really a story that because we focus so much on offense, we probably haven't
talked about enough. But the secondary can't be what it was last year.
It was a huge liability of the secondary was and obviously everything goes hand in hand pass rush and whatnot leading into that, but we cannot see the explosive plays they allowed last season to drag into this season. So the secondary will definitely be a focus going into training camp and getting that all established stable us here on Jags am coming up. We'll tell you what's coming up the rest of the week and what we've got going on.
There's an energy on the Pridue field. I think that starts with obviously Liam. He's a very energetic guy. He's passionate, loves football, loves to be out here. I think that's one thing I've noticed about him from the beginning is a lot of energy and that trickles down to the staff, right So I mean it's that. And then also the players that we have a big variety of the guys that they brought in and free agency, they all fit
what we're trying to do. And the I guess, the culture and the energy and then even a guy like Travis bringing in who's just full of energy and positive and you know, a playmaker, all those things. It's cool seeing it all come together, and it seems like everything's well thought out about the type of people that are.
Here, not just the talent.
Things slowly coming together for the Jaguars. Obviously tons of changes in the off season. We hear that culture word a lot, John, but energy. You want to see the buy in. I think more than anything, you'll figure out what the team actually is as things go along. But seeing this buy in this early, as we mentioned earlier, huge turnout, probably only a couple of people missing. That's good to see at this point.
Yeah, and not surprising. Players get it. They know that this is a year to be here. Even the veteran guys, they understand new regime. You want to be around it. You want to know what to expect coming in. I think Travis Hunter's presence for a team that you know anytime you change regimes, you're automatically going to be changing cultures because what happened last time didn't work, and what else are you going to talk about? But Brian, I
do think Travis Hunter's confidence. There are certain guys who never really believe that they're not the best player out there and that their team shouldn't win, and that can help when you're trying to turn around to mindset. I think he does bring an element of that. Well.
Obviously, he has all the skills, right, I mean, he can run forever, as you've heard, and he's so athletic, and he's got great ball skills. But it's that energy level, it's that personality. It's that confidence that he brings that sets him apart. There are lots of great athletes. It's the ability to step onto the field to know you belong and know you belong at the top of the guys who are out there.
And I think that'll I think that'll bleed over.
I spent a little time with him, as I told you guys in Green Bay, and have watched him out here.
He's consistent.
He's the same guy every time, whether you se him in the hallway or on the practice field. That's important too, because you guys know, there were some guys in the locker room in recent years who weren't really consistent. You want that consistency. They show up Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. They the same guy, whether they won or they lost the last week, that same sense of purpose, and it.
Can give veterans a lift. A guy like this comes in. You see him running constantly, and you're in your fifth year and you're not playing two positions. You're like, gosh, I can't be tired. I mean, this kid's still running, and that enthusiasm can give veterans sort of a second win, the second life.
Well, he expects to win, right, We've talked about that. I mean, he's a guy who has only known success. You see the trophies that he had last year, he won all of them. That expectation of excellence is something we haven't had enough of around here. And first round pick one of the most popular players in the league, already social media phenomenon. It's nice that you have that caliber of a player, with that caliber of expectation.
Trophy sometimes, Yeah, everybody gave out the participation one team. There we go, I got that one.
We'd love to see it all right. OTAs continue next week, we'll be back out there with them, and then we'll be back here with you on jags aam next week as well