March 27, 2025 • 54 mins
The tide is turning in Jacksonville as James Johnson breaks down the Jaguars' strategic approach to free agency under new GM James Gladstone. After years of splashy signings and mixed results, the organization appears to be charting a new course—one built on draft capital, calculated additions, and long-term sustainability.
Diving deep into all ten free agent acquisitions, James analyzes how each player fits into the larger vision. Dyami Brown brings much-needed vertical speed to stretch defenses, while Patrick Mekari offers versatility across all five offensive line positions. Jourdan Lewis stands out as a technically sound cornerback, which makes him a much needed addition in the secondary.
What makes this free agency period truly fascinating isn't who the Jaguars signed, but what their approach reveals about Gladstone's blueprint. With the most draft picks of any NFL team over the next three years, Jacksonville is clearly positioning itself to build through young talent rather than expensive veterans. This marks a significant philosophical shift from previous regimes—a shift that could finally deliver sustainable success.
The Jaguars aren't far from contention in a winnable AFC South. With these calculated additions and the upcoming draft, Jacksonville may surprise everyone in 2025. Whether you're frustrated by the lack of headline-grabbing moves or encouraged by this methodical approach, one thing is clear: the James Gladstone era has officially begun.
James Johnson and Phil Barrera bring you the best and most up to date Jacksonville Jaguars news. "Touchdown Jaguars!" is a tribute to the prospective ownership group "Touchdown Jacksonville!" In 1991, the NFL announced plans to add two expansion teams and "Touchdown Jacksonville!" announced its bid for a team, and Jacksonville was ultimately chosen as one of five finalists. In November 1993, the NFL owners voted 26–2 in favor of awarding the 30th franchise to Jacksonville. James and Phil have been fans of the franchise ever since and have had the honor (and sometimes dishonor) of covering the team professionally since 2017. The rest as they say, is history.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the New York City City of the New York
City City of the Still runningand go.
(00:26):
That's it and go.
Touchdown Jacksonville 109yards Incredible Play action.
Upstairs, wide open, tommyBohannon.
Touchstairs, wide open, tommyBohannon.
(00:46):
Touchdown Jacksonville.
Looking for Jimmy in the endzone.
Touchdown Jaguars.
Touchdown Jaguars.
Touchdown Jaguars.
Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguarspodcast.
Here are your hosts, jamesJohnson and Phil Smith.
All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 111 of
(01:14):
Touchdown Jaguars.
I am your host for tonight,james Johnson writing his solo
for a solo episode, as Phil willjoin me on the next episode.
He's been rather busy theselast few weeks.
I know you all have been seeinghis content on Instagram, on
(01:35):
Twitter, facebook, you name it.
I recently had a con that heand Eric both attended in
Jacksonville, if I'm notmistaken, and they got a lot of
great content out of it for theWait For it podcast project.
So, real quick, I'll plug thatforum.
Feel free to follow Phil andboth Eric, who is a friend of
(01:56):
the show and has been on theshow.
Feel free to go ahead andfollow the both of them,
especially on Instagram.
They got a lot of good stuff, alot of pop culture related
stuff, um, a lot of animerelated stuff.
They had a few interviews withvoice actors, actual actors, you
name it.
It was, um, they did it allpretty much, uh, I think it was
(02:18):
this past weekend.
Time is moving so fast and it'sbeen a lot going on these last
few weeks, but, um, this pastweekend they posted a lot of
that content and, um, they willbe posting more of it down the
road as well.
So shout outs to my guys philsmith, eric serna um, good work
that you all did over there, uh,at the con this past weekend.
(02:42):
But, as I was saying, I am am,james Johnson, one half of the
hosting of your hosting panelfor the Touchdown Jaguars
podcast.
It has been a while since we'velast recorded an episode, but
you know, life is life.
But nonetheless we are here andhere with an exciting episode,
(03:03):
as a lot has transpired recentlyfor the Jacksonville Jaguars,
as we mentioned.
You know, it's an exciting timeto be a fan of the Jacksonville
Jaguars.
With the regime change.
You know, we got a new GM, wegot Trent Baalke out of here, we
got James Gladstone in here andhe has begun to put his stamp
(03:24):
on this team, albeit it's earlyin his career, and you know a
lot more roster constructionneeds to be done.
But the free agency periodarrived here a few weeks ago, on
March the 10th.
That's when, you know, the newsreally started to flow in and
you could really project whowould be signing you know where,
(03:44):
even though you know it was afew days later, that Wednesday,
that these actual players couldput pen to paper.
Um, the tampering on Monday, uh, where it was at a high.
And then, you know, a lot ofnews broke of who would sign and
where and who would end upwhere.
So, of that said, the Jaguarsended up signing what I believe
(04:06):
was 10 free agents, and it was aprocess in which was a little
different than how we kind ofdone things in the past.
In terms of the names we signed.
You know it wasn't anecessarily a star studded free
agency signing class, which kindof isn't shocking.
And also, too, they, you know,know they're the only team this
(04:28):
year I saw this on pro footballtalk that they were the only
team who didn't sign any oftheir pending free agents that
were previously on the rosterlast year.
So there is that.
So we're going to talk aboutthis free agency class of 10
pickups that the JacksonvilleJaguars picked up.
You know some of them I'll goin depth, some of them I'll be
(04:50):
brief with.
I hope and I say this all thetime, I hope to make this a
shorter episode, just forediting purposes.
I'm already behind a little bit, but at the same time I also at
least wanted to watch film onmost of these free agent pickups
and through the NFL Network appI just watched them all, twenty
(05:11):
two of a lot of these guys andI have, except for one, I think,
that I have not seen.
But we'll still talk about thisgroup as a whole and we'll talk
about the additions that weremade by James Gladstone and Liam
Cohen as we enter this newregime with the Jacksonville
Jaguars.
(05:32):
All right, so before we get intoall of that, of course you know
we got to plug the handles andlet you know where you can find
all our content.
You can find me at sports grind, underscore done on Twitter.
That's the platform I'mprobably most active on, even
though I'm not as active as Iused to be on there.
(05:52):
We'll get back to thateventually.
You can follow Phil at Phil theFilipino and my bad earlier
buddy, I Phil Smith.
It is Phil Barrera, I'm so usedto saying Phil Smith, so
forgive me, my guy, but it'sPhil Barrera now and you can
(06:13):
follow him at Phil the Filipino.
As I said, on Twitter, you canfollow our touchdown Jaguars
podcast handle at tdjaguarspod,and we have an official site
where you can find content.
We haven't written anything onthere in a while, but we'll get
around to that, especially withdraft season coming up and you
know draft conference callscoming up, which you know we
(06:35):
typically like to participate inall that good stuff.
So, yeah, we'll have somecontent on there.
Touchdownjadwarscom For all ournew listeners and old listeners.
Um, you all know where you canfind us.
We are on pretty much everymajor platform and if we are not
on that major platform, let usknow so we could get there, so
(06:56):
we could keep you in the loopwith your weekly and monthly
jacksonville jaguars news.
But of course you can.
You can most notably find us oniTunes and Spotify.
We're on plenty other outlets,of course.
Amazon, for all of the Echousers and all of those who use
(07:17):
Amazon on the side as well.
Stitcher TuneIn all of that.
We should be on all of thoseplatforms and again.
Stitcher TuneIn all of that.
We should be on all of thoseplatforms and, again, if we
aren't, let us know and we'llget there, all right.
So, before we get into the 10free agency signings, what we
(07:39):
will do, or what I want to do,is just kind of give a breakdown
of my thoughts of how JamesGladstone went about things.
As we mentioned, it was one ofthose free agency classes that
we kind of haven't had in awhile in the regard to they
didn't blow a lot of money, theydidn't go crazy, they didn't go
looking for high-priced guys tofix the offensive line and to
fix the secondary, like a lot ofpeople wanted.
(08:00):
And it was a lot of people whounderstood why they didn't go
that route.
But again, there was a lot ofpeople wanted and it was a lot
of people understood, you knowwhy they didn't go that route.
But again, there was a lot ofpeople who were kind of upset
and scratching their heads as tolike why they didn't go for it,
for your bigger names, likeyour Hollins of the world Right
and some of the other big fishthat you know were able to land
elsewhere in free agency.
(08:21):
And my answer simply to thatwell, it is a variety of things,
right?
First, I didn't expect JamesGladstone to go crazy in free
agency, right, and the reasonwas because, first and foremost,
in my eyes, he's always kind ofbeen and this is not his fault
in any way, shape or form, andthis is not saying that he's not
prepared because he wowed themin the interview and showed them
(08:45):
like, hey, while I am young andwhile this is, you know,
getting off to a late start interms of getting bulky out of
here and getting me in here, I'mstill capable of handling
things.
So he's more than capable ofhandling things, but still,
nonetheless, they got a latestart with bringing him into the
mix and for me, that alwaysmade me feel like he wasn't
going to go into free agencyguns, a blazing signing folks to
(09:09):
a bunch of big contracts.
And you know, I think he, youknow, if that were to be a thing
, it would come later in hiscareer.
Like you know, he's kind ofdoing things on the go, if you
will, and still trying to getacclimated.
So that kind of to me, you know, always felt to me.
Just, you know, the wholeaspect of them getting Trent out
(09:29):
of here so late made me havereservations about them spending
a lot of money in free agency.
Now, had they gotten Trent outof here a little, you know,
earlier, like most teams gottheir GMs out of their you know
offices earlier, and you knowthings would have got rolling in
January like a normal teamwould.
Then maybe I could see whereyou know they would spend a
(09:50):
little bit more money in freeagency and you know, therefore,
gladstone would have had alittle bit more time with the
scouts and what have you and youknow he would have had a little
bit more time with the coachesand the assistants.
That ball would have gotrolling a little bit earlier.
Then maybe I could have seenwhere you know they would have
(10:10):
spent a little bit money, uh,more money.
But also, to you know, keep inmind, like the top half of the
jacksonville jaguars roster isnot that bad right, and that's
what made the job kind ofintriguing is, you know, the
starters for the most part whichwe said many times on this
podcast are um set.
Now again, you know, offensiveline starters need to be settled
(10:32):
and fixed.
That's a big concern.
Secondary needs to be fixed andsettled that's a big concern.
But this roster isn't one wherethe cupboard is like bare or
anything right, and not onlythat.
But when you look at thedivision, we're not that far off
from the Texans, while ourrecord might say differently.
A few tweets here, there, andwe're on the Texans level, if
(10:56):
not surpassing them, this year.
I wouldn't be shocked if we winthe AFC South this year, to be
honest with you.
But again, going back to what Iwas saying, the roster isn't
one in terms of from a starterstandpoint, that's bad right.
So it was never a roster whereI could see a GM coming in and
(11:17):
making a bunch of signings.
And then, third, to add on tothat also and we've heardames,
gladstone mentioned this many,many times is this team has them
what first?
Or that, yeah, they're first.
They have the most draft picksof any team within the next
three years.
And again, gladstone has saidthat and that was the sign right
(11:37):
there.
That said it all.
Right, there is.
Hey, this young man wants tobuild through the draft and that
is more than okay, becausethat's how the good teams do it
right.
Is they build through the draft?
And that is more than okay,because that's how the good
teams do it right.
Is they build through the draftanyway?
So, when you factor all ofthose things in there, the fact
that you know Gladstone has kindof indicated that he wants to
utilize those picks as best aspossible and want to build
through the draft.
And the other comment he madeabout you know them wanting to
(11:59):
build competition at the edge,rusher position out of the draft
too, that was another one, eventhough that came after free
agency had started.
But that just kind of addedfuel to the fire of like, yeah,
this kid really wants to buildto the draft.
When you add that into the mix,the fact that the jaguars roster
from a starter perspective is,you know, in better shape than a
(12:20):
lot of other rosters.
It's not like these teams thatGMs typically inherit, where
things you know the cupboard isbare.
And you know these teams on thebottom of the totem pole in the
NFL have a lot of money andthey can get off to a fast start
by spending a lot of money.
And you know they can build ateam up quicker than you know
(12:42):
you normally would in years past.
It's not a situation like thatwith the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Their team is pretty decentwhen you look at it from a
starter perspective.
And then, of course, the firstthing that I mentioned was just
the Jaguars getting off to alate start of hiring James
Gladstone in the first place.
Factoring those three thingsinto the mix always made me feel
(13:05):
like they would not approachfree agency guns a blazing and
signing people to a bunch of bigcontracts, and I'm not upset
with it, quite frankly.
So, all of that said, we willget into the actual signings
here, and the first one we'll goto here I'll pull up the old
trustee list here onJaguarsWirecom, if you all give
(13:26):
me a second here.
The first one that they havelisted of the 10 was Deami Brown
, Washington receiver, who weare bringing in from the
Washington Commanders.
Drafted out of North Carolinaback in 2021.
Drafted out of North Carolinaback in 2021, signed him to a
(13:49):
one-year deal for $10 million.
That could be upwards of $12million.
So it's a proven contract and aguy that I like to sign in
actually is one that excites mefrom the standpoint of the speed
that he'll bring to the mix forthe Jacksonville Jaguars.
We all have seen the clips ofhim being a downfield threat,
beating people one-on-one fromthe outside, and the speed that
(14:11):
he brings there.
That's huge, especially whenyou mix that in with what speed
that Brian Thomas brings to thisoffense as well.
So you got two speed guys thatcan stretch the field and who
are dynamic in that regard, andjust their movement skills.
And when you look at hisproductivity, you know last year
was pretty much his mostproductive year.
(14:32):
So that's a good thing too isyou know he's coming off his
most productive year, so heshowed some potential there and
you know the Jaguars may feellike he has potential to give
them even more.
You know in terms of where hecan be from a productive
standpoint.
But in 2024, he registered 56targets for 537 yards and had a
(14:57):
catch average of 12.2 yards, hadtwo touchdowns.
He really made a name forhimself.
Yards had two touchdowns.
He really made a name forhimself and this probably was
it's where he made his money ingeneral in terms of any teams
looking for a potential widereceiver going into the
offseason.
But in the playoffs he made aname for himself, especially in
(15:20):
the postseason, this pastpostseason, um, in 2024, as he
um, I know in the first twogames he had at least 80 yards
or more.
I think that was against thelions and I'll have to pull up
that other game.
Give me one second here.
Y'all, I can pull them up here.
Uh, tampa bay, uh, so againstthe bucks.
(15:43):
So liam cohen witnessed thatone firsthand and there he
registered five catches for 89um yards.
The game after that, in thedetroit game that I was just
mentioning, registered sixcatches for 98 yards.
So brought some explosiveplaymaking ability to the
commander's offense and reallyhate, uh, really helped jade and
(16:05):
daniels in that regard,averaging 17.8 and 16.3 yards.
In both of those games, and thefirst one against tampa, he had
a touchdown, pass, reception,um and total in terms of the
postseason he had 229 yardstotal on the postseason.
Now look, also in the process ofthe postseason we saw him have
(16:29):
some ball security issues too.
So you know that kind of inthat regard that gives you
flashbacks at least me, becauseI've mentioned this a lot.
I don't know if a lot of peoplereally have noticed this with
Parker Washington, but you knowyou kind of see shades of Parker
Washington in that regard interms of ball security.
But you know, obviously youknow this is something that
(16:49):
Jaguars believe they could clearup.
You know that's a mechanicalthing that could be worked on,
but you know, when you talkabout the cons, that is the one
is, you know, ball security,like here.
You have all of this explosiveplaymaking ability, but can we
trust you to secure the ball?
You know that's been the storyof a lot of players in the NFL
and you know it's lost a lot ofplayers, some money right that
(17:12):
had all of the potential of thein the world but just could
never secure the ball.
So that'll be something towatch, especially in training
camp.
That's when you get mechanicalstuff like that fixed up and
patched up and worked on right.
So you know, definitely whenwe're going to training camp
we'll be watching not just himbut the team in general, but
especially watching him in termsof you know how he's working on
(17:34):
the ball security aspect of hisgame.
And the guy you know this is athe reason I like it is a
signing with a lot of potential.
Right, the jacksonville jaguarscould be getting, uh, somebody
who, liam Liam Cohen, can make astar in this offense on a
one-year deal.
Of course, then they would haveto sign him to a bigger
contract if he goes off, butthey got him on a prove-it deal
(17:57):
for now and he's a guy that I'mexcited to seeidot with Trevor
Lawrence and Brian Thomas Jr inthis passing game.
So, as we continue on to thenext edition, I have Robert
Hainsey here.
I watched him in one game inwhich he started last year.
(18:17):
He is a guy who has familiaritywith Liam Cohen, obviously
coming from the Tampa Bay Bucks,has mostly played center in his
career, right.
So you know, here you have aguy who is potentially your
starting center on the team.
And you know, here you have aguy who you know if the Jaguars
(18:40):
did their homework and I do knowthat Liam Cohen coached Luke
Fortner in college but, you know, if they did their homework
beforehand, they probably saw asituation where they don't want
Luke Fortner starting Right,because that was a catastrophe.
And also, too, of course, Iforgot to mention this this was
part of the news that hashappened since our last
(19:02):
recording, of the news that hashappened since our last
recording.
But, um, mitch morse retired.
So, uh, there is that which isnot shocking at all um, that
he's not a part of the teamheading forward.
But, um, you know, congrats onthe retirement.
But yeah, going back to what Iwas saying is, you know they
probably looked at fortner, whois what the only guy with
(19:24):
starting experience on theroster right now.
I might be wrong on that.
But you know you're probablylike, uh, don't want to go that
route.
You know we definitely got toat the very least get a free
agent in here and they went to aguy with familiarity with Liam
Cohen's offense.
So he'll help in that regard alot, um, in terms of getting
Trevor Lawrence acclimated withthe offense, getting the other
(19:44):
offensive line and acclimatedwith the offense, and getting
the running backs, widereceivers all that you know well
, probably more so the runningbacks than the wide receivers um
acclimated, the tight endsacclimated, all of that good
stuff.
And I think the game I watchedhim was, um the New Orleans game
in which he started um lastyear.
(20:07):
And to me, you know, I saw a guywho you know there's potential
there, don't get me wrong, um,but what I would say is he
wouldn't necessarily stop mefrom drafting a center in a
draft high right if theopportunity presented itself.
Now also too, you don't want toforce yourself to draft a
center, because here you do havea guy at the very least who's
familiar, familiar with theoffense and can um very, very
(20:32):
much have a veteran presence interms of um helping others learn
this offense, um, you know,with with everybody being new to
it, aside from a few people,but he's a guy that you know.
At times you can see himgetting overpowered.
You can see um.
You know I don't want to say alack of power, but you know one
(20:53):
thing that we have come intothis off season one is
definitely more power in thatfront, but at the same time he
was solid and pass pro, sothat's a good thing.
And again, he gives you anoption that is better than Luke
Fortner.
So you know, time will tell interms of this April.
You know what he'll be lookingat in terms of competition
(21:17):
Because obviously if he's facingFortner, you know he's probably
going to be the starter.
They do have him on a threeyear deal worth 21 million with
13 million guaranteed Um, soI'll have to look at the
structure of it and everything,but that's probably a deal in
which, um, you know he'll behere for at the very least two
years of that.
And he's a guy you know.
(21:37):
I remember in college at least,putting him in some of my mock
drafts.
I liked him, him as a like alate round addition.
I thought maybe I might havesomething written down on him,
um, in terms of, uh, something Imight have written in my
notebook, but I know I put himin at least two of my mock
drafts back in the day.
I had to go back and look atthat to see.
(21:58):
You know how I felt about himas a college prospect.
But you know, overall he was athird round pick.
So you know, obviously hedidn't end up going as late as I
thought he would and the Bucksthought he had, you know, a
great deal of potential, thepotential to be the starter or a
starter.
You know when you're draftingsomebody that high.
And he played in a total of 94snaps last year.
(22:20):
He had to take over for GrahamBarton in a few games, so
probably you know an injury thatwas going on there.
Um, he had to take over forGraham Barton in a few games.
So, uh, probably you know aninjury that was going on there
that he had to take over.
And I would think of most ofthose snaps were in the New
Orleans game that I watched.
So, um, you know he's a guy whoI'll be watching during
training camp for sure.
Um, not just just performancewise, but just kind of how he is
(22:44):
helping everybody understandthe offense and the veteran
presence.
He has um number four.
Here we have Jordan Lewis,formerly a cornerback with the
Dallas Cowboys.
I really love the film that Isaw on him.
I think he was maybe the firstsign in that was announced for
the Jaguars on that Mondaybefore free agency frenzy or to
(23:08):
start free agency frenzy.
But he is a guy that I likewatching on film.
From the standpoint of he istechnically sound, right.
All of these years we've spentfrustrated with people like
Tyson Campbell, right, andfrustrated with these others in
the secondary who you know thetackling mechanics haven't been
(23:28):
there.
But especially when you look ata guy like the most notable one
that comes to mind is TysonCampbell.
Mechanically because of youknow the whole thing and not
about him not getting his headaround and locating the ball,
especially early in his career.
That was a thing and of courseyou know him being injured often
hasn't helped either.
All the more reason to bring ina cornerback too.
(23:49):
Um, of course Tyson Campbellisn't going anywhere anytime
soon because Trent signed him toa new deal and while you know
the new GM and James Gladstoneand company don't have
necessarily ties to any of theguys on the roster, you know
some of these guys are harder tomove on from others.
If that's what they want to do,maybe you know who knows maybe
(24:10):
they like Tyson Campbell andthey see the potential in him
too, and that's more than fine,because you know that's one less
position you have to worryabout fixing that the last
regime couldn't.
So maybe Tyson Campbell puts itall together next year in terms
of being able to stay on thefield and getting some of the
mechanical things that we'veseen flare up at times, because
(24:31):
I mean, the potential is there.
We've seen Tyson Campbell playphenomenal at times, right, and
it's like, yeah, man, this is aguy who's a top 10 corner in the
league when he's, you know,healthy and playing to his best
and the technical things aren'tshowing up.
But I don't want to digressfrom a point here.
They went ahead and draftedJordan Lewis, who is a guy who's
(24:52):
very technically sound, whodoes those things that we get
frustrated with Tyson Campbellabout.
Right is locating the ballright and all of that other
stuff in terms of when the ballis in the air and just, you know
, being able to dislodge theball from a receiver.
So I think that's one of thethings that stood out to me with
(25:13):
him is just the technique andum being able to locate the ball
and and just, you know, thepass breakup aspect of his game.
Um, the deal, at least here, umJags wire is saying it makes him
the highest paid nickel cornerin the NFL.
And who knows, he might notplay nickel.
You know like one thing we'veseen is the Jacksonville Jaguars
(25:37):
have signed a lot of people whoare versatile, so you know that
makes you wonder, you know, ifhe'll play on the outside.
Many people tend to think he'llplay on the inside, he'll play
nickel and many people thinkthat his signing is a sign that
the Jacksonville Jaguars want toput Jerrion Jones on the
outside, which that's aninteresting story in itself.
But Jerrion Jones played welllast year.
(25:59):
He was one of Trent Baalke'shits right.
He's one of the people thatknow the last the new regime
probably identified and saidlike, hey, you know there's
something to build there andthat you know his performance
gives us an opportunity to seewhat we have in him.
And you know, maybe not go ascrazy at the cornerback position
(26:20):
.
As you know, others werethinking like the fans were
thinking they should go at thatposition and you know, if he
proves them right again.
That's one less thing you haveto worry about as the present
regime that the past regimedidn't fix.
So I think that'll beinteresting.
I like how Jerry and Jonesplayed last year and I like him
(26:41):
as a competitor.
I like what he brings in termsof locker room leadership and
you know what he brought when hewas with FSU as well too.
You know a guy who was vocaland obviously well-respected and
you know can't help but rootfor the guy, especially after we
saw the video when he wasdrafted and how excited he was.
(27:04):
And you know him saying that heloved the Jacksonville Jaguars
growing up and how he was a fanof MJD.
So you know we've always beenrooting for the young man in
Jerrion Jones.
But in terms of Jordan Lewis man, excited about that pickup from
the standpoint of you, he helpsthe Jaguars from a technique
(27:26):
standpoint and that's somethinglike that I've really emphasized
is man like just fundamentally,this team has just been
terrible fundamentally andseeing a guy who you know helps
them in that regard kind ofexcites me because you know he
can lay some knowledge down tothe rest of the group who have
(27:47):
struggled with.
You know technique aspects oftheir game and the fundamental
aspects of their game.
That's what this game is aboutreally.
The NFL and football, I meanyou.
It can look complicated butwhen you get down to it it's the
basic stuff right, it'stackling, and when you get the
little things right then therest of it just falls into place
(28:08):
and that's just how footballhas always been.
But I don't want to go on toomuch on that part of um, just
veering into or going into theissues with this team last year.
It's a new year and uh, wewe're moving forward and we're
progressing forward and I thinkJordan Lewis is a guy who um
will be a part of that forprogress heading forward.
(28:31):
All right, so moving along herewith um, we'll go next to
patrick mccurry here, um, a veryversatile piece.
The jacksonville jaguars, uh,put onto the offensive line.
Um, I think this was the mosthefty contract the jaguars
signed a player to.
Uh, it was three, a three-yeardeal worth 37.5 million with 20
(28:51):
million guaranteed.
It can max out at about 39million.
Of course, normally we don'tsee players reach the max of
their contracts, but you knowfor what it's worth there's that
, and you have a guy here who'splayed all five positions on the
offensive line.
So that's huge and that's kindof been a trend of what the
Jacksonville Jaguars have addedto the offensive line is
(29:13):
versatility, and you know that'sa good way to build on the
offensive line Even.
You know, if you're not pickingup a lot of starters, which
they haven't, at least get someguys that are versatile, because
we've seen a lot of offensiveline issues in terms of injuries
and you know when one guy goesdown it just kind of throws off
(29:34):
the whole unit.
You know what I'm saying.
So to have people that canpretty much play at any position
or play at least at twopositions of the five offensive
line positions, is huge and youknow it's guaranteed to happen.
You know it's bound to happenwhere you're not going to always
have your starting fiveoffensive linemen, but it gives
(29:54):
them flexibility when thathappens, um, to get some better
options in there than theypreviously had under the past
regime and Trent Baalke.
So when I watched Macari interms of the film, one thing I
will say that impressed me wasthe strength, and I mean this
has always kind of beensomething that you can always
see clearly with the Ravensoffensive line, right Is they're
(30:18):
always, for the most part, whenyou look at them in the
trenches, they're alwaysstronger than the people in
front of them for the most part.
When you look at them in thetrenches, they're always
stronger than the people infront of them for the most part.
If you were to put the Ravensoffensive line and defensive
line in a weightliftingcompetition right against their
opponents, whoever they'replaying, I feel like putting
your money on the Ravens, mosttimes than not, would earn you a
(30:41):
lot of money.
So, that being said, like thestrength was obviously there and
that's huge because, again,like we have lacked you know,
I've said this before We'velacked that country boy strength
that's what we call it in theSouth is country boy strength.
We've lacked that for a verylong time, especially in the run
game, and that's something thatMakari brings to the table and
(31:02):
I think that something that thejacksonville jaguars, when they
watch film, they they saw thatstood out to them.
You know, in terms of what hewould bring.
He probably would play guard,so what he would bring to the
guard position, and again, theyalso, you know, saw the
versatility which you know thatwas definitely huge for them.
You know, you have a guy who, ifsomething happens to you.
(31:23):
You start in center likeHainsey, that it looks like
it'll be Hainsey.
You know you don't necessarilyhave to put Luke Fortner there,
right, you could put McCurrythere if you think he's a better
option.
He could play the other guardposition.
I think he'll probably playright guard with us.
So you know, something happensto I'm blanking on, uh, ezra
(31:45):
cleveland, who has been injuryprone.
By the way, you can stick himover there at left guard, right,
um, he can also play tackle aswell, so you know he can help
you at your tackle positions aswell too.
If you know something happensto anton harrison or walker, you
know we saw the tackle that wasa little thin when the Jaguars
(32:06):
traded Cam Robinson last year.
Speaking of Cam Robinson, he isgoing to the Texans, who picked
up a lot of our you knowplayers that were previously on
the team.
Last year I think they alsopicked up Ronald Darby and of
course we traded him.
Christian Kirk.
So I found that interesting,interesting, but that's neither
here and neither there.
Going on to the next person onthe list, we got Nick Mullins
(32:31):
here, former backup for theVikings, and I think before that
he was with the San Francisco49ers.
Of course it makes so muchsense that they were bringing in
Mullins because he worked withGrant Udinski, you know, the
last few years or so.
So he's been in thatquarterback room and in that
offensive room with GrantUdinski, the new Jaguars
(32:53):
offensive coordinator.
And also, too, he comes fromthe Kevin O'Connell offense
which you know that's tied tothe Liam Cohen Sean Mayvee tree.
So you know there are probablysome coaching, some scheme
similarities and coachingsimilarities there.
That helps.
(33:13):
But yeah, mullins is a guy whoyou know he was an undrafted
pickup, started his career, as Isaid, in San Francisco.
He also played in Cleveland Iforgot about that as well as I'm
reading up on him and he's aguy I watched him in the I think
it was a twenty twenty three,one, all eleven, all twenty two
that I watched of him againstthe Bengals, where you know he
(33:39):
had OK game.
He's a guy who I think the bigthing with with Nick Mullins is,
you know, obviously you knowwhen you got your backup
quarterback in, in general, um,you would hope to have a good
run game and that's.
You know the Jaguars haveemphasized that they want to
improve there.
Um, so if you know if LiamCohen gets this run game where
(34:01):
he wants it to be.
And you know, basically theyfall through on what they've
said on improving that aspect ofthe roster.
And we, you know, we saw itfirsthand what he did with Tampa
Bay they were like 28th inrunning in terms of the rush and
then they became a top fiveteam when Cohen came there.
So if he can work his magiclike he did there, that'll be
very helpful for not justmullins but of course trevor
(34:25):
lawrence and the whole offensein general.
But you know, in those gameswhere you do have to trot your
backup quarterback out there,ideally you would like to have a
good running game and that'swhat's kind of hurt the
jacksonville jaguars is.
They've had to, you know, sendtheir backup quarterbacks out
there when Trevor Lawrence hasbeen injured and try them out
(34:46):
there and basically have themthrow a little bit more than you
would like to see a backupquarterback throw.
But he's a guy.
I think that when you look athis arm talent and what he can
bring to the passing game, Ithink where we could see him if
we ever see him on the field,and we don't want to see Nick
(35:06):
Mullins on the field.
No disrespect to Nick Mullins,but that means Trevor Lawrence
was injured.
You don't want to be in thatsituation, but I do think I saw
a guy who did utilize his numberone guy when he was on the
field in terms of the passinggame a lot and of course that
was Justin Jefferson, who youwould say is probably a very
friendly, quarterback-friendlyreceiver regardless I think
(35:30):
there are some similarities toBTJ in that regard who is a very
friendly, quarterback-friendlytype of option that Nick Mullins
would really thrive with interms of when he had to resort
or when he would have to resortto the passing game, got a long,
lanky, fast target, also a guythat you'll probably see in the
screen game a little bit more.
(35:52):
Those are easy catchopportunities as well, with Liam
Cohen being here and him youknow liking the screen game, so
you can see that aspect in thatregard of his game.
But I think Nick Mullins youknow if we ever do see him, he's
a guy that I wouldn't beshocked if he's going to Bryant
Thomas Jr often in the passinggame again.
Now, ideally you would want tohave a run game to help him out,
(36:15):
because you know Nick Mullinshas not won a lot of games in
terms of when he has started,and I think, like, what could
help in that regard is, you know, having a run game, which you
know, the Vikings had a decentrun game, by the way.
But when you're talking about aquarterback who hasn't won a
lot of games in terms of recordwise, a backup quarterback, you
(36:36):
definitely the conversationneeds to be had of having a
strong run game to help them.
And I can't pull up the recordright now, um, actually, bear
with me here.
I had it written down and Ican't find it in my notes, uh,
but let me see if I could pullthis up.
So, yeah, he's 5 and 15according to pro football
(36:58):
reference.
So definitely, uh, we, we don'twant to see Nick on the field,
but when we do, you know,hopefully the run game will be
much improved.
And you know we can see himrack up more wins.
If we have to see him on thefield, we can see him rack up
more wins in his quarterbackrecord column.
(37:20):
And then also, too, you know,the part of it that I didn't
mention is, you know he canobviously help Trevor Lawrence
learn the offense under GrantUdinski and company and Liam
Cohen.
So there's that as well.
You know he brings thatpresence to the quarterback room
of breaking down how thingswork in the offense that's.
You know that's alwaysimportant.
(37:41):
You know somebody who's beenholding the clipboard and you
know hearing the play calls fora while for Udinski, so that's
important.
We'll go next to Eric Murray.
Eric Murray is a guy that youknow, we're familiar with,
played with the Texans last year.
He is a guy when you look at hiscontract, uh, you're probably
(38:03):
looking at a one to two yearstarter, but a guy who I would
say is kind of probably a patchoption.
And again, I'm going back towhat I said earlier with james
gladstone, highlighting theamount of uh draft picks we got.
I wouldn't be shocked that youknow, the jaguarsuars might be
on a long term option or wouldlook to the draft for a long
(38:27):
term option in terms of thesafety position.
But, as I said, murray is a guywho you got to feel like is
probably at least a year onestarter for this year, maybe
even next year.
When looking at his contractand his deal, um, I think mjd
shouts to mjd former guests ofthe show um, he broke it first,
(38:49):
but was a three-year deal worth.
Uh, let's see 19.5 million.
I'm trying to pull it up onspot track or something.
Uh, three-year deal worth 22.5million, according to uh, this
is actually jaguars Wire, if I'mreading this correctly.
I'm seeing it from Google, butit's Jaguars Wire.
So, yeah, you're talking abouta guy that probably you know
(39:12):
he'll fulfill two of those threeyears on the contract.
And the guy when I watched himon film, I think what stood out
to me and he is a little bitolder for a, you know, a free
agency pickup 31 years.
Oh, I'm not saying the guy'sancient, but typically, you know
, when you sign free agents,you're looking at guys you know
in that 25 to 28, 29 year oldrange, but nonetheless, um, you
(39:40):
know a guy that when I, when Ilooked at him on film, one thing
I noticed about him is hislateral quickness.
Um, he's pretty good runninglaterally and, um, you know, I
feel like he's a guy whoprobably you know more so helped
him in the box and closer tothe line of scrimmage and help
them, um, in in assisting withthe run game as well, but
(40:04):
definitely, um, not a guy that Isee as a long-term option.
I also would say this too Ithink the jaguars may have
looked at the safety market andwhat it would cost to get one of
the a-tier guys right and justsaid like, uh, you know, we
probably are better off getting,you know, a cheaper veteran
over the age of 31 like murray,that you know that'll save us a
(40:26):
little money and also, too, interms of a long-term fix.
Um, you know, let's just get aguy in the draft man.
We can get a guy for four yearson a dirt.
You know, I don't want to callit dirt cheap, but on a pretty
affordable deal.
Especially if you don't getthem in the first round, which
we don't think the Jaguars aregetting, the safety in the first
round.
We can get an affordable safetyat a position that is kind of
(40:47):
getting a little pricey.
You know, if you will, it's notthe highest paid position, but
you know, when, looking at thecircumstances of free agency,
the price of those options werecertainly a little too high for
their liking.
So you can get something a lotmore cheapable, cheaper and
(41:08):
sustainable.
I tried to combine two wordsthere cheapable, but cheaper and
sustainable.
In regards to you know, a rookiecontract that you can get a guy
on and watch him develop overtime.
Know a rookie contract that youcan get a guy on and watch him
develop over time, so notshocked that the Jacksonville
Jaguars didn't get um one of thehigher priced names.
(41:29):
Um, and I definitely would sayagain, kind of like what I said
with Hainsey um, murray wouldn'tstop me from and I hope I
didn't call him um Eric Reed oryou're in the podcast, but
Murray wouldn't stop me from andI hope I didn't call him Eric
Reid earlier in the podcast, butMurray wouldn't stop me from
getting a safety early in the2025 NFL draft.
(41:51):
All right, and the next twoplayers I'll group together
because they are at the sameposition Hunter Long, tight end,
and johnny munt.
Um, munt is coming previouslyfrom the minnesota vikings, if I
can recall.
So, um, you know again morefamiliarity with grant udinsky
(42:13):
and then long, who was draftedby the miami dolphins, is coming
from the Rams, so somefamiliarity with you know, liam
Cohen when he was there and alsowith James Gladstone, but two
guys, I think, just overall, whowill probably predominantly be
used for blocking.
(42:35):
You know, when you look at thetight end position in Liam
Cohen's offense, you know it'snot a position that they asked
for a lot of crazy productionout of.
They more so asked for guys whodo kind of I don't know, like
the dirty work, if you will,guys who can help them in the
run game a lot, if you will,which that makes sense, that
(42:57):
they let Evan Ingram go in thatregard, right, but that's kind
of what they want and I thinkthat's what they would be
getting here.
Hunter Long, you know, givesyou special teams experience.
I think he took a fumble backfor a touchdown on a punt, a
block punt or something likethat, and I'm not sure what
(43:18):
Munt's special team backgroundis is, but I would think when
you're talking about second andthird string tight ends, they
would be able to help you inthat regard a lot as well.
Again, he's a guy that spentsome time with Grant Udinski
most recently and KevinO'Connell.
Again, that is a part of thenot the Liam Cohen tree, but the
(43:41):
Sean McVeigh tree, which youknow, all of those run together
as well with the Liam Cohen tree.
Uh, continuing on to FredJohnson, that was the last free
agency edition we made, eventhough it's, um, that doesn't
cover all 10 that we made.
I'll get to others in just abit, but, um, you know Fred
Johnson, a Florida kid went tothe University of Florida.
(44:04):
Um, I watched some film on himas well, um, and the Jaguars of
course not just only neededstarters on the offensive line,
but they need the offensive linedepth as well too.
So his signing makes sense inthat regard.
When, when I watched him onfilm, I did see a lot of what
(44:24):
would be a Trent Baalke type ofprospect right, very long arms,
right, just, he has themeasurables, I guess, like maybe
the feet you would like to be alittle bit better for offensive
tackle.
And, coincidentally, when I wasthinking that, I went back and
looked at his scouting report,right, and some of his scouting
(44:48):
reports that were put out ofthere or out there when he was
coming out of college and thatwas one of the things that
people kind of mentioned, Ithink even NFL Network said he
might be better suited for guardfor that reason.
So that kind of matched what Isaid kind of gave me all a a
little inkling of how I evaluate, right.
But yeah, just to share somereal quick information on it.
(45:10):
A lot of times what I do I'lllike I'll watch a player write a
scouting report of what I'mseeing on my own right and then
when I, after I'm done with that.
I'll go and pull up scoutingreports that have actually
already been written on thatplayer and see what matches from
what I saw and if the you knowis there any things on there
that um don't match that I saw,that I'm not seeing on other
(45:34):
scouting reports, then I go backand reassess that.
You know that aspect of theplayer's game but, um, yeah,
that kind of matched a lot ofwhat I saw when I researched him
and you know that aspect of theplayer's game but, yeah, that
kind of matched a lot of what Isaw when I researched him and
you know his scouting report.
Coming out of college I saw aplayer who was a heavy handed,
high energy player.
He'd pancake a guy and then popup and just you know, be
(45:57):
screaming his heart out, youknow, just kind of being a
warrior.
So high energy player, as I say, a heavy handed, strong in the
run game.
Again, I mean no duh, becausethat's what the Jaguars need.
So it's not shocking thatthey're targeting that.
He does get out leveraged inpass protection.
It was a lot of you know morethan I would like to see times
(46:21):
where you know others were ableto get under him and you know he
is a taller guy, um, so youknow that's always something,
you know that could be an issuefor taller players.
So you know, getting outleverage and you know not having
great feet sometimes that canbe a bad combination.
(46:42):
But definitely a guy.
That, um, I think is an upgradeover foster, in my opinion.
And, um, you know, I I thinkthat's a sign that foster's days
might be numbered, to be honestwith you.
Uh, because not only did theyget him, they got another um
offensive tackle, swing tackleand free, which we'll mention as
(47:02):
well.
But yeah, you know he's gotthat's gritty and I mean that
was kind of embodiment of thewhole Eagles offensive line.
When I was watching him it wasjust kind of hard not to watch
the rest of the Eagles offensiveline and how dirty and gritty
they get as well.
Man, I just love what they gotgoing there.
Man shout outs to them theSuper Bowl champions but uh,
(47:26):
yeah, a player who I thinkdefinitely makes the team in
Johnson and a guy that I thinkcould be definitely serviceable
in spot tackle duties.
Again, you know, we know WalkerLittle kind of has an injury
history.
Anton Harrison not necessarilyhas an injury history.
You know he did play banged upthat first year on the shoulder,
(47:46):
but you know it's more soWalker Little, that you'd
probably be more concerned aboutwhen it comes to injuries.
So that's an option that theycan maybe put out there if they
like in terms of Johnson andagain, a guy that I do believe
will make the team.
They can maybe put out there ifthey like in terms of Johnson
and again, a guy that I dobelieve will make the team.
(48:07):
And then there is the othertackle I might as well get into
while we're here, and ChumaEduga, who signed a two year
deal with the JacksonvilleJaguars.
He is the one that I haven'twatched a lot of, or watched at
all in terms of the all 22.
But he gives the Jaguars depthat tackling guard.
(48:30):
Again, just kind of rehashingwhat I was saying earlier.
You know the Jaguars have addeda lot of people who are
versatile and you know he'sanother guy that you know
obviously, obviously is anindicator that the time is
ticking.
You know he shows, or he'sproof, that time is ticking for
Javon Foster, he has 23 careerstarts to his name, so you know
(48:53):
a good amount of starts to hisname, which you always want, and
I mean, and again, man, likethe Jacksonville Jaguars didn't
also just need starters, butthey needed um, they needed to
get better behind the starterstoo.
Right, you know they startedpeople like Van Lannen and Blake
Hance and guys that you know,when they entered the lineup, a
(49:16):
lot of people knew trouble wascoming, you know, even though
Cole Van Landen was okay in thepreseason, if I can recall, but
still, you know, I think fansshould feel a lot better about
guys that I'm naming, like Edogaand Fred Johnson, getting into
the starting lineup and startingover the backups we had in the
past, which you know, like Isaid, van Landen and Blake
(49:38):
Hanson.
And you know, like I said, vanLannan and Blake Hanson, and you
know players of that nature.
So I look more into Idoga downthe road and I might, you know,
post my thoughts on him on theTwitter page, because, again,
he's the only one that I didn'twatch and I think it's one more
player here.
Let me make sure, let me gothrough the list.
(49:59):
Um, no, I got them all there,so that was all 10 of them.
And while it wasn't a freeagency class where the jaguars
blew a bag or anything like that, I'm still excited about a lot
of these players and it evengets me more excited about the
draft because, again, a lot ofthese guys are either either
band-aids Some of them could belong term starters but for the
(50:22):
most part they're band-aids,which is an indication that you
know the Jacksonville Jaguarsprobably are going to look to
land a lot of players withstarter potential in the NFL
draft.
So that excites me and I'm gladto be in a place where we're
looking forward to the draft inregards of landing starters
Right for to the draft inregards of landing starters
(50:45):
right, and I'm glad, like we, Ifeel like we're functioning by
having a low-key free agency.
We're in functioning,functioning more like a team
that could be elite.
This is kind of how you know,except for the chiefs.
The chiefs do spend money infree agency still.
So, um, they spend money andstill are good, right, it's
nothing for them to at least getone good free agent a year.
I think they were kind of quietthis year, unless I'm missing
(51:07):
somebody, but for the most part,this is how teams that are
consistent and consistently inthe postseason function, kind of
like the Ravens and so on andso forth, and I think not
spending as much in free agencyis a sign that you know this
team is going to be draftcentric.
You know, and I'm not.
(51:28):
This is not to say that they'llalways take this approach in
free agency, but it does showthat you know the mindset
heading forward for the mostpart, will be a team that's
draft centric and I can't waitto get things started under the
james gladstone era.
So, all of that said y'all, wewill go ahead and wrap this free
(51:49):
agency episode up.
As I said, we'll have phil backnext week.
Um, for the next episode, we'regonna have guests.
All that good stuff.
Talk about the draft, do mockdrafts.
All of that good stuff, youname it.
We will cover it in terms ofthe draft, in terms of plugging
the handles.
Again, I am sportsgrindunderscore done on twitter,
which is where you can mostnotably find me.
(52:11):
You can find Phil, my co-host,phil Barrera, at Phil the
Filipino.
You can find the touchdownJaguars podcast podcast Twitter
handle at TD Jaguars pod and ourwebsite is Touchdown Jaguars
podcast.
Shout outs to all our newlisteners and all our old
(52:31):
listeners.
To the new listeners, feel freeto rate and subscribe and
interact with us on the Twitterpage.
All that good stuff and alsotoo, yeah, we'll get some spaces
going, man, those have been funlately.
We haven't done one in a fewweeks.
So, stodge, if you're listening, man, get ready.
Man, aaron, as well, to get aspace going.
(52:54):
Talk some jazz football withthe draft heading forward and,
yeah, all of that said, this isJames Johnson with episode 111
of touchdown Jaguars, lookingforward to doing 100, uh,
episode 112 with you all.
Uh, give us your feedback andall of that good stuff and in
(53:15):
the meantime, everybody takecare of each other, and I am
signing out, thank you.
Welcome to the New York City City of the New York
City City of the Still runningand go.
(00:26):
That's it and go.
Touchdown Jacksonville 109yards Incredible Play action.
Upstairs, wide open, tommyBohannon.
Touchstairs, wide open, tommyBohannon.
(00:46):
Touchdown Jacksonville.
Looking for Jimmy in the endzone.
Touchdown Jaguars.
Touchdown Jaguars.
Touchdown Jaguars.
Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguarspodcast.
Here are your hosts, jamesJohnson and Phil Smith.
All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 111 of
(01:14):
Touchdown Jaguars.
I am your host for tonight,james Johnson writing his solo
for a solo episode, as Phil willjoin me on the next episode.
He's been rather busy theselast few weeks.
I know you all have been seeinghis content on Instagram, on
(01:35):
Twitter, facebook, you name it.
I recently had a con that heand Eric both attended in
Jacksonville, if I'm notmistaken, and they got a lot of
great content out of it for theWait For it podcast project.
So, real quick, I'll plug thatforum.
Feel free to follow Phil andboth Eric, who is a friend of
(01:56):
the show and has been on theshow.
Feel free to go ahead andfollow the both of them,
especially on Instagram.
They got a lot of good stuff, alot of pop culture related
stuff, um, a lot of animerelated stuff.
They had a few interviews withvoice actors, actual actors, you
name it.
It was, um, they did it allpretty much, uh, I think it was
(02:18):
this past weekend.
Time is moving so fast and it'sbeen a lot going on these last
few weeks, but, um, this pastweekend they posted a lot of
that content and, um, they willbe posting more of it down the
road as well.
So shout outs to my guys philsmith, eric serna um, good work
that you all did over there, uh,at the con this past weekend.
(02:42):
But, as I was saying, I am am,james Johnson, one half of the
hosting of your hosting panelfor the Touchdown Jaguars
podcast.
It has been a while since we'velast recorded an episode, but
you know, life is life.
But nonetheless we are here andhere with an exciting episode,
(03:03):
as a lot has transpired recentlyfor the Jacksonville Jaguars,
as we mentioned.
You know, it's an exciting timeto be a fan of the Jacksonville
Jaguars.
With the regime change.
You know, we got a new GM, wegot Trent Baalke out of here, we
got James Gladstone in here andhe has begun to put his stamp
(03:24):
on this team, albeit it's earlyin his career, and you know a
lot more roster constructionneeds to be done.
But the free agency periodarrived here a few weeks ago, on
March the 10th.
That's when, you know, the newsreally started to flow in and
you could really project whowould be signing you know where,
(03:44):
even though you know it was afew days later, that Wednesday,
that these actual players couldput pen to paper.
Um, the tampering on Monday, uh, where it was at a high.
And then, you know, a lot ofnews broke of who would sign and
where and who would end upwhere.
So, of that said, the Jaguarsended up signing what I believe
(04:06):
was 10 free agents, and it was aprocess in which was a little
different than how we kind ofdone things in the past.
In terms of the names we signed.
You know it wasn't anecessarily a star studded free
agency signing class, which kindof isn't shocking.
And also, too, they, you know,know they're the only team this
(04:28):
year I saw this on pro footballtalk that they were the only
team who didn't sign any oftheir pending free agents that
were previously on the rosterlast year.
So there is that.
So we're going to talk aboutthis free agency class of 10
pickups that the JacksonvilleJaguars picked up.
You know some of them I'll goin depth, some of them I'll be
(04:50):
brief with.
I hope and I say this all thetime, I hope to make this a
shorter episode, just forediting purposes.
I'm already behind a little bit, but at the same time I also at
least wanted to watch film onmost of these free agent pickups
and through the NFL Network appI just watched them all, twenty
(05:11):
two of a lot of these guys andI have, except for one, I think,
that I have not seen.
But we'll still talk about thisgroup as a whole and we'll talk
about the additions that weremade by James Gladstone and Liam
Cohen as we enter this newregime with the Jacksonville
Jaguars.
(05:32):
All right, so before we get intoall of that, of course you know
we got to plug the handles andlet you know where you can find
all our content.
You can find me at sports grind, underscore done on Twitter.
That's the platform I'mprobably most active on, even
though I'm not as active as Iused to be on there.
(05:52):
We'll get back to thateventually.
You can follow Phil at Phil theFilipino and my bad earlier
buddy, I Phil Smith.
It is Phil Barrera, I'm so usedto saying Phil Smith, so
forgive me, my guy, but it'sPhil Barrera now and you can
(06:13):
follow him at Phil the Filipino.
As I said, on Twitter, you canfollow our touchdown Jaguars
podcast handle at tdjaguarspod,and we have an official site
where you can find content.
We haven't written anything onthere in a while, but we'll get
around to that, especially withdraft season coming up and you
know draft conference callscoming up, which you know we
(06:35):
typically like to participate inall that good stuff.
So, yeah, we'll have somecontent on there.
Touchdownjadwarscom For all ournew listeners and old listeners.
Um, you all know where you canfind us.
We are on pretty much everymajor platform and if we are not
on that major platform, let usknow so we could get there, so
(06:56):
we could keep you in the loopwith your weekly and monthly
jacksonville jaguars news.
But of course you can.
You can most notably find us oniTunes and Spotify.
We're on plenty other outlets,of course.
Amazon, for all of the Echousers and all of those who use
(07:17):
Amazon on the side as well.
Stitcher TuneIn all of that.
We should be on all of thoseplatforms and again.
Stitcher TuneIn all of that.
We should be on all of thoseplatforms and, again, if we
aren't, let us know and we'llget there, all right.
So, before we get into the 10free agency signings, what we
(07:39):
will do, or what I want to do,is just kind of give a breakdown
of my thoughts of how JamesGladstone went about things.
As we mentioned, it was one ofthose free agency classes that
we kind of haven't had in awhile in the regard to they
didn't blow a lot of money, theydidn't go crazy, they didn't go
looking for high-priced guys tofix the offensive line and to
fix the secondary, like a lot ofpeople wanted.
(08:00):
And it was a lot of people whounderstood why they didn't go
that route.
But again, there was a lot ofpeople wanted and it was a lot
of people understood, you knowwhy they didn't go that route.
But again, there was a lot ofpeople who were kind of upset
and scratching their heads as tolike why they didn't go for it,
for your bigger names, likeyour Hollins of the world Right
and some of the other big fishthat you know were able to land
elsewhere in free agency.
(08:21):
And my answer simply to thatwell, it is a variety of things,
right?
First, I didn't expect JamesGladstone to go crazy in free
agency, right, and the reasonwas because, first and foremost,
in my eyes, he's always kind ofbeen and this is not his fault
in any way, shape or form, andthis is not saying that he's not
prepared because he wowed themin the interview and showed them
(08:45):
like, hey, while I am young andwhile this is, you know,
getting off to a late start interms of getting bulky out of
here and getting me in here, I'mstill capable of handling
things.
So he's more than capable ofhandling things, but still,
nonetheless, they got a latestart with bringing him into the
mix and for me, that alwaysmade me feel like he wasn't
going to go into free agencyguns, a blazing signing folks to
(09:09):
a bunch of big contracts.
And you know, I think he, youknow, if that were to be a thing
, it would come later in hiscareer.
Like you know, he's kind ofdoing things on the go, if you
will, and still trying to getacclimated.
So that kind of to me, you know, always felt to me.
Just, you know, the wholeaspect of them getting Trent out
(09:29):
of here so late made me havereservations about them spending
a lot of money in free agency.
Now, had they gotten Trent outof here a little, you know,
earlier, like most teams gottheir GMs out of their you know
offices earlier, and you knowthings would have got rolling in
January like a normal teamwould.
Then maybe I could see whereyou know they would spend a
(09:50):
little bit more money in freeagency and you know, therefore,
gladstone would have had alittle bit more time with the
scouts and what have you and youknow he would have had a little
bit more time with the coachesand the assistants.
That ball would have gotrolling a little bit earlier.
Then maybe I could have seenwhere you know they would have
(10:10):
spent a little bit money, uh,more money.
But also, to you know, keep inmind, like the top half of the
jacksonville jaguars roster isnot that bad right, and that's
what made the job kind ofintriguing is, you know, the
starters for the most part whichwe said many times on this
podcast are um set.
Now again, you know, offensiveline starters need to be settled
(10:32):
and fixed.
That's a big concern.
Secondary needs to be fixed andsettled that's a big concern.
But this roster isn't one wherethe cupboard is like bare or
anything right, and not onlythat.
But when you look at thedivision, we're not that far off
from the Texans, while ourrecord might say differently.
A few tweets here, there, andwe're on the Texans level, if
(10:56):
not surpassing them, this year.
I wouldn't be shocked if we winthe AFC South this year, to be
honest with you.
But again, going back to what Iwas saying, the roster isn't
one in terms of from a starterstandpoint, that's bad right.
So it was never a roster whereI could see a GM coming in and
(11:17):
making a bunch of signings.
And then, third, to add on tothat also and we've heardames,
gladstone mentioned this many,many times is this team has them
what first?
Or that, yeah, they're first.
They have the most draft picksof any team within the next
three years.
And again, gladstone has saidthat and that was the sign right
(11:37):
there.
That said it all.
Right, there is.
Hey, this young man wants tobuild through the draft and that
is more than okay, becausethat's how the good teams do it
right.
Is they build through the draft?
And that is more than okay,because that's how the good
teams do it right.
Is they build through the draftanyway?
So, when you factor all ofthose things in there, the fact
that you know Gladstone has kindof indicated that he wants to
utilize those picks as best aspossible and want to build
through the draft.
And the other comment he madeabout you know them wanting to
(11:59):
build competition at the edge,rusher position out of the draft
too, that was another one, eventhough that came after free
agency had started.
But that just kind of addedfuel to the fire of like, yeah,
this kid really wants to buildto the draft.
When you add that into the mix,the fact that the jaguars roster
from a starter perspective is,you know, in better shape than a
(12:20):
lot of other rosters.
It's not like these teams thatGMs typically inherit, where
things you know the cupboard isbare.
And you know these teams on thebottom of the totem pole in the
NFL have a lot of money andthey can get off to a fast start
by spending a lot of money.
And you know they can build ateam up quicker than you know
(12:42):
you normally would in years past.
It's not a situation like thatwith the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Their team is pretty decentwhen you look at it from a
starter perspective.
And then, of course, the firstthing that I mentioned was just
the Jaguars getting off to alate start of hiring James
Gladstone in the first place.
Factoring those three thingsinto the mix always made me feel
(13:05):
like they would not approachfree agency guns a blazing and
signing people to a bunch of bigcontracts, and I'm not upset
with it, quite frankly.
So, all of that said, we willget into the actual signings
here, and the first one we'll goto here I'll pull up the old
trustee list here onJaguarsWirecom, if you all give
(13:26):
me a second here.
The first one that they havelisted of the 10 was Deami Brown
, Washington receiver, who weare bringing in from the
Washington Commanders.
Drafted out of North Carolinaback in 2021.
Drafted out of North Carolinaback in 2021, signed him to a
(13:49):
one-year deal for $10 million.
That could be upwards of $12million.
So it's a proven contract and aguy that I like to sign in
actually is one that excites mefrom the standpoint of the speed
that he'll bring to the mix forthe Jacksonville Jaguars.
We all have seen the clips ofhim being a downfield threat,
beating people one-on-one fromthe outside, and the speed that
(14:11):
he brings there.
That's huge, especially whenyou mix that in with what speed
that Brian Thomas brings to thisoffense as well.
So you got two speed guys thatcan stretch the field and who
are dynamic in that regard, andjust their movement skills.
And when you look at hisproductivity, you know last year
was pretty much his mostproductive year.
(14:32):
So that's a good thing too isyou know he's coming off his
most productive year, so heshowed some potential there and
you know the Jaguars may feellike he has potential to give
them even more.
You know in terms of where hecan be from a productive
standpoint.
But in 2024, he registered 56targets for 537 yards and had a
(14:57):
catch average of 12.2 yards, hadtwo touchdowns.
He really made a name forhimself.
Yards had two touchdowns.
He really made a name forhimself and this probably was
it's where he made his money ingeneral in terms of any teams
looking for a potential widereceiver going into the
offseason.
But in the playoffs he made aname for himself, especially in
(15:20):
the postseason, this pastpostseason, um, in 2024, as he
um, I know in the first twogames he had at least 80 yards
or more.
I think that was against thelions and I'll have to pull up
that other game.
Give me one second here.
Y'all, I can pull them up here.
Uh, tampa bay, uh, so againstthe bucks.
(15:43):
So liam cohen witnessed thatone firsthand and there he
registered five catches for 89um yards.
The game after that, in thedetroit game that I was just
mentioning, registered sixcatches for 98 yards.
So brought some explosiveplaymaking ability to the
commander's offense and reallyhate, uh, really helped jade and
(16:05):
daniels in that regard,averaging 17.8 and 16.3 yards.
In both of those games, and thefirst one against tampa, he had
a touchdown, pass, reception,um and total in terms of the
postseason he had 229 yardstotal on the postseason.
Now look, also in the process ofthe postseason we saw him have
(16:29):
some ball security issues too.
So you know that kind of inthat regard that gives you
flashbacks at least me, becauseI've mentioned this a lot.
I don't know if a lot of peoplereally have noticed this with
Parker Washington, but you knowyou kind of see shades of Parker
Washington in that regard interms of ball security.
But you know, obviously youknow this is something that
(16:49):
Jaguars believe they could clearup.
You know that's a mechanicalthing that could be worked on,
but you know, when you talkabout the cons, that is the one
is, you know, ball security,like here.
You have all of this explosiveplaymaking ability, but can we
trust you to secure the ball?
You know that's been the storyof a lot of players in the NFL
and you know it's lost a lot ofplayers, some money right that
(17:12):
had all of the potential of thein the world but just could
never secure the ball.
So that'll be something towatch, especially in training
camp.
That's when you get mechanicalstuff like that fixed up and
patched up and worked on right.
So you know, definitely whenwe're going to training camp
we'll be watching not just himbut the team in general, but
especially watching him in termsof you know how he's working on
(17:34):
the ball security aspect of hisgame.
And the guy you know this is athe reason I like it is a
signing with a lot of potential.
Right, the jacksonville jaguarscould be getting, uh, somebody
who, liam Liam Cohen, can make astar in this offense on a
one-year deal.
Of course, then they would haveto sign him to a bigger
contract if he goes off, butthey got him on a prove-it deal
(17:57):
for now and he's a guy that I'mexcited to seeidot with Trevor
Lawrence and Brian Thomas Jr inthis passing game.
So, as we continue on to thenext edition, I have Robert
Hainsey here.
I watched him in one game inwhich he started last year.
(18:17):
He is a guy who has familiaritywith Liam Cohen, obviously
coming from the Tampa Bay Bucks,has mostly played center in his
career, right.
So you know, here you have aguy who is potentially your
starting center on the team.
And you know, here you have aguy who you know if the Jaguars
(18:40):
did their homework and I do knowthat Liam Cohen coached Luke
Fortner in college but, you know, if they did their homework
beforehand, they probably saw asituation where they don't want
Luke Fortner starting Right,because that was a catastrophe.
And also, too, of course, Iforgot to mention this this was
part of the news that hashappened since our last
(19:02):
recording, of the news that hashappened since our last
recording.
But, um, mitch morse retired.
So, uh, there is that which isnot shocking at all um, that
he's not a part of the teamheading forward.
But, um, you know, congrats onthe retirement.
But yeah, going back to what Iwas saying is, you know they
probably looked at fortner, whois what the only guy with
(19:24):
starting experience on theroster right now.
I might be wrong on that.
But you know you're probablylike, uh, don't want to go that
route.
You know we definitely got toat the very least get a free
agent in here and they went to aguy with familiarity with Liam
Cohen's offense.
So he'll help in that regard alot, um, in terms of getting
Trevor Lawrence acclimated withthe offense, getting the other
(19:44):
offensive line and acclimatedwith the offense, and getting
the running backs, widereceivers all that you know well
, probably more so the runningbacks than the wide receivers um
acclimated, the tight endsacclimated, all of that good
stuff.
And I think the game I watchedhim was, um the New Orleans game
in which he started um lastyear.
(20:07):
And to me, you know, I saw a guywho you know there's potential
there, don't get me wrong, um,but what I would say is he
wouldn't necessarily stop mefrom drafting a center in a
draft high right if theopportunity presented itself.
Now also too, you don't want toforce yourself to draft a
center, because here you do havea guy at the very least who's
familiar, familiar with theoffense and can um very, very
(20:32):
much have a veteran presence interms of um helping others learn
this offense, um, you know,with with everybody being new to
it, aside from a few people,but he's a guy that you know.
At times you can see himgetting overpowered.
You can see um.
You know I don't want to say alack of power, but you know one
(20:53):
thing that we have come intothis off season one is
definitely more power in thatfront, but at the same time he
was solid and pass pro, sothat's a good thing.
And again, he gives you anoption that is better than Luke
Fortner.
So you know, time will tell interms of this April.
You know what he'll be lookingat in terms of competition
(21:17):
Because obviously if he's facingFortner, you know he's probably
going to be the starter.
They do have him on a threeyear deal worth 21 million with
13 million guaranteed Um, soI'll have to look at the
structure of it and everything,but that's probably a deal in
which, um, you know he'll behere for at the very least two
years of that.
And he's a guy you know.
(21:37):
I remember in college at least,putting him in some of my mock
drafts.
I liked him, him as a like alate round addition.
I thought maybe I might havesomething written down on him,
um, in terms of, uh, something Imight have written in my
notebook, but I know I put himin at least two of my mock
drafts back in the day.
I had to go back and look atthat to see.
(21:58):
You know how I felt about himas a college prospect.
But you know, overall he was athird round pick.
So you know, obviously hedidn't end up going as late as I
thought he would and the Bucksthought he had, you know, a
great deal of potential, thepotential to be the starter or a
starter.
You know when you're draftingsomebody that high.
And he played in a total of 94snaps last year.
(22:20):
He had to take over for GrahamBarton in a few games, so
probably you know an injury thatwas going on there.
Um, he had to take over forGraham Barton in a few games.
So, uh, probably you know aninjury that was going on there
that he had to take over.
And I would think of most ofthose snaps were in the New
Orleans game that I watched.
So, um, you know he's a guy whoI'll be watching during
training camp for sure.
Um, not just just performancewise, but just kind of how he is
(22:44):
helping everybody understandthe offense and the veteran
presence.
He has um number four.
Here we have Jordan Lewis,formerly a cornerback with the
Dallas Cowboys.
I really love the film that Isaw on him.
I think he was maybe the firstsign in that was announced for
the Jaguars on that Mondaybefore free agency frenzy or to
(23:08):
start free agency frenzy.
But he is a guy that I likewatching on film.
From the standpoint of he istechnically sound, right.
All of these years we've spentfrustrated with people like
Tyson Campbell, right, andfrustrated with these others in
the secondary who you know thetackling mechanics haven't been
(23:28):
there.
But especially when you look ata guy like the most notable one
that comes to mind is TysonCampbell.
Mechanically because of youknow the whole thing and not
about him not getting his headaround and locating the ball,
especially early in his career.
That was a thing and of courseyou know him being injured often
hasn't helped either.
All the more reason to bring ina cornerback too.
(23:49):
Um, of course Tyson Campbellisn't going anywhere anytime
soon because Trent signed him toa new deal and while you know
the new GM and James Gladstoneand company don't have
necessarily ties to any of theguys on the roster, you know
some of these guys are harder tomove on from others.
If that's what they want to do,maybe you know who knows maybe
(24:10):
they like Tyson Campbell andthey see the potential in him
too, and that's more than fine,because you know that's one less
position you have to worryabout fixing that the last
regime couldn't.
So maybe Tyson Campbell puts itall together next year in terms
of being able to stay on thefield and getting some of the
mechanical things that we'veseen flare up at times, because
(24:31):
I mean, the potential is there.
We've seen Tyson Campbell playphenomenal at times, right, and
it's like, yeah, man, this is aguy who's a top 10 corner in the
league when he's, you know,healthy and playing to his best
and the technical things aren'tshowing up.
But I don't want to digressfrom a point here.
They went ahead and draftedJordan Lewis, who is a guy who's
(24:52):
very technically sound, whodoes those things that we get
frustrated with Tyson Campbellabout.
Right is locating the ballright and all of that other
stuff in terms of when the ballis in the air and just, you know
, being able to dislodge theball from a receiver.
So I think that's one of thethings that stood out to me with
(25:13):
him is just the technique andum being able to locate the ball
and and just, you know, thepass breakup aspect of his game.
Um, the deal, at least here, umJags wire is saying it makes him
the highest paid nickel cornerin the NFL.
And who knows, he might notplay nickel.
You know like one thing we'veseen is the Jacksonville Jaguars
(25:37):
have signed a lot of people whoare versatile, so you know that
makes you wonder, you know, ifhe'll play on the outside.
Many people tend to think he'llplay on the inside, he'll play
nickel and many people thinkthat his signing is a sign that
the Jacksonville Jaguars want toput Jerrion Jones on the
outside, which that's aninteresting story in itself.
But Jerrion Jones played welllast year.
(25:59):
He was one of Trent Baalke'shits right.
He's one of the people thatknow the last the new regime
probably identified and saidlike, hey, you know there's
something to build there andthat you know his performance
gives us an opportunity to seewhat we have in him.
And you know, maybe not go ascrazy at the cornerback position
(26:20):
.
As you know, others werethinking like the fans were
thinking they should go at thatposition and you know, if he
proves them right again.
That's one less thing you haveto worry about as the present
regime that the past regimedidn't fix.
So I think that'll beinteresting.
I like how Jerry and Jonesplayed last year and I like him
(26:41):
as a competitor.
I like what he brings in termsof locker room leadership and
you know what he brought when hewas with FSU as well too.
You know a guy who was vocaland obviously well-respected and
you know can't help but rootfor the guy, especially after we
saw the video when he wasdrafted and how excited he was.
(27:04):
And you know him saying that heloved the Jacksonville Jaguars
growing up and how he was a fanof MJD.
So you know we've always beenrooting for the young man in
Jerrion Jones.
But in terms of Jordan Lewis man, excited about that pickup from
the standpoint of you, he helpsthe Jaguars from a technique
(27:26):
standpoint and that's somethinglike that I've really emphasized
is man like just fundamentally,this team has just been
terrible fundamentally andseeing a guy who you know helps
them in that regard kind ofexcites me because you know he
can lay some knowledge down tothe rest of the group who have
(27:47):
struggled with.
You know technique aspects oftheir game and the fundamental
aspects of their game.
That's what this game is aboutreally.
The NFL and football, I meanyou.
It can look complicated butwhen you get down to it it's the
basic stuff right, it'stackling, and when you get the
little things right then therest of it just falls into place
(28:08):
and that's just how footballhas always been.
But I don't want to go on toomuch on that part of um, just
veering into or going into theissues with this team last year.
It's a new year and uh, wewe're moving forward and we're
progressing forward and I thinkJordan Lewis is a guy who um
will be a part of that forprogress heading forward.
(28:31):
All right, so moving along herewith um, we'll go next to
patrick mccurry here, um, a veryversatile piece.
The jacksonville jaguars, uh,put onto the offensive line.
Um, I think this was the mosthefty contract the jaguars
signed a player to.
Uh, it was three, a three-yeardeal worth 37.5 million with 20
(28:51):
million guaranteed.
It can max out at about 39million.
Of course, normally we don'tsee players reach the max of
their contracts, but you knowfor what it's worth there's that
, and you have a guy here who'splayed all five positions on the
offensive line.
So that's huge and that's kindof been a trend of what the
Jacksonville Jaguars have addedto the offensive line is
(29:13):
versatility, and you know that'sa good way to build on the
offensive line Even.
You know, if you're not pickingup a lot of starters, which
they haven't, at least get someguys that are versatile, because
we've seen a lot of offensiveline issues in terms of injuries
and you know when one guy goesdown it just kind of throws off
(29:34):
the whole unit.
You know what I'm saying.
So to have people that canpretty much play at any position
or play at least at twopositions of the five offensive
line positions, is huge and youknow it's guaranteed to happen.
You know it's bound to happenwhere you're not going to always
have your starting fiveoffensive linemen, but it gives
(29:54):
them flexibility when thathappens, um, to get some better
options in there than theypreviously had under the past
regime and Trent Baalke.
So when I watched Macari interms of the film, one thing I
will say that impressed me wasthe strength, and I mean this
has always kind of beensomething that you can always
see clearly with the Ravensoffensive line, right Is they're
(30:18):
always, for the most part, whenyou look at them in the
trenches, they're alwaysstronger than the people in
front of them for the most part.
When you look at them in thetrenches, they're always
stronger than the people infront of them for the most part.
If you were to put the Ravensoffensive line and defensive
line in a weightliftingcompetition right against their
opponents, whoever they'replaying, I feel like putting
your money on the Ravens, mosttimes than not, would earn you a
(30:41):
lot of money.
So, that being said, like thestrength was obviously there and
that's huge because, again,like we have lacked you know,
I've said this before We'velacked that country boy strength
that's what we call it in theSouth is country boy strength.
We've lacked that for a verylong time, especially in the run
game, and that's something thatMakari brings to the table and
(31:02):
I think that something that thejacksonville jaguars, when they
watch film, they they saw thatstood out to them.
You know, in terms of what hewould bring.
He probably would play guard,so what he would bring to the
guard position, and again, theyalso, you know, saw the
versatility which you know thatwas definitely huge for them.
You know, you have a guy who, ifsomething happens to you.
(31:23):
You start in center likeHainsey, that it looks like
it'll be Hainsey.
You know you don't necessarilyhave to put Luke Fortner there,
right, you could put McCurrythere if you think he's a better
option.
He could play the other guardposition.
I think he'll probably playright guard with us.
So you know, something happensto I'm blanking on, uh, ezra
(31:45):
cleveland, who has been injuryprone.
By the way, you can stick himover there at left guard, right,
um, he can also play tackle aswell, so you know he can help
you at your tackle positions aswell too.
If you know something happensto anton harrison or walker, you
know we saw the tackle that wasa little thin when the Jaguars
(32:06):
traded Cam Robinson last year.
Speaking of Cam Robinson, he isgoing to the Texans, who picked
up a lot of our you knowplayers that were previously on
the team.
Last year I think they alsopicked up Ronald Darby and of
course we traded him.
Christian Kirk.
So I found that interesting,interesting, but that's neither
here and neither there.
Going on to the next person onthe list, we got Nick Mullins
(32:31):
here, former backup for theVikings, and I think before that
he was with the San Francisco49ers.
Of course it makes so muchsense that they were bringing in
Mullins because he worked withGrant Udinski, you know, the
last few years or so.
So he's been in thatquarterback room and in that
offensive room with GrantUdinski, the new Jaguars
(32:53):
offensive coordinator.
And also, too, he comes fromthe Kevin O'Connell offense
which you know that's tied tothe Liam Cohen Sean Mayvee tree.
So you know there are probablysome coaching, some scheme
similarities and coachingsimilarities there.
That helps.
(33:13):
But yeah, mullins is a guy whoyou know he was an undrafted
pickup, started his career, as Isaid, in San Francisco.
He also played in Cleveland Iforgot about that as well as I'm
reading up on him and he's aguy I watched him in the I think
it was a twenty twenty three,one, all eleven, all twenty two
that I watched of him againstthe Bengals, where you know he
(33:39):
had OK game.
He's a guy who I think the bigthing with with Nick Mullins is,
you know, obviously you knowwhen you got your backup
quarterback in, in general, um,you would hope to have a good
run game and that's.
You know the Jaguars haveemphasized that they want to
improve there.
Um, so if you know if LiamCohen gets this run game where
(34:01):
he wants it to be.
And you know, basically theyfall through on what they've
said on improving that aspect ofthe roster.
And we, you know, we saw itfirsthand what he did with Tampa
Bay they were like 28th inrunning in terms of the rush and
then they became a top fiveteam when Cohen came there.
So if he can work his magiclike he did there, that'll be
very helpful for not justmullins but of course trevor
(34:25):
lawrence and the whole offensein general.
But you know, in those gameswhere you do have to trot your
backup quarterback out there,ideally you would like to have a
good running game and that'swhat's kind of hurt the
jacksonville jaguars is.
They've had to, you know, sendtheir backup quarterbacks out
there when Trevor Lawrence hasbeen injured and try them out
(34:46):
there and basically have themthrow a little bit more than you
would like to see a backupquarterback throw.
But he's a guy.
I think that when you look athis arm talent and what he can
bring to the passing game, Ithink where we could see him if
we ever see him on the field,and we don't want to see Nick
(35:06):
Mullins on the field.
No disrespect to Nick Mullins,but that means Trevor Lawrence
was injured.
You don't want to be in thatsituation, but I do think I saw
a guy who did utilize his numberone guy when he was on the
field in terms of the passinggame a lot and of course that
was Justin Jefferson, who youwould say is probably a very
friendly, quarterback-friendlyreceiver regardless I think
(35:30):
there are some similarities toBTJ in that regard who is a very
friendly, quarterback-friendlytype of option that Nick Mullins
would really thrive with interms of when he had to resort
or when he would have to resortto the passing game, got a long,
lanky, fast target, also a guythat you'll probably see in the
screen game a little bit more.
(35:52):
Those are easy catchopportunities as well, with Liam
Cohen being here and him youknow liking the screen game, so
you can see that aspect in thatregard of his game.
But I think Nick Mullins youknow if we ever do see him, he's
a guy that I wouldn't beshocked if he's going to Bryant
Thomas Jr often in the passinggame again.
Now, ideally you would want tohave a run game to help him out,
(36:15):
because you know Nick Mullinshas not won a lot of games in
terms of when he has started,and I think, like, what could
help in that regard is, you know, having a run game, which you
know, the Vikings had a decentrun game, by the way.
But when you're talking about aquarterback who hasn't won a
lot of games in terms of recordwise, a backup quarterback, you
(36:36):
definitely the conversationneeds to be had of having a
strong run game to help them.
And I can't pull up the recordright now, um, actually, bear
with me here.
I had it written down and Ican't find it in my notes, uh,
but let me see if I could pullthis up.
So, yeah, he's 5 and 15according to pro football
(36:58):
reference.
So definitely, uh, we, we don'twant to see Nick on the field,
but when we do, you know,hopefully the run game will be
much improved.
And you know we can see himrack up more wins.
If we have to see him on thefield, we can see him rack up
more wins in his quarterbackrecord column.
(37:20):
And then also, too, you know,the part of it that I didn't
mention is, you know he canobviously help Trevor Lawrence
learn the offense under GrantUdinski and company and Liam
Cohen.
So there's that as well.
You know he brings thatpresence to the quarterback room
of breaking down how thingswork in the offense that's.
You know that's alwaysimportant.
(37:41):
You know somebody who's beenholding the clipboard and you
know hearing the play calls fora while for Udinski, so that's
important.
We'll go next to Eric Murray.
Eric Murray is a guy that youknow, we're familiar with,
played with the Texans last year.
He is a guy when you look at hiscontract, uh, you're probably
(38:03):
looking at a one to two yearstarter, but a guy who I would
say is kind of probably a patchoption.
And again, I'm going back towhat I said earlier with james
gladstone, highlighting theamount of uh draft picks we got.
I wouldn't be shocked that youknow, the jaguarsuars might be
on a long term option or wouldlook to the draft for a long
(38:27):
term option in terms of thesafety position.
But, as I said, murray is a guywho you got to feel like is
probably at least a year onestarter for this year, maybe
even next year.
When looking at his contractand his deal, um, I think mjd
shouts to mjd former guests ofthe show um, he broke it first,
(38:49):
but was a three-year deal worth.
Uh, let's see 19.5 million.
I'm trying to pull it up onspot track or something.
Uh, three-year deal worth 22.5million, according to uh, this
is actually jaguars Wire, if I'mreading this correctly.
I'm seeing it from Google, butit's Jaguars Wire.
So, yeah, you're talking abouta guy that probably you know
(39:12):
he'll fulfill two of those threeyears on the contract.
And the guy when I watched himon film, I think what stood out
to me and he is a little bitolder for a, you know, a free
agency pickup 31 years.
Oh, I'm not saying the guy'sancient, but typically, you know
, when you sign free agents,you're looking at guys you know
in that 25 to 28, 29 year oldrange, but nonetheless, um, you
(39:40):
know a guy that when I, when Ilooked at him on film, one thing
I noticed about him is hislateral quickness.
Um, he's pretty good runninglaterally and, um, you know, I
feel like he's a guy whoprobably you know more so helped
him in the box and closer tothe line of scrimmage and help
them, um, in in assisting withthe run game as well, but
(40:04):
definitely, um, not a guy that Isee as a long-term option.
I also would say this too Ithink the jaguars may have
looked at the safety market andwhat it would cost to get one of
the a-tier guys right and justsaid like, uh, you know, we
probably are better off getting,you know, a cheaper veteran
over the age of 31 like murray,that you know that'll save us a
(40:26):
little money and also, too, interms of a long-term fix.
Um, you know, let's just get aguy in the draft man.
We can get a guy for four yearson a dirt.
You know, I don't want to callit dirt cheap, but on a pretty
affordable deal.
Especially if you don't getthem in the first round, which
we don't think the Jaguars aregetting, the safety in the first
round.
We can get an affordable safetyat a position that is kind of
(40:47):
getting a little pricey.
You know, if you will, it's notthe highest paid position, but
you know, when, looking at thecircumstances of free agency,
the price of those options werecertainly a little too high for
their liking.
So you can get something a lotmore cheapable, cheaper and
(41:08):
sustainable.
I tried to combine two wordsthere cheapable, but cheaper and
sustainable.
In regards to you know, a rookiecontract that you can get a guy
on and watch him develop overtime.
Know a rookie contract that youcan get a guy on and watch him
develop over time, so notshocked that the Jacksonville
Jaguars didn't get um one of thehigher priced names.
(41:29):
Um, and I definitely would sayagain, kind of like what I said
with Hainsey um, murray wouldn'tstop me from and I hope I
didn't call him um Eric Reed oryou're in the podcast, but
Murray wouldn't stop me from andI hope I didn't call him Eric
Reid earlier in the podcast, butMurray wouldn't stop me from
getting a safety early in the2025 NFL draft.
(41:51):
All right, and the next twoplayers I'll group together
because they are at the sameposition Hunter Long, tight end,
and johnny munt.
Um, munt is coming previouslyfrom the minnesota vikings, if I
can recall.
So, um, you know again morefamiliarity with grant udinsky
(42:13):
and then long, who was draftedby the miami dolphins, is coming
from the Rams, so somefamiliarity with you know, liam
Cohen when he was there and alsowith James Gladstone, but two
guys, I think, just overall, whowill probably predominantly be
used for blocking.
(42:35):
You know, when you look at thetight end position in Liam
Cohen's offense, you know it'snot a position that they asked
for a lot of crazy productionout of.
They more so asked for guys whodo kind of I don't know, like
the dirty work, if you will,guys who can help them in the
run game a lot, if you will,which that makes sense, that
(42:57):
they let Evan Ingram go in thatregard, right, but that's kind
of what they want and I thinkthat's what they would be
getting here.
Hunter Long, you know, givesyou special teams experience.
I think he took a fumble backfor a touchdown on a punt, a
block punt or something likethat, and I'm not sure what
(43:18):
Munt's special team backgroundis is, but I would think when
you're talking about second andthird string tight ends, they
would be able to help you inthat regard a lot as well.
Again, he's a guy that spentsome time with Grant Udinski
most recently and KevinO'Connell.
Again, that is a part of thenot the Liam Cohen tree, but the
(43:41):
Sean McVeigh tree, which youknow, all of those run together
as well with the Liam Cohen tree.
Uh, continuing on to FredJohnson, that was the last free
agency edition we made, eventhough it's, um, that doesn't
cover all 10 that we made.
I'll get to others in just abit, but, um, you know Fred
Johnson, a Florida kid went tothe University of Florida.
(44:04):
Um, I watched some film on himas well, um, and the Jaguars of
course not just only neededstarters on the offensive line,
but they need the offensive linedepth as well too.
So his signing makes sense inthat regard.
When, when I watched him onfilm, I did see a lot of what
(44:24):
would be a Trent Baalke type ofprospect right, very long arms,
right, just, he has themeasurables, I guess, like maybe
the feet you would like to be alittle bit better for offensive
tackle.
And, coincidentally, when I wasthinking that, I went back and
looked at his scouting report,right, and some of his scouting
(44:48):
reports that were put out ofthere or out there when he was
coming out of college and thatwas one of the things that
people kind of mentioned, Ithink even NFL Network said he
might be better suited for guardfor that reason.
So that kind of matched what Isaid kind of gave me all a a
little inkling of how I evaluate, right.
But yeah, just to share somereal quick information on it.
(45:10):
A lot of times what I do I'lllike I'll watch a player write a
scouting report of what I'mseeing on my own right and then
when I, after I'm done with that.
I'll go and pull up scoutingreports that have actually
already been written on thatplayer and see what matches from
what I saw and if the you knowis there any things on there
that um don't match that I saw,that I'm not seeing on other
(45:34):
scouting reports, then I go backand reassess that.
You know that aspect of theplayer's game but, um, yeah,
that kind of matched a lot ofwhat I saw when I researched him
and you know that aspect of theplayer's game but, yeah, that
kind of matched a lot of what Isaw when I researched him and
you know his scouting report.
Coming out of college I saw aplayer who was a heavy handed,
high energy player.
He'd pancake a guy and then popup and just you know, be
(45:57):
screaming his heart out, youknow, just kind of being a
warrior.
So high energy player, as I say, a heavy handed, strong in the
run game.
Again, I mean no duh, becausethat's what the Jaguars need.
So it's not shocking thatthey're targeting that.
He does get out leveraged inpass protection.
It was a lot of you know morethan I would like to see times
(46:21):
where you know others were ableto get under him and you know he
is a taller guy, um, so youknow that's always something,
you know that could be an issuefor taller players.
So you know, getting outleverage and you know not having
great feet sometimes that canbe a bad combination.
(46:42):
But definitely a guy.
That, um, I think is an upgradeover foster, in my opinion.
And, um, you know, I I thinkthat's a sign that foster's days
might be numbered, to be honestwith you.
Uh, because not only did theyget him, they got another um
offensive tackle, swing tackleand free, which we'll mention as
(47:02):
well.
But yeah, you know he's gotthat's gritty and I mean that
was kind of embodiment of thewhole Eagles offensive line.
When I was watching him it wasjust kind of hard not to watch
the rest of the Eagles offensiveline and how dirty and gritty
they get as well.
Man, I just love what they gotgoing there.
Man shout outs to them theSuper Bowl champions but uh,
(47:26):
yeah, a player who I thinkdefinitely makes the team in
Johnson and a guy that I thinkcould be definitely serviceable
in spot tackle duties.
Again, you know, we know WalkerLittle kind of has an injury
history.
Anton Harrison not necessarilyhas an injury history.
You know he did play banged upthat first year on the shoulder,
(47:46):
but you know it's more soWalker Little, that you'd
probably be more concerned aboutwhen it comes to injuries.
So that's an option that theycan maybe put out there if they
like in terms of Johnson andagain, a guy that I do believe
will make the team.
They can maybe put out there ifthey like in terms of Johnson
and again, a guy that I dobelieve will make the team.
(48:07):
And then there is the othertackle I might as well get into
while we're here, and ChumaEduga, who signed a two year
deal with the JacksonvilleJaguars.
He is the one that I haven'twatched a lot of, or watched at
all in terms of the all 22.
But he gives the Jaguars depthat tackling guard.
(48:30):
Again, just kind of rehashingwhat I was saying earlier.
You know the Jaguars have addeda lot of people who are
versatile and you know he'sanother guy that you know
obviously, obviously is anindicator that the time is
ticking.
You know he shows, or he'sproof, that time is ticking for
Javon Foster, he has 23 careerstarts to his name, so you know
(48:53):
a good amount of starts to hisname, which you always want, and
I mean, and again, man, likethe Jacksonville Jaguars didn't
also just need starters, butthey needed um, they needed to
get better behind the starterstoo.
Right, you know they startedpeople like Van Lannen and Blake
Hance and guys that you know,when they entered the lineup, a
(49:16):
lot of people knew trouble wascoming, you know, even though
Cole Van Landen was okay in thepreseason, if I can recall, but
still, you know, I think fansshould feel a lot better about
guys that I'm naming, like Edogaand Fred Johnson, getting into
the starting lineup and startingover the backups we had in the
past, which you know, like Isaid, van Landen and Blake
(49:38):
Hanson.
And you know, like I said, vanLannan and Blake Hanson, and you
know players of that nature.
So I look more into Idoga downthe road and I might, you know,
post my thoughts on him on theTwitter page, because, again,
he's the only one that I didn'twatch and I think it's one more
player here.
Let me make sure, let me gothrough the list.
(49:59):
Um, no, I got them all there,so that was all 10 of them.
And while it wasn't a freeagency class where the jaguars
blew a bag or anything like that, I'm still excited about a lot
of these players and it evengets me more excited about the
draft because, again, a lot ofthese guys are either either
band-aids Some of them could belong term starters but for the
(50:22):
most part they're band-aids,which is an indication that you
know the Jacksonville Jaguarsprobably are going to look to
land a lot of players withstarter potential in the NFL
draft.
So that excites me and I'm gladto be in a place where we're
looking forward to the draft inregards of landing starters
Right for to the draft inregards of landing starters
(50:45):
right, and I'm glad, like we, Ifeel like we're functioning by
having a low-key free agency.
We're in functioning,functioning more like a team
that could be elite.
This is kind of how you know,except for the chiefs.
The chiefs do spend money infree agency still.
So, um, they spend money andstill are good, right, it's
nothing for them to at least getone good free agent a year.
I think they were kind of quietthis year, unless I'm missing
(51:07):
somebody, but for the most part,this is how teams that are
consistent and consistently inthe postseason function, kind of
like the Ravens and so on andso forth, and I think not
spending as much in free agencyis a sign that you know this
team is going to be draftcentric.
You know, and I'm not.
(51:28):
This is not to say that they'llalways take this approach in
free agency, but it does showthat you know the mindset
heading forward for the mostpart, will be a team that's
draft centric and I can't waitto get things started under the
james gladstone era.
So, all of that said y'all, wewill go ahead and wrap this free
(51:49):
agency episode up.
As I said, we'll have phil backnext week.
Um, for the next episode, we'regonna have guests.
All that good stuff.
Talk about the draft, do mockdrafts.
All of that good stuff, youname it.
We will cover it in terms ofthe draft, in terms of plugging
the handles.
Again, I am sportsgrindunderscore done on twitter,
which is where you can mostnotably find me.
(52:11):
You can find Phil, my co-host,phil Barrera, at Phil the
Filipino.
You can find the touchdownJaguars podcast podcast Twitter
handle at TD Jaguars pod and ourwebsite is Touchdown Jaguars
podcast.
Shout outs to all our newlisteners and all our old
(52:31):
listeners.
To the new listeners, feel freeto rate and subscribe and
interact with us on the Twitterpage.
All that good stuff and alsotoo, yeah, we'll get some spaces
going, man, those have been funlately.
We haven't done one in a fewweeks.
So, stodge, if you're listening, man, get ready.
Man, aaron, as well, to get aspace going.
(52:54):
Talk some jazz football withthe draft heading forward and,
yeah, all of that said, this isJames Johnson with episode 111
of touchdown Jaguars, lookingforward to doing 100, uh,
episode 112 with you all.
Uh, give us your feedback andall of that good stuff and in
(53:15):
the meantime, everybody takecare of each other, and I am
signing out, thank you.
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