It is Thursday, March fourteen.
This is Jaguars Happy Hour.
Jaguar's Happy Hour is presented by the Saint John's River Water Management District. And now, ladies and gentlemen, hide your Snickers bars. It's TV's Kai Stevens.
Oh, I wish there were Snickers bars that came with this job. Snickers Over in the other field training camp they bring out ice cream snickers for all the players during training camp. And yes, I do partake in that. Kay Stevens filling in for J. P. Shadwick. Jeff Logoman not in as well. So I have some guests with me today. But it's a big day here in Jacksonville. We've got all these new faces coming in a bit of a carousel of everybody. We've got to meet all
these new players today. It's exciting time.
Can John sit down?
John Oser is joining us up to the minute.
Right to make sure it was good with you.
I do appreciate that Bran Sexton is also with us today.
Worried about him standing over there.
I know. I don't want him to feel left out.
It's a busy day, I mean it's for sure. When they get these guys in here, they meet with the coaches, they take the photos, they meet with the media. It's a whirlwind for them.
It is, John, thank you for joining us. We're here on Happy Hour, of course, brought to you by Saint John's River Water Management District, Florida's water it's worth saving.
John.
We were just talking about all these carousel we've been going through with people, right, So we've had five different players coming in and four were signed free agents, and then of course Mac Jones that was traded for that one official this afternoon. So it's exciting to see all these new faces coming to town and potentially more things happening.
Yeah, and we had Mitch Morse yesterday, and I think collectively you got an idea that they're all impressive. They all seem to have pretty solid leadership qualities. And Gabe Davis was a captain this year for the Bills and other players who have that feel.
Mitch Moore certainly has that feel.
So you know, look, I'm not sure that this is the most high profile group of freegens they've ever had, but I think it fits what they needed to do, and I think it fit what they could do within the cap constraints. And they all make sense, which to me is the first step. I'm sort of past the point, Brian, where I'm gonna get cartwheel excited over the free agency class. But I think these guys make sense for what they're trying to do. Well.
They spent one hundred and seventy five million dollars, set a new league record a few years back. Right, they didn't have that kind of money. They couldn't go and play in the high dollar free agency. It wasn't going to be the glitzy, glamorous class. I think we all agreed that the More signing was the one that we were all most excited about because it was such a glaring.
Need, huge for the team.
Yes, they they lacked the ability to convert third down and short. Right, they lacked the ability to be consistent with the running game up the middle, and it hampered their offense. You could see the way the teams defended them as they figured out they're not going to be able to move the ball on us in the A gaps.
And I'll interrupt here.
Ian Rappaport is reporting that Eric Armstead is close to a deal with the Jaguars, So we don't know that officially.
We love some breaking reports.
That's uh, you know, wrap is pretty good what he does. Listen, and that's size in the middles making out Yeah, six seven, he's a two hundred ninety five pound guy, an area that they need to be stouter.
Here's a question, how in the world are they getting it done? Right?
If they sign it and it's a witchcraft, Well look.
I have to know math Brian stop bringing us down, all right?
Well, I don't want to just I'm just curious. You know, if they're going to sign Eric Armstead, who's going right, You've got three point eight million dollars in salary cap from I'm using spot track by the way, right, some people use over the cap. I use spot track and they're roughly in the ballpark. So there's some magic being done. I mean, there's some numbers being crunched. There's a strategy behind it, because if you're bringing in Eric Armstead, you
have got to find the money somewhere. There's a there's a precious few places to create cap room on this roster right now. Right, we've talked about Cam Robinson has won because he gives you about seventeen million dollars in cap savings. Foyer Lui constant other he gives you about seven million dollars, say Jones gives you about four and then it dries up pretty quickly. You know, the guys we're talking about who have any cap savings at all
aren't guys you're gonna cut. So it's interesting to see them still being very active with very little room.
I will say we do have to address yesterday. They saved some money because they did not re sign Calvin Ridley. He is going to the Titans reportedly, and there's big money going to him there, so I mean, good for him.
Earning also twenty three million years.
What he got fifty guaranteed ninety two over four years. Is the reports, which here's the fifty guarantee. How do you say no to that?
Well, how do you say no to it? And if you're the Jags, how do you go that way?
You don't.
I think people would be upset if the team did.
Yeah, well, they would certainly be.
U said in a couple of years when it completely hampered you with the cap. And you know, look, I all off season and I wrote off season, I think Calvin Ridley on this roster would have been good. I don't know that it would have been good to the tune of building your salary cap structure around him at the expense of other things. And that's what fifty million guarantee would have done.
You know, my sense of people's opinion of Calvin Ridley was based on hope. Kai. There were a lot of people that I've talked to in the last few days, whether it's in line of publics or out at the beach, where they hoped that another year in the system, another year working with Trevor would get the Calvin Ridley that we all had hoped we would see this year, you know, twelve hundred thirteen hundred yards, ten touchdowns. We didn't see that. So going forward, it I just don't think you could
guarantee fifty million dollars on hope. And it just doesn't make sense for a franchise that has to get something done with Josh, that has to get something done with Trevor, that may want to get something done with Tyson Campbell next year if he comes back healthy and has the big year this year, a thirty year old receiver that, let's be honest, in a contract year, couldn't figure out where he was supposed to be on many routes right,
That didn't make any sense to me. And by the way, now he's going to Tennessee and he's going to run imprecise routes for quarterback who isn't very accurate. Good luck with that.
It would be interesting. I mean, that is a huge amount of money. I think I was upset when I first heard it. Of course, no one wants to see, you know, a Jaguargo play for the Titans. Nobody likes that. When we see the numbers, you're like, ah, it would not have been super excited if Trent Balke went that route right with fifty million guaranteed. But it does you know, now,
where's the wide receiver room going? John? Does this mean maybe they're focusing on somebody else that we're unaware of, or are they going to run with what they have? How do you see it?
Unfildin, I think they put themselves in good situation going in in this sense, it may take me a while to get to this point. In twenty twenty two, they were a good receiving corps that made the postseason. You felt great about at the end with Zay Jones, Christian Kirk, Evan Ingram, and Marvin Jones. They were essentially the same offense last year, adding Ridley and removing Marvin Jones. And he said, well, they were worse last year, but they
really weren't worse offensively last year. They were about the same numbers wise, And then they dipped a little bit once Trevor and Christian got hurt. They set themselves up by signing Gabe Davis with having a cord next year. Minimum that's going to be Davis, Zay Jones, Christian Kirk and e An Inger. Well, that's not significantly different. You're
plugging Gabe Davis in for Marvin Jones, right. You know, Marvin may run a little bit more precise routes and be a little more veteran dependable guy, but Gabe gives you big play guy. So if they stick with these four, then I think they left themselves a situation where these four can go win in the NFL.
Sure, and they had a chance.
I think Zay would have been gone had had Calvin Ben signed. So you're upgrading that a little bit, maybe with Ridley over Za, But to me, the whole key, if it's these four, the key to me is can they give you sixty total games? Can they be healthy, because that's what really took the receiving core down last year Isay being out nine and Christian being out five.
You just compared Ridley to say, let's compare Ridley to Gabe Davis. Right, So Ridley obviously has had big seasons thousand yard seasons and gave Davis has not. But he has twenty seven touchdowns in four years, plus five more that he scored in the playoffs. So he's a proven commodity. And the term that was used about him that I've heard is he's a deep ball guy who can go and get it right. He's more of a perimeter guy, you know, sideline fifty to fifty bowl kind of guy.
How much This isn't the right way to phrase it, but where are you in that comparison? Do you gain anything or do you lose something when you put Davis in the line up instead of Ridley? How much?
Yeah?
I mean, it's uh, you know, realistic.
I'd say probably a little bit if you if you told me I had to have one or the other and it was specials. Yeah, So I'm not gonna be disingenuous and say I wouldn't want really on the team.
I guess what I'm just saying is that I don't think the gap is as big as you might.
Right.
It's in this offense. History is shown in Philadelphia when they won in twenty seventeen.
Was there a go to guy? Not really.
The other comparison is always the Chiefs once less, you know, kill a go to guy, But over time that offense has always worked without.
A go to guy. The go to guy was the tight end.
Yeah, so you know it, it can work like this. And the whole key to the thing is can they interior run block better? Can they keep Trevor healthy? And can Trevor reduce the turnovers? No matter what we're doing right now, those are still the three storylines to me.
And I think that's It's a great point you bring up, John, because in this day and age, do you need a star receiver necessarily to win a Super Bowl?
You don't.
Probably you can get by with a bunch of twos or whatever it is, but your quarterback does have to step up their play.
Right.
We need to see Trevor take it to that point where he's carrying the team along, and we've yet to see that at this point. So it'll be up to him to do that. We don't know if he'll they'll add to the wide receiver room from today or if they'll run with what they have.
Well, they've got what eight draft picks now after sending the sixth round pick to the Patriots, and it's a deep draft for wide receivers. I mean that, by the way, you can repeat every year for reasons that we're elaborated on. That's now what they do.
Will they find one? Though? Is the question to identify someone? And you're absolutely right that is because it's a lot easier said than done to find no wide receiver.
Sever here's the guy who was the go to guy for the Eagles in seventeen, and it was Alshon Jeffrey, who is very much like Gabe Davis, big guy who can work the chains and keep you on track, keep you on target a midway. I didn't want to suggest that he couldn't cool over the middle. It's just when you watch the routes that he ran.
How he's been used so far, Yeah.
Right, and Buffalo used him as a down the field kind of guy. He was offsetting Stefan Diggs. But when I look at the body style, yeah, he and Alshon Jeffrey, who was kind of the pivot man, especially down the stretch for the Eagles in twenty seventeen, are very similar guys.
That's important because they struggled so much on third down. We harped on that pretty much every week this season. That was an issue for them is kind of keep the chains moving, keep that momentum. So if he can be consistent and get that, you know, rappoor down with Trevor, that's huge.
I say this too. We heard late yesterday that the Texans were getting in on Calvin Ridley was Gary Houston. I might have scratched my head a little bit and went, oh, right, with that quarterback that they've got over there. But the situation in Tennessee I think works that you won't worry so much about him being there.
Correct, you never want to see him in the same division, but it was a little scarier when we thought it was.
It's a bold move on Tennessee's part. I don't know what their strategy is. I don't cover that team.
But they're spending money.
Yeah, they're spending money, and they have the cap room forward because they have rookie quarterback on first year deal, second round pick, so that makes sense in their part.
Good luck to him.
All Right, it's a busy day here. We're talking a little bit about people that aren't in the building. We're going to talk about the people that are in the building as we got coming up here on Jaguars Happy Hour presented by the Saint John's River Water Management District. Of course, we've got five new faces here in Jacksonville. We'll hear from some of them coming up next on Jaguars Happy Hour.
As soon as I heard Jacksonville, I was like, thank god they call as I thank god.
I wanted to come back to Florida.
I wanted to be around you know, guys that I knew, you know, coach that I loved, and you know, the team's great.
Shoot.
We can never we can never beat them, you know what I mean. So came, uh, came, came here, and you know, as soon as soon as they sent it in, you know, Nicholas Shame's winning then boom.
I was like, Yeah, I'm a Jaguar man.
Pretty easy decision.
M an easy choice. Happy to be in Florida as there are the rest of us. I'm kind Nannie Stevens, John Oser, Ryan Sextoner with me as we're filling in for JP and Jeff today on Happy Hour presented by Saint John's Riverwater Management District, Florida's water It's worth saving. It's a busy day here. We've got some reported trades we're going to keep an eye on. And also five
new faces were in the building. Gabe Davis, wide receiver from Buffalo and he as he said, very happy to see when Jacksonville called.
Oh yeah, I mean he again.
I'll go back to He fits what they want to do. He fits what they're trying to do at receiver. My only concern at receiver is it's a very very very expensive room filled with a lot of second contract free agents, and eventually they are going to want to draft and develop behind that to get that a little more salary cap palpable. But I'm tired of talking about the cap you know, for those you know, for on the field
next year. It does give Trevor an option. He hasn't had to throw it up and go get the ball guy. So it's one more element they have and I'm fine with it. To me, this group, Brian, it is a group that easily all four of these guys you could see catching nine hundred yards worth of balls and seven to eight touchdowns, So that's very reasonable for all that, I.
Would agree with you, tinly, which is sort of what we saw from them in twenty twenty two. We like the big bodied receiver, Like look, Zay is not a small guy, but he's not as big as Gabe Davis. And you can either you can look at Evan Ingram is a smaller tight end or as a bigger wide receiver, but you see how effective he is in this league. Everyone wanted t Higgins, right, they still do go trade for T Higgins. I have ma I've heard of a
thousand times. This is one of those big bodies, not quite as big as T Higgins, but the kind of guy we haven't really seen Jacksonville going back gosh, I mean the mid two thousands since Ernest us here, right, It's been a long time since we've had that kind of a guy. And this is a gifted athlete.
And maybe that argument that Trevor Lawrence need's kind of those weapons down the field, But Gabe Davis can make those big plays, which is a skill set that not every wide receiver has, and that's something that will be added by adding him to the lineup, So that's good to see there. In terms of other people coming in today, we do have we have Devin Devernet who's a return specialist. Pretty much means he was coming out of Baltimore. So we're not probably gonna see Jamal Agnew. We'll see him
land somewhere else. That's I haven't seen a ton of him so, but that's certainly a dynamic position that if you can help out on special teams that can be a huge difference.
As we've seen, well, Jamal had been hurt last year, and typically a returner who is coming in as a free agent, Jamal had been here three years. That's a pretty long shelf life for free agent returner to come in and be with the team. So the best wishes to Jamal. Great guy, you know he was back in his career. This will have been a great stop for him. Happy story. You don't always stay everywhere a derviin a has been healthy. He would seem to be a smidge
of an upgrade as a receiver. Jamal made some big plays as a receiver and he mattered in the offense. But I don't know that you ever felt like if he was going to be one year four going out that you loved that as an option. I don't know that Dermine's love is an option, but maybe a bit of an upgrade there. And he's been healthier, you feel like he's more in the prime of his career. You're signing a free agent like this for the next three years, not the last two years.
Since we're just sort of prognosticating here. I mean, I'm fine with Duverne being just the return guy. I've got Travis Etn who can do a multitude of things for me. He can take some of those jet screens and do some of the stuff that Doug wanted to do the last two years with Jamal, and he's got better hands. Let's be honest. Last year, Jamal put the ball on the ground a couple of times in Madje whoa right, Like all of a sudden, that was kind of becoming
an issue. I expect Tank Bigsby to have a bigger share, and Doug even talked about it at the combine.
He has to with the spot that he was drafted that.
Absolutely, and I believe in this kid. We talked about him a lot last year, So that will free you up to use etn in that. Quite honestly, there is no lack of weaponry. If you protect this guy, which I'm going back to the offensive line, if you build the wall in front of the quarterback, there's enough weapons here to be as good as you were in twenty twenty two, effective or better. So I could see a lot of different things happening. They don't need du Verne
to come in and be a receiver. They needed to be a great return man because Jamal Agnew came down here and was a Pro Bowl return man. You're going to lose that without him. They're gambling, writes Crystal Ball Business. They're gambling that this guy is the next Jamal.
Agnew come in and play that role on this team for sure. On the defensive side of the ball, we have Darnell Savage coming from Green Bay, Ronald Darby who's bopped around a couple different places at cornerback there, John is it a little I know we talked about it yesterday.
One might be a little more of a stop gap the other two, but brings in a little bit more experience to kind of with your new defensive coordinator figure out what pieces work wear and get some of the youth and seeing exactly what you have.
Well, I think it was an affordable fit. I've used a phrase stopgap, but in this day and age there's so much turnover that most guys are stopgasks. If your second contract free agents and you're there two years, that's a long stay anymore.
So.
Look, he clearly, from listening to.
Him on the podium and from reading about it and from watching him, he loves playing press, he loves playing man to man. He will fit right into what Ryan Nielsen supposedly loves to do. So in that sense, when Darius left and when Trey Herndon left, or were you know, not re signed, you need to.
I don't.
I know they like Braswell and Monterrey Brown, do you love them enough to go in there with him? You need to get at least one in free agency at this rate. I would be extremely surprised if they don't either sign another third day, third level corner, or if he's not one of your top two draft picks. I think it's on another corner. But to your point, yes, Darby gets them through this need period, but at some point they got a draft.
The corners round here, without doubt, he's thirty years old. But I made some calls this morning about him talking to people around the league to say he's got bright eyes. Look at him in the podium today, you'll see a confidence level. He's played press, he's played any situation they've asked him inside outside, play this week, don't play next week, play special teams. And the guy loves football. That was
what I was told. He's a bright eyed guy, which is saying he's very confident and he loves to play football. You can't go wrong bringing a guy that fits your defensive scheme in like that, especially with young players like monterk Brown and Christian brass Well behind him. He at least gives you a guy you can line up and play with and count all but stop gap like this year.
It's also not nothing guy that Mitch Morris has played for Doug. I mean Darby's played for Doug. Yep, you know over time. I don't think the locker room is bad last year, but you need to make sure that it stays what you want from listening to both of these guys. I'm sure when Trent leaned into Doug's office
and said, Hey, I'm looking at these two guys. Yeah, absolutely, Like I think Doug probably likes both of these guys very much coming in here and being guys who can come in and lead right away in.
The right way.
We were all sitting there in the postgame after that Niners game and Doug came in and remember he said, we haven't done anything yet. Well, he's bringing in some guys who've done something right. Mitch Morris has played in some AFC Championship games with the Bills, and Ronald Darby won a Super Bowl with the with the Philadelphia Eagles, and Darnell Savage has played in some playoff games, some consequential games. He's brought some guys in here who have
done some things. And that's what that locker room lacked, guys who have been there and done that. And I think that's an important thing for them.
To fill this year and at a sustained level. I remember telling you guys, it's that, Okay, you have one good season, but to go and play, you know in a Baltimore even Green Bay where they demand success there as well. To have players that are on these teams where they're expected to win and make the playoffs every single year, it's different. And to know that you're going into training camp, you're playing for a coach where you know what's expected of you, and you have to set
that precedent with your players. You can't just have your coach telling you that you need to see some players and have some leaders on your team that do that. And while Jacksonville is a young team, they can bring in some veterans that have been there and done that well.
And by the way, if Eric Armstead ends up siding, that's other thing, right super Bowls and I think you've got to give you got to give Trent Doug and their teams, both coaching and personnel, a lot of credit because they didn't have a lot of salary cap room to work with and they are making some various stute moves guys that again, it's not going to light up you know, social media with people praising them or radio stations, But they're guys who come in and our good accomplished
players that come in at a number that works for this team while setting up the future.
And you bring Armstead into the middle and then all of a sudden, Robertson Harris von Hamilton, Armstead feels a whole lot better.
Yet this than what was here before. Yeah, sure does.
That's a group. You definitely feel differently about.
It if you saw him on the field here when they were here in November. He's just so so tall and long and difficult to block that we haven't seen that much of that.
It will be a good one here Unhappy Hour, Kai Nannie Stevens filling in Brian Sexton, John Oser are with me. We do want to invite you Jags fans to join us on Tuesday, April sixteenth, from six thirty to eight thirty at EverBank Stadium for the be Inspired by Jags Jobs event that's presented by the Florida Lottery. You can register for that right now at jaguars dot com slash
bright Futures. Of course, we're here on Jaguar's Happy I were brought to you by the Saint John's River Water Management District, Florida's water It's worth saving a lot of new faces here. We will be back here on jag Happy Hour here as we talk a little bit more, coming back to the break.
Not only familiarity with Doug in the past that I've always had a keen sense of trying to get back to him ever since he became a head coach. I thought it'd be kind of a fun deal. Either the culture. I mean, we got absolutely smack last year in London and then and you know, I've been a big fan of that defense for a very long time, as well
as the offense. Of course, you know, I think this league is a quarterback driven league, and to win in this league you have to have a quarterback with the tangibles and the and tanigles, and I think Trevor kind of embodies both of those things.
So that and I mean the sunshine doesn't hurt.
Sunshine never hurts. That's offensive. Lineman Mitch Morse is going to be the starting center for the team in twenty twenty four. I'm kind of Annie Stephen's here on Jaguar's Happy Hour, brought to you by the Saint John's River Water Management Districts. It's Florida's water. It's worth saving, for sure, and everybody seems to be happy to be in Florida.
I mean, it's not a hard sell, I would imagine, other than I mean, us, as long as you get as long as you get the money, right, I think it's an easy sell for environment.
Which is what we're saying about you last year, right, as long as you have the money.
I don't get I don't get these kind of contracts, though, if that would make it a lot easier. Because I was a little scared about training camp. I'm not gonna lie, especially because I hear all these stories. I was like, I'm going to pass it on training camp and everyone's going to.
Be I don't think you did.
I didn't.
But we're very close to the MEC now. We're very fortunate. This isn't the old days where you're just bacon in the sun all day with no sunglasses on. So we were. It was a and you eased me, and I appreciate why.
Practices you get some guys that are gonna have to get used to it.
Right, I mean Mitch Mores in Buffalo, Darnell Savage's he's been bay and.
If Armstead signs he's been in the Bay area that.
You know, that's get a nice little breeze different, yeah, a little different, all right? Well, Well these are good, good problems to have though, right, good problems to have, especially around November December for them, so a lot of new faces in town. We do want to talk about the O line. Mitch Morris was actually signed earlier because he was released by Buffalo, so we had him in here earlier in the week. He says all the right things.
A veteran, certainly something we've been talking about for a while that they needed to address that issue, and Mitch Morse did address the issue in terms of coming in and starting over Luke Fortner, and he said he's talked to him already and that they feel like it'll be a good vibe in the room.
You know, Luke and I have chatted and I'm just looking forward to competing and growing with him. Like I think that's that's what football is all about, right, I guess it's about, you know, no matter where you are in your career, growing and being a better professional and learning how to take your game to the next level. So you know, no matter what happens, how that works it out. Like for me, I'm trying to be a
resource for him. He's going to be a resource for me, and we're just going to see how it plays out. But hopefully, first and foremost, just make a good relationship in this offensive line room. Lasting a lot to do is polarize anything.
Not a ton of divas in the offensive line group, So I'm not surprised that they're all on the same page there, but happy at least. I mean to see that the team is understanding of, hey, we did something, it didn't work. Luke Fortner was an issue on that offensive line. Obviously they dealt with some injuries as well. I think that at eight or nine different players that started at one point on the offensive line this year. But it has to give you some hope going forward.
And then Brian, as we've mentioned, the draft is always an option.
Without a doubt. But when you put a player john like Morse in the middle of your offensive line and you've re signed Ezra Cleveland and you've got two guys in Cam Robinson and Walker Little, you feel pretty good about the guys that you've got and upgrading. And then obviously they love what Anton Harrison gave them last year.
So the one spot that you're talking about now thinking all right, we got to make sure we've got competition there is with a guy who played five times as a five ten pro bowler, right Brandon Sheriff, who, by the way, credit to him, gutted through an ankle injury that lingered all season long last year, and he just never was willing to come out of the lineup, So
a lot of credit there. You can see. You can make the case where this offensive line, just by adding Morse and re signing Cleveland is poised to have a significantly better outcome this season.
Well it should and.
Just by it if they're stouter up the middle, which I get. It was hard to tell in the last five games what exactly Ezra Cleveland was right, because you're coming in trade, deadline trade, you're playing the last five He gets hurt pretty quickly against the Brown. Even if he hadn't, there's so much going on, you know, you're losing games. It's you know, this guy's can make all the difference, get him a fresh start. They obviously like him. What I like about Mitch Morse.
Is a.
His results show you that he's stouter on the interior than Luke Fordner, so you start there. But center is also and I'm sure Luke handled this part very well. A center is of all the of the Lyne positions. It's a leadership, communication position, A veteran center who clearly it is a mature, intelligent, engaging person.
This guy seems to me like he.
Can step in right away and be if not the captain on the offensive line, he can be the captain. But he may I have the c But this guy can lead steerly, can communicate, he can learn the offense.
He can give Trevor ease, you know. So he fills all that.
So even if he's not the Mitch Morse that he was maybe in year five, he certainly strikes you as a guy who can be a good veteran for this team for a couple of years.
You tell us, I mean you've interviewed enough guys and understand body language and presence. You were with him yesterday.
He gets it and that's huge, right and John, you're alluding to it because you need that on the offensive line. We can't forget Trevor is a young quarterback and to have a center that's been there, done that and knows how it goes. He's played, you know, with Patrick Mahomes in his second year, he's played with Josh Allen for several years.
To have that kind of.
Calming presence, and especially if you happen to do have the injury bug again, the centerpiece knock On Wood is the same and that can kind of keep some security
because there were times. We don't want to say Trevor necessarily saw ghosts, but you could tell he was getting, you know, running around a little bit last season, and maybe that was just, you know, not being familiar with where people were going to be at certain times, and you need your quarterback to feel comfortable if you want them to be successful.
Now I'll throw this out there. They've signed Mitch Morse. It's great. They've re signed Ezra Cleveland, fantastic. I still want to see with one of the first two picks. I've loosened up a little bit. I wanted to do seventeen man. I wanted to right tackle right because I think you got Anton Harrison is your long term future at left tackle at least that's my understanding of what he's capable of. A great draft, a great draft for
offensive lineman. Go get big, meaner, better, younger, have a guy in there, because remember Cam's in the last year of his deal, and so too is Walker Little. So you have one tackle one under contract for twenty twenty five. Don't let this thing be good this year and then slide back. Go find a guy.
There are moves to be made, for sure, whether that's at seventeen the first round or in the second round as well. There, and we do want to mention that Eric Armstead proposed deal reported John Saw on Twitter a little bit earlier from Ian Rappaport that Eric Armstead might be added because they got stout or on the offensive line. The defensive line was a little bit of an issue towards the end of the season. They were great with the run stop early and then kind of things are falling.
I don't know IF's communication or what, but things were falling off at the end there. So if you can have someone like that in the middle, it just changes the whole dynamic. If that's going to be what you have in the center.
Well, it gives you three. You know, this seem's gonna play a four to three. It gives you Trayvon, Josh Eric Armstead. That's three and we were gonna get mad. And I say it has three Pro Bowl level talents. I know, Trayvon has not played in a Pro Bowl LA yet. At the end of last year, he's coming on.
He's coming on.
And in terms of.
Stoutness, you know, if you line up Armstead and Trayvon, that's hard to move, you know, So all of a sudden, you're better if you add to that a healthy Devon Hamilton, who was really coming out at the end of twenty twenty two.
The formula is there. Now things have to go right. But Trayvon next to Armstead on the line.
There's a lot of length there, right, I mean, Armstead is six foot seven. He was here. He made a visit nine years ago out of Oregon when they were letting guys talk to us when they would come visit, and I remember vividly him filling the doorway. Right. He and Brnston buck are DeForest Buckner what they were teammates at Oregon. They were back to back first round picks by the Niners, and when the Niners went to the Super Bowl in twenty nineteen. Yet those two massive bodies
in the middle. Now he's thirty years old. Okay, so he's not a young man. But you've got incredible wingspan for Trayvon, which makes him a very dangerous player. You got the same thing on this with even more weight and height. I think that's an interesting If I'm Ryan Nielsen, I'm really intrigued about the games I can play with these two guys on one side of the line together.
It ups your athleticism in that regard just having that kind of range there.
Well I'm putting your hands up and blocking passes.
Well, that'll do it too. We gotta see. That is Ryan Nielsen, I'm sure has come in and said what he wanted to run. But he's got to have a hand in some of this, right, like, Hey, I need this and that. Do you think that's something you focus so.
Certainly in the secondary, there's no question, of course, and up front as well, because there are games we played up front. But everything that I have been able to glean from reading and talk to people about Neelsen, he likes to rush with four and wants to get it all. Defensive coordinator who run a four to three want to get there with four, but he really wants to do that. And now you've got three guys on your interior and Devon when he's right. Devon at the end of twenty
twenty two was getting penetration all of a sudden. You've got four guys on your D line if you line on Trayvon, Armstead, Alan and Devon who can all get some pass rush and so Canroy. When Roy was right at the end of twenty two twenty twenty two, he was getting some pass rush too, so maybe an area to be more disruptive upfront.
I don't think I can added anything to that because the one thing I was gonna say was Devn Hamilton from the end of his rookie season was a guy that you could see. He was powerful, so he could push people backwards. But for his wide a body he is, and he's wide, he can slide between two offensive linemen like few big guys do. So if you've got that and he's not having to play, you know, sixty five percent of the snaps, you'll get him back closer to where he's supposed to be.
A nimble, big guy, nimble, nimble on his feet sometimes.
Did you see him out on the practice field last summer with his little little, like two week old child, I mean holding him with his great big hands. You could barely see the baby.
It's a big guy, but he's fast. So I think, is this something where maybe we might see a later round pick trying to get someone on a line and maybe someone a project, just like physically, a large person that you could work on to like build going forward. Because obviously this is great, but in a couple of years we have the same issue.
Yeah, they did it last year with Lacey and he quietly.
Lacey played most of the games and and and was there. So that's sort of what you do. You always sort of hope a later round pick can come along and be impact on the defensive line. That's tough because usually, you know, the great, big ones usually go early. So uh sure, I wouldn't have a problem if you went defensive line, offensive line one two in the draft most years, but it's hard for teams to do that when you
have needs. And I think it'll be hard for this team to do that this year, frankly, because you still have a need a corner.
And that is something I'm looking at. John. I don't know if you've publicly said what you think they're going to do at seventeen, but I still feel like corner might be in the mix there. Do you feel like they're edging one all?
I think it's definitely the mix.
I think it's I.
Feel like that's what's going to be. It's just so hard to get a good corner.
Like I feel like the question is will they be a run on them before they draft, Will they.
Have to move will they be available at that.
Yeah, it's Trent really really really likes drafting big people.
So I am in which is fair, which is a great game. Yeah, And so I'm saying that as a compliment because that's how you build it.
Most gms do. Most gms want to do that.
But then when you get on draft day and you've got a hole in your roster and you're thinking how you're going to line the team up, that's where the push and pull of life and real decisions and sitting in the room going I wish I had five picks right here.
You only got one.
So the variable that we can't account for is we don't know who they like, right, We don't know who's the number one corner on that board, and are they willing to go up because they covet the guy from Toledo perhaps, right, that's a name that a lot of people have talked about it with a guy from Alabama. Who's going to be there and who do they like? There's just so many variables to it, but you can't go wrong with a big guy the way the board falls.
As they say, we got a couple more weeks to talk about that.
And also, by the way, Trent how many times they moved back last year? Right? Yes, I mean they moved from twenty four to twenty five to twenty seven.
I think we all remember because you were like, yeah, they're finding on the board. Oh just kidding, Oh, just kidding.
So the possibility exists that that they will do that again. They'll play around a little bit to get in a spot and get the guy who matters the most to them.
All right, we're here on Jaguars Happy Hour, brought to you by Saint John's River Water Management District, Florida's water it's worth saving. Got our Microsoft social media questions. I'm sure a bunch of you guys have questions about what's going on right now. John has some answers for you. So stay with us here on Jaguars Happy Hour.
Thank you.
Gotta get rid of one. Okay, so we got a bagel with waffle pancakes. Friend, hildre my bagel.
Guys, are.
I love an icebreaker?
Question?
Darnell Savage was asking everybody in the building safety from Green Bay, what you would get rid of given the options for breakfast foods. I think one of them is kind of already out of the mix for me. But we'll get there. So his options were bagel, French toasts, pancakes, and.
Waffles, as long as I can have bagel.
Correct. First of all, here's me, bagel's kind of out of I feel like it really should be French toasts, pancakes and waffles, right, But if you're gonna put it in bagels, absolutely staying. See you're a Northeastern, I'm a good bagel, a good bagel.
I'm a Midwesterner. Bagels mean nothing to me, so I would toss the bagels out.
Yes, it has to be a good bag I guess that would be the precursor to that. But I think waffles are going for me. I like a good waffle, but I feel like a lot of waffles don't hit home.
So I'd say French toast because I'm more of a basics guy, And if you had to, you could live off bagels and waffles and pancakes. French toast really isn't good unless you have syrup on it, So you're going pancakes.
So syrup.
This is madness if you if you had too.
Yeah, I guess it's accessories.
The condimental my pancakes.
Booberry pancakes, absolutely now we know, look at this, we're all getting.
To know each other as long as we don't have to give a bacon.
No, bacon's obviously involved in this, oh for sure. By the way, there's mo Mosa's beer and bacon.
I have a recipe for a French toast that's infused with bourbon that you might like.
Also croissant French toasts.
A very little question.
I would like that bourbon involved. Yes, absolutely wrong, as we.
Got rid of the French toast. That sounds great.
All right.
This is not a breakfast show. It is a sports show. Promise, Ka, Nannie, Stephens, briand sext and John Osier with me here on Happy Hour. We're filling in for our guys JP and Jeff who are off today. Brought to you by the Saint John's River Water Management District. And it's been a busy day,
but a fun day. We like when new faces are coming to town a little bit, probably more like two years ago when you guys had a bunch of people coming in new as opposed to last year was a little more quiet, probably a similar roster, not as many free agents coming in. But it feels like John, we've discussed a little bit, just to reiterate Eric arms Sad obviously a big name if that comes to fruition that's floated out there, that he'll be added to this mix.
But of the people that are coming in, you know, veteran presences, you know, filling some needs, but also nothing crazy, which you want to build off what you have but also address issues.
Yeah, when you get tight against the hap and have to make changes, you have to manage what you do in freegency a little bit. And Brian's mentioned they spent a lot anyway, seventy five million that year, but they really this year couldn't come in and just break the bank on guys they had. When they decided that ray Sean and Darius were clearly not fits for what they wanted to do. Well, that's fine, except now you've got
situations where you need those players. Well, it would have been hard to go out and get top of the market guy in those two situations. So again, are they worlds better from a just pure Hey look at my depth chart and with this talent. No, but I think their scheme fit better and I think they've made logical moves in some important places.
Well, they're trying to win this year, right, I mean that they lost the chance to win the division on the final play, close to the final play of the Sea so they're not looking at it as the roster long term. They're looking at this year and for them, the guys that they went out and signed, they're looking to fill gaps. I mean, Ronald Darby is thirty years old. That's old for a football player, right, but they think you can still play. And Eric Armstead is thirty years old,
Mors is thirty one. Mors is thirty one. So they are clearly looking at these guys and the value for twenty twenty four, even though because of their cap they're having to make these multi year deals and push some of the money out. But you're always trying to have an eye towards two, three, four, five years down the road, and that's where the draft comes in, which is next on their list.
It's good for me if I'm looking at from a fan perspective. I felt like last year maybe they you know, other than the addition of Calvin Ridley off after his suspension was up, it was a similar roster of the year before where you finished. Yeah, there was a great you know, playoff game in there. Comeback. That was awesome. He won the division, but that was a nine to
eight team. Then you got pretty much same roster nine eight team, And yes there was things that happened throughout the season, of course, but I want to see change in the off season. Even if you're a super Bowl team, you see change in the off season, and we're certainly seeing that so far. We'll obviously see that with the draft as well, but so far I feel comfortable with the plays that they're making so far, at least the additions that we've seen through free agency.
That's a good point because the Jaguars did bring everybody back off of that team, and usually your turnovers about a third of your roster, which means you're going to lose a couple of starters out of your starting twenty two that didn't hit them last year. They were able to adjust the cap and make that one work. But you know, new Blood, this.
Is much more familiar position I think for most football teams kind of replace and can.
Run you, and you've got to bring guys in that you can develop that are your guys, and you've also got to keep the cap replanished. You can't. I'll give you an example, because I'm a bit of a cap geek, right, the New Orleans Saints look like the two thousand and two Jacksonville Jaguars. They have been keeping everybody, keeping every you know, extending contracts and pushing money out, and they're in a position where they got unto the cap this year.
They're okay this year. Next year they have already a fifty five million dollar deficit. They're fifty five million dollars over the cap that's projected for next year with only forty two players on the roster. You never want to get to that point. You never want to get to a point where you just keep keeping on and don't and don't because it kills your cap.
It will be a fire sale at some point.
I'm sure for them to blow up next year.
Let's go to some of our Microsoft's social media questions powered by Microsoft. It's also an ozone mail bag because we know our ozone listeners, reader's viewers, they all have their questions. John, so I appreciate you sharing these with us. Keith from Duval by way of Miami. This is a good point because I thought of this recently. Stakes we haven't talked about it after that deal fell through. But what are your thoughts on the kicker position.
Well, they have Riley Patterson on the roster.
Brandon McManus was allowed to hit free agency, which I don't think was a huge surprise. I think right now they're in decent shape because Riley's has shown he can make big kicks. I would be surprised if they don't. I mean, they'll certainly have competition for him. I would be a little surprised if that competition is not a draft pick. I think they'll draft a kicker at some point and try to find the guy that can be a X number a year guy.
When I was in Kansas City last year, the rumor was that they were trying to get the kid from Michigan. Is it Jake Mooney that?
Yeah, that was what. Yeah, they were I think they were trying to get him.
That was the rumor.
And then the Niners jumped over the Jaguars and took him. So they were trying to address the position. You're always trying to address it with a young guy that you can bring in here and be that long term solution for you. I don't know if there's one in the draft. I haven't looked at the kickers. You haven't been focused on the offensive line.
Yeah, well, hopefully I'm not taking a kicker at seventeen, so that'll be a little.
Little fit Joseph Astian Janakowski.
In this year, it's a little farther down the line, hopefully. Our second question for John is ericrom Jacksonville Beach. She said, we talked a little bit about this. What will the Jaguars do with wide receiver now? Round one?
Right?
I don't know. Round one?
You think, well, that was the automatic sort of quick trigger. Oh, they lost Ridley's a huge need. They got to go get one a round one. I would be very surprised if they went after round one, considering what we've all been talking about that Trent likes big people and the need at corner. So I think I think if something fell in their lap where they could, you know, if a veteran out there made sense, they could still make
the same maneuver with Zay being available for release. But I kind of think that they don't see it as a huge need. And I don't know that for sure, but I wouldn't I wouldn't be surprised if they don't consider it a hot button issue.
Right, now, you know, there's part of me that says, no receivers in the first round unless you're Marvin Harrison junior. Right, that's six foot four guy. I know, there's the Brian Thomas kid from LSU that has that sort of a frame. And then I remember last year that Zay Flowers was a late first round selection by the Ravens and he was really productive until that, you know, that playoff game against Kansas City. I mean, there's a really, really good
player for them. So I suppose if you're sitting there and there's some guy that you have a high grade on, if I'm going to be a best available player purist, well then okay, if you've got a guy who can be an impact player. I just for the reasons that John has talked about on some of the shows this week, there's so many receivers now the game is at the college level is a passing game too, and there's just
tons of receivers out there. Go find your guy. There's only so many big men on the planet who can move, and I just don't want to get away from those guys.
I do think we should mention today the other person that's been in the building via trade. Is Mac Jones backup quarterback kind of the role they're seeing him as he was in the same draft class as Trevor Lawrence. Things did not work out in New England. That was a bit of a mess up there. Not all his fault. They had, you know, three different offensive coordinators, one of which was not a real offensive course coordinator. So that's a tough situation to be in. But he's Jacksonville kid,
He's coming back home. I have to imagine Doug Peterson's kind of like, let's see what I can do with this. Maybe I can make something out of it. John low risk, high reward, maybe a solid backup if you need him to play.
I think you say Zachy right, it's low risk, low cost, a six round pick, and if he's here for a year, then you've got a six round pick that you're you know, paying minimally for a backup quarterback. And from max perspective, he said it in the pressure a minute ago, I want to get the trains back. I want to get the train back on the tracks. So he's a young guy,
he's got plenty of experience. He talked a little bit in the presser about just how fast things move for a rookie when you're drafted, you come in and all of a sudden, you're the guy. You're the guy, You're the guy. I think this year could be good for him. You're with a quarterback guru and Doug. You don't have to worry about the pressure of what's the meeting and save abman? What's Belichick going to save abm it? What's
this gonna happen? What's this gonna happen? And it's entirely conceivable for mac if if Trevor gets hurt for a month, which let's hope not, but if it does, he comes in plays well, it goes three and one. The quarterback needy free agent team in twenty twenty five is beating down his door and so that scenario could easily play out for him. And he's a good kid, even though he went to Bowls. This Episcopal grad hopes he does well.
Listen, he was an academic All American with a four point zero at Alabama. Okay, he already has his master's degree, and he's made twelve million dollars, almost thirteen million dollars playing football. At the end of this year, it'll be about fifteen million dollars. He's at home.
Right.
We heard Gabe Davis talk about being back in the sunshine in Florida, the big smile on his face, that he's glad to be home. I think he's in the situation where he can relax and work on himself, which he couldn't do as the starting quarterback. Right. I think it's a great situation for him, and clearly he's excited about it. I love the quip about his mom coming to pick him up from work.
I'll promise you this, if my kid's living at home, he's made that kind of money, You're not picking up paying the mortgage for the next couple of months.
You're not gonna be his super driver and come pick up up.
I give him free rent. I gave him much money for you for you for a couple of months. Mac ain't getting free rent. Right, That was my kid. Maybe his mom feels different.
Well, I'm sure she's happy to have him home. A busy day here in Jacksonville, we appreciate you guys joining us here on Happy Hour presented by Saint John's River Water Management District, is a busy one. We've got some rumors in the works, so make sure you check out Jaguars dot com and follow all of us, and we'll give you the latest information here with Jackson