April 15, 2025 • 25 mins
Jaguars Head Coach Liam Coen and General Manager James Gladstone meet with the media a week before the 2025 NFL Draft.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Both of you.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
What's it been like going through this process kind.
Speaker 3 (00:03):
Of leading away for the first time. I mean she
was a heo, she was the first.
Speaker 4 (00:06):
Time at old Man.
Speaker 5 (00:07):
What has this been like?
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Yeah, I'll start and kick it over to Liam. But
at the end of the day, it's still familiar territory.
You're talking football, and you know, my mind remains rooted
and a lot of the same things that it always
has been. And I think you all will remember this phrase,
but focusing our intention on intangibly rich human beings and
allow that to remain our north star and making it
(00:32):
so that you know, it's very clear amongst our group
that that's really what we're leaning into and having everybody
embrace that and feel that it's been a joy. It's
been fulfilling and really looking forward to allowing those discussions
to become reality. And we're not far off from that.
But just like the players that are included in this
draft class, right their dream is to get drafted and
(00:55):
for those guys, that's about to be reality. And it's
been fun to have that be the case for us personally,
to see our dreams become reality, and you know, working
in tandem, it's it's been fulfilling. It's been a joy.
Speaker 6 (01:09):
One of the biggest issues with this team last year had.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
A lot of people's.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Bonds, was a lot of toughness in both interior minds.
Speaker 7 (01:17):
You invested considerable capital and free agency helped reinforce that,
and I'm just wondering if you feel like the draft
is also another avenue to add reinforcements to that, because
it seems like you could never have enough in terms
of competition in those positions.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah, I'm glad you asked that because something that's been
very clear to both Liam and I, and it's something
that we both value innately, is physical and mental toughness.
And I know that that probably was a parent and
that just by default the offensive line and defensive line
that breeds that sort of mentality in that type of play.
We prioritized addressing offensive line through pro free agency, and
(01:58):
I think we'll continue to do that throughout the draft.
But I don't think we're limited at the fronts right
That stuff should show up at all levels of our
offensive and defensive operation, and clearly on special teams. That's
always going to remain at the forefront. But those two
elements in tandem is really a real combination that we covet,
(02:20):
and I think you'll hear just about every time that
Liam steps to a podium, he's going to mention some
version of physical and mental toughness as really what he's
hunting up.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
For.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
How bothers, it wasn't for Eatervie that on third and
one last year Jaguars Patty Amber was barely over fifty.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, I think that's something that ultimately you look at
last year. I think in the NFL we were first
in Tampa in short yardage, and although I'd love to
say that we just you know, ran duo down everybody's throat,
I can't say that there was some misdirection, jet sweeps, whatever,
it was different ways of getting that yard. And ultimately, yes,
(03:03):
you'd love to say, man, hey we got to just
gain a yard. We should be able to do this
with the most simple plays in football, But it just
depends on how you're built and what those matchups look like, obviously,
and it is on us as coaches to hopefully put
those guys in better positions to be successful that way.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
James, can you take us through the decision not to
do in person visits the strategy kind of behind not
bringing prospects here.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, I think there's a lot of layers to not
doing those facility visits that you all are probably accustomed to,
or those top thirty visits as they're phrased. But you know,
it goes back a while for me and my experience.
I think, you know, just think about, let's take it
this direction, the implicit bias that can come to life
this late in the process, the last player you might
(03:51):
sit down with, and how that might differ from the
first player you sit down with, knowing that it's closer
to the decision that's upcoming. Addition to that, like, you know,
so much of the work that's done in preparation for
these decisions starts years in advance, and you know, the
(04:11):
sourced intel from those who have lived with these individuals
is likely to be more accurate than me sitting down
with a prospect for a short period of time and
attempting to dissect who that human being is. And so
I don't know that I don't view myself as having
(04:32):
this extreme superpower of deciphering the complexity of a person
in an hour, right, I would probably say I can
work that in tandem. But there are other mechanisms that
we tend to lean into to help us determine whether
or not a player is in fact a fit for us.
(04:52):
More than just a singular touch point that would be
a top thirty visit, We have a lot of additional
mechanisms that we deploy that don't necessarily put us at
risk for the rest of the world to know which
direction we're heading as well, because so often those become
public facing touch points, at which point you're sacrificing some
(05:14):
version of strategy come draft day as well.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
That I'm just curious, and you're less than two months
time here, James, how much have you been able to
implement in terms of that strategy in terms of springing
the Jars program here Jacksonville.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Obviously, you know.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
You bring some of your friends from there into the
front office here so far, but how much have you
actually been able to implement in terms of that process itself.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, there are some specific efficiencies that we've been able
to sort of fold into the process, and in large
part there's a good bit of information already at our
disposal and a lot of internal knowledge that already exists
that's really helpful, you know, having our scouting staff on
site for the first time this week, all being under
the same roof. It was really cool. We got a
(05:56):
chance to sit down yesterday and chop through a large
of the prospects and got a chance to share with
them my impressions of day one with them. And so often,
let's just set the stage. You get into a draft
meeting and each person has a piece of paper or
a noepick in front of them or their laptop, and
(06:18):
they're referencing their reports that they've done on each of
the prospects, looking down reading those reports out loud. Something
I appreciate more than anything is when an evaluator or
a scout treats those moments like you're at the water cooler,
like you're just having a normal conversation as a as
(06:38):
opposed to this boardroom meeting, and our group inherently did that.
They made it just a natural conversation, and they didn't
just revert to their notes, but rather what they already
knew in their minds because they were so prepared for
that moment on their own. So that was a really
cool moment for me to see our scouting staff walk
in the door as prepared as I could have ever
(07:01):
hoped for those initial conversations, I used the phrase being
a fighter not a fencer, right, instead of having to
put on armor pick up a sword to fight, they
simply just had to close their fist. They were ready
for that moment. And I look forward to the rest
of the conversations that we're gonna have here over the
next nine days and see what else settles as the
(07:22):
cement begins to harden.
Speaker 6 (07:25):
Fact, James, just the entire process of you being in
la and all the scouting that you did and then
to come here and see what Trent and Ethan and
their staff have just kind of comparing and contrasting. How
difficult was that And was there anything during that process
that maybe really surprised you or perhaps you don't just
(07:46):
tie you off guard.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Yeah, I don't know that there were any surprises or
anything catching me off guard. As much as it was.
It's been very impressive the adaptability of that group to say, hey,
here are the items that we're emphasizing and that we'll
be prioritizing may look a little different than what you're
used to, and being able to see them sort of
(08:08):
pivot away from maybe things that they held at a
premium in the past. And so that's been that flexibility
has really stood out to me amongst the group.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
What's your comfort level in terms of talking trades and
things like that. Do you like to have those discussions
a few days higher to Thursday night or are you
pretty comfortable even if it's on the clock being able
to make that kind of move quickly.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
I think adaptability is going to be key through that.
It's never going to be done until you know it
gets sent into the league. So we'll have as many
conversations as people are willing to engage on. And I
don't think that now versus on the clock is going
to be anything that I would say isn't of interest.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
When do you like to have your board kind.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Of final Yeah, right before we pick. I mean it's interesting,
it's not so black and white, right. You can probably
think about the decisions you make in a day, and
especially when you have the chance to sleep on it,
whether or not it's the right one or the wrong one.
And we've gone through a ton of exercises over the
last five weeks to where we sleep with decisions right
(09:17):
and we say this is exactly what we're doing over
the course of the draft. How do we feel about
this outcome, and we wrestle with that, we sit with it,
we reflect, and then we try a new one. And
that's been fun because I know it's not something that
the larger group has been used to doing, at least
in that long of a runway, But for me, it's
(09:39):
the way in which my mind works, and I've in
the past experienced the moments when you send in a pick,
you know when you press enter whether or not it
was the right one for you, And that's what I've
enjoyed doing over the last handful of weeks with our
group and sort of treating it it like we just
(10:01):
press center and trying to wrestle with whether or not
that that felt the best or if it's exactly what
we would have wanted to be the case. And so,
just like any any player going out onto the grass
in preparation for a Sunday, we actually want to treat
these reps like real life, and so trying to create
that as often as possible has been certainly enjoyable, but
(10:23):
look forward to it actually bringing with it some positive
results here soon.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Over to that.
Speaker 6 (10:29):
Point, can you kind of map out what the next
wee can have is for you guys from.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
A process standpoint, what kind of things would.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
You go through to try to be as prepared as
you can be for.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
The actual raft? Yeah? I can so right now we're
using the mornings with our scouting staff, afternoon with our
coaching staff. We'll do that throughout the remainder of this
week and then into next week. We got mock drafts
that will just simulate at the beginning of the week
before getting to a draft day.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
And when you when you go to the.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Mock draft situation, what do you do in to pull
as much information.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
As you can to to to have.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
That be as actors?
Speaker 3 (11:04):
I say that it's more operationally to make sure that
uh all of our attack is functioning uh as much
as it is n like actually having a m uh
a draft to come off, so to speak.
Speaker 8 (11:16):
So, uh, James, I, I I kind of looked up
my own version of intangibly rich right, good, right, Well,
hopefully we we kind of.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Got this right.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
So not only are our fans now intangibly R curious,
so is our media groups. Yeah that's the TANGI.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Uh well, really I at five at number five?
Speaker 4 (11:36):
Is it?
Speaker 5 (11:36):
And I ain't made the sound?
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Pease?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Is it more? Obvious. Do you have to pay attention
to the intangibles cause it kind of like.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
The indendals, some side of things that you don't see
that aren't obvious at five.
Speaker 7 (11:47):
Isn't a little more obvious, especially if you're not in
a market fort.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Is it more obvious? I I would like to think
it's pretty obvious, But uh, you know a lot of
this it just requires discipline. Like for the most part,
you become so intimate and understanding who these people are
in the build up to those draft day decisions that
by the end of it, you know what you're taking
on and you have to make the decision as to
(12:12):
whether or not you can accept that person for who
they are. And the people that we will accept for
who they are is an invite and select will be
those that are intangibly rich and people. Again, I know
I've been asked quite often like what does that actually mean?
And I promise that whatever just came to your mind
is what I'm thinking, Like it exists, It's in my
(12:35):
mind as well as yours. But I was asked right
off the jump physical and mental toughness, like that's a
part of intangibly rich, and it's a big part of it,
so those two elements will be top of mind. I mean,
when you look at our draft day call sheet, the
items that we're bucketing in that intangibly rich category are
(12:55):
the largest brightest number and color on our call sheet,
and it's because that's where we start at every point
of player acquisition. That's where we start. Doesn't mean that
it'll be exactly the order that we select in or
pick or choose from, but it will be where we
began every decision.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
When you when you look at the depth chart of
this draft, like position, could you out wanted to get
a couple of positions which you think it's deep.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
Enough where whether you draft the player early in the second.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Or middle of the third or first round versus.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Second where you you you think that you could still
get a pretty dark, decent player without being a significant
drop off.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, you know quite Frankly, I think that every draft
there ends up being players that are very good at
all positions from start to finish. And I think that
that probably doesn't come as a surprise when you look
at the most recent drafts that I've been a part of,
especially with those Day three selections and even those undrafted
(14:04):
college free agents who in Los Angeles, had played a
high volume of snaps and contributed in a significant way
early in their rookie contract. So yeah, I think there
are some public facing positions that everybody has a pretty
good understanding that are deep in this year's draft. But
I don't think there's a single position that we would
(14:25):
label as being without talent, and all of them can
produce somebody for us that would contribute it in a
notable way fairly early in their rookie contract along the
entirety of the draft.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Credit work with Liam. What is your assessment of the
receiving core of.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
This draft, of its talent terms of its viability as
a did for your franchise.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Yeah, I think there's some just good, sound, solid players
at a few different spots where there's also some ball
in hand athletes. There's also a couple of guys that
can win fifty to fifty balls. There's some really good
football players all throughout this draft at the position. I
wouldn't say it's maybe as sparkling as some other drafts.
Right where you do see, you know some of you know,
(15:13):
there's a couple of good ones up there, and we
feel good about some of the guys a little bit
later on that we can contribute for us. Definitely a
position that we'd be looking for.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
James, last time we talked to you at the quodium,
you reference the defensive tackle, the edge rooms, and the
idea of getting rookies in here, getting them on the
grass early. So this may be a question more for
coach camp than you, Liam, But what are you looking
for when it comes to an edge or a defensive
tackle player? A lot but made especially this last week
nationally about is a player rugged enough to play the edge?
(15:46):
What are traits that you and your staff look for
at those positions?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah, first of all, mental and physically and mentally tough
comes to mind. And guys that can set an edge
in the run game, play long, don't have that doesn't
mean they have to be six four two sixty, but
can set an edge and play long and stout in
the run game, while also maybe giving you a different
version of a rush plan, right, a little bit of
a different wave of rusher that can maybe come in
(16:11):
and do some different things and some third downs, get
back on track situations that can potentially burn an edge
and be able to get off the edge and go
a little bit For us so definitely something that we're
looking for.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Job Leam.
Speaker 8 (16:24):
You talked about leaning past a little bit before, just
knowing how many draft picks you guys have, the dental
spots bone drafting guys that add on to the rosters
ex site. You know, like you guys are about to
add the high number of young guys.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
It is exciting.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
I mean, like I mentioned last time, conversation we had
with the staff and something that we don't want to
fear whatsoever. And I think naturally as a coach you
just go to a safe place of a veteran, which
I completely respect and appreciate. But it's definitely something we're
going to lean into. The guys should be excited about it.
(16:58):
You know, you can continue to coach hard and and
get the best out of these guys when they're freshly
in the league and really want to do best. So
we're excited about that factor.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
What is the thing you enjoyed the most things? The
biggest suggestment you going through the process.
Speaker 7 (17:13):
Now as a head coach and probably a little bit
more input than you had before.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Run.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Yeah, just you know, having a larger appreciation for every
position on the grass, including special team. You know, special teams.
When we're evaluating a wide out or a dB, a safety,
a corner, a back, or a tight end, Well, what
can his special teams contribution be as well? That's not
something I ever really had to go to that place,
(17:39):
And so that's been exciting to learn more about from James,
from the other coaches, seeing their vision for these players.
And that's been a huge learning curve for me and
experience where you're normally just hey, offense, every time you
watch an offensive player, defensive players pop and your eyes
start to go to those players that pop. Well, now
(18:00):
it's truly evaluating, hey, how does this player fit into
our play our roster right now? Where can we see
them playing on each down? In distance packages? Things like
that where you start to try to tweak your thinking
a little bit.
Speaker 9 (18:15):
Change, do you know yourself think about the first pick setting.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
The tone for the entire tenure of your regime and
how that you guess the really the first pick kind
of does that? I think naturally that's absolutely where your
mind goes. And we've had discussions on that subject a
number of times, and UH certainly feel really good about
the pot of players right now that we're discussing and uh,
(18:41):
and that that would align with all the messages that
we would like to send to the locker room, to
our fan base, to the greater football landscape about who
the Jacksonville Jaguars are going to be moving forward.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Did you guys do a local product?
Speaker 3 (18:58):
No, we did not.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Is that philosophy or is that because maybe just the
local schools didn't have maybe what you were looking for?
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I think in a similar breath, is the top thirty visits.
It's a familiar territory for me to not participate in that,
and I think it was certainly based off where we
were at this being the first cycle that we're working together,
Spending that energy in a different way made sense. It
seems like more and.
Speaker 8 (19:24):
More top pics slightly or not testing during off season
alight testing.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
How do you guys adjusted to get the full picture
of a player when you maybe.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Don't have those numbers. Yeah, I think so often. That's
a great question. By the way, I think many people
are leaning in a different direction than just strictly those
testing and measurement marks. Certainly it's helpful when you can
compare apples to apples from one player to the next.
But you know, data tracking for us and on field
speeds is going to weigh much differently than a forty
(19:53):
yard dash your time for.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Two or three more in terms of who you have
in the locker room right now, this is where you
coach when it comes to Ryan Thomas.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Junior a number one.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
Who do you say, confidently is that number two and
three that could take the pressure off of Ry Thomas Junior?
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
I think you know we're going to spread the ball
out hopefully equally. That was the nice thing about being
last year with Tampa and we had to play a
lot of different players in different personnel groupings. I think
you look just naturally right now at Parker Washington and
Dianmi Brown at the receiver positions and then saying that, hey,
Brenton Strange hopefully continues to ascend. How do we use
(20:28):
our two running backs to be able to supplement some
of that usage right and be able to get more
people involved in the game, especially early on, so that
defenses can't just cloud you know, BT and be all
over him. That we do have other guys that can
go win and be explosive with the ball in their
hands and ultimately share that wealth and share that playmaking ability.
(20:51):
So that once the ball is snapped for the beginning
of the game and within the first quarter, if you
haven't touched the ball, it's a hard one to get
continue to get through. So how do we get all
of our playmakers a touch early on to get them
going and get them involved in the game. And those
guys that I just mentioned right now are guys that
we're gonna spotlight when you're going off.
Speaker 9 (21:13):
Your draft board, and you have teams that will not
take guys simply because they've been character concerned or off
the field issues. When you're doing your draft board, is
there's something that you're not when you're looking at you're
taking these guys off the board you.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
D regardless, Oh yeah, there are quite a few things.
I think at the end of the day, we focus
the majority of our attentions on who it is that
we're really interested, who fits the profile for UH, really
what we want to invite into this environment. And if
you're not intangibly rich, it's gonna it's gonna be a
hard time for uh for that person to really mesh here.
(21:47):
And UH, you know, I think those that will thrive
in the environment that we create and cultivate UH are
going to be people that fit the mold for what
we've talked about to date, and that is all the
physical and mental toughness attributes. And if you don't meet
those thresholds that we've set, it's it's gonna be something
that we sort of go in a different direction from.
Speaker 8 (22:10):
You're when you're talking about trying to get to an
Angulia ration.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
You don't have top thirty business and you're.
Speaker 6 (22:14):
Not necessarily on site or proda.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Where's the other.
Speaker 8 (22:18):
Mechanisms you touched on in.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Getting that information?
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Yeah, some of those we like to keep sort of
in house in private, just because we feel it's a
version of a competitive advantage. While at the same time,
you can look towards the traditional metrics and in ways
about going to understand who a person is from an
intangible standpoint, and that is rooted in the film evaluation
and some of the things that aren't necessarily related to
(22:42):
a physical quality. And then you get into the sourced
information from a player's past, right whether it's college, campus,
a hometown, et cetera. So all those things begin to
get weighted and surface sort of our thresholds for whether
or not they're somebody we feel like fits our mold.
Speaker 6 (22:59):
Have you had to teach that.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
To the er staff of how that Yeah, in terms
of our current staff, they're already going down the traditional
methods of bringing that stuff to life, and then in
terms of decision making, leveraging that in a way that
may not be uh sort of the traditional model for
what the Jaguars have seen in the past, but at
(23:22):
the end of the day, it doesn't necessarily require any
additional education, but will into the future as we have
full cycles to work with as a as a full
scouting staff.
Speaker 7 (23:34):
Not to be like a smart ass, but in tangibly rich.
Was that a phrase you guys used it the brands
or did you kind of bring.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
That over or it's not it's not. Yeah, I don't
know when did I say it for the first time? Yeah,
I think it just it came. Look so much of
that stuff, it really does. It resonates. It's for for
(24:00):
both Liam and I. But we've got a lot of spinoffs.
We've got a lot of spinoffs. But that yes, hey
you got to drop that one in there or not,
But no, I think naturally that is what both Liam
and I are built on, and so we gravitate towards
(24:23):
those types of people, and so I don't know that
it was anything other than just what surfaced at the moment,
I guess at my first press conference, But it definitely
is something I want to hang on to, and I'm
not ready to release that yet because I just I
keep saying it at every chance I get right. But
(24:43):
it I think, in some way, shape or form, it
paints a picture for what it is that we're hunting
up and pay it to your guys, Oh, that doesn't
take much because most most evaluations generally include some version
of physical qualities and intangible qualities already rooted in what
(25:07):
you're measuring, So it didn't take much time for them
to understand, Oh, this is the bucket that we're leaning
into as a as a driver for our decisions. Yeah, John,
thank you for your time.
Both of you.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
What's it been like going through this process kind.
Speaker 3 (00:03):
Of leading away for the first time. I mean she
was a heo, she was the first.
Speaker 4 (00:06):
Time at old Man.
Speaker 5 (00:07):
What has this been like?
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Yeah, I'll start and kick it over to Liam. But
at the end of the day, it's still familiar territory.
You're talking football, and you know, my mind remains rooted
and a lot of the same things that it always
has been. And I think you all will remember this phrase,
but focusing our intention on intangibly rich human beings and
allow that to remain our north star and making it
(00:32):
so that you know, it's very clear amongst our group
that that's really what we're leaning into and having everybody
embrace that and feel that it's been a joy. It's
been fulfilling and really looking forward to allowing those discussions
to become reality. And we're not far off from that.
But just like the players that are included in this
draft class, right their dream is to get drafted and
(00:55):
for those guys, that's about to be reality. And it's
been fun to have that be the case for us personally,
to see our dreams become reality, and you know, working
in tandem, it's it's been fulfilling. It's been a joy.
Speaker 6 (01:09):
One of the biggest issues with this team last year had.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
A lot of people's.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Bonds, was a lot of toughness in both interior minds.
Speaker 7 (01:17):
You invested considerable capital and free agency helped reinforce that,
and I'm just wondering if you feel like the draft
is also another avenue to add reinforcements to that, because
it seems like you could never have enough in terms
of competition in those positions.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah, I'm glad you asked that because something that's been
very clear to both Liam and I, and it's something
that we both value innately, is physical and mental toughness.
And I know that that probably was a parent and
that just by default the offensive line and defensive line
that breeds that sort of mentality in that type of play.
We prioritized addressing offensive line through pro free agency, and
(01:58):
I think we'll continue to do that throughout the draft.
But I don't think we're limited at the fronts right
That stuff should show up at all levels of our
offensive and defensive operation, and clearly on special teams. That's
always going to remain at the forefront. But those two
elements in tandem is really a real combination that we covet,
(02:20):
and I think you'll hear just about every time that
Liam steps to a podium, he's going to mention some
version of physical and mental toughness as really what he's
hunting up.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
For.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
How bothers, it wasn't for Eatervie that on third and
one last year Jaguars Patty Amber was barely over fifty.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, I think that's something that ultimately you look at
last year. I think in the NFL we were first
in Tampa in short yardage, and although I'd love to
say that we just you know, ran duo down everybody's throat,
I can't say that there was some misdirection, jet sweeps, whatever,
it was different ways of getting that yard. And ultimately, yes,
(03:03):
you'd love to say, man, hey we got to just
gain a yard. We should be able to do this
with the most simple plays in football, But it just
depends on how you're built and what those matchups look like, obviously,
and it is on us as coaches to hopefully put
those guys in better positions to be successful that way.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
James, can you take us through the decision not to
do in person visits the strategy kind of behind not
bringing prospects here.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, I think there's a lot of layers to not
doing those facility visits that you all are probably accustomed to,
or those top thirty visits as they're phrased. But you know,
it goes back a while for me and my experience.
I think, you know, just think about, let's take it
this direction, the implicit bias that can come to life
this late in the process, the last player you might
(03:51):
sit down with, and how that might differ from the
first player you sit down with, knowing that it's closer
to the decision that's upcoming. Addition to that, like, you know,
so much of the work that's done in preparation for
these decisions starts years in advance, and you know, the
(04:11):
sourced intel from those who have lived with these individuals
is likely to be more accurate than me sitting down
with a prospect for a short period of time and
attempting to dissect who that human being is. And so
I don't know that I don't view myself as having
(04:32):
this extreme superpower of deciphering the complexity of a person
in an hour, right, I would probably say I can
work that in tandem. But there are other mechanisms that
we tend to lean into to help us determine whether
or not a player is in fact a fit for us.
(04:52):
More than just a singular touch point that would be
a top thirty visit, We have a lot of additional
mechanisms that we deploy that don't necessarily put us at
risk for the rest of the world to know which
direction we're heading as well, because so often those become
public facing touch points, at which point you're sacrificing some
(05:14):
version of strategy come draft day as well.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
That I'm just curious, and you're less than two months
time here, James, how much have you been able to
implement in terms of that strategy in terms of springing
the Jars program here Jacksonville.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Obviously, you know.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
You bring some of your friends from there into the
front office here so far, but how much have you
actually been able to implement in terms of that process itself.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, there are some specific efficiencies that we've been able
to sort of fold into the process, and in large
part there's a good bit of information already at our
disposal and a lot of internal knowledge that already exists
that's really helpful, you know, having our scouting staff on
site for the first time this week, all being under
the same roof. It was really cool. We got a
(05:56):
chance to sit down yesterday and chop through a large
of the prospects and got a chance to share with
them my impressions of day one with them. And so often,
let's just set the stage. You get into a draft
meeting and each person has a piece of paper or
a noepick in front of them or their laptop, and
(06:18):
they're referencing their reports that they've done on each of
the prospects, looking down reading those reports out loud. Something
I appreciate more than anything is when an evaluator or
a scout treats those moments like you're at the water cooler,
like you're just having a normal conversation as a as
(06:38):
opposed to this boardroom meeting, and our group inherently did that.
They made it just a natural conversation, and they didn't
just revert to their notes, but rather what they already
knew in their minds because they were so prepared for
that moment on their own. So that was a really
cool moment for me to see our scouting staff walk
in the door as prepared as I could have ever
(07:01):
hoped for those initial conversations, I used the phrase being
a fighter not a fencer, right, instead of having to
put on armor pick up a sword to fight, they
simply just had to close their fist. They were ready
for that moment. And I look forward to the rest
of the conversations that we're gonna have here over the
next nine days and see what else settles as the
(07:22):
cement begins to harden.
Speaker 6 (07:25):
Fact, James, just the entire process of you being in
la and all the scouting that you did and then
to come here and see what Trent and Ethan and
their staff have just kind of comparing and contrasting. How
difficult was that And was there anything during that process
that maybe really surprised you or perhaps you don't just
(07:46):
tie you off guard.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Yeah, I don't know that there were any surprises or
anything catching me off guard. As much as it was.
It's been very impressive the adaptability of that group to say, hey,
here are the items that we're emphasizing and that we'll
be prioritizing may look a little different than what you're
used to, and being able to see them sort of
(08:08):
pivot away from maybe things that they held at a
premium in the past. And so that's been that flexibility
has really stood out to me amongst the group.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
What's your comfort level in terms of talking trades and
things like that. Do you like to have those discussions
a few days higher to Thursday night or are you
pretty comfortable even if it's on the clock being able
to make that kind of move quickly.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
I think adaptability is going to be key through that.
It's never going to be done until you know it
gets sent into the league. So we'll have as many
conversations as people are willing to engage on. And I
don't think that now versus on the clock is going
to be anything that I would say isn't of interest.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
When do you like to have your board kind.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Of final Yeah, right before we pick. I mean it's interesting,
it's not so black and white, right. You can probably
think about the decisions you make in a day, and
especially when you have the chance to sleep on it,
whether or not it's the right one or the wrong one.
And we've gone through a ton of exercises over the
last five weeks to where we sleep with decisions right
(09:17):
and we say this is exactly what we're doing over
the course of the draft. How do we feel about
this outcome, and we wrestle with that, we sit with it,
we reflect, and then we try a new one. And
that's been fun because I know it's not something that
the larger group has been used to doing, at least
in that long of a runway, But for me, it's
(09:39):
the way in which my mind works, and I've in
the past experienced the moments when you send in a pick,
you know when you press enter whether or not it
was the right one for you, And that's what I've
enjoyed doing over the last handful of weeks with our
group and sort of treating it it like we just
(10:01):
press center and trying to wrestle with whether or not
that that felt the best or if it's exactly what
we would have wanted to be the case. And so,
just like any any player going out onto the grass
in preparation for a Sunday, we actually want to treat
these reps like real life, and so trying to create
that as often as possible has been certainly enjoyable, but
(10:23):
look forward to it actually bringing with it some positive
results here soon.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Over to that.
Speaker 6 (10:29):
Point, can you kind of map out what the next
wee can have is for you guys from.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
A process standpoint, what kind of things would.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
You go through to try to be as prepared as
you can be for.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
The actual raft? Yeah? I can so right now we're
using the mornings with our scouting staff, afternoon with our
coaching staff. We'll do that throughout the remainder of this
week and then into next week. We got mock drafts
that will just simulate at the beginning of the week
before getting to a draft day.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
And when you when you go to the.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Mock draft situation, what do you do in to pull
as much information.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
As you can to to to have.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
That be as actors?
Speaker 3 (11:04):
I say that it's more operationally to make sure that
uh all of our attack is functioning uh as much
as it is n like actually having a m uh
a draft to come off, so to speak.
Speaker 8 (11:16):
So, uh, James, I, I I kind of looked up
my own version of intangibly rich right, good, right, Well,
hopefully we we kind of.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Got this right.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
So not only are our fans now intangibly R curious,
so is our media groups. Yeah that's the TANGI.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Uh well, really I at five at number five?
Speaker 4 (11:36):
Is it?
Speaker 5 (11:36):
And I ain't made the sound?
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Pease?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Is it more? Obvious. Do you have to pay attention
to the intangibles cause it kind of like.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
The indendals, some side of things that you don't see
that aren't obvious at five.
Speaker 7 (11:47):
Isn't a little more obvious, especially if you're not in
a market fort.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Is it more obvious? I I would like to think
it's pretty obvious, But uh, you know a lot of
this it just requires discipline. Like for the most part,
you become so intimate and understanding who these people are
in the build up to those draft day decisions that
by the end of it, you know what you're taking
on and you have to make the decision as to
(12:12):
whether or not you can accept that person for who
they are. And the people that we will accept for
who they are is an invite and select will be
those that are intangibly rich and people. Again, I know
I've been asked quite often like what does that actually mean?
And I promise that whatever just came to your mind
is what I'm thinking, Like it exists, It's in my
(12:35):
mind as well as yours. But I was asked right
off the jump physical and mental toughness, like that's a
part of intangibly rich, and it's a big part of it,
so those two elements will be top of mind. I mean,
when you look at our draft day call sheet, the
items that we're bucketing in that intangibly rich category are
(12:55):
the largest brightest number and color on our call sheet,
and it's because that's where we start at every point
of player acquisition. That's where we start. Doesn't mean that
it'll be exactly the order that we select in or
pick or choose from, but it will be where we
began every decision.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
When you when you look at the depth chart of
this draft, like position, could you out wanted to get
a couple of positions which you think it's deep.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
Enough where whether you draft the player early in the second.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Or middle of the third or first round versus.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Second where you you you think that you could still
get a pretty dark, decent player without being a significant
drop off.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, you know quite Frankly, I think that every draft
there ends up being players that are very good at
all positions from start to finish. And I think that
that probably doesn't come as a surprise when you look
at the most recent drafts that I've been a part of,
especially with those Day three selections and even those undrafted
(14:04):
college free agents who in Los Angeles, had played a
high volume of snaps and contributed in a significant way
early in their rookie contract. So yeah, I think there
are some public facing positions that everybody has a pretty
good understanding that are deep in this year's draft. But
I don't think there's a single position that we would
(14:25):
label as being without talent, and all of them can
produce somebody for us that would contribute it in a
notable way fairly early in their rookie contract along the
entirety of the draft.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Credit work with Liam. What is your assessment of the
receiving core of.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
This draft, of its talent terms of its viability as
a did for your franchise.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Yeah, I think there's some just good, sound, solid players
at a few different spots where there's also some ball
in hand athletes. There's also a couple of guys that
can win fifty to fifty balls. There's some really good
football players all throughout this draft at the position. I
wouldn't say it's maybe as sparkling as some other drafts.
Right where you do see, you know some of you know,
(15:13):
there's a couple of good ones up there, and we
feel good about some of the guys a little bit
later on that we can contribute for us. Definitely a
position that we'd be looking for.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
James, last time we talked to you at the quodium,
you reference the defensive tackle, the edge rooms, and the
idea of getting rookies in here, getting them on the
grass early. So this may be a question more for
coach camp than you, Liam, But what are you looking
for when it comes to an edge or a defensive
tackle player? A lot but made especially this last week
nationally about is a player rugged enough to play the edge?
(15:46):
What are traits that you and your staff look for
at those positions?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah, first of all, mental and physically and mentally tough
comes to mind. And guys that can set an edge
in the run game, play long, don't have that doesn't
mean they have to be six four two sixty, but
can set an edge and play long and stout in
the run game, while also maybe giving you a different
version of a rush plan, right, a little bit of
a different wave of rusher that can maybe come in
(16:11):
and do some different things and some third downs, get
back on track situations that can potentially burn an edge
and be able to get off the edge and go
a little bit For us so definitely something that we're
looking for.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Job Leam.
Speaker 8 (16:24):
You talked about leaning past a little bit before, just
knowing how many draft picks you guys have, the dental
spots bone drafting guys that add on to the rosters
ex site. You know, like you guys are about to
add the high number of young guys.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
It is exciting.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
I mean, like I mentioned last time, conversation we had
with the staff and something that we don't want to
fear whatsoever. And I think naturally as a coach you
just go to a safe place of a veteran, which
I completely respect and appreciate. But it's definitely something we're
going to lean into. The guys should be excited about it.
(16:58):
You know, you can continue to coach hard and and
get the best out of these guys when they're freshly
in the league and really want to do best. So
we're excited about that factor.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
What is the thing you enjoyed the most things? The
biggest suggestment you going through the process.
Speaker 7 (17:13):
Now as a head coach and probably a little bit
more input than you had before.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Run.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Yeah, just you know, having a larger appreciation for every
position on the grass, including special team. You know, special teams.
When we're evaluating a wide out or a dB, a safety,
a corner, a back, or a tight end, Well, what
can his special teams contribution be as well? That's not
something I ever really had to go to that place,
(17:39):
And so that's been exciting to learn more about from James,
from the other coaches, seeing their vision for these players.
And that's been a huge learning curve for me and
experience where you're normally just hey, offense, every time you
watch an offensive player, defensive players pop and your eyes
start to go to those players that pop. Well, now
(18:00):
it's truly evaluating, hey, how does this player fit into
our play our roster right now? Where can we see
them playing on each down? In distance packages? Things like
that where you start to try to tweak your thinking
a little bit.
Speaker 9 (18:15):
Change, do you know yourself think about the first pick setting.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
The tone for the entire tenure of your regime and
how that you guess the really the first pick kind
of does that? I think naturally that's absolutely where your
mind goes. And we've had discussions on that subject a
number of times, and UH certainly feel really good about
the pot of players right now that we're discussing and uh,
(18:41):
and that that would align with all the messages that
we would like to send to the locker room, to
our fan base, to the greater football landscape about who
the Jacksonville Jaguars are going to be moving forward.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Did you guys do a local product?
Speaker 3 (18:58):
No, we did not.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Is that philosophy or is that because maybe just the
local schools didn't have maybe what you were looking for?
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I think in a similar breath, is the top thirty visits.
It's a familiar territory for me to not participate in that,
and I think it was certainly based off where we
were at this being the first cycle that we're working together,
Spending that energy in a different way made sense. It
seems like more and.
Speaker 8 (19:24):
More top pics slightly or not testing during off season
alight testing.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
How do you guys adjusted to get the full picture
of a player when you maybe.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Don't have those numbers. Yeah, I think so often. That's
a great question. By the way, I think many people
are leaning in a different direction than just strictly those
testing and measurement marks. Certainly it's helpful when you can
compare apples to apples from one player to the next.
But you know, data tracking for us and on field
speeds is going to weigh much differently than a forty
(19:53):
yard dash your time for.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Two or three more in terms of who you have
in the locker room right now, this is where you
coach when it comes to Ryan Thomas.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Junior a number one.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
Who do you say, confidently is that number two and
three that could take the pressure off of Ry Thomas Junior?
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
I think you know we're going to spread the ball
out hopefully equally. That was the nice thing about being
last year with Tampa and we had to play a
lot of different players in different personnel groupings. I think
you look just naturally right now at Parker Washington and
Dianmi Brown at the receiver positions and then saying that, hey,
Brenton Strange hopefully continues to ascend. How do we use
(20:28):
our two running backs to be able to supplement some
of that usage right and be able to get more
people involved in the game, especially early on, so that
defenses can't just cloud you know, BT and be all
over him. That we do have other guys that can
go win and be explosive with the ball in their
hands and ultimately share that wealth and share that playmaking ability.
(20:51):
So that once the ball is snapped for the beginning
of the game and within the first quarter, if you
haven't touched the ball, it's a hard one to get
continue to get through. So how do we get all
of our playmakers a touch early on to get them
going and get them involved in the game. And those
guys that I just mentioned right now are guys that
we're gonna spotlight when you're going off.
Speaker 9 (21:13):
Your draft board, and you have teams that will not
take guys simply because they've been character concerned or off
the field issues. When you're doing your draft board, is
there's something that you're not when you're looking at you're
taking these guys off the board you.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
D regardless, Oh yeah, there are quite a few things.
I think at the end of the day, we focus
the majority of our attentions on who it is that
we're really interested, who fits the profile for UH, really
what we want to invite into this environment. And if
you're not intangibly rich, it's gonna it's gonna be a
hard time for uh for that person to really mesh here.
(21:47):
And UH, you know, I think those that will thrive
in the environment that we create and cultivate UH are
going to be people that fit the mold for what
we've talked about to date, and that is all the
physical and mental toughness attributes. And if you don't meet
those thresholds that we've set, it's it's gonna be something
that we sort of go in a different direction from.
Speaker 8 (22:10):
You're when you're talking about trying to get to an
Angulia ration.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
You don't have top thirty business and you're.
Speaker 6 (22:14):
Not necessarily on site or proda.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Where's the other.
Speaker 8 (22:18):
Mechanisms you touched on in.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Getting that information?
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Yeah, some of those we like to keep sort of
in house in private, just because we feel it's a
version of a competitive advantage. While at the same time,
you can look towards the traditional metrics and in ways
about going to understand who a person is from an
intangible standpoint, and that is rooted in the film evaluation
and some of the things that aren't necessarily related to
(22:42):
a physical quality. And then you get into the sourced
information from a player's past, right whether it's college, campus,
a hometown, et cetera. So all those things begin to
get weighted and surface sort of our thresholds for whether
or not they're somebody we feel like fits our mold.
Speaker 6 (22:59):
Have you had to teach that.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
To the er staff of how that Yeah, in terms
of our current staff, they're already going down the traditional
methods of bringing that stuff to life, and then in
terms of decision making, leveraging that in a way that
may not be uh sort of the traditional model for
what the Jaguars have seen in the past, but at
(23:22):
the end of the day, it doesn't necessarily require any
additional education, but will into the future as we have
full cycles to work with as a as a full
scouting staff.
Speaker 7 (23:34):
Not to be like a smart ass, but in tangibly rich.
Was that a phrase you guys used it the brands
or did you kind of bring.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
That over or it's not it's not. Yeah, I don't
know when did I say it for the first time? Yeah,
I think it just it came. Look so much of
that stuff, it really does. It resonates. It's for for
(24:00):
both Liam and I. But we've got a lot of spinoffs.
We've got a lot of spinoffs. But that yes, hey
you got to drop that one in there or not,
But no, I think naturally that is what both Liam
and I are built on, and so we gravitate towards
(24:23):
those types of people, and so I don't know that
it was anything other than just what surfaced at the moment,
I guess at my first press conference, But it definitely
is something I want to hang on to, and I'm
not ready to release that yet because I just I
keep saying it at every chance I get right. But
(24:43):
it I think, in some way, shape or form, it
paints a picture for what it is that we're hunting
up and pay it to your guys, Oh, that doesn't
take much because most most evaluations generally include some version
of physical qualities and intangible qualities already rooted in what
(25:07):
you're measuring, So it didn't take much time for them
to understand, Oh, this is the bucket that we're leaning
into as a as a driver for our decisions. Yeah, John,
thank you for your time.
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