Jaguars Happy Hour: Thursday, February 3

the coaching search. There are rumors and reports will get to some of those will take a look at the NFL head coach Tracker, teams that have hired and the teams that have yet to hire head coaches. The Jaguars interview tracker as well, names that they have interviewed and maybe are currently who knows, well, look at that coming up? Well, of course, go around the National Football League. A busy offseason already around the league. Newsworthy and it's not even

the Super Bowl yet. Jeff Loggingman with us now Jaguars analysts. Good afternoon, what's up? Logs, Good afternoon. Haven't seen you in about what three or four weeks something like that. Hasn't been that lot it's been a hot minute. Was it the season? Yeah, I guess it was. It was last week, so that would be I was on vacation last week, JP. Yeah, well good and rightly so yeah, no, it was good. Uh had a little trip to the mountains of Tennessee and I got to see what the

Smoky Mountain draw about. So it was a great vacation, great getaway. Thought for sure that the Jaguars would have a head coach hired by then, but not. Well, the reports where they were close, and then they weren't, and maybe they're close again, but who knows. We have not seen the white smoke out of the chimney yet. I really believed that this this job last year was the

most attractive in the National Football League. You had a first overall draft pick with the possibility of drafting Trevor Lawrence. You had a team that was flush with cap room, that had plenty, I mean, a full array of draft picks. And then Urban Meyer is hired, and I really believe that this could have been the number one most attractive job as well this year, and for whatever reason, it

hasn't been that. And you can point to a lot of different things, but the fact of the matter is is that five openings have been filled before this one has been filled. And if this was the number one attractive job, then people would have been holding out hope to get this job at some point. And so here it is. You know that there's there's four openings left. This team is is one of them, and uh, we're

still kind of waiting to see what's gonna happen. And I think that's a very curious situation to go from from last year this being the hot job to take and and the number one job to take where it could have been this year, and then all of a sudden, here we are in this hiring cycle. And you know

that that that brings more questions into the equation. By the way, we're right at fifty days since Ervin Maya was fired seven weeks, you know, so you have a head start on a lot of teams, which which also should have been able to give you an edge in the evaluation of your of your coaching search. And and look, I'm all about getting it right. So if if making it take longer means getting it right, I'm all for it. But I think a lot of times if you're not

making the right decision in an expedient manner. I think it hampers a lot of other things that you would try to do as an organization with the subsequent hirings after your head coach is hired. Let's take a look at the NFL head coach tracker. As you said, logs, five teams have hired coaches, well, four officially. One is

coming officially after the Super Bowl. Matt ebra Flus is going to the Bears, Made Hackett to the Broncos, Josh McDaniels to the Raiders, Brian Dable to the Giants, and then after the Super Bowl has done, Kevin O'Connell has an agreement apparently with the Vikings will make that official by rule after the day after most likely the Super Bowl. U four teams open, of course, the Jags, the Saints, the Texans, and the Dolphins are remaining. Yeah, and then

the Texans job. I think that there's a lot of questions about that one. It was reported today they're down to three finalists for that gig, by the way, and then the Saints. I mean that was something that kind of came out of left field with the retirement, and uh so, I don't know what's going to happen there. The Dolphins, I think also has you know, these are curious situations that remain. And and the reason I say that is that you the all the openings that you

looked at. For the most part, with the Giants, the Vikings, the Raiders, the Broncos, the Bears, for the most part, it was kind of a hiring GM and coach. I think the one thing that was a little bit different was the Denver Broncos situation because Patton was hired I believe after Vic Fangio was was hired. So but for the most part, you've you've brought two guys in together.

And so with the Dolphins, the Jaguars, and the Saints and the Texans, there's existing personnel guys that are already there. And could that be a hindrance to some people maybe, you know, because a lot of times there's not a relationship with what may be viewed as a top candidate with the person that is in personnel. So a lot of times when they are hired together, they're they're kind of joined at the hip and some in in some respect just like you know what they've called well and

Gus Bradley, when when they were hired. It was kind of okay, these two guys are together for the most part. Let's take a look at the Jaguars interview tracker via NFL dot com and they have listed all of the reported names that have interviewed with the Jags. There's a long list for the Jaguars. By the way, we mentioned some of those earlier have already gone on to other gigs. Era Fluce Hackett, Kevin O'Connell is depending higher by the Vikings,

and you know some of these other names. Dan Quinn was at least in touch with the Jags, but then decided to remain the Cowboys defensive coordinator. Some of these guys got second interviews, some did not, But it did feel like there was a report this past week that the Jaguars were putting in to talk to Kevin O'Connell, but then they had to wait until after the Super Bowl. Well,

now O'Connell's been hired. That was like they had to wait after the Super Bowl because they didn't have a first first interview in that window they didn't have it. But since he is now, by the way, real by the way, that if that were the case, if you tried to interview Kevin O'Connell, and you weren't aware of the rules of not having the first interview, then, than shame on you for not knowing the rule correct. That was the latest name to be added to the Jaguars list,

I believe the last name. So since he's been hired, I mean, I don't think there's any more dark horse candidates coming out. You would think at this point, you know, maybe maybe there are. But it's kind of going back to the names that we've seen reported the last couple of weeks, guys like Leftwitch and Peterson, and I think, first of all, both of those would be tremendous candidates. I think Doug Peterson, super Bowl winner, proven guy Byron

Leftwich has got a link to the franchise. You know, I'm not sure about the reports that he wanted to have Adrian Wilson in as general manager. Could there be a dark horse candidate? I say absolutely. And the reason I say that is that a lot of the teams in this head coaching hiring process have been very transparent and that Okay, hey, we interviewed, they put out on Twitter, we interviewed so and so and uh and tomorrow we're interviewing. So and so there hasn't been any of that with

the Jaguars that there. It's been very secretive in some respects. And so when you say there are no dark horse candidates anymore, who the hell knows? Right? I mean, we don't really know. I mean what the list of the interview list that that we compiled there, that that we com compiled NFL dot com. I mean, we didn't put that list togother. I mean, that's what they're speculating. But none of that has been quote unquote confirmed. So you know, so I I could there be a dark horse Canada,

Sure could be. Is it likely? I don't know. I don't know. It's rights say no chance, but there's always Hey, look unless you're sitting in the room with them. You know, you know that movie Dumb and Dumber. So you're saying there's a chance, which one of the greatest lines ever. So that's where we stand. I mean, there's and to your point, it was February three, right, there's only four teams remaining. Two hire coaches. These other staffs are already

starting to come together around the new head coaches. Oh absolutely, even Kevin O'Connell i guarantee you has already putting a staff together at the same time that he's putting together with his head coach a game plan for the super Bowl. I mean that that's that's what you do. I mean, look, if you've got an opportunity to be the head coach, you're not gonna sit back and hey, look, you know, I really got to concentrate on the super Bowl. You know. Uh,

I can't worry about putting my staff together. What now, I'm putting the staff together. I'm getting on the phone in my spare time every chance that I get, and I'm texting guys between you know, game plan meetings for the super Bowl because I'm telling Sean McVeigh, Look, man, I'm I'm gonna be a head coach with the vikings. I gotta get my stuff together. Man. Okay, you can handle the game plan, and I'll help you as much as I can, but I gotta, I gotta, I gotta work, man,

you know so. I mean, look, the guys are putting staffs together, and that's when when you've had an opening for fifty days or however long it span. I mean, that's one of the great advantages to having the first opportunity at hiring somebody is to be kind of first in line. For first of all, you want to cherry pick your head coach, and then once you get the opportunity to get the pick of the litter, then you can cherry pick or get the pick of the litter

with your staff. And that's I mean, that's critical. I mean, I think I really believe that that's critical, especially when you have a staff that there's not gonna be or apparently not going to be a connection with the past regime.

For example, like the Baltimore Ravens. You know, if if something happened with John Horball to our John Harball decided not to coach anymore, they're probably gonna hire a guy that has some connection to the Ravens organization, which then and would follow that some of the guys that are already on the staff are gonna be retained by the

new head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. With this staff which was put together by former college coach, how many people from the staff are gonna be staying on board, Well, they've already started to go away. I mean, a handful of already taking gigs elsewhere college jobs and there's reports that Joe Colin there were people taking job before the season ended. George Warhops interviewing. That was a report a

while ago. So I mean, yeah, So, I mean that's I think that's the hard part, and I think that makes it a little bit frustrating, is that, Okay, did did you get the pick of the letter from from the head coaching availability? I mean you could say maybe not. I don't. I mean, maybe you do. Maybe you're gonna get the guy that you were tagging all along, or that you had in your sights all along. But when what has been forty nine or fifty days, sometimes it

gives the appearance certainly that that's not the case. And then I can tell you right now that you're losing out on hiring staff. In fact, indisputable, you are losing out on hiring the best of the best. From a staff perspective. Here's a question for you. Maybe well, I'm gonna get an answer to this question. We want answers on this show. I want to how much how important is the staff as opposed to the talent and the personnel.

The talent you have to have the talent, how much can the staff actually do if you're you know, really talented. I'm still a big believer in that in that coaching matters, you know, and looking I've heard many people talk about it's not about the xs and o's, it's about the jimmy's and the jails, and that's true, but excess and os matters too. And anybody that believes that any part of an organization is not as important as another part

should be fired immediately. Because I'm a I'm a strong believer in that everything matters, um And when I say everything matters from from the assistant coaches that you have, to your coordinators to your head coach, and obviously the head coach has to be a tremendous leader. Who you have in management from a personnel standpoint, who's picking the

players to come in? That matters. It matters the players that you have and the background and the values that they bring from a playing skill set standpoint, but also from value standpoint and how they're built internally at all matters. And if and if you're not trying to get better in all areas and getting the best that you can be in all areas, then I think you have less

of a chance of being a consistent winner. That's that's one of the beauties when you look at the organizations that have a history of winning, they have a history of consistency with their coaching staff, house and from an organizational standpoint, and they've got quality people. Quality people. I mean, you know when I the New England Patriots, I mean it starts with one guy in Bill Belichick. Okay, but

he doesn't do it by himself. He has a trusted uh collection of people and it's not easy to be come part of that circle of trust with Bill Belichick. And I bring up the Ravens because the Ravens have been able to do it through multiple types of quarterbacks. They've been able to do it through multiple personnel executives, from Ozzy Newsome to the to the new guy what's

his name, uh, Toronto blank. But anyway, the new guy that they have who worked under Ozzie and who by the way, refused many jobs to stay on board with the Ravens because he knew that he was going to be the eventual replacement Dozzy Knewsom. But I mean, that's that's what you need to strive to be. I mean, that organization, I think has done a fantastic job and they have groomed a lot of coaches from their own staff. How many coaches did you see them have to where else?

Said they lose a coordinator, whether it be offensive or defensive, and then they're just promoting from what's end because there they know the way that they want it done in Baltimore. And I have great appreciation for John Harball. I think John Harball, I think the ownership in Baltimore, Ozzy Newsom, I think helps set a standard there. And that's why

they went all the time. We saw it firsthand training camp a few years ago, going up there and seeing how they work in the building and operate their organization firsthand. Look at it for the Jaguars a few years back. I let's come back in a moment, plenty more ahead. A little later. We'll go around the National Football League, plenty of storylines, and we're not even to the super Bowl yet. We're over a week from the super Bowl,

and it feels like this is a LONGUS off season. Ever, by the way, that was one of the best championship weekends in a long time. We'll get to that when we return as well. We're off and running. It's Jaguars Happy Hour. On the Jaguars Digital Network. Jaguars Happy Hours brought to you by Dream Finders Homes Homes that Fit Your lifestyle and by Baptist Health, Changing Healthcare for Good. Welcome back. It's Jaguars Happy Hour Thursday afternoon. J P. Shadrick,

Jeff Logaman, Glad you're along with us. Joe Fortunato on the audio, Brent Reber on the video side. The off season is here. The wheels are turning for the Jacksonville Jaguars. We think there's some reports and things going on, but nothing has been announced as of yet. Some of the reported names that have interviewed for the Jaguar's head coaching job have taken other gigs already of course, so um, you know, it kind of feels like the wheels are

turning though, right. I mean there's these well mean to me because you're spinning. Well they're not spending too quickly apparently, but you're starting to see these other names um come out. Like today. There was a report again today from Mike garre Full of NFL Network the Jaguars are working towards adding former Vikings GM Rick Spielman to the front office in an unspecified role. He's had a long career in

the National Football League. He's been the GM of the Vikings since through this past season when they cleaned house there. He've been with the Vikings since oh six. So you start seeing names like that. You mentioned Adrian Wilson a moment ago with the left Wich stuff last week. You know, is this more than a head coaching change? Trent Bulky is the general manager for the Jaguars. What does Mr kan have in mind? That only Mr Khan knows that obviously. Yeah,

that's I think that's a great question. Um. There have been reports that that some people were not thrilled about the opportunity here because Trent Balky was in place. Is that factual information? I don't know. I haven't talked to any of those people, but I will tell you this that when reports start coming out about a Spielman or a Wilson or something of that nature, you know reports of any other old saying is where they're smoked, there's fire,

But in what capacity? What is the structure of the organization going to be? And that and that's why you just have to kind of wait and see what ownership is gonna do, because I mean, that's that's his decision when when he decides to make the call on who, and then also what he's gonna let us know. And the structure could be anything. Could it? Could it involved an e v P to where the e v P has a general manager and a coach? Yeah, could it be? Are you just have a gentle manager and a coach

and then they both report directly to him? Sure? I don't know if if and then to the owner. There's all those possibilities. The one thing I think that I'm a big believer in and that when somebody gets an opportunity to be the head coach, that's gonna it's there's gonna be a lot of money with the opportunity of being a head coach, and so I think I think some people view that as quote unquote striking the lottery.

And so if you're, if you're And that's why I think this hiring process can be so challenging, is that you want to make sure that you get a person that it's not about the money. It's about it's about the team, and it's about winning. It's about culture. It's more than just about me the head coach, And boy, am I gonna be set for life because I just got million dollars guaranteed. That's not what it can be about. And that's those people are hard to find, Okay, I

mean we look Andy Reid. I think is is a perfect example of the guy, the type of guy that you're looking for, John Harball. They're driven more than just money. Do they want to be compensated fairly, sure, everybody does, but it's more than than just the money, and so that I think that's very challenging. It's it's no different than finding the right people on the personnel side of things.

You have to find people that whose agenda includes getting this organization to be a perennial winner, a consistent winner. It's not about well, I want to make sure that I'm taking care of I want to make sure that my political power is still intact. I want to make sure that my contract is where it needs to be. Now, I mean that you've got to find people that they are so far above and beyond that. It's about the brand and the logo and the team and the people

in the organization. And that's not easy to find. Know that's that and uh, you know it's really not There's only a few organizations around the league. I think you could say have been stable over a long period of time in that regards. It's not it's not easy. It's it's not easy. And uh, and what's the right way to do things? I don't think there's a right way.

There's there's some teams that that ownership is involved in a in a day to day process and I think that that helps in a lot of ways to for the awareness of things that are happening on a day to day basis. If if you have somebody like Mr Khan who is involved in in other businesses and is not here on a day to day basis, do you need to have that e v P. That person who can see things on a day to day basis and

who can evaluate with experienced eyes. I mean, look, I mean there's a there's a case to be made for having a lot of different formulations and and setups to the organization structure. But but most important only you have to find those people that the agenda is lacking. And it's when I say the agenda, the personal agenda takes a back seat to what the team and organizational agenda is.

You know, I'm just off the cuff here thinking you know around the league, top cultural destinations around the league, most stable organizations, and number one in my mind's Pittsburgh Steelers. They don't change coaches, ever, the ownership has been there

forever well, Pittsburgh Steelers, New England, Patriots, Baltimore Ravens. Right, but Steelers even over a longer period of time, right, I mean since the seventies, right, and they've and they've been consistent throughout that there's been some change in New England now as of the last twenty years, obviously, they've had a lot of success. Seattle is another one cons for a while. Yeah, so you know, but there aren't many. I mean, Dallas has not had a lot of success

over the years since the Super Bowl runs of the nineties. Um, they've had the same ownership that's been considered, and they've had a lot of success off the field obviously, And that's that's the example of ownership being involved every day. I mean, he's right there in the mix and owner slash general manager, Jerry owner slash whatever he wants, that's

the title. So there's different ways to go about it, but there are just really a handful that I think you could define as really stable organizations in the league. There's not a lot, but that's what you always strive for, you know, that's that's what you strive for. And uh and Baltimore being there, right, Yeah, that's what I mean.

Baltimore is by far in there. I mean, that's I think that's the organization that has had more turnover but less change than most teams, and which is kind of odd to say that more turn turnover but less change. And that's just because they've been able to to develop not only players, but they've developed people in their organization from a from a staffing standpoint, on the coaching staff and on the person outside of things. And that's that's

been impressive. And uh, I mean it's not very often that you see somebody from the Ravens organization that just leaves. I mean, they that's there, their Ravens. So I appreciate that, but it's a challenge. It's always a challenge and it's not easy to get it right. So, as I said before, forty nine fifty days, here we are. And is it is it an optimum set of circumstances where we're at right now? No? No, would you like to have had

that position filled? Absolutely, because there's so much more to do after you name that person, and I don't look now, the combine is in a month, and then free agency starts in a month and a half. Well, and in putting a staff together, um, there's there's so much to do. And when you think about, Okay, the combine so close, the free agency is not that far. But I mean, I go back to that staff, the staffing part, you're

missing out right now. You're missing out, and then you can't argue that when we return, it's college prospects scouting season. The All Star games are happening. We'll get Jeff Logman's annual Shrine Bowl story. You can bring that up every year. I think around this time, which is good. And and you know the way, when you say about all these all star games, you're also missing out with a staff's opportunity to evaluate, to add to your personnel department's opinion.

Scouts are scouting, but the four eyes, the better coaches have an opinion. In scouting, two coaches have to give you directive. Hey, look, we're looking for this type of guy to fit this System's not you don't know what type of guy and what type of system you're on right now collecting information. It feels like, let's come back in a moment of Jaguars Happy Hour on the Jaguars

Digital Network. Welcome back Jaguars Happy Hour and if you're watching us on Jaguars dot Com or Jags Social media, it's a live look at the demolition of the practice fields for the new football Performance Center that is slated to open for training camp. They started what day or two after the season ended here and put up the temporary fencing, brought in a couple of mobile trailers for the offices for the construction, and then started tearing things down.

The bleachers are now gone. Field one, which was nearest to the bleachers, is now chopped up halfway. They're taking the drainage out of one portion. They're taking down the concrete wall on the south end. Well, there's a lot going on right now. At least there's some shovels in the ground and that's a good thing to see. Yeah, that, Uh, they didn't waste any time in poor Field one. Field one used to be uh, one of those rubber ground

up rubber in late artificial turf field. It's hot as hell, and then it was gotten rid of because it was hot and it was not the greatest surface in the world and turned into a natural grass field. And now it's gonna be turned up and turned into something else. I think, first of all, it's gonna be an amazing complex, and from what I understand, it's gonna be very similar to the Miami Dolphins complex. Some similarities there from an

architectural standpoint. I think that saved them a little bit of time too, because if that facility has already been designed a certain way, you can take some pieces of that since a little time and develop, which is smart. I mean in the in the essence of time. I just remember when you go back to when we didn't have a field at that time and where those uh I think where the fair fair grounds are at? Uh?

Or was it right there? By trying to remember the exact location of the old baseball grounds, Oh, the Wolfson Park, Yeah about Yeah, it was kind of on the footprint of the on the footprint of the practice field. So we didn't have a field in the in the beginning of so when we used to go outside to do we would do some like like ply metrics and stuff, you know, where you're doing high knees and butt kicks and shuffling and all that kind of that stuff. You

still do it all the time. And we would go out to the baseball field Wilson Park, that's right, that's what it was called, the Wilson Park back then, and we would tear it up, you know, we're wearing you know. And I just felt bad because you know, when you do football drills from the same spot, you know, so we're just tearing up the south field. I just want

to sit. I'm sitting there thinking to myself, if I'm a baseball player and I come out here for a game or a practice and and all these football guys have been out here, and I'm looking at my field, I'm I'm I'm not very happy right now. And because our field at the time, which I remember correctly, that used to be the old paint factory on the south end of the stadium. So they essentially brought in some dirt to cover up all the lead from the old paint factory, okay, and covered it up and then put

some sad down. And so we were practicing on probably some bad things for many years. And then it got moved eventually the location that it's that now, but it's done a lot of transition with those practice fields over the year. There's a lot of good teams on those early practice fields, very good teams, very good players. Hall of Famer. A matter of fact, Tony was Sulley, Jimmie Smith, Fred Taylor was on those fell of Famer. By the way, what do they announced the Hall of Fame. I'm I'm

rooting for this coming through a week from today. A week from today, it's when the honors show is. I believe it's during that show they'll announce it. It's already been voted upon, but the results are not out there yet, so I think we'll find out that. I just wanted to know because I mean, I I knew it was coming up because it's always Super Bowl week, and I didn't know the exact date, because I mean, I I

think he's gonna get in this year. And and by the way, I just wanted to bring this up because um, uh the guy that did a radio show and I retweeted what he said, and I think it was um former offensive lineman that played in the league, Uh Ryan, But no, it was Uh. He does some radio stuff anyway,

Ross Tucker, Ross Tucker, Thank you Ross Tucker. Did a segment with somebody where he talked about watching film of the great left tackles during his era, and it was and I thought he was spot on, and that he talked about, you know, Ogden as being a really good football player, which Jonathan was. He's one of those guys that when I went against him, I really didn't have a plan because it just said I didn't know what was gonna work because he was such a freakish athlete

athlete in so long. And then there was Walter Jones and Orlando Pace and Walter Jones and and he brought this up that Walter Jones and Basselli were the two best, but he said Basselli was the best, and and there is, in my opinion, he has spot on. I never, I never ever watched one of my own offensive players was

such great admiration as Tony Basselli. I mean, he was a guy that when we weren't on the field as a defense, I would get my cup of water and then walk back to a spot that I could watch him go against the greats, whether it mean Shawn Jones or Bruce Smith or whoever, and I'd watch him kick their rear end and it was one of the great I mean I had a front road ticket, man, Popcorn, I mean front road ticket to a great player. And I'm talking about a great player that was making great

players look like they were nothing. And he was, without a doubt, the best left tackle in that era. And that's hands down, without a doubt. Let's hope the the coronation begins next week. Though. The only thing that he doesn't have in comparison some of these other guys is the longevity. That's the only thing. But but but his heights for three or four years was higher than those guys. But he just again that longevity thing. A lot of

those guys did it for twelve, thirteen, fourteen years. However many years that they did it, they just did it longer. So anyway, I'm rooting for him, and uh and I will I will be jumping up and down if he gets elected next Thursday. Rick Stroud from the Tampa Bay Times, a long time NFL writer, tweeting out just a little over twenty minutes ago. Here's the quote hearing Bucks offensive coordinator Byron Left, which is expected to remove himself from

consideration for the Jaguars head coaching job soon. Former Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaci and former Eagles coach Doug Peterson remains strong candidates. End quote. That's Rick Stroud, Tampa Bay, about twenty four minutes ago right now. Interesting. Well, it's very interesting that somebody would move remove themselves from consideration given that, I mean, being a head coach in the National Football League's tremendous opportunity. I think that's very curious.

I'd love to know the reasoning behind that. There's a lot of speculation, a lot of speculation as to why he hasn't been hired yet, and uh, it has to do with the general manager situation, and that's the speculation. I don't know if that's why he would pull him self out of consideration, but Rick Stroud is a reputable guy who has had very reputable information in the past, and I think that that would be unfortunate if that's the case. But I will tell you that I think

Byron left which is a wonderful candidate. I think Rick Psaccia is a is an outstanding Canada A matter of fact, a couple of weeks ago, I had a conversation with Gus Bradley about him and Gus couldn't, couldn't speak highly

enough about him, great things to say about him. And then obviously, uh, Doug Peterson has won a super Bowl and he kind of fell out of favor in Philadelphia if people will remember back, because there was this falling out with the Carson Wentz situation, and Carson Wentz wasn't exactly handled with kid gloves at at the last part of with Philadelphia. If you look back at that and you evaluate where Carson Wentz is at now, who handled

that properly? I think Doug Pearson handled it right and that he knew that Carson Wentz wasn't the franchise answer at quarterback, and so why continue to continue on with a charade that he's gonna be this great quarterback when he didn't have a belief in him because the general manager gave him this long extension. Long extension doesn't make you the answer and doesn't make you a great quarterback. Great play makes somebody a great quarterback. So I think

I think Doug Peterson would be a wonderful hire. He's been there, He's done that. He's been around the league forever too, A long time, long time player quarterback for the Dolphins, and the Packers and the Eagles, the Browns. I mean the guy, it's a backup most of his career. So he's been around the league for a long long time, and he's an offensive mind. And we have we have a great young quarterback here in Jacksonville that I believe very strongly in and I and he just he needs

to be developed. He needs to continue to be surrounded with talent, and most importantly, he needs to be surrounded with stability. And if you think that just because you have this wonderful young quarterback that wins are magically going to appear, take a look at the Detroit Lions under Matthew Stafford and tell me how that worked out. Right, I'm not gonna happen. That magic pixie dust of just having the quarterback and getting it all right doesn't work.

You got you gotta have that in place to have a chance, But it doesn't mean that you're gonna you have it solved. Can you imagine if if Matthew Stafford had an opportunity to play with a good football team for a long period of time, like one that he's been surrounded with in l A, I was gonna say he's on one now and the first year in here they go on to the Super Bowl. That's first year.

So I mean that's some of those things that you that you watch and you observe the history you can you cannot ignore, and you cannot allow them to be ignored in the decision making process that you're making for your organization moving forward. We'll come back in a moment and go around the nast the Football League. Plenty of headlines storylines around the league. A little over a week

away from the Super Bowl. As we just mentioned, apparently Bucks offensive coordinator Byron left Which expected to remove himself from consideration for the Jags head coaching job. That's according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. We're back with more in a moment. It's Jaguars Happy Hour on the Jaguars Digital Network. We're back. It's Jaguars Happy Hour on a Thursday afternoon, JP Shatrick with Jeff Logaman. Glad

you're with us. The off season rolls along. Reports this afternoon that Byron Leftwich is expected to pull his name out of the running for the Jaguars head coaching job, and that has the social media world a buzz. I'll say that, right, now. The social media world has been a buzz of flame for quite some times. It has, Yes, it has, it will continue, I believe. I mean, people have a right to express their opinion and uh and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I think

you just got to be respectful about it. But express yourself as you desire. College All Star season, Senior Bowl week, we were supposed to go cover, but we were kind of hung. I had to hang back here just in case things happen with the coaching search. We weren't. You know, so you got tipped off that there was gonna be a coach named No, not at all. Are you lying? I'm not at all. Are you withholding information? Is this are you tweeting right now? Is this what you're doing?

So it sounds like on Twitter right now? No, So didn't get a chance to go this year. The Senior Bowl practices and all that shrine bulls tonight in Las Vegas. They moved that location obviously in the old days used to be out West Alto, and then they moved it to St. Pete for the last number of years in Tropicana Field. You don't want to be in California nowadays and now it's now it's in Vegas at the state means great. I mean when Bucky Brooks is on the

call tonight on NFL Network, O good him. That's a that's a a tough broadcast if you're trying to talk just like like the the game itself. But if you're if you're a personnel junkie like Bucky, I mean, it's a you know, it's a great job. These days, at least the last number of years, it's kind of the Shrine Bowl has been the game for the fourth round through seventh round. Kind of prospect guys Bowl has been

you know, usually it's the older guys. They have second round, of third or fourth round for the most part, what's what's the rount? What's the one? Then for the top picks, they don't go to any of them. Okay, well, okay, give an idea that years ago the Senior Bowl was viewed. There was three of them in my era. Okay, you had the Blue Gray Game on Christmas and Montgomery, Alabama exactly. That was considered like the lesser of all of the All Star games, mainly because it happened before or during

Bowl season. It also was on Christmas Day, so there was a lot of things that weren't great about it. At the Crampton Bowl it's the name of the stadium. Yeah, and then you had the East West Game which was in Palo Alto, which I went to that one, and that was actually considered a highly desirable all Star game

to go to. And then the Senior Bowl in my era was viewed as something that you did not want to go to because they had practices that were in in full pads, they had a lot of contact, and players that were looking at potentially playing in these all star games thought that that that was a very high risk proposition and a risk of serious injury, which many guys didn't want to even have an opportunity to partake in a But the the East West Shrine Game in

Polota was awesome. I had Mike Godfried was our head coach of the East squad. Jimmy Johnson, the head coach of the Miami Hurricanes at time, was the assistant coach and soon to be named the Dallas Cowboys head coach right after that. That was we had a great staff, had a great time, had a lot of great teammates out there, and uh, and that was cool. I and in that game, I'll never forget that that we won.

We dominated them and uh, I got to play middle linebacker, outside linebacker, defensive end, and defensive tackle and nose tackle. I got to play five positions. Jimmy Johnson let me play all five positions in that game. It was awesome. It's pretty good. It was fun, a lot of fun. I love this story every year I told. The story

comes around. The stories that shall remain untold. Was that they actually gave us these uh they had a fleet of cars, okay, and so you know, so that you could get around town or get to the practice if you weren't going to ride the bus, or if you wanted to go get something to eat. And so we somehow we me and about four other guys got ahold of a van and so the van. The van used to um leave a little bit in the evening and return very late, and we would take naps in the

middle of the day. So we had one guy that after we went out to dinner okay one night and had some fun, we couldn't wake him up in the van to get him inside to the hotel that we were staying at. So we tied his shoelaces together and just left him in the van. So then the next morning we're going out that I'm not going to name names here, why not. So then next morning we're going out to the buses to head to practice, and we got to the van. We look inside the van. He's

still in there, just sleeping away. We're like, dude, come on, man, we got practice, and he's like, literally we opened up the door and he falling out of the van because his shoes still tied together. Yeah, that was That was a lot of fun, had a good time. It sounds like you did what a week it was back in with nineteen eighty nine, right, that would have been. Yeah, nineteen eighty nine, January of nineteen eighty nine. I won't tell you how old I was in January of nineteen

eight How old were you? I was young? Young? I was young. Joe were you thirty? Let's go around, j I have been eight, you're eight. Yeah, you're eight. Joe's thirty one. I was twenty one. Ye drafted Reber was negative five man Reber pushing the buttons behind the scenes. He was he wasn't even a thought in his parents mind. Let's go around the National Football League and the dominant

story of the week. Brian Flores has filed or proposed class action lawsuit against the NFL and three teams, in particular on top of the Dolphins, Broncos, and Giants, alleging that the Dolphins owner offered money for him to lose games in twenty eight team to enhance draft position, and pressured him to recruit a prominent quarterback in violation of

league tampering rules. He also alleges the Giants used his interview only to fill the Rooney Rule requirements and had apparent text messages from Bill Belichick mistakenly texting him congratulations instead of Brian Dable hours before Brian Flores was scheduled to interview, and alleges that Broncos leadership didn't take his interview seriously a couple of years back. He's seeking unspecified economic and punitive damages and it has set the NFL

world ablaze. He made a lot of serious accusations, and uh, I know that there were some statements there were issued to refute some of the allegations that he made. And the one thing that I really don't understand, just going back before the lawsuit happened, was how does Brian Flores get fired? I mean seriously, he he has been I think has done a really good job as a head coach and managing a situation in Miami and has continued to get and get teams to play better down the line.

The situation appears that I don't know if this is ownership or this there was a battle between him and the general manager that happened and he lost, which that's happened before in the National Football League. But the allegations are very serious and I think there definitely has to be something done to change the way that the hiring process is currently working because out of all of the openings that have been filled so far, there hasn't been

a minority candidate. And there's some qualified a hiring hiring, there has not been a candidate hired. I think that's a problem. I think that's a major problem. I also think that that for I know that the intent of the Rooney rule is what it is, but there's got to be a better way to accomplish the diversity that the league is trying to reach. And I don't know

the answer to that, but it uh. I think it will open up a lot of eyes and uh and I think Brian Floores has taken a very bold step because it could essentially end his career and much like

Colin Kaepernick in the National Football League. And I just wondered, also, what will it do to his relationship with Bill Belichick, which I and I know a lot of people say that doesn't matter because it's more important to address some of the bigger issues, and I get that, but you want to have as many allies in this in this struggle to gain attention to the issues that you're trying

to point out. And uh, so crazy situation. And I think it's certainly is an issue that creates a black eye on the league because if you look at what's happened so far, it's hard to argue that things shouldn't be done differently. Only one African American head coach in the NFL at the moment, and he's one of the most successful, Tomlin, And I thought Brian Floyd has had a lot of the same qualities of Mike Tomlin. I'm surprised at Brian Floyes hasn't got an interview here and um,

and that's just my personal opinion. I think very highly of of Brian Floyes as far as the job that he had been able to do in the first couple of years, and if the allegations about him getting paid to lose are true. Oh boy. Yeah. Other news this week, Tom Brady retired after twenty two seasons. They made it officially of show this week. He's just put him in the whole now. Yeah, it's not even it's not even close that he he is the greatest of all time.

He has been a total class act. And he did more. I think he did more this year for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and last year that any other player is cape any other player in the history of the National

Football League. He had did more for that organization last year than any player has ever done for an organization as far as from a leadership standpoint, and I'm talking across the board, a leadership standpoint in the locker room with players, and from a leadership standpoint with a coaching staff, ownership organization, everything, and that that last run with guys who have been wanting for a long time and then goes somewhere at the tail end. A lot of times

doesn't go that well. This is certainly the exception to that. Washington football team has a new name, the Commanders. What do you think the whole process was kind of you know, they got a helicopter that could let the cat out of the back. Joe Thiesman, in typical form, couldn't keep his mouth shut and uh not tell what the name was gonna be. So yeah, that's typical Washington football team, Washington Commanders. I mean, that's just a typical happening for

that organization. That organization has been, uh somewhat dysfunctional over the years. There are some former employees that we're meeting with members of Congress today as well. So people want to turn what's going on with the Jaguars are dysfunctional? Will slow down, take a look at the Washington Commanders. That's Joe Fortunato on audio, Brent Rebrun video. Jeff will talk to you soon. You've got Jeff Laghman. I'm JP Shadrick. This is Jaguars Happy Hour on the Jaguars Digital Network.