Jaguars Happy Hour | James Gladstone Joins 2025 Free Agency Special

Jaguars General Manager James Gladstone starts the show by sharing his reasoning for acquiring nine free agents at the start of the league year. J.P. Shadrick and Jeff Lageman react to moves and discuss how this sets the team up for the NFL Draft. Thursday's edition of Jaguars Happy Hour is presented by Dream Finders Homes.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
It is Thursday, March thirteenth.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
This is Jaguars Happy Hour, Jaguars Happy Hours brought to
you by dream Finders Homes and now a guy's still
dangling in free agency jap shock.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Well come in. It is Jaguars Happy Hour, presented by
dream Finders Homes, official homebuilder of the Jacksonville Jaguars. A
busy hour ahead. GM James Gladstone in studio, Jags free
agents arrived today, spoke with the media. We'll hear from
some of those guys coming up and we'll get into
Oh what's next? Free agency off and running. The new

(00:46):
league year is here. We're on TENJENXL Jaguars dot Com,
Jaguars YouTube, JP Shadwick with Jeff Logaman. Jeff, we'll get
to you in a little bit. That'd be great. The
GM is sitting with us till Lord James James Gladstone,
how are you good up? Thanks for coming in. Life
is good.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
It's good to see you book again.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, yeah, good to see you too.

Speaker 4 (01:02):
Congratulations on your first free agent class as a general manager.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yeah, that was a blast. Just getting a chance to
be in the bunker, so to speak, with our scouting staff,
our coaching staff and football admin really see the vision
for the pro free agent class come to life and
be executed in the way that it was. Was certainly,
you know, just a moment of pride just to see
a group of people, you know, working together and doing

(01:26):
something that we felt like was moving the needle on
the future of the franchise.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
How was the dynamic of the whole free agent approach?
I mean, because you know, just a matter of a
couple of weeks ago, you just got in and then
the coaches kind of just got in a lot of
new How did that work?

Speaker 3 (01:44):
Yeah, it was full speed ahead from the moment we
arrived in Indianapolis. We had a chance to sit down
with both our scouting staff and coaching staff get an
idea of what that pro free agent landscape looked like.
We get back here to Jacksonville and we dive right
back in and really honing in our priorities, what positions
specifically which players within them. And then you know, on

(02:04):
the day of there's a lot of uncertainty that comes
with you know, how's this going to look? Once the
bell rings at noon Eastern and pro free agency at
least the legal tampering period begins and what's it going
to be come you know, midnight tonight, because unlike the draft,
you're looking at a group of players who are you know,
they have the ability to say, you know what, we're

(02:26):
going to go somewhere else or we're going to sign
up to be with you, as opposed to just sending
the card in and now that player is you know,
on your roster in the draft. But it was well
executed and a pleasant surprise to see that the nine
players that we walked in the door that day being
interested in acquiring ended up on our roster as of today.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
It's gotta be a challenge though, when you're in the
negotiating window right you can only talk to agents at
that point. You can't talk to players until the start
of the league year at four o'clock on the twelfth.
So familiarity has to come into play, and it certainly
did with some of the guys on this list that
you brought in, guys that either Liam has had before
you've been around in LA. Does that help the learning

(03:07):
curve a little bit for a player that's already kind
of been in either your organization or the coaches.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah, without a doubt that familiarity plays a major role,
and it was a part of why we sort of
tilted in favor of some players over another because at
the same time, while those players on their own have familiarity,
it also allows another voice, another player in the room
with everybody else of their position group, be able to

(03:33):
sort of bring to life some nuances outside of just
a position coach, a coordinator or the head coach making
mention of different elements that come along with this system.
And so that definitely played a major role, and I
think that was reflected in a number of the decisions
that we made and seems fairly logical at where we're
at for sure.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
And I'm guess some of the guys that weren't in
the organization before an organization with somebody before, it just
kind of it shows up on tapes so much that Okay,
this guy is a player, We got to go get
this guy.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, you know, I've been saying this. We met with
the players today individually. It was Tony, myself and Liam
and and we walked through the vision that we had
for them, the class, the profree agent class as a whole.
And the term I kept I kept saying to them
was that your film was speaking to us, and it

(04:24):
was calling us. And none of these players, you know,
weren't in the conversation, you know, solely for their film.
They were also vetted through sourced information that spoke to
who they were as people. And I think I've touched
on it a lot over the weeks that i've been
general manager, that we're hunting up in tangibly rich players

(04:46):
and people and that's what all of these guys fit.
We're not going to invite anybody into this ecosystem that
doesn't meet the thresholds that we set. And they're prepared
to raise the standards at their position, group, their set
of the ball, and the team as a whole. And
so we're really excited about the group that we got
and feel like, you know, the veteran presence and a
lot of the rooms is going to make a difference.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
The one term that you're using their vetted is so
important because you're making a significant investment in people and
you have a pool of money as an organization to
be able to spend and making sure that that investment
has a return is imperative. And I love you using
that term there. And this free agent class, if you

(05:30):
count it up to guaranteed money, It's not huge compared
to other And I've always been a big believer that
the lifeblood of any franchise is the draft itself. Is
that your belief as well. I mean that you have
to be able to draft the future for a football team.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
It is and I've talked about it a little bit.
Haven't spent a ton of time on the idea that
we will be a franchise that intends on building through
the draft, and a higher volume of draft capital is
what we're going to be looking to acquire. And obviously,
just walking in the door, that's what we had to
begin with with twenty picks. Over the next two years,
we've added another. We're now at twenty one following the

(06:09):
Christian Kirk trade, and you know, we look forward to
working through that process here over the coming weeks and
the lead up to the draft day. But you know,
this pro free agent group, really our intent was to
make it so that we were able to answer a
lot of questions at certain positions, so that we walk
into the draft and don't feel as if we're pressed

(06:29):
to prioritize one position over the other. Give us the
flexibility at each pickpoint to go whichever decision we deem
best for the franchise at that point, and I think
that that's something that we were able to accomplish here.

Speaker 4 (06:41):
Yeah, but basically kind of fill in some holes. So
draft the best available player for you guys out of
this free agent class. How many do you expect to
be starters out of this group?

Speaker 3 (06:53):
I think everybody's competing for a starting spot. So we
got nine guys walking in the door, and all nine
are competing for that time will truly tell. Right now,
we're doing a lot of talk. I can't wait to
see those guys bring our vision for them to life
on the grass. And really, all of them have earned
this right. It's not like they haven't gotten to this
point without producing on some way, shape or form, And

(07:16):
so I think they all want to carry their momentum
that they have that was entering this pro free agent
window onto the grass as well.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
And do their part.

Speaker 3 (07:24):
And something that we echoed to them was doing more
than just simply being who they are. We wouldn't have
prioritized them if they weren't the right person and player
for us, and so we're not going to ask them
to be anything more than simply who they are.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
James Glad's doing with US Jaguars GM on Tinton Excel,
Jaguars dot Com and Jaguars YouTube. It's Jaguars Happy Hour.
Let's get to the offensive line pre agents that were
signed here. Mcarry Hainesy a dogba. I mean, these guys
all have a track record. It was something around here
at logs and we talked about this all last season.
Just a short yardage of physical mentality. Seems like these

(08:01):
guys all have that. And what stands out about those
three guys specifically upfront?

Speaker 3 (08:07):
Yeah, I think I'll start inside out and with Robert
Hainsey right. Obviously, the familiarity in Liam's system is a
major plus. I think you got an entire offensive line
a quarterback behind him who's going to be learning something new.
So the conductor, the communicator of the offensive line being
familiar with all that is going to accelerate that process

(08:29):
for us. At the same time, he's coming off a
season where Buccaneers drafted a first round pick at the
position he ends up winning the starting job. Robert only
gets one op last season to start, and it was
against the New Orleans Saints. I would urge anybody that's
listening to go ahead and watch that game and determine
for yourself if that player is intangibly rich or not.

(08:52):
And he is hungry, he is interested in taking a step.
He has earned this op through the course of his
four seasons with the Buccaneers and isn't intending on slowing
down at all. Beyond that, you got Patrick McCarry, who
is uh, you know he is.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
He is.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
A background right as someone who was underappreciated coming out
of college and earning his way into being the most
versatile offensive lineman in the NFL. Started for Baltimore last
year at guard and is going to be placed on
the interior to begin his career. Hearer's tenure here with
the Jaguars, and really that versatility was something that we

(09:34):
weren't going to overlook. There's always attrition across that position
group over the course of a season, and so with
him being able to move from one spot to the
next on a dime is going to be something that
we leverage for sure. And then with Chuma, obviously Tony
coming from usc that was a.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
That was a given. We're gonna end up with one Trojan.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
The cool thing with Chumah, right, he's been a Arny
Men more so than the other two. Gone from one
club to the next, really found some footing in Dallas,
and he learned from some you know, some from some
Hall of fame ol and I think he grew a
lot when he was there. But getting back to what

(10:18):
speaks on film, each game that Chumas started this past season,
he was walking onto the field with the idea that
he was going to set the tone early and there
wasn't a first snap where he wasn't playing through the whistle.
He was always doing his part to make his presence
felt with his opponent. And so that was something that

(10:39):
really jumped out to us, and we look forward to
him being another versatile beast that can go inside and
out and compete there at the tackle spot.

Speaker 4 (10:47):
I look forward to watching the film on those three
guys and to stay on that side of the bald
Diamie Brown. The Washington Commanders obviously had a lot of
change over the years, ownership, coaching and everything else. And
he's a very young player that really hadn't had necessarily
a stable environment until this past year to really develop.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
And here he is.

Speaker 4 (11:07):
I thought this year the look at the numbers, he
excelled particularly at the end of the year last year.
Is that what you're excited about with him is that
how all of a sudden he's kind of starting to
peek at the end there at his time in Washington.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
I think we feel that he feels that he wanted
a one year deal and he wants another crack at
it this season, build off the moment momentum that he
had towards the end of last season and get another
op to get a payday a year from now. And
he's walking into an opportunity where you know he's going
to be able to get some balls thrown his way,

(11:41):
whether it's vertically down the field, stressing the third level
of a defense, or quickly in the short game. Knowing
that Liam comes from, you know, a train of thought
that the screen game is can be a really effective
mode of operation, and Diami's ability with the ball in hand,
he's unflinching when he finds a lane, and so we're

(12:02):
really excited about activating that while also expanding his skill
set beyond what he's already showcased in Washington. I did
tell him today, I was like, I'm me the least
surprising thing for the Los Angeles Rams was that you
became a Jacksonville Jaguar Because dating back to the time
that he was coming out in the draft, I believe
it was twenty twenty one, he was somebody that I

(12:25):
was very interested in, thought very highly of.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
So I get a.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
Text from a general manager with the Rams on Monday
at about three pm that said, I should have known
in a screenshot of my evaluation, which which read.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
I'll pull it up real well, that's by the way
for people that are wanted the GM of the RAMS,
which you worked underneath it.

Speaker 3 (12:47):
Oh, I know it off the top of my head.
It was a certified deep threat with the capacity to
become so much more.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
And that was it. That was the evaluation.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
I don't know how many characters that is definitely would
fit in a tweet, that's for sure, but speaking to that,
so there is a belief that Diami is in a
position to take another step in his career and we're
looking forward to seeing that come to life. He's looking
forward to being more than us this talk and get
out on the grass. He was walking around the facility

(13:18):
with a ball in hand already, so he's jacked up.
He's excited.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
Final couple of minutes with you. Here two defensive signings.
Jordan Lewis a cornerback. Eric Murray comes from the Texans.
But both these guys played a lot of football over
the years, and Murray with a couple of different teams
and the Houston the last few years. Jordan Lewis playing
his whole career with Dallas. But tell us about the
mindset of those two guys that have seen pretty much

(13:44):
everything in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
Yeah, I think with both of them, I think they
raised the floor of the defensive backfield. Their experience, their
veteran presence, their leadership. It's going to be something that
really impacts our defense in a positive way. Now with
going into Monday, the bell rings it at noon, right,
if you would ask me, hey, which of these players

(14:07):
do you feel most confident that will end up being
a Jaguar by the end of the day and least
confident in being a Jaguar at the end of the day.
Surprisingly enough, Jordan Lewis was somebody that I was a
little less confident knowing that he had spent his entire
career in Dallas and whether or not we would be
able to pull him away from those guys because I

(14:29):
know that they really value him both on and off
the field, and we really valued him for both of
those perspectives as well, and ultimately he was the first
player that we got a deal done.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
So again, guys, I can be wrong every now and then.
I don't get them all right, But that worked out
in our favor. Glad that it did. You know, his
level of intensity, his coverage capacity, his doggedness is something
that we're really excited about. And he's really excited to
step into a veteran role with a lot of younger

(15:01):
guys around him that he can help expand their understanding
of the league and tap into his experience to really
bring him along. And then Eric Murray's somebody who's coming
off a really really strong season in Houston, obviously familiar
with the division and the landscape and can be in
that same breath of a leadership role for a safety

(15:23):
unit that we think is bound to take another step
off the heels of last year.

Speaker 4 (15:29):
With those two guys, you mentioned some stories and background
and familiarity with the guys on offense. Any familiarity with
those guys on defense or is it just an evaluation
or is there any story background?

Speaker 3 (15:44):
There's a lot of familiarity with Jordan, in particular, when
I was with the Rams, we tried a number of
times to sign him as a pro free agent, which
is why there was some hesitance around whether or not
we were going to be able to land him. Happy
that it worked out the way that it did. But
you know, offensive coordinators around the league identify him as
somebody that they always have to account for, and so

(16:06):
I know Sean McVay being intimate with him, he was
always spoke very fondly of Jordan as a defender and
that certainly carried some weight with me in this process,
knowing what he can mean for our defense and really
how he's going to influence coaches in their preparation to
face us.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
Final thought with you here, I know you're always looking
to evaluate the roster and upgrade the roster. That's always
going to be the case moving ahead. Since we're in
the new league year now, But what is your focus now?
Is it more geared toward NFL Draft time coming up?
All that's not too far away now? Since you got
the first wave of free agency done, what's next on

(16:45):
your docket?

Speaker 3 (16:46):
Hey, this is the entertainment business. We still got the
window here pro free agency if we want to entertain
a few moves, so time will tell on whether or
not anything comes to life. Remember, I'm going to just
drop this again intangibly, Rich, is what we're up If
you can look out across the pro free agent landscape
and identify who might be in the elite thresholds there,

(17:07):
those guys are on our radar, and beyond that we
are diving into the draft and preparation there. Look forward to,
you know, having those conversations with our scouting staff and
coaching staff really starting next week around some of the
initial player lists that we've pushed out and really see
what comes to life in those conversations.

Speaker 4 (17:28):
Last question for me obviously the draft being right there
in the near future, and we've mentioned vetting with veteran guys,
and veteran guys you have a little bit more of
a track record and there's something here, There's stories that
you can gain through their time as a pro. How
important is it the vetting process for the college players

(17:49):
and how difficult is that?

Speaker 3 (17:50):
It's critical to the process and understanding who these people
are off the field and their commitment to the game
of football is going to be something that weighs heavily
in our decision making come draft day, and not all
that information is public knowledge. So there are players that
you know, we'll pass on because they don't meet the
standards of source information that we've received really in most

(18:14):
part from the people who have lived with those individuals
to date on their college campuses, at their hometowns, high schools,
all those sorts of things. So that'll carry a lot
a lot of weight in our decision making, and we'll
mirror that with the on field talent and really our
vision for what can be brought to life come next fall.

(18:34):
But really looking forward again to that process and diving
in with our college scouting staff here soon as they
are currently on the pro day circuit, and we'll be
off the road by the end of the month and
able to provide some insight and updates off the heels
of that.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
James, thanks for the time, congratulations on the free agency class,
and we'll do it again soon.

Speaker 3 (18:56):
Hopefully appreciate the time as well, James.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
Ladstone, Jacks GM with us. We're back with plenty more
in a moment on ten ten XL, Jaguars dot Com
and Jaguars YouTube. This is Jaguars Happy Hour. But then
there's a lot of you potential and opportunities here. You know.

(19:20):
I think looking at the roster, looking at the coaches,
hearing what they're trying to do here, that's something I
wanted to be a part of the change, you know,
and I hope I could do my part. I want
to do my part. I want to win football games
and get that done. It's James McCarey. Oh gosh, it's
not his name, Patrick McCarey. Card from the Ravens. Jack

(19:42):
look for Slack. My apologies raven So you'll just learn
a nine names. There's nine of these guys. Welcome back.
It's Jaguars Happy Hour. I'm JP Shadwick. That's Jeff Blogger,
but thanks to James Gladstone, Jaguars general manager. We're on
ten XL, Jaguars dot Com, Jaguars YouTube from studios at
the Miller Electric Center, and Jaguars Football is presented by

(20:03):
Fresh from Florida. It's always in season, you know. There's
nine of these guys, right, and a lot of free
agent windows logs. We know this really well. Over the
last number of years, we won a lot of off seasons, right,
you know, usually it'll be like a splash name or two,
and then you fill it in with a few other
guys and you pay a bunch of money to two

(20:25):
or three guys. Well, they've evened it out this year.
There's nine guys. There's nobody really breaking the bank. You're
not getting a you know, big name that's on NFL
Network and top tier and all this stuff. But these
are guys that can come in and help your football
team right away really well. And I asked him question
how many he viewed as starters, and he said, they're

(20:45):
all going to come in and compete for starting jobs.
But one guy, Jake People probably well, he can compete
all he wants. Nick mullins, I don't think he's gonna
win the starting job. And he's backup quarterback.

Speaker 4 (20:57):
He's brought in from Minnesota, which is fine, which is
great because he actually is going to have I think
some familiarity which is great with the system.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
Great.

Speaker 4 (21:05):
He was there in Miniso of coordinator perfect so I
think that really helped the quarterback room. And then Hanes
his familiarity with the system with Liam Cohne and Tampa
also prodes another one that's going to help. I think
the quarterback and I get familiar with the system. But
you know, I mean, just looking at the free agent class,
I mean probably four starters. I mean, if I'm guessing,

(21:27):
you know, and I can tell you who you think.
So Eric Murray safety, Okay, you're not signing a guy
in his tenth year unless he's probably going to be
a starter, especially for twelve million guaranteed dollars. Yeah, I
mean that's I think you could say that he's going
to be a starter.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
McCarry McCarry. McCarry is the proper pronunciation. JP. You talked
to him at him on the way out of the
press conference today and he said, mcarey.

Speaker 4 (21:48):
I think he's going to be a starter. I don't
know where because he's so versatile. I mean, I think
he can play inside, he can play outside, but I
envisioned him as a starter.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
James Ladstone just said interior O line. Okay, what that means.

Speaker 4 (21:59):
And then Hainsey, which he talked about the job that
he did against New Orleans as a center. I think
Hainesy's going to be a starting center, and then McCarry
be a starting guard.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
I don't know which side that would be.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
Idoga is probably going to be a guy to come
in and compete for maybe one of those other interior
spots or swing tackle, maybe a tackle, you know, maybe
compete for a starting job at tackle. Look, the reality
is when you got a new staff and a new
general manager coming in there, there's no givings. And when
he said they're all going to come in and compete
for a starting job, that is true, I think all

(22:36):
across the board, with the exception of the quarterback position,
which there's a reason why Trevor has been the starter
here for a while and has a quarter billion dollar contract.
Diami Brown I think is going to have a great
opportunity to be a starter. Christian Kirk was traded, but
again he's going to have to come in and compete.
There are some guys that are currently on the roster
that are I think going to have an opportunity to

(22:56):
have something to say about that. Jordan Lewis, I think
is the star, hands down, not even fat and I
especially when you listen to James Gladstone talk about him
and that they tried to get him before in LA
weren't able to do that, and how that Jordan Lewis
changes the way that offensive coordinators approach a game that's

(23:18):
not very There's not very many people in the league
that do that, and that I think says speaks volumes
about him.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
He's a nickel too and can do that. He's not
just a nickel, yes, but he he started his career,
he said today, outside early in his career, and he's
grown into this nickel role and that's what he's been. However,
he is versatile enough to be able to step outside.

Speaker 4 (23:38):
The reality is is that this football team, okay, prior
to free agency, had one starting corner on the roster
for the most part, the other spot was wide open.
And when I say that, you know who was the
starter last year?

Speaker 1 (23:53):
Well it was.

Speaker 4 (23:54):
It was kind of a merry go round of starters
opposite of Tyson Campbell.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
Last year, even he was not on the field a
lot too correct. So I think that Jordan Lewis is
going to be a starter. Is that a nickel, is
that a corner? Is he going to play both? I
don't know, but he's going to be a starter and
he's going to be on the field a ton. He's
a good football player, so looking forward to watching him play.
And Jorian Jones has to go somewhere too, got to compete.

Speaker 4 (24:19):
Well, look, I mean, Jarry and Jones is a good
football player, got a good skill set.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
Those guys work out together, by the way, which is great, great, great,
I mean and love it.

Speaker 4 (24:28):
And they're going to be competing for some similar roles
and there's nothing wrong with that. Let him compete and
they'll make each other better that way.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
I like it. I also like it. We like it.

Speaker 4 (24:40):
I think what's going to be interesting too is that,
you know, when you asked him about free agency or
excuse me, about the draft, and that now that free
agency is kind of wrapped up, he said, as JP,
it's not over with yet kind of that was his answer, right,
And so my impression is that, look, there's still players
in the market, and the market intangibly rich exactly.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
I love the term. I love the term. But what
what impresses me the most is how they put so
much And James talks about this, and he puts a
premium on the vetting process, and you hear so much
about combine interviews, and then at some point, I think

(25:22):
a lot of the draft picks are going to be
coming to visit different teams. How many players are they
allowed to thirty.

Speaker 4 (25:27):
Okay, thirty you have combine visits and all that kind
of stuff.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
Look, I mean the reality is is that what would
you rather do? Would you rather talk to the player
in person? Or would you rather spend the resources and
talk to everybody that's been around that player for a
long period of time and that you trust that person's opinion.
What would you rather have I a ten ten minute
interview or who years of background? Yeah, who's had to

(25:54):
deal with this guy? And how is he as a teammate,
as a player, as everything behind the scenes tells you
a lot about the person you're to get.

Speaker 4 (26:02):
And I think that that's, uh, that's outstanding. I like
the premium that he puts on that process.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
We've got plenty ahead of the new season right around
the corner, and the time to get your twenty twenty
five season ticket membership logs it's right now. Now's the
time you'll be at the bank for every touchdown. I
got it, and we need plenty of touchdown I got it.
Secur your seats at Jaguars dot com slash tickets. We're
called nine oh four six three three two thousand on
ten to excel Jaguars dot com. And Jaguars YouTube. This

(26:31):
is Jaguars Happy Hour high IQ.

Speaker 5 (26:45):
Understanding what the offenses want to do, Understanding what the
coordinators want to do, you know, in the run game
and in the past game, and being able to go
out there and run with guys. So being able to understand,
you know, how they how they want to affect us
in the past and run games basically you know a
more you know, agile linebacker, you know what I'm saying.
So just understanding those things and being smart and finding

(27:08):
ways to go out there and make plays. Yeah, that's
just flock in Nicholas.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
That's Jordan Lewis earlier today in a press conference. They're
all available at Jaguars dot Com and Jaguars YouTube. Explaining
the ideal Nickel cornerback, what it takes to be a
Nickel and the welcome back at Jaguars Happy Hour JP
Shaddick with Jeff Logoman. The twenty twenty five season at
Daily's Place is underway. Upcoming shows two nights Away from
the Coral Reefer Band Saturday, Teddy Swims made tenth Team

(27:38):
Payne May thirty first Sticks with Kevin Cronin and Don Fielder.
June second, Old Dominion June sixth. The entire calendar at
Dailyesplace dot com. Tickets available as well. We're on ten
to excel Jaguars dot Com and Jaguars YouTube from the
Hundai Studios Miller Electric Center. It's Jaguars Happy Hour.

Speaker 4 (27:58):
Did you catch that little nugget that that we got
from James Bladstone about what are you talking about?

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Well, when we were talking about a lot of Robert
he has plenty to say, throwing out nuggets all day.

Speaker 4 (28:12):
Well, when we were when we when we he was
talking about Hainsey in particular, he said that Hainsey won
the job out of camp. But Graham Barton, I think,
is the rookie from Duke who played tackle and the
Buccaneers drafted him in the first round, moved him to center,

(28:33):
and then he was the starting center through the air,
and I think long term Graham Barton Barton might have
been the long term answer for for the Buccaneers at center.
But it was interesting hearing James say that, and maybe
I maybe I misheard him, I don't know, but I
thought he said that Hainsey won the job out of camp,
which means that the Buccaneers committed to the younger player

(28:57):
to be maybe long term that's the better answer. But
he said that Hainsey won the job out of camp,
which means he should have been the starting center or
could have been the starting center. And I can't wait
to watch that film that he's talking about the New
Orleans Saints game, because it was a big win.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Like it was a wild game. So it was fifty
one twenty seven final. The Bucks led the game seventeen
to nothing in the first quarter and then lost the
lead later in the game. It was at one point
twenty to seventeen in the second quarter and then twenty
seven to twenty four at halftime. Saints had the lead,
and the Bucks scored the final four times of the game,

(29:37):
I mean, and just kind of ran away with it
in second.

Speaker 4 (29:39):
I remember watching Hainsey the year before because the Jaguars
played them in December in a game that they didn't
play very well if you remember back, and they didn't
play well in a lot of games, yeah, I know,
but this one was kind of memorable because right around
Christmas time.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
It was not a good performance.

Speaker 4 (29:55):
And Hainsey was the starting center and that was a
game in which the Buccaneers dominated the game.

Speaker 1 (30:00):
Up front.

Speaker 4 (30:01):
Hainsey was a part of that, and I remember getting
ready to watch or getting ready to call the game.
I was watching the Buccaneers on film and I remember
look watching the center for the Buccaneers and Hainsey's got
kind of real big up top, a little thinner down low.
And I don't know if he's worked on that edge
of it or not, but I just remember that he
was definitely what when he talks about playing to the

(30:24):
whistle and beyond, Jane Clapstone said that I do remember
that about Hainsey. So looking forward to watching that game
against the Norland Saints, I.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
Wonder what intangibly rich players he might be talking about
still out there free agency.

Speaker 4 (30:39):
I'm sure there could be a lot of guys, but look,
I think intangibly rich it means a lot of different things,
and it can be and can be many different things.
It can be what a guy means to a locker room.
It could mean what a player does to elevate those
around him, not just worrying about his own little home.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
And also, I think.

Speaker 4 (31:05):
Being able to raise the competition level in the off
season with guys to help make them better and the
way they train. I mean there's lots of different things
that you could consider intangibles, and in tangibles, I think
by definition, is something that you can't sit there and
put your finger on specifically, or you can't sit there
and point to and say, hey, this is it. But
there are a lot of things I think that would

(31:25):
qualify into that category. And I think the most important
thing is the person that is inside that. What kind
of a person, what's the quality of the person inside
that you can't actually look at and sit there and say, oh,
he has that, But it's something that's kind of nondescript,
So I guess that's kind of odd, right, I mean,
but it is. It's something that's incredibly important. If you

(31:47):
can find guys that are leaders of men and have
that gift, I think that you're going to have a
heck of a great time with your football team if
you can get those guys that have that.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
You got to think about how how long James Gladstone
has been on the job here, and that's only been
what two weeks?

Speaker 4 (32:07):
I can't imagine half weeks. I mean, I mean that's
there's a lot. There is a tremendous amount of work
that they have had to do and I know when
he was hired he said that, you know, we don't
feel like we're behind in any way. But I mean
it's a brand.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
New you're here's the staff and good luck well, and
I think that, I mean from his standpoint.

Speaker 4 (32:28):
Look, I mean it's it's great if you never feel
like that you're behind or that you're trying to play
catch up, because it means that you're confident in what
you're doing, and it means that where you were at
you've obviously done a lot of work anticipating the future.
And I think that's one thing about James. I think that,
first of all, he very smart, and that's very obvious.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
And but all these coaches that were assembled have also
been working towards the future as well, but at other places.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
So it's not like everybody just showed up up and
they've been, you know, sitting on the couch at home
drinking people watching movies and drinking Pinion clouds and eating.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
Cheetos in their underwear. Okay, so why do you point
at me when you say that, no, I'm not I
didn't come on, didn't mean you come on, I didn't
mean you you know better than that. But I'm excited
to see you know. And and here's the thing. So
many years this football team has won this time of year. Oh,

(33:26):
we know how to win an off season around here.
I mean we have. We have a streak of off
season victories.

Speaker 4 (33:32):
And if there is ever something that we have that
we could have learned over the years, is that have
you ever heard of the Kansas City Chiefs or the
Baltimore Ravens or who else past Super Bowl winners name
them the Rams? Have those teams ever been like the

(33:54):
big winners this time of year?

Speaker 1 (33:56):
I mean, yeah, it's right this long term, it's the life.

Speaker 4 (34:01):
Plood of disfranchises through the draft and this team. And look,
I'm not saying that this free agent class is not good.
I could I think, like I said, I think they
got four or five starters out of that, which is
what you need. And also what James talked about is
that if you can fill some holes with free agents,

(34:22):
then also it allows you to let your draft board
kind of naturally happen. In other words, you're picking the
best player instead of feeling like you have to pick need.
And I think that's incredibly important because and I've always
been a believer in this plug your holes in free agency.
You don't need to make a big, giant splash with

(34:43):
a ton of guaranteed money. Just plug your holes and
then put all your resources and energy and focus on
the draft and take the best player that.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
You can get that are intangibly rich. We'll use that term.
There you go, I mean and you feel it now,
so that okay, we can break a huddle if we
had to with the team you have you want to be,
and then go get the best players. On top of that,
I hope the new roof at the stadium across the
street here whenever it's done. Twenty eight. It's heavy. For
all these off season championship banners that the Jaguars have,

(35:14):
there's a lot of those. Gotta get rid of those.
We don't want to worry, No, no, no, we wanted heavy
for real. Yeah, that's right, Divisions, what you want, super
Bowl championship, that's what you want. That's what it's there for.
We're back at a moment. We'll get our final thoughts
in and yes, free agents are here, and by the

(35:34):
by the way, can turn a break.

Speaker 4 (35:35):
We need to add up real quick, what the ballpark
of the top five guys money wants.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
I was told there would be no math on the
show today. This is Jaguars Happy Hour. Man.

Speaker 6 (35:55):
We were so close, you know, we was always always
there for each other. We can communicate like what we saw.
And we had some some older guys in there, like
Bobby and zach Ertz and you know, they they kind
of let j Jayden lean on them a whole lot
more so, and we all leaned on each other. And
we had some guys that can that played a different

(36:17):
type of role and for us, like how they had
the standard was it was always player led and we
kind of understood that. So I think that that run there,
we just fell on each other and became like kept
that brotherhood going, and that's what got us through the
hard times, the tough times. And you could see like
we were finishing finishing games. You know, like a lot

(36:38):
of games were close, but we'll finish because that's what
that's what we wanted to do, and we trusted in
each other to get things done and that's what happened.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
Stiami Brown Wide receiver from the Washington Commanders. Welcome back
Jaguars Happy Hour. JP Shadwick with Jeff Lagerman. We're at
the Hundai Studios Jaguars Happy Hour presented by dream Finders Homes,
official homebuilder of the Jacksonville jack Is That answered from
a question about the playoff run and what was the
mood of the locker room and how it came together,

(37:07):
And that was his description of how the playoff run
for Washington came together and fell just a little bit
short of the Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
A magical run for an organization that has been in
a bad position for many years under the ownership of
Daniel Schneider, and felt like the fans felt like they
didn't have.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
Any kind of hope.

Speaker 4 (37:29):
And then ownership changed, and the regime changed, a lot
of people in the organization changed, and the most important
thing the quarterback changed and that really changed the direction
of that franchise.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
And they had a magical year. And the challenge is
to try to find a way to get back to
the same place. The key thing he said in that
to me though, was it was player led. That's where
it really has to take hold. Yes, you could have
culture and the coaches and things, the players don't buy
an to it and run with it. You got a problem.

Speaker 4 (38:02):
And if you go back and you looked at what
Washington did they they let go of a lot of
players that were starters slash high picks that they just
weren't going to move forward with and that it takes
courage sometimes to do that. And I'm not trying to
draw any parallels to what the Jaguars have done, because

(38:23):
the Jaguars, I think, you know, and when you look
at who they have released, for example, Jaguars traded Christian Kirk,
you release Evan Ingram, But you know, those two guys
are high caliber, high quality guys, and so the business
of the game, yeah, they don't fall into that category
of trying to to you know, separate from the past,
because those aren't the kind of character guys that you know,

(38:44):
you want to have.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
Those those are the guys you'd like to have.

Speaker 4 (38:46):
Those two guys are high character guys that just, you know,
the money, the pay versus play weren't where they believed
it needed to be at. But you know, every organization's
got to be able to take bold steps to get
some type of change in the future. And sometimes some
of those bold changes come from making financial decisions to
be able to get the best performance per dollar that

(39:08):
you can get.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
And that's just part of the business which of these
three agent signings are you most excited about?

Speaker 4 (39:14):
Lux Well, I mean, look, I'm obviously a big fan
of the offensive line and the need for this offense
to get less dependent on the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
And so McCarry Hainesy.

Speaker 4 (39:26):
I mean, those are the guys that I think that
I'm excited about the Mostoga. We'll make sure I pronounced
that correctly. I think it's going to provide some great competition.
Diamie Brown. I'm excited because you know what I mean,
just listening to James's evaluation of him about the ability
to go deepen and to be so much more.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
And he's still young, he's still growing. There's a lot
to see.

Speaker 4 (39:49):
And I love it when players are on a one
year prove it deal because they feel the need to
prove it. And so when you're looking for motivation, I
don't think you're going to find a more motivated player
than Diamie Brown.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
Season coming up and now it's about moving forward. The
offseason program can officially begin on the seventh of April.
Since there's a new head coach in place, I think
players will be in here probably the eighth officially, so
workouts can begin then and you can start throwing the
playbook around and talking ball and for a certain small

(40:22):
set amount of time each day. But it's better than nothing.
So it's coming.

Speaker 4 (40:25):
Quick, yeah, and it's look, it can't get here soon enough,
you know, just to kind of get that momentum going
forward to twenty twenty five in the season, and I
know that there's a lot of fans that are excited
about this year, and there's a lot of fans that
are wanting to see the improvement and kind of in
that prove it mode. And I'm excited about this football
team moving forward. I think they've got a great mindset

(40:48):
when it comes to James Gladstone as the GM basally
is the EVP operations EVP and then also Liam conn
I'm excited for it. I can't wait to watch what's next.
But most importantly for me, the the importance of the
draft in the mindset of this franchise. I just get

(41:09):
the feeling that it's changed and it's changed for the better.
The whole concept when James is talking about, you know,
filling the holes and then being free to draft, you know,
the best available players, and that's the lifeblood of the franchise.
That excites me because I think that this team now
has a chance to to establish itself in the direction that.

Speaker 1 (41:32):
It needs to be moving in. When are you gonna
start watching a draft eligible film?

Speaker 4 (41:37):
Well, I'll start watching film with the free agents and
the draft eligible players this week coming up. Okay, it
will start probably this weekend. I usually wait to get
the free agency because then once it gets to free agency,
you can actually watch the free agents that the team
actually signs. And then I start watching some of the
college prospects, you know, and you know, I probably watch
one hundred and fifty guys, you know, somewhere in that range,

(41:59):
you know, top couple rounds, you know, top top five
to ten, depending on positions, you know, across the board.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
You get an idea. I know, you always like look
at the quarterbacks. You know, I probably won't. I mean,
I'll look at a little bit of the quarterbacks system,
I mean, just because I mean you have to be
able to talk quarterback if you're going to talk about
the top of the draft, you know, but I'm not
going to watch them with the intent that this football
team is obviously going to draft them. But you know,
here's a great thing where this team is picking at

(42:27):
depending on how things end up turning out ahead of them.
I mean, the Jaguars may be in a great position
to turn that fifth overall pick into a bounty of
future picks by trading back a little bit.

Speaker 4 (42:41):
Yeah, if there's a quarterback that is there for a
team's liking that does not lie in the top five.
So my hope is is that there's some guys that
get pushed to the top. You know, when I say
the top ahead of the Jaguars, that pushes the quarterbacks down,
and then the quarterback needy team ends up saying, hey, James,

(43:04):
we really want that fifth overall pick, and here's what
we're willing to give, and hopefully that's a lot of picks.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
You know, a couple of guys we left out in
the free agent signings. We have the tight end. The
tight end, Yeah, I mean, like I think that these
guys are Johnny Munt and Hunter Long, and I think
that those guys are rotational players and backup type of players.
And look, I know that they're coming in to compete
for a starting role and at some point they may
have to be a starter. But look, the the future

(43:32):
of this football team at tight end is Breton Strange. Yes,
Breton Strange is a really good football player. JP. You
know how I felt about him for a long time.
And James doubled that down today in the press conference
which is available at Jaguars dot com and Jaguars you
to hear what he said. He basically said, yeah, I'd
get ready because it's Britain's Strange. Time's not exact terms, right,
I mean, look, he's a great football player. You know.

Speaker 4 (43:53):
The difference between Brenton Strange and Evan Ingram is this,
and both of them are very good football players, but
they're very different. Evan Ingram is a is more of
an h kind of a wide receiver tight end hybrid.
Breton Strange is a true tight end. Breton Strange causes
more of a matchup nightmare for defensive coordinators than I

(44:17):
think Evan Ingram because Evan Ingram gets treated like a
true wide receiver by defensive coordinators. You can't do that
with Brenton.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
Strangeyeh, Brenton can line up in the backfield as a
fullback if you really wanted to, and hit.

Speaker 4 (44:29):
You in the masts and does an outstanding job of blocking.
Does I think better things after the catch? Probably than
what Evan Ingram has done. Not to say that everything
is not a good football player, because he really is
a good.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
Football season was pretty strong, high quality guy too, So
we'll see. So. Brian Thomas Jr. Was out at the
Players today TPC saw Gray making the rounds good. Did
he play any golf? I don't, Well, I don't know
if he's that good to play with the pros to
Today's the first round of the tournament. You're going out tomorrow.
I'm going tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (45:03):
All right, People can be a on lookout for Shadwick
at the Players. I'm gonna make a visit out there
this weekend, looking forward.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
To it's a it's always a fun week in town.
Everybody's all fired up, the beach is crowded and all
that stuff.

Speaker 4 (45:14):
It's a it's a great attraction and it's a it's
a great experience for those that have never done it,
and I look forward to it. I'm not a golfer,
but to be able to appreciate the professional athletes for
what they do, I mean, I think that's that's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
Yeah, I'm terrible at it. I like watching it.

Speaker 4 (45:31):
I can't do it, so when I when I watch
somebody that can do something that I can't do.

Speaker 1 (45:34):
I mean, it's with great appreciation that I watch. It's
like watching hockey players. I could never play hockey. I
can't even skate, and kidding me, I tried barely walking straight.
I tried.

Speaker 4 (45:44):
It's like, well, one of the sports that I'm a
big fan of, baseball, used to play baseball football. Of course,
I played football golf, and I was a hack when
I did it, you know, but it's been a long
time since I've done it, but I could still swing
a club.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
I like to publicly apologize to the Grove golf Course
in England. That's the last time I played, and I
hacked it to pieces. I have my apologies. That's called
getting that's called getting your money's worth. They got all
their golf balls back that I bought, They have them all.
There's somewhere out there on the course a lot, in
other words, a lot of filler. Yeah, you know what

(46:18):
is that stuff called.

Speaker 4 (46:19):
It's like dirt and seed mix that you always fill
your divots with. I mean, and they sometimes come in
a bottle. So you had an extra one of them
on the cart Did you have a cartage? You actually
was a cart.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
Yeah, I'm not walking. You're you're not a walk guy,
I look like I walk. Don't answer that. Oh, you're
wearing all black today, jas, it looks like you could
walk to it. Don't answer that. Good weather though, tomorrow
Saturday in the high seventies, low eighties, sunshine most of
the day. A little rain in the forecast on Sunday.
So hopefully that doesn't hit the tournament this weekend. Well,

(46:50):
it at least allows them to get it in. Yeah,
just a little bit of rain. As long as it
doesn't have a whole lot of heat, you know, then
be all.

Speaker 4 (46:56):
Right, just get it in. Yeah, be all right. It's
it's an epic event. It's an outstanding event. I know
that the Jaguars are you know, Brian Thomas was out
there today.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
I'm sure that the specialists were out there yesterday. I
saw the kicker and the long snapper were there, you know,
doing social media stuff. Oh yeah, absolutely, So that was cool,
And there'll be more of those guys throughout the weekend.
I'm sure. I think the coaches probably might have some
time off to get out there too. All right, So
let me ask you a question.

Speaker 4 (47:23):
With free agency still going not over with no, it's
never over. If you had to pick a position that
the Jaguars would still look at, what might you think
that position would be.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
I would have thought defensive line until today when James
said at the press conference, no, we're waiting for the
rookies to play there. So sounds like they're going to
lean that way a.

Speaker 4 (47:48):
Little bit in the draft, which, by the way, that
the Rams were pretty good at finding hookies that can play.
You think, so I would have said that since you
know that he said that, he literally said it.

Speaker 1 (47:59):
Where else would you look at? Wide receiver? I think
that could be one wide receiver?

Speaker 4 (48:06):
I think I think the smaller guys I think are
still in play, whether it be a wide receiver or
corner or a corner because you know, look last year
the Jaguars, you know, kind of had an issue at
corner and even though you signed one, that's a position
where you play a lot of them and if you
have an injury that you'd like to have some depth

(48:28):
there some When I say depth, depth that you can
count on. So I know that they have Monteric Brown
obviously there as well, but I think that's a position.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
Linebacker I think is also an interesting one. Yeah, that
was inconsistent last year, to say the least, and I
think that that's one of the reasons why I kind
of kind of went there a little bit. Yeah, ok,
I think that that's going to be an interesting position
to watch obviously going forward. And where people play, Yeah,
who plays, whether playing when they're playing? How often that me?

Speaker 4 (49:02):
He snaps it again, I mean when you have a
new regime. Okay, Uh, there's no past favorites, you know
what I mean, clean slate. Everybody starts from ground zero.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (49:18):
When I say everybody starts from ground zero, look, nobody
cares where you drafted out in the past. Nobody cares
about your contract unless it's overly expensive.

Speaker 1 (49:28):
Care about it. If it's overly expensive, you might not
be around. Let me correct myself. They always care about
your contract professional football, the contract matters, but.

Speaker 4 (49:38):
Where you came from doesn't matter. And I think that
that's sometimes refreshing and good to kind of cleanse the system,
so to speak.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
Logs, we got through another hour. Are you actually surprised? No,
I'm not surprised at all. I'm just saying I'm just
stating facts. Thanks to James clas Are we gonna have
the head coach next week. I mean we had the GM.
We should just keep getting executives all week and weeks ago.
Liam Combe.

Speaker 4 (50:06):
Maybe next week Mike can put in a request and
then maybe put in a request.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
For you know this EVP guy that he's got his
own podcast, so I don't know he's he's too busy.
What do you mean he's got he does ev podcast.
That's Jeff Logging. I'm JP Shadwick. Thank you for listening.
It's Jaguars Happy Hour.