Jaguars Happy Hour: Thursday, March 3

this thing dwindles down, it dwindles down quickly. It's I mean that room out there, we're the only ones left, is the only one loved your CBS, your big time well and we have to stay on Saturday, all right, guys, So let's start with Tuesday. We came here, there was a big Jaguars news that Peterson Trent Bauky spoke to the media, and we started Tuesday morning with the news that the Jaguars have decided they will higher an executive

vice president. Thoughts I don't like it. I think they needed to bring a guy above Trent Bulky and and let him have some input into the way things are run. Uh, maybe not have the final decision making power, but also be a guy who can add his insight into that, because where are they now? You have Doug Peterson who's in there, but now you also have the general manager who's the same guy that was the general manager a year ago. And so I think that's part of the

problem here, I really do. And I look, I've made I haven't shied away from it. I think they needed to make a change at general manager. I'm not as adamant about it as the fans are, and nor do I think shots a clown for not making that move. But they needed to make a move. Just why didn't they just start all over again? But as it is now, it's all on Trent and and Doug Peterson to get along.

And I asked, We had Doug on our our set the other day, and I asked him, I said, you know, there's the fans wanted him out, there were people that didn't want to come work here with him. What is your relationship with him? And have you paid attention to that? And he said, look, I'm not looking into the rear view mirror. I'm looking forward. So I understand it from

his standpoint, I just would have made a change. Pete, I'm not sure you've been on our I guess the channels is the word you use, right, that's this, that's the word the kids use. Um. But I'm not sure we've talked to you much since the Peterson higher h. You obviously know Doug from before. Uh talk about him, talk about what he's gonna bring. What are your impressions? Well, I think this was a job. And I'm a big Byron left which guy. I love Byron, I always have.

I've always had a great relationship with him. I don't think this would have been a good job for Byron. I think Byron is gonna be a great coach down the road, but this wouldn't have been it. They treated him poorly in Jackson, let's be honest about it. He's still had some bad blood about that. And I think this was a team that needed a guy with skins on the wall. And by that I mean a guy who has the cash a that the Super Bowl rank you can come in there and clean up the mess.

And it was a mess that's being left behind, and so I think that's the most important thing. And he's a good offense and mine. Oh you have to do you have to do this. Look, you want a super Bowl? Nick Foles? I'm shocked. Oh my god, he want a super Bowl? At Nick Foles? You put him coaching Hall of Fame just for doing that. How will his uh? You know again, you study more other team schemes and we get a chance to detail wise, how do you expect the offense with Peterson to look? How is this

gonna look? Explain that to fans in Yan's terms. Well, look, it's not gonna be the wide zone that everybody you don't want to which I think is the perfect offense for a lot of quarterbacks. You know, where you run the wide zone like the forty Niners do. It makes it so much easier on them. The old Kyle Shanahan offense. You know, we've seen them rush for three yards once in a playoff game running that offense. It just makes

it easier on the quarterback. So this is gonna be more of a pro style Like we take Kansas City, It'll be a lot like their offense, you know, the Andy Reid pro style offense, which means it's gonna cater to the quarterback. And if you looked at what Doug did when he was in Philly. He cater to the quarterback car and once was an M d P candidate When he was there, it was probably gonna win it. He he and I got hurt there, correct, And so

it's perfect for Trevor Lawrence. It's a quarterback centric offense. Now, there's always been criticism of this offense that you don't run the ball enough, and Andy Reid gets that all the time he's got his entire career. But I think Doug will be more much more balanced. I think, yeah, most of the offenses that have had most of the times this offense has had a functional quarterback, it's performed at a pretty high level and even with an average

played it. And by the way, I don't think in this building if the running back fumbles that they're going to yank him out for the entire game either. So it's just key, oh man, I'm getting it all out. And then when I come back and do the thing with Boselli in the fall, then we'll get it out.

Even I will say, and this it sounds cliche, but we've met Doug Peterson now a couple of times like, all right, great guy, But then we followed him around his meted tour where you were at CBS and he was stopped sixty times by people, and everyone's saying, now, he's not a good guy. He's out really good guy. And again, that can only take you so far. But I'm all for that treat not how you treat your players,

but how you treat everybody else in the building. If you walk through the building in the morning and you see a person over there there's maybe the cafeteria work and say, hey, how are you doing having a good day today? Or walk by him or whatever. And we've had, we've seen guys who've done that, and not just in Jacksonville, but everywhere. It just doesn't work because I think the bad field comes into throughout the entire building. Now, I'll

be honest. Tom Coughlin brought a lot of that into that building when he was first there, and it took a while for him to evolve a little bit. He didn't evolve all the way, but he evolved he realized he can't be that way. And this is the same with with you know, Doug smart enough to realize treat everybody with respect, not just your players. How important is it?

And it's pretty self evident. But my thought is, Doug Peterson gets in front of a room a player is in March fifteenth, whenever he talks to him first April two. The instant credibility combined with the ability to reach, Uh, you're not gonna have players roll in their eyes at this guy, not at all. And they were, they were, and they were rolling around the last guy. I believe that we've heard the stories, many of them and yeah, he's got he's got the cash A. And if you

have the cash A, players are gonna pay attention. It's not like everybody goes, who's a great leader in the NFL? Why is he a great leader? If you're good, you're a leader. If you're bad, you're not. Everybody. Oh, well, he's gonna be a good leader. Is he any good? I mean, if Tom Brady was a sixth round pick, if he wasn't any good, he wouldn't let anybody. He became great and he lets you know, you're around painting

all those years. They follow greatness. And so he's got a Super Bowl ring, they're gonna follow him from the start. If he gets another one, they'll follow him everywhere. In the last couple of months until they figure out if he's good or not. It's had the NFL good good earns you respect period. Easy enough, all right, this room is buzzing the entire week about the number one overall pick. We've talked to a bunch of draft fantilists and everyone. I mean, at first it was Evan Neil. Now we're

hearing some different names. What are you thinking? I think it should be Evan Neil. Did you see him today? He's standard thirty pounds and he looks like he weighs a hundred and seventy. That tells you what kind of the shape he's in a and what kind of body has he has the capability to get bigger. He reminds me of Tristan Worfs. And you saw what Tristan worse did you know as a rookie end last year. He's a dominant player, he's a All Pro And everybody goes, well,

what do you do with Walker Little? How about this scenario? You could do this? You play Walker Little at left tackle, you play Taylor at right tackle, and you play Neil at guard, and people say, well, how can you do that? Well, they played Jonathan Ogden at gardens first year in in in Baltimore, and then okay, well the next s minute forward scenarios, what if Taylor plays great, maybe almost at a pro bowl level, then you got a pleasant problem on your hands. So that's what I would do. I

would draft the offensive lineman. Would you be ballistic or just in disagreement if they went with Aidan Hudginson. Oh, I wouldn't know. I wouldn't. It wouldn't be that much. No, absolutely not. You can never go wrong getting another pass rusher. I mean, I really believe that. I just think my concern with Hutchinson is he's so good right now with his hands, he's so good with all the moves that he's got a big edge up on the tackles in the college game. When you get the NFL game, those

guys are have long arms. They could keep you at bay. So you gotta, you know, work on other things. And I wonder if his ceiling might be the ten sack year guy and not the boss because I don't think he's a Bosa. I don't think he's Nick Bosa. I don't think he's Joey Bosa. I just, you know, because he kind of came out of nowhere and these kids have been those prodigies for a long time. So is

he just what is he? That's my concern. If he could continue to get better and better than it's a great pick, but there's still some questions about where his ceiling is for me anyways, and that's kind of the dilemma of this draft is everybody you bring up at one there's a relatively big yeah, but involved even with Evan Neil, you know, not necessarily an absolute play and play left tackle. Well, he would be. I think he

would be. But if you drafted Walker Little where you drafted him last year, what do you do with him? And they I mean what you saw from Walker Little and last week of the season that was if he can play like that all the time, that's a legitimate starting left back on this league. So I just think it's a pleasant problem to have. You could. Haven't we seen over the course of the last two Super Bowls the team that doesn't have the offensive line doesn't win.

The Bengals were a disaster because their line was a disaster the and they almost won the game. Anyways, the the year before, the Chiefs couldn't block the box and they were a disaster. So you gotta be able to block in this league of offensive line play is so bad if you have Trevor Lawrence to get better upfront. So in this situation, you're saying, let Cam Robinson walk, don't bring him back. I'm walking them and I'm walking him.

I'll let him walk. Play little Neil and Taylor, and if Taylor doesn't want to, if Taylor doesn't work out, you move Neal out. You play two two young kids to tackle. And the fascinating thing, Pete, I've been saying this for the last month. What you said makes sense. And yet keeping Cam, putting little on the left side and or on the right side and draft in Hutchinson is not a terrible argument. So it's a very to me.

Figuring out the Jaguars offensive line in the draft right now is as tricky a puzzle as maybe I've ever seen for a team going into How are you keeping him on a tag? Uh? It's a pricey tag, is it though? And is he a happy guy if you tag him again? Probably not? Well, I can figure out a way to get happy for sixty Well you could, But I mean, is he one of those guys that

would be okay with that? He seemed, uh, I didn't get the impression of misery from him last year at fourteen, but but all of a sudden, you're in the back of his mind. Right back of his mind, he's thinking, Okay, I'll play off playing fourteen, and then I'm gonna go get my big money contract next year. You wouldn't give him the big money contract, would you? Because of this? I'd have to think about it, because right now the

Jaguars don't have enough really good players. If you keep Cam and you draft, say Hutchinson, you've added a good player. If you let Cam go, you've let one more good player out of your building on a team that doesn't have that many. So that would be the philosophy behind it. I could also get your point, But I also get this could also draft Cam. I mean you could be

hard to draft. I mean, sign Cam, sign Cam and Draff Neil, and then you have four big, giant bodies to move around on the confensive with Shatley is the center the idea there's When Doug Peterson and Trent Baky talked on Tuesday, they both talked pretty extensively about we need to keep our own guys. That just triggered me to think maybe that's the way they're thinking is we need to keep guys in the building and add to what we have rather than switching positions out that can

we just meet. That could very well be me misreading what they said. If there was, if there was a real dominant plug and play pass rusher, then I would say yes for sure. But I don't know who there is. In fact, there's some guys and I'm I think the other guy that rushes the pastor at michigano Jabo might end up being good. Okay, let's with this way. At Michigan,

Hutchinson was better. But Ojabo just came to the football a couple of years ago, and there's a lot of people who think he'll be he'll want to be better better. So if you're telling yourself that you're drafting a guy that somebody who was the second on the team to him in college is going to be better, then which is a possibility, than are you drafting the right guy. I mean, Hudgenson I think is going to be a

really good football player. I just don't know if he's going to be If he's somebody said Ryan Carrogan, it was a good player who's who you're ecstatic with it fifteen? Are you ecstatic with him at one? Correct? Whereas if you draft Neil at one, he's a plug and play for the rest of his career. I don't think he's gonna have any problems at all play And some people have the North Carolina State kid the other tackle, and I think Neil is better. I think he's the He's

the guy. Before we let you out of here, you talked to far more people around the league. One of the most tight end writers around. We're not a writer anymore. You have written years, but it's a um. What's the buzz among good football people. You talked to about Trevor Lawrence after the rookie year that you can't judge him on what had happened last year. You just can't. It's not fair to the kid to judge him on that. And and I'm I'm with them in no speed. The

offensive line was a problem. It's a bad staff. How the heck were you going to do that? So I'm not judging him based on last year. You want to judge him, judge him based on how he went through all that misery and played so well against the Colts. At the end of the year, and I think you

know that's the most important thing. Does it matter to you because he made a big deal out of it because it was a positive and I liked what I saw, But the fact that he never seemed to wilt mentally, and I get the press conferences you can't always tell but from that, but there is something you can tell from that, from how a kid is standing up, how he's not changing as impressive on that front as I've

ever seen. Maybe does that matter to you? Yes? Pros pro then wilt it could have wilted, could complained, could have because it's done a lot of stuff. You never did any of it, So yes, absolutely, Look, I thought he would be a star when he came into the league. I'm still thinking he's gonna be a star. Now tell me about your interaction with him at the Super Bowl.

I love this story. You already told me. But yeah, we had him on Zoom and I had no It's good I we had had him on Zoom and I had never really unbeknownst too many, but I hadn't talked to him because when I came to camp, I didn't talk to him, and I had him on zoom, and he he could I could. I couldn't hear him, and he couldn't hear me, And so we had to wait. We're getting a little name and he's playing with his hair. This in the beginning of the thing. He's playing with

his hair. Yeah, And so I go, yeah, I got the same problem there, Trevor. He busted out laughing. So as we go through the we go through the interview and I said, look, Trevor, I really hope you play so well, really well, to the point where but you know, you're a star, but don't play that well because I'm the mayor of Jacksonville and you're never going to be And what a great kid he is, awesome prose pro The pros pro part is significant, and uh well I kind of agree with you know, I kind of at

least one person because he should. Yea. And with that, jack full Mayor. Enjoy the rest of the week. You're Realtil Saturday, tune an CBIA Sports to watch the Jacksonville Mayor. We'll be back on Jaguars Happier. Welcome back, Jaguars Happy. How we are alive from the Scouting com Bye life from Radio Row. We just had Pete Priscoe. Matt Miller from ESPN will be joining as shortly. For now, it's John Osier and I and your dog on your phone just popped up. Yes, I have been face timing and

security cameraing my dog all week. We're going home tomorrow, so don't worry. We're getting back to him soon. He's george excited. No, he's very excited as Okay, So here's the deal, and it's kind of crazy to think about this. Cam Robinson could completely define how the draft stands, not just for the Jaguars, for all other teams. I was talking to NFL Networks analysts about this day and they're like, yeah,

like that's not underrated. Whatever happens with Cam Robinson determines what the Jaguars will pick determined second, third, fourth, fifth of all of these NFL teams. Yeah, no pressure, Cam Robinson, And in turn, it determines how the Jaguars will shape their own offensive line. It could also determine whether or not they have somebody to package with Josh Allen or not, because if they pick Evan Neil, then all of a sudden, they can't pick the potentially pass rushing on the other side.

It affects a lot of dominance. Again, That's why this is not you know, trend ball. Keep calling me aside and whispering what's gonna happen? Just sort of reading t le's listening. You just wonder if the move isn't to retain Cam who they know can play in the NFL, and no, can do it keep a good player or potentially a very good player and then add a pass rusher to it, therefore having more good pieces in that

front nine, if you will. Uh, that feels to me like a team that needs talent a route they might go. We'll see and uh, Matt Miller coming in here now, Matt Miller will definitely know the answer to this. Hello, Matt, how are you? I know it right? I hope you know the answer. Let goody, it's good to see you. Thank you for joining us. Congrats on your contract extension. What a week for you. Free agency has already started for me, right, so it's good. It's a good time.

So Matt Miller on ESPN, a big time draft analysts, we're just talking about the number one overall pick and do you go defensive end? Do you go offensive line? And everyone we've talked to kind of has different opinions, which is a good thing to happen. Yeah, it's a good thing. I think it also speaks to the way that this draft class is stacked right where there's not that consensus number one player like last year when you guys got it's the best quarterback prospect in a long time.

So I default towards the idea of protecting Trevor Lawrence. Obviously, Cam Robinson's a free agent. I do like Walker Little, who they drafted in the second round out of Stanford last year. But I think when you have an opportunity to get an elite left tackle, you have to do that to protect your own quarterback. You know, I was on with a team earlier today. I mentioned to them that's really what that's been the model. You know. Buffalo

bought am offensive line for Josh Allen. Kansas City went all in last year for Patrick Mahomes to have an offensive line, and we saw I think in the Super Bowl how important that is with Andrew Witworth's great play and the Bengals struggles up front. So I would trend more in that direction. Pass rusher is very important. I think a left tackle for a young quarterback, his paramount though, Is Neil elite? Is he that much better than the others in sort of that group that's at the top

in your opinion. But I think a lot of that's gonna get figured out, you know, the next couple of days. Not the hedge on that. No, I don't think he's head and shoulders above everyone else, you know, not to keep throwing back to last year, but last year Trevor was head and shoulders above anyone else at the position. Right So I think Evan Neil ikey Ikwanu they're very much still, I think in competition for who's going to be the first pick, and in those opinions are gonna vary.

I think you talked to some scheme teams. Their scheme is gonna prefer Evan Neil. I think akuanas arm length is gonna be an interesting measurement when it comes in tomorrow. Some a lot of people will be watching. But from from myself, from my own rankings, I have those two players right there together, and I'm still, you know, waiting for those intangible to try to figure out what separates them.

Is this as wide open as you remember or is it just a case where it's always going to be wide open if there's not sort of that quarterback fever at the top. It's the most wide open draft that I think I've ever covered. I've been doing this professionally for a long time, twelve twelve years. I think so, um, you know, I think even like Myles Garrett seen, you know, there were quarterbacks in that draft, but we knew it

was going to be him. Still, so I think this is the probably the most wide open in that case of a team that at the top, that has a couple of needs. Right, You've got a new structure in place with a new head coach that's gonna have a

lot of say and what happens. So I think that all adds to it, and it does speak to the I think lack of elite talent at the top of the draft as well to where there's not that sure fire player we always talk about with the Jaguar, especially this past season, everyone talks about the need for speed and you gotta get it quick with the Jaguars. Then sitting at thirty three, it seems like, alright, the elite

wide receivers might be gone by then. Do you use some capital to trade up, maybe try to get one of those guys. Yeah, I wouldn't be against it at all. And I think the good news is you're getting Travis c. Tam back next year. Be insuring to see how Doug Peterson wants to use him, you know, after after last year, there's being some conversation about him doing different things. But I do think that using some capital to go get

an elite receiver. And and there are five or six first round receivers in this class, but they might all be top twenty picks, you know, a couple of them. Jamison Williams tears his a cl in the National Championship game, but he's weeks ahead in his recovery. You know, he's not gonna miss much time. His teammate John Metchi tears is a seal on the SEC Championship game. He's saying

that he's close to too ready already. So I do think that if if someone starts to slip, that it could be a good opportunity to move up five picks, six picks and make sure you're getting You know that that as much as Trevor needs left tackle, he needs a number one receiver as well, right, so making sure that he leaves this draft knowing, Okay, my backside is protected and I have a best friend at wide receiver

to throw too. The consensus, uh seems to be a okay to a good draft at the top, but that it stays pretty be good for a long time in this draft? Is that the way you see it as well? Absolutely? I don't think I've ever seen this type of like we call it flat right, So the difference between the number four overall player and the number twenty overall player,

it's not that big, right. I think that a lot of people are down on the draft because there's not the quarterbacks like we saw five in the top fifteen last year. But I think if you need to tackle a receiver and edge rusher, corner line, like it's so deep at those positions where you are in round two and three still looking at players like, gosh, these guys are starters. You know. I did a I did a

mock draft exercise. I don't even publish it, just didn't a mock draft to see kind of how things fell out. And I was in round three and was like, there's no way this player should still be on the board, Like what where did I mess up? But like, no, the draft is just that deep that guys who could be ranked in the fifties could be there in round three just because teams are are drafting for need or guys are are slipping through the cracks a little bit.

That's always interesting to me. How many mock drafts do you do? Oh? A lot, a lot, you know. Now, thankfully I love my new employers. We don't have to do as many, right, but there's an instatiable need for or thirst for. You know, we could put one out every day and fans would love it. And there's so many different scenarios that you can run through that I think that that makes it interesting. You know, if if Jacksonville takes Aidan Hutchinson it changes everything, Or if they

take Evan Neil, what is that? What does that do? So I think that's what makes it fun. You know, I love that part of this job. That was I fell in love with it as a young child doing mock drafts in my parents house, you know, so I still still love doing that, and I think that that is what makes it fun, is the hope of this one pick could change our franchise. But then also, okay, how do we put this puzzle together? That is a

fifty three man roster. How concerned were the parents when very when they brought this, Because my parents got concerned when I was doing stats all the time as a kid, So that's how they knew I was. We're going off topic here. It's a true story. I almost got kicked out of high school. I was a good kid, right, I almost got kicked at high school because I was skipp school to play Madden so much. My parents didn't know, so they were like, you missed twenty days this semester.

What do you like, Does he have the flu or what's happening. There's no I was just addicted to playing Madden and making mock drafts. So it worked out. Mom and dad like, I'm it worked out, But there was there was a time I think they probably wondered what I was doing man on a football stack. And it's been fascinating. As I've tried in the last couple of weeks to sort of get up to speed with draft, it strikes you that there maybe a better chance this year.

I don't think it will happen, but there's more discussion of say, Kyle Hamilton's maybe at number one. I doubt it will happen. They'd be an unusual position, but not a complete shock. Considering the draft wide open. You also are hearing more talk about linebacker again becoming an elite position. Are we seeing any sort of a change in a trendle on those lines of how teams are viewing certain positions in terms of draft value. I think so. I think we can look at last year Kyle Pitts being

a tight end being drafted in the top five. That almost never happens. T J. Hockenson, you know, several years before that was a great player as well. But I think what Kyle Pitts Kyle Hamilton's a very good comparison to that of you're not truly just a position here, not just a safety, You're not just a linebacker. You are a defensive weapon or defensive playmaker, and you know, we can deploy you in all these different ways to match up against tight ends or big receivers or to

spy mobile quarterbacks. So I think that's what makes Kyle Hamilton's arguably the best player in this class. He's a high i Q, highly productive, multi year starter who is also somewhat of an anomaly from his athletic gift standpoint At six ft Four to twenty UM. So I do think that there is a solid argument for I was asked just a little bigger if you could pick one player in this class be a Hall of Famer, who

would it be? And I say Kyle Hamilton's right, because he is just that unique of a skill set that, yes, you could argue positional value is not great. But in a draft that lacks that elite player at the high positions of value, maybe you just go with the best football player sometimes. Yeah, And obviously I need for the

jag Wars as well, right a case for it. We asked this this week because I feel like in Jacksonville every offseason we have this hope and this optimism and you almost get in this whole of just hoping and wishing for positivity people yet people for a national outlook ESPN. Obviously, where are the Jaguars right now? Where do you see them? Um? An unknown? You know? But the Bengals two years ago where we made fun of the Bengals tw years ago because they only have like seven scouts, you know, and

it was like what are they what are they doing? Right? And even you know, when they took Jamar Chase, people scoffed at that of what what are you doing taking a receiver? Well, they were in the Super Bowl after having the number one picked two years before. So I think for Jags fans there is a model that you can be excited about of you can turn this around

very quickly, you know, if you get things right. And I think that's where the Bengals drafted so well, not just in round one, been in round two getting Jesse Bates, in round three getting Logan Wilson. It's not just hitting in round one, it's hitting in rounds two and three and getting starters out of that group. So I think that's where you know, Trent and Doug Peterson have to be smart about. It's not just about pick one, because

I just about pick thirty three. We gotta make sure that we get sixty five right and you gotta make sure you get you know, sub subsequent rounds. You have to be pulling starters. You talked to draft people all over the league and inside the league inside buildings. Um, I'm curious if you think had there been a number a true lead receiver, had there been a Jamaar Chase level wide receiver in this draft, which I guess the

consensus is there's not. But considering the way the league's going and his success, could we see in the next ten years a wide receiver again go one Keyshwan did last time. Possibly. I think it would take someone who is, you know, a Julio Jones type, Calvin Johnson type. You're gonna need to be, you know, six four running a four three, But it is possible. I think one thing that that would hurt that argument would be that we're seeing so many receivers come out around two that are successful.

A J. Brown and DK Metcalf, you know, out of round two have been great players. Even in Cincinnati, you know, Tyler Boyden t Higgins are very good players. So I think that is one area where at the receiver position, much like a corner right now, are you better off drafting one earlier or you better off drafting a couple late who are standout athletes, like a Tyreek Hill that you can maybe mold and develop a little bit. Our

teams at all. Shying away from or not shying makes you need defensive players, but devaluing it a little bit because of a thought of hey, if you don't score in this league, you don't win. I definitely think so, and I do think that's why this year might be an outlier in that case, because of the way the draft talent is tacked. But I do think that there's much more of an emphasis on getting playmakers, building offensive lines,

and and going more of those positions. Obviously, corner and pass rusher are always going to be early picks, but I think for you know, d tackles, linebackers, I do think that position starting to slide a little bit. Yes, points are fun and the Jars, Yes, absolutely, Matt Miller, thank you for your Thank you guys so much, fantastic. Thank you. Still to come on Jaguars Happy or John Ore and I break down the draft coming up shortly,

stay with us. Welcome back to Jaguars Happy Are We are alive from the scouting Combine, live from Indie, Live from Radio Row. This is day four of Jaguars dot Com coverage. Much more to come the rest of the week. We will be heading out tomorrow morning. You leave in this afternoon. I'm leaving as soon as we get a Yes, it's been a long week. It's definitely it's windles quickly after Wednesday, that's for sure, And it's crazy to think

that free agency is in two weeks. We spoke to Trent Bulky on Tuesday, we kind of asked his mindset of free agency. He said, we have the money, we're going to spend it. We're gonna be aggressive. Yeah, And I think it's important to note that every time he said aggressive and Doug Peterson said in that chair right there, Slynn did and said the same thing aggressive, But then seconds later they both said, you have to be aggressive within a plan, and you have to make sure you're

gonna have to the right player. So, UM, I do think you're going to see the Jaguars very much in on, much more high, high profile home run guys than you saw last year. I don't think you're gonna see fans as upset at what they perceived as in activity on this first for days. UM. I hope that they don't go overboard with it. I hope that they don't spend

for the sake of spending. I don't think they will. UM. I think Trent's point that he was making with you have to make sure that the guys you pay are worthwhile, not only for on the field, but for in the locker room. For what you were trying to build here. Um, this is not a case where you're trying to add one piece to get to a Super Bowl. Um, you know, news flash. And I think the Jaguars might have a year before there at that point, So you're still very

much in a build. With that being kept in mind, you want to make sure that you have team and locker room and everybody buying into what's going on as much as you can. So you've got to make sure that the guys you were paying are good fits and at least feel like two or three year foundation pieces rather than just, hey, we're adding a piece to the puzzle here. Yeah, it was interesting when we Trent Balky right after he said yes, we want to be aggressive.

He also said players in the locker room know when a free agent is worth paying. And that was really interesting because you always hear fans and us a lot of time say I'll just pay him. You have the money, we'll go hit the home run and pay him. He said, yeah, Well, players in the locker room turn on the film and they know if he's worth all that money, and not to mention, they're going to compare. He got that contract, he's playing this level. I'm here playing this level and

you have to balance it. You have to be aggressive, and if you're going to be in free agency, being aggressive means by definition, over paying. Yeah, you're always going to be signing a check where you think it's more than I wanted to pay for that guy, because that's the reality, not just in Jacksonville, but everywhere you're gonna pay. You're going to overpay for a fifth year guy that you consider close to elite because there's only so many of those available in free agency. So the supply and

demand equation demands that he gets overpaid. But you have to balance that with the idea of what Trent Balky also talked about this week. You cannot build a competitive roster continuously paying eleven million dollars for a three million dollar player, and he used that exact numbers, but his point was if you do that three or four times, you are automatically taking away assets that you should be using for other areas of your team and over paying

for an area that you're not getting production from. That takes two pieces away, and over time, you're going to be a dysfunctional franchise. Was very bad roster fans out there saying, well, the Jaguars have been that. Well. True, but you still can't overdo that or you will never get to where you want to go. Yeah, and just because you have all this cap space and get it doesn't mean okay, well let's just just spend it all over the place and then we'll be in a bad

place in three years. That's not how it works. That said, it does sound as if what they were talking about this week from piecing different places together, Trent Pauki and Peterson, both on the podium, both talking to local media, both talking to us, it certainly sounds like at wide receiver especially, they really is that is a position where we have to get better. We have to get experienced better, and we have to get rookie build guy better. Would not

surprise me at all. Huge free agent signing plus number thirty three overall in the draft to try to get that spot to a point where you can add it to some serviceable players on the roster, some productive players on the roster. Not have the guys on the roster have to be stars, have them be part of a good wide receiver package. That seems to be the goal of this regime right now. Yeah, we asked Trent bulky the need for speed. Where do you get need for speeds?

My thing this week I've said that like twelve times, need for speed, and we asked, Okay, do you get in free agenty do you get in the draft? He looks at as a matter of Factling goes both. So tonight the wide receivers are working out the first for the on field. So tonight's a big night for Trent Balky and the scouting staff because yeah, thirty three just it makes all the sense in the world. It is, and I really think we missed out on the potential

for a fascinating what is it now? March three, couple of months leading to the draft, had there been elite

wide receiver guy draft. I just asked Matt Miller and he sort of, you know, didn't really go there that it could have happened this year, had had Jamar Chase or that level of kids be available in this draft, with the Jaguars sitting there with that need um, I don't know that they would have done it, but it would have been fascinating to find out how close they came to it, because this feels like a year where that could have happened. I can we agree with with

Matt Miller. For the most part, your positional value. Most years, you're just still going to have quarterback, tackle or pass rusher, probably the number one overall picking the draft. This felt like a year where had there been an elite Julio Jones, Jamar Chase type guy coming out. You just wonder how tempted the Jaguars might have been. Yeah, are even crazy to think if this isn't if this is last year and Kyle Pitts is there and you need a tight and so bad do you even reach for that? Which

is crazy? I think that a tight and go one, But man, you need it. If it's there. Kits was in this draft. Um, I'd begin a lot of these own questions about it. Yes you sure? How it answered? Yes? Absolutely. We have much more to come on Jaguars Happy Hours, Stay with us, much more draft talk, much more Combine talk coming up, Stay with us. Welcome back Jaguars Happy Hour. John Osier and Ashland Sullivan here live in Indianapolis, live

at Radio Row. Our last day of live coverage here from the Indianapolis Scouting Combine and major news today regarding COVID and oh my gosh, we have made it for two years there have been strict protocols and tears and testing and tracking devices and separate hallways, and now today they cleared the protocols we've been waiting for. This day. It really happy. It's acted us Slim, you know, take people behind the scenes. There's been certain things we have

been able to do. It's been certain interviews we haven't been able to, uh to get your famous walk offs, able to get as many a camp camping next one as he likes. So that will come back. More pertinent to football operations is the players. I think we'll have a chance to get back to normal in terms of their routine, in terms of not having to test and and I think that will create more of a chance for team more together and it's more camaraderie, less separation

in the locker room. For the players, I think they will look forward to getting back to what they I guess the football environment that they all grew up with, you know, to be in the locker room, uh, be on the team bus, not separated. All those things that they grew up around. They will be able to get back too. And it will just make organizationally, it's much easier to function in the NFL more bonding. Yes, he's awesome.

Speaking of bonding, kind of speaking NFL Combine. So today is tonight is on field workouts, but the Jaguars have been going through formal interviews this entire week. Those started Tuesday and they will interview forty five prospects for fifteen minutes each. And we sat down with head coach Doug Peterson about this process. This is now his thirteenth year at the NFL Combine and he said he gets so

much out of the formal interview process. The coolest part about it, Johnny, you'll be able to watch this interview soon on Jaguars dot com is he talked about the skill positions and what they use the white board forward in that portion in quarterbacks and wide receivers drawing up place and you could just see the football. I Q was really starting to go when you asked him about that, and a guy was so much experience. To have him in your room doing that is crucial. Yeah, and they

get a chance. I doubt that they make their final decision based on that, but it's certainly when they put these guys on the board and they start talking next as and os with him, it gives them an idea of their personality type. And I'm not sure if it was Doug or Trent. May have been. Doug said on our air this week. Um, it gives you a chance to see how they function in the workday under pressure.

And that's what the Combine can give them. Not necessarily anything specific out of an interview, but if if you give a kid, hey, what would you do in this situation, here's our scheme, what would you expect out of this? It gives them a chance to see how they react. We're gonna cover Tony Dungeon, Indianapolis. He used to talk about he would come to the Combine and as much as he would get something out of the interview process, his thing was some of those answers are very canned.

So what he would do often is go and watch guys during their drills when they didn't know they were being watched, how they behaved around other uh other prospects in their group, whether they were naturally the leader, whether they were reserved. And he said, you didn't make decisions based on it, but you know, coaches have never seen and been around these guys before, so they're just looking for something to give them an idea, What is this guy going to be like once he's in our building?

What am I dealing with? Can you function with the rest of the people. Is it going to be a problem. Probably doesn't make your decision number one. But when you're in the third round and you're wondering about and you've got five guys on the board, at some point it becomes a gut feeling where somebody says, you know what, all five of those guys are fine. I had a good vibe about this kid. Yeah, absolutely, somewhere as a

human being that comes into play. Yeah, And it's it's funny we're talking about and in some ways everyone can relate to this process. It's it's a job interview. And granted it's much more pressurized than a normal job interview because it's only fifteen minutes along in front of thirty two NFL teams, But that's what he said. You know, it's a formal job interview and NFL Sundays are an incredibly high pressured situation. So this is the way it

has to be. It has to be pressurized, and we have to be tough on them because if they can't handle it now, they can't handle it on Sunday, and fifteen minutes doesn't sound like a lot. But when you start doing the math for every team with the head coach having to be in there forty five times or fifteen minutes, I'm not very good at math, but that's minutes um. The same thing with the prospect. The prospect fifteen minutes times. Say the interview with twelve teams, that's

four hours. If if it's all back to back by that eleventh one, you're hearing the same questions in your little days. Most teams. Again, as Trent Baulky said on air this week, this is a piece of the puzzle. You don't necessarily blow your chance at being drafted if you have one bad interview. But I think teams do look at a guy who can have a good interview on his eleventh Okay, this kid maybe has a little

more mental stamina. This kid is you know, by the eleventh interview, all your prepared answers are kind of gone, so maybe a little bit more of yourself is showing through. It's all part of that overall mosaic impression you have of a kid. So it's always important to remember the combine.

As Trent Ball said, this week most general manager's ever been around and said it a piece of the puzzle, but it's it's their first and sometimes only chance to have the personality piece of the puzzle as opposed to film numbers. Uh, it's it's an a live piece rather

than a computerized piece. And I thought it was really interesting because I think the perspective from fans and truthfully me before I've covered this a couple of years, as you come here and you think, okay, they saw all these prospects, Now their draft ward is going to completely change. They're gonna fly back to Jackson, will tear it all up and trump Baulky was saying, not necessarily. It basically says, okay, if we missed this and this prospect ran a great

forty time, how did we miss that? And you go back and watch the film. It was just interesting that not near as traumatic as he once thought. Bill Polian who worked with for ten years, and they used to talk about it in exactly the same verbiage that Trent used. It's a flag if you will. Yeah, you've got your board, you've got your rankings, you've got what you think. So every part of the draft process is okay. That's there. Okay, now we went to his pro day. Does that line

up with what we thought? Yes, it confirms everything we've interviewed the kid. Yes, it confirms everything. You go to the combat. Hey, he ran two tents of a second faster than we thought he was going to. Okay, well, let's go back, let's do the homework, let's make sure we didn't miss Let's call his college coach, Let's call somebody, make sure to can this kid run? Let's go back? Or is he just as Trent said the other day?

Is he just a good tester? It gives them a reason to go back and do some extra work and make sure they're not missing anything. It's part of the process, but in no way. Again, there will be new mock drafts next week. Yes, there will be people talking about right, this guy's stock is right, and that's the great worst this the stock is right trendy word around here. That's that's great for fans, observers and mock drafters, it's not

really the reality of how draft rooms work. Closing minutes here of Jaguars happy Hour, it is going to be a very busy next two weeks. Seems like the Jaguars off seasons have always been full of storylines lately, but these next two weeks kind of underrated. How much will be decided in these next two weeks. We're getting a lot of questions about why receiver d J Chark? Do they franchise tag and when do they bring them back?

Are they going to let him test free agency? We see so many scenarios playing out, and you'd love for da to come back because he's an awesome player to cover, But the more I hear around here it might not be the case. Yeah, it's it's tough, and you know, I would love for d Jr. To come back. I love him as a person. I personally think that what we've seen of him over four years, it feels to me like he's a guy who is going to have a better year five through eight of his career than

he had a year one through four. Um, he made the Pro Bowl in because it was nineteen and to me, even the Pro Bowl, you're just scratched the surface. But I also get if the Jaguars take the route of you know what, we just haven't seen enough. We have to go in a different direction, which again I don't know if they're going to do that. That's one of the options. If they do that, fans are going to

wonder why. But the reality is he has not shown on a consistent basis and done it, and he's had four years to do it, so you understand why somebody would say, we just haven't seen it yet. So that's a direction that I'm not sure which way they're going to go. I think people who may be tuning in now watch the top of the show. The conversation may

with Pete Prisco about offensive line. They can go a lot of different ways on offensive line coming up, and it is not a clear cut dilemma over whether you keep Frint, you keep Cam Robinson, you draft a tackle in that spot, and there's a domino effect the it's fascinating. It is how the negotiations go with Cam is going to shape a lot of this draft for other teams, as we mentioned, and for the Jaguars, and it's uh, the reactions to what happens Ashlyn will be very How

in the world could they do that? The reality is, with both of those players, there are arguments to be made on both sides. It's what makes it so fascinating to me. It is because the m o of the Jaguars and past years has been they don't keep their players. They're good players, and Doug Peterson and Trump Bulky made a point on Tuesday to say that, But I don't want people to think that means, oh, they're obviously they'm going to keep Cam Robinson and d J Chart. That's

what they meant. Not necessarily. They said this starts right here, drafting good players, keeping them. But when I say that, everyone's like, oh, that must mean you know they're paying Cam Robinson. Well, not the case I think they would like to. I mean, you know, if it's the right price and it compromised, oh, there'll be no. You've got to make sure that the value fits the player. I think they would like to pay Cam. If you're like, there are guys they would like to pay, does it

fit what you want to do long term? And is the value there? Uh, it's negligent if the GM and personnel people don't take those things in any consideration, and this regime certainly will. Yes, it all seems to be a compromise, and really a lot of it. When we talk about wide receiver is on kind of d J Charks shoulders. If he comes down on his price and says, all right, you know, I'll play for twelve thirteen whatever million. Okay,

deal done, and you can see that happening. But I totally see DJ Chark side of you know, I want to be wide receiver number one and I want to go test the waters to see if I can make that twenty million dollar contract. That doesn't seem like he's going to get in jackson All yeah, And I have no idea the numbers um because the franchise tag I think was so close to almost twenty million dollars and

he's not going to get that. Those are tough. It is truly a matter of if he had more product in Jacksonville, even with people making the decisions, I think it would be an easier decision for It's also a matter of it's very easy to say, well, go test free agency, excuse me, and we will see how it goes, how the market bears. The problem is realistically, once a player gets out there on free agency, it's very rare for them to come back to the former team just

because there's a little bit of a chip. So you go to create some negative feelings. You're out there, you're being wowed by somebody else. I generally think once a player is out there, they don't come back. There's exceptions to that rule, but it's always a word. Yes, I totally agree. And your fear is that if you less let them test the waters, or if you let them walk. And you see it on a much smaller scale with

Alan Lizard who was on the Jaguars practice squad. The Jaguars let him go and then he becomes a serious downfield threat in green Band and everyone uses that example. How could you have let him outside your building? That's d J Charkin two years killing it for another team. Allen Robinson's is good an example of that. Uh, that's a real danger with you, because again I think his year five through eight will be better than his year one through four. Question is does that mean that it's

worth what he might bear on the open market? Fortunately, Slynn, those decisions are way above my pay way. Wait wait if I even have a pay grade, I think you do, especially here. You've done great work this week, I'll say, and you as well. Thank you. All right, so let fans know what else is coming up for you the rest of the week. The rest of the week um will be more coverage still sort of parsing through the press conversation Tuesday. Also, I'm not sure that our conversation

with Charles Davis's run yet. Um. That was very interesting. We talked to him yesterday. The should runing Jaguars dot Com. I'll be writing off that as well. And next week I should have an ozone podcast with Tony Pauline, who's been with Jaguars dot Com working and talking to us for operage of twenty years. And he's always one of the most interesting people to talk to in NFL circle. So I would definitely watch for that. Yes, he it's

a very well connected man. We also have the interview that we talked about with Doug Peterson in the interview room, all about that interview process. That's going to go up Tonight's on Jaguars dot Com. We have on Fuel workouts starting to night. Of course the Hunts are long form series, all kinds of written content as well. It's been a long week, John, We've done a lot of great work. I'll say we've done work. We have. It's been great,

we absolutely have. And then next week we're gonna start on Drivetime and happier we're gonna start talking about free agency. We don't get much break ground here. It comes up quick and the next two weeks. As you said, the future of a lot of different things, long term and short term, will go down in the next week two weeks. I'm looking forward to. I am to entertaining stuff going on in Jacksonville as well as an indie. Thank you for tuning into our combine coverage. Stay with us on

Jaguars dot com. Thanks for tuning into Jaguars Happy Hour.