Touchdown Jaguars!

Episode 79: Free Agency Recap - Baalke Fumbles Ridley But Lands Armstead

Episode 79

Buckle up, Jaguars faithful — Phil Smith and James Johnson are back and we're peeling back the curtain on the Jacksonville Jaguars' free agency escapades, offering insights into the team's moves and potential impact on the upcoming draft. From the head-scratching decision to franchise tag Josh Allen to the surprise acquisition of former Patriot Mac Jones, we're serving up the play-by-play on each strategic maneuver.

This isn't just about swapping jerseys; we're sizing up Trent Baalke's game plan and the roster reshuffle that's got everyone talking. With Arik Armstead fortifying the defensive line and the implications of a wide receiver-heavy draft ahead, we're questioning the tactics and potential triumphs of Baalke's approach. The whispers of skepticism mingle with roars of potential as we chart a course through the tempest of free agency additions, from Gabe Davis's touchdown prowess to Devin DuVernay's special teams dynamism. It's a play-by-play that doesn't shy away from hard tackles and the occasional blindside hit.

As the draft looms like the final quarter of the big game, our conversation turns to the treasure trove of talent that could be snagged at the 48th pick. We're hashing out the wide receiver wish list, pondering the impact of collective decision-making in the war room, and measuring up contract negotiation strategies. Keep your ear to the ground, Jaguars enthusiasts, as we dissect the draft's suspense and celebrate the victories — small and large — of the offseason saga. Remember to follow us for all things Jaguars and NFL draft; you won't want to miss a single snap of the action!

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James Johnson and Phil Smith 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.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. I am your co-host, phil Smith, and joining me, as always, is your other co-host, james Johnson. And Jay, good to be back here with you, as free agency frenzy has been just that a frenzy. We actually had an episode recorded last week after the Jaguars had failed to come to terms with an extension for Josh Allen before the franchise tag deadline hit, a decision that certainly had repercussions here in the last couple of days. Then I got a little bit busy preparing for Collective Con here in Jacksonville and unfortunately did not get an opportunity to edit the episode and get it out. So we were like you know what, let's just see how this week goes and then we will go ahead and rerecord, and that's what we're doing here today, jay.

Speaker 1:

So again, with the NFL news cycle, things can change at the drop of a dime, and that certainly was the case, and it has been a roller coaster of emotions for Jacksonville Jaguar fans here. In the last, I would say what 72 hours. And yeah, I'm excited to break all of it down here with you as we come off a little bit of a hiatus, but now that we have turned the corner into free agency and then we'll be heading straight towards the NFL draft. We do expect to be on a more consistent schedule now that we have, now that we're getting closer and closer to those dates. So, jay, how are you doing here tonight, excited to break down all the craziness that's happened over the last few days.

Speaker 2:

You took the words right out of my mouth from the perspective of a roller coaster, and I was going to actually say we probably should have started the podcast with the old school song. I don't know if you know who the Ohio players are, but they had this song called Rollin' Coaster of love. But anyway, low story short, we should have started it with roller coaster Not of love part, but roller coaster, because that's exactly what it's been. But yeah, man, I mean it's been some highs, it's been some lows in terms of this free agency process. That's kind of how it is, though, in free agency when you're the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Speaker 2:

Right, it's never perfect, or it hasn't been for a long time, but nonetheless, man, a lot of exciting things have happened, a lot of great additions, a lot of additions that you know might not be so high on. We'll talk about both sides of the spectrum. But, yeah, glad to be back and, as always, feel free to follow the website wwwtouchdownjaguarspodcastcom. Of course, we have all archive episodes there and I actually have a mock draft drafted which I'll proofread it and put it on there eventually, but I got a mock draft coming on there for written content and we'll probably have some other offseason related stuff to post on there as well. But yeah, man, I'm excited about this episode, more excited than I was yesterday, for sure.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yesterday was certainly a emotional day for us covering and being fans of the team. So what a difference 24 hours can make. It's just the one reason you just kind of got to let these things play out. You know, the unfortunate thing is, when we usually let things play out here in Jacksonville with Trent bulky in charge, they typically don't turn out very well. But we did get some exciting news here today that we will go ahead and discuss, probably towards the end of this episode.

Speaker 1:

We are going to be going in chronological order again. As we mentioned, we had an episode recorded right after the franchise tag deadline. We'll probably touch on that here a little bit once we get to Calvin Ridley in the timeline, but let's basically just start from the beginning. Before we do that, I guess I will remind everybody to find the link tree link in the show notes of this episode. You'll find everything you need the website, like Jay talked about, our social media pages, as well as the link to download the SeatGeek app and use our promo code touchdown jaguar. Save yourself $20 on your first purchase with SeatGeek. Shout out to them for continuing to sponsor the show. Once again, that is promo code touchdown jaguars.

Speaker 1:

So, jay, let's go ahead and rewind to this past weekend, and you know there were some obviously we heard a lot about well, last week I guess we'll talk about you know, obviously we had the franchise tag, but some players were released as well. There is Williams, ray Sean Jenkins, a couple of the names that kind of topped that list. Resigning Daniel Thomas special teams guy really really like that move. Resigning Ezra Cleveland three year deal. Restructuring Brandon Scherf's contract and then extending Jeremiah Leadbetter. So a lot of moves as far as bringing people back as well as letting some guys go, some names that we probably expected, such as Ray Sean, as well as Darius Williams. And then came a couple of signings. The first one this is Jay.

Speaker 1:

You mentioned before we started a player that we knew they were interested in in a former Bill Center, mitch Morse. We absolutely knew they had to address that position in the off season. They did it very, very early and I think the certainly the surprising move for me. I was again at CollectiveCon here in Jacksonville, florida, down to the prime Osborne, when the news came across my timeline that the Jaguars had traded for a former New England Patriots first round pick, mind you, same draft class as Trevor Lawrence Mack Jones, former Bulls star quarterback, coming back home for I believe it was a sixth round pick, former number 15 overall selection in the 2021 draft and man definitely surprising.

Speaker 1:

At the time it didn't really make a whole lot of sense, but as time has gone on, you know. Sixth round pick is that an upgrade over CJ Bedford? Maybe we'll talk about it here in just a moment, but, jay, talk through your emotions. On that day I believe it was Sunday that we made these moves. So acquiring Mack Jones for that sixth round pick and then bringing in our future center in Mitch Morse yeah, so the Mack Jones thing, you know I woke up to Tex.

Speaker 2:

That was Sunday morning, right Of that. Of course. You know the infamous thread we mentioned between us and Stodge and Boogie woke up to Tex on Boogie's end. Just, you know, looking at the text I'm like, ok, it seems like just the energy of the thread. It sounded like it felt like we traded Christian Kirk or something.

Speaker 2:

You know, and then I went on Twitter and everybody's like oh man, what a terrible move, this, that and the other. And come to find out it was just. You know, we acquired Mack Jones for a sixth round pick. For me I still can't come off the fact that it's just a sixth round pick, that that's why it doesn't really bother me, not sure why everybody else is coming in. Well, I guess I will say this we're looking at it from the perspective of what people other teams have gotten for late round additions. I guess from that perspective, yeah, it makes sense that people would be upset, but for me still, it's a sixth round pick. You know, our luck with six round picks haven't hasn't been that crazy. So it's no big deal to me.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I actually like the aspect of getting a young player that you know was at least thought of as a first round pick or had first round grade, second round grades, whatever the case may be of being your backup. I like the aspect of somebody who's already seen time on the field many games, for that matter, as a starter in inclement weather, by the way, albeit he wasn't good, but still for you know, qb2, who knows? You know he might be just fine in that role. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that, you know, we were gloating over my man, eric Canada, who got picked up by I think actually it might have been the Patriots or somebody else, but I don't mind the Mac Jones addition. You know you got a kid coming back to Jacksonville as well, like as I'm not from Duval, but you know the many, many people that have watched him as a high school prospect. I don't see how, you know, the city of Duval couldn't be happy to have him back into the mix from their perspective as well. And the other move that you mentioned, mitch Morris, was one that it made a lot of sense because Doug Peterson was a coach of Mitch Morris's when he was a rookie with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Speaker 2:

We all know just how abysmal the center play has been under Luke Fortner. Now I don't know I've said this many, many times I don't know that Mitch Morris will help us tremendously in the run game. I hope he does, but at the age of what, 31, and just, I did watch two full all 22 film, two all 22 cut ups of him, and you know, just in the run game I'm not sure that he's going to really bolster us like that he, and time will tell, but from a you know, past protection perspective, he will help a lot. I mean, it helps to have a veteran center as well in front of Trevor Lawrence, like that. You know, ideally that's what you would want, so excited to have him here.

Speaker 2:

You know he's a player that is spending a lot of big time games. You know that helps as well, which the Jaguars haven't been in a lot of, aside from you know the this current group of Jaguars, aside from you know the Chargers game and then the Chiefs game, obviously. But you know he brings that to the team and brings that to the mix as well. And yeah, man, those two moves are two moves that I absolutely can't sit here and say that and I'm upset about honestly.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and of course, when it comes to Morse, I certainly defer to you when it comes to the tape that you have watched and the feel you've gotten on them so far. But everything we all can certainly agree it is an upgrade over Luke Fortner, which has been one of the obviously one of the top needs of this team. That's why so many people I think for the first few weeks of this draft process, were all in on Jackson Powers. Johnson, right, that was who people were set on and that's who they wanted. And then this center free agency market got so robust it was like it would be irresponsible to take a center at number 17,. And luckily that's where we are now. And I was on that train too. Listen, after the senior bowl performance and things coming out of there, I was definitely on that train. And now again, with the free agency market becoming so fruitful and so many players becoming available, I'm glad they were able to get that taken care of. And yeah, the Mac Jones thing, I think more than anything, confused me. Like you said, that's a really good point, jay. You definitely love adding people to your roster that had those type of grades at that time.

Speaker 1:

I'm failing to remember our former colleague's name over there Believe in the Titans, jay, who once upon a time told us that the Jai Wars should take Mac Jones at number one over Trevor Lawrence. Not sure how much tug and cheek that was and I'm not sure about the seriousness of that statement, but it did just harken back. It's kind of funny that he did eventually end up on our team. Listen, we've seen these reclamation projects with quarterbacks now. I mean so many guys go elsewhere and are successful Geno Smith, baker Mayfield, just to name a few. Sam Darnold is now going to try and do it in Minnesota. So I mean, I'm sure him and Trevor have a relationship going through that draft process together, being in college at the same time. Did they play against each other in the national championship game Jay? Was that Mac Jones and Trevor? Was that Jalen Hertz and Tua or Tua versus Trev? I'm trying to remember.

Speaker 2:

I believe it was Tua and Trev and I think Jalen Hertz was in. Oklahoma at that time.

Speaker 1:

OK, oh, regardless. I mean when you go, when you're playing through football, all the way from Pop Warner to high school to college and now in the pros, you build up relationships with those guys, especially since Mac Jones at the time again was one of those top four quarterbacks that was going to go within that first round. So you know what, I think it'll be a good fit. I definitely don't think it's a bad thing to have him here and ultimately, if it is an upgrade over CJ Bathart, I mean, when you look at Mac Jones and what he had to deal with in New England the last couple of years, remember had a great rookie season, right, he was a pro bowler.

Speaker 1:

And then second year Bill Belichick throws two defensive coordinators as his offensive coordinator to completely stifling his growth, and then last year again throwing the ball to basically me up in New England. You know, given that kid, absolutely no help. So, yeah, hey, who knows, Maybe he is able to parlay this into a better offer and, you know, kind of resurrect his career. But again, yeah, the move as I kind of got away from it, the move certainly did not bother me that much Go ahead.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it also made sense from the perspective of I don't know what it is about QB twos man, but Doug Peterson knows how to tap into a QB twos potential Looking Nick foes. He made it fold so good that Tom Coughlin signed off on making this man the highest paid Jaguar, I think still to this day in history. You know, and then you look at you know like we were gloating again over Nathan Roark AKA Air Canada last year we were.

Speaker 2:

You know it's something that he saw in Roark where they signed him during the offseason and he had arguably the most exciting preseason of any preseason player. And I know it's the preseason A lot of people will be like oh well, jay, it's just a preseason. You face second, third and fourth stringers. But look, man, that's a young man that just had came from the Canadian football league that you know had a fantastic offseason or fantastic preseason.

Speaker 2:

So as much as I've been mad at Doug this offseason, one thing I want to question is his ability to tap into the potential of a QB two.

Speaker 2:

And you know, of course we really hope he could tap into the potential of Trevor Lawrence as a QB one.

Speaker 2:

But all I'm saying is his work speaks for itself when it comes to QB twos and you know he said this in his article with the 33rd team. Like he just likes to have a strong quarterback room in general and he's probably seeing what we would. I mentioned, phil, and what you alluded to as well that I did mention is maybe Doug Peterson sees a number one pick, number two pick type of potential, not saying he sees him as somebody who could replace Trevor Lawrence, but he sees that as a luxury to have as your number two quarterback and he also sees a number two round one, round two type of skill set out of Mac Jones, to the point where he believes that this is a young man, that if we needed him to come in for two or three games he certainly could keep to keep this team afloat, which you know Nick Foles actually did for a span of what about six games, including multiple playoff games. So we'll see, in time we'll tell, but you know, I wouldn't doubt if this is really a Doug Peterson influence decision.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, wouldn't be surprised at all. You know, it's funny that you mentioned Nathan Rourke, jay, because he is currently on the New England Patriots roster. I'm not sure if he is currently like a free agent or anything, but he is, he's on the roster now. He got Nathan Rourke after they signed him off waivers and now we have Mac Jones. Just funny how life works out sometimes. But again, you know, I think it's a solid move and allows you to, you know, not necessarily worry about that QB2 position heading into the year. Cj Bedford at times played, you know, okay, he played just fine. But if you can get younger and maybe even a little bit more athletic at that position, then you know you take a shot at it and again have a really solid QB room, like you said, jay. So but let's move on to the first day of the legal tampering period which, as Greeny says on ESPN, just does not make any sense as a statement.

Speaker 1:

But lots of movement there on that day, first starting off with the Jaguars bringing in another former Buffalo bill and that was Gabe Davis, signing him to a three year deal. Next up was former Packers safety Darnell Savage another three year deal. Very briefly came to terms with Broncos kicker Will Lutz before he pulled the Uno reverse card and signed with somebody else. I can't remember if we went back to the Broncos or if he re-signed with somebody else. You can let me know, jay.

Speaker 1:

My favorite move of the day, former Texas Longhorn Pro Bowl returner Devin DuVernay came over from the Baltimore Ravens and then another Raven and Ronald Darby signing to a two year deal. So coming away on day one, jay, with Gabe Davis, darnell Savage, devin DuVernay and Ronald Darby. Now remember, at this point we don't know where things are with Calvin Ridley. The reports, I believe, at this time were that he wanted to return to the team but they were likely waiting for that 4pm deadline on the 13th to come and go. But take me back to that first day of free agency. Some solid additions. A big target in Gabe Davis, essentially Jamal Agnew's replacement, in Devin DuVernay, Ronald Darby and Darnell Savage also being solid additions to the secondary as well. So again, bring us back. What did you think of those additions on day one?

Speaker 2:

Gabe Davis, you absolutely understand and I put out the tweet that a lot of people had retweeted You're talking about a young man that's from or grew up in front of Dean of Beach. So you start looking at geography, of course as a reason and of course we have the Bill's former wide receiver coach on the staff too, and when you had those two things together and made all of the sense in the world and he kind of talked about it today that he's happy to be back home in the state of Florida as, again, he grew up there in front of Dean of Beach, one county up or one city up pretty much from Duval or Jacksonville, and he also went to Central Florida, went to high school in the city of Sanford, if I'm not mistaken, so he has Florida all through his veins as a player on the field. You're getting a player. Now I will say this the drops concern me, but I think what helps is look what Evan Ingram turned to. We had concerns about him and his drops and he's a young man. That basically now is what Top four tight end in the league right now and he looks nothing like the player that he was with the New York Giants Now this isn't to say gave Davis didn't look like a good player with the bills at times. I certainly would say he's looked better than Ingram did when Ingram was with the Giants. So but the drops, you know that they do concern me. But you know, just seeing the Evan Ingram arc and how he's turned things around, you know that's something to you know, give us some positivity about what gave Davis can bring to the table.

Speaker 2:

And you know, gave Davis is also a guy that you know, as Shannon Sharp pointed out this, this man is caught about what. Over 70% of his catches have been touchdowns or first downs. You know that's. You can't argue with that kind of stuff right there, man. That means you know Trevor has a weapon that's going to be helping him big time, whether it's moving down the field or getting help moving down the field or scoring, whatever the case may be. And not to mention, gave Davis is, you know, a very, very, very well known deep threat to. So there's that as well. So we'll see and time will tell. But you know me and Phil we've had this conversation as I kind of broke down how o the wide receiver world works and they you know the term you, you know I've used often on this podcast a X split in receiver. That's the role he'll feel here, you know, and he's he's the guy that you know that'll hopefully bring some explosiveness to this offense, which you know was it very vertical last year.

Speaker 2:

Then moving on, we're into Darnell Savage now savage I don't know a lot about so I won't go too deep in the detail for him Now. I know a lot of people were saying you know we could be looking at a guy that'll see a lot of nickel time and Probably see a lot of time as a starting safety as well. We'll see, you know time will tell on that. He's one that I want to go back and watch some film on now. That does Kind of complicate things for Antonio Johnson a little bit, who we're high on and we like what we saw out of him.

Speaker 2:

But when you look at the money that Savage is making, yeah, you got to kind of have to wonder if it'll play into effect Of how much time Antonio Johnson will give. But then again, the Jaguars kind of are known for rotating Sathies. You know we saw do be Dewey, not do be Dewey on the field a lot as well. In addition to Ray Sean Jenkins, in addition to Our other safety, I'm I'm flaking out on our other safety for some reason, but yeah, that's it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, andre, cisco, there we go. And that being said, um, you know, I think they can find a niche for all other Sathies to get a decent amount of playtime on there. Devin, speaking of doovy, that's what I call do over there, devin doovy, here I'm glad to have somebody that can help us in terms of flipping the field, right. That's that was so important With Jamal Agnews career here with the Jacksonville Jaguars and we knew, you know, he probably wasn't gonna be resigned and we knew they probably move on from him. He had two major injuries, he had some drops as a receiver, but when you look back at Jamal Agnews career, he saved the Jaguars a lot of times in his career when it came to his ability as a special team or in flipping the field, whether it was his historic kick return, whether it was, you know, just getting the Jaguars in the situation where they're starting on on the 40 yard line. Whatever the case may be, it was even sometimes as much as people knocked him as a receiver. It was times where he sparked our offense with a because, again, we weren't very, very vertical, and he sparked us from a deep ball perspective as well. So, like you know that, that stuff. I don't forget, man, just as sure as I don't forget the fumbles and all of that too. I don't forget the times he sparked this offense that was stalling at times. So you know, maybe I would say do over. They probably isn't going to see a lot of snaps, if any at all, in terms of as a receiver. Then again, you know, with Trent Baalke losing Calvin Ridley, that does bump one of the receivers that you probably don't want to see a lot on the field. It does bump them up in terms of their snap count. Possibly, potentially, we'll see if any other moves are made at receiver. So you know. I would think, though, they want Him and his niche to be special teams, and I'm excited to see it. We're talking about an all pro here, former all pro. I mean that's one of your guys feel. So, you know, feel free to Speak about his time at Texas if you would like to.

Speaker 2:

And then, lastly, ronald Darby. Now, I thought Darby was out of the lead. Many Looked at some of his film from Baltimore. I was like not only is Ronald Darby still in the lead, he actually played Pretty good last year for the Ravens, and a lot of Ravens fans were upset with the fact that they lost him. That's what made me go back and look at the film was just how upset they were about losing Darby.

Speaker 2:

And you know the move makes so much sense from a perspective of you know this front office. Probably no Darby from his time at Florida State. It's the closest school in proximity to Jacksonville. They probably have scouted countless Florida State games, all right, or I guess. Well, it depends his games real closer, who knows? I don't know, I rely on you for that feel. But yeah, they probably, you know, did a lot of scouting of him when he was at Florida State. You know, at least the scouts did, of course Trent Balkie's kind of new to the mix of the front office, he's only been there what two, three years, but the scouts probably know well and Know, are well aware of Ronald Darby. So that one kind of made sense.

Speaker 2:

I'm excited about that addition. I'm from the standpoint of again man. He kind of held his own at Baltimore. I don't know if I necessarily that would stop me from getting a cornerback at 17, but you know he certainly is a guy that should see a lot of playtime and he certainly is a guy that bolsters this cornerback group which you know Does have a lot of young players that were drafted late, so they needed some you know, some additions there in terms of guys, higher drafted round guys, people with a lot of experience. That's what they got in Darby and I'm excited to see what he brings to the table.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, first to talk about the receivers. You know Gabe Davis, like you said, made a lot of sense and you know the, the drops obviously were you, but you know we have a proven Again to use that word again reclamation project that we have here in Evan Ingram, who had a historic year Last year. I have no doubt that they could do it again with Gabe Davis. I mean you know he has those drops J, but like what I remember is him making big plays and all of those bills chief's matchups, right, that that's the guy that I see what I think about Gabe Davis and he's talking about Devin DuVernay, like you said, j you know very familiar with him from his time at Texas, just kind of looking at his Uh, um, his his tenure with Baltimore. He hasn't necessarily had an opportunity to Really have a lot of plays on offense. Obviously that's a team that's very run heavy and in this past year they very heavily invested in their wide receiver room. So honestly, I you said that, like you know, you may not see him too much as far as on the offense, but he has the ability to do so. I mean I saw him at Texas Uh, cooking people and and running out routes and just and running by people. At one point he had led the country and broken tackles off of screens. We know we saw a lot of those last year. I mean, how many of those screens that we see? Um, you know, especially that infamous one in the playoffs with Jamal Agnew against the chiefs. You know I hate to bring that up because, listen, we have nothing but respect for ag and wish him the best wherever he goes next. Whoever gets him next Is definitely going to get a gamer. But you know, devon duvernais was a pretty key piece of that texas offense and he looked pretty damn good doing it. I actually wouldn't mind seeing him Lining up all over the field For jacksonville. Obviously not as much, you know, obviously not all the time, but in given situations I think he could definitely be a really dangerous weapon.

Speaker 1:

And then, like you, I don't really know too much about darnel savage. I do see you know you're based off of some people talking about him here on twitter. He's had a little bit of an up and down start to his career, but seems like More good than bad. I would probably say um, and then the ronald darby pick up. Like I said, I definitely wouldn't prevent it from me taking A cornerback within the first couple of rounds, especially if one of those elite guys is available at 17,. But Came away from day one feeling pretty good.

Speaker 1:

Obviously we were still concerned about what was going to happen With ridley at this time, and you know hearing different things. Well, you know part of those being he wants to stay. It's. It's basically just kind of a matter of waiting out, waiting out till 4 pm. And boy, was that certainly not the case. Again, gave davis darnel, savage, devon duvernais, ronald darby, day one. So you know, shaping up to be a, you know a pretty, uh, I would say at least a, a decent Free agency class. You know the jaguars definitely were.

Speaker 1:

We were here in their name a lot throughout the entire day, which is sometime you know, which in the past has certainly not been the case. But uh, let's move on to that second day, jay, which was, uh, yesterday. So we're recording this on the 14th here on thursday evening, so obviously wednesday. You know we were waiting until 4 pm and we were expecting to hear some sort of news. We knew that it was between at the time, between us and the new england patriots. Some of the reports were, you know, as far as the patriots, maybe we're offering a little bit more money, but between cost of living, taxes and everything like that, the offers were initially the same.

Speaker 1:

And then, at the 12th hour, you know, we've been seeing whoever this quote-unquote Insider is over on twitter talking about a, a dark horse division rival coming in and, um, making things a little bit difficult. And you know we were. We're kind of just monitoring it, seeing what would happen. And then, lo and behold, jay, while eric and I were on our way to st Augustine for a uh, for a comedy show, we saw tom segura at the amphitheater, which was excellent, by the way.

Speaker 1:

But on our way down we get the update in the group chat that calvin ridley has signed with the division rival tenacy titans. And, uh, when I tell you I was shocked and, uh, pretty upset at the time that would definitely Be an understatement. Calvin really signs to a four-year 92 million dollar deal with 50 million in guarantees and, uh, this was, um, again, definitely a Shocking move. Did not anticipate that tenacy would be getting in On this bidding, but they made things very difficult towards the end. And lo and behold, calvin ridley is a tenacy titan. Now I know a lot of people were criticizing them because the contract they ended up giving calvin ridley was essentially the deal they would not offer a jay brown a few years ago.

Speaker 1:

I feel like that's all moot. I don't really think that has anything to do with what's happening today, but obviously at the time, jay, emotions were running very high. You probably don't. Well, you definitely don't end up in this position if you handle business with josh allen accordingly. And then franchise tag calvin ridley who, as we talked about before we got started, likely would have played on that franchise tag. He expressed wanting to stay here and not wanting to start over elsewhere. So how did this all happen, jay? I mean, obviously, something very good happened today and we're going to get to that here in just a moment but at the time, letting calvin ridley go, not only Um losing him after we gave up compensation For him right in the trade, but also him losing him to a division rival. So you know what's going on. How did we get here and where did it all go wrong when it came to the calvin ridley negotiations?

Speaker 2:

Right man, I mean it just boils down to you don't get here. Unless you don't get here, if you sign Josh Allen and use the franchise tag, as you said we've already discussed beforehand we don't get to this point. If you do that, go ahead and get Josh Allen alone term deal. Don't know what's the hold up there. And one thing about it is like and I hate this stubborn aspect of GM's like, well, I didn't draft the guy. You know I want my guy to flourish over that guy, which would be Travon Walker in this case, and that's kind of showing to me, in my opinion, it's clear that Trent didn't draft Josh Allen and that Dave called well, did. But Josh Allen is one of the reasons that Trent still, you know, is staying afloat. He's one of the reasons that we've been able to get a winning season the last two seasons of this year. I mean the last two seasons that Trent Boggies been the GM as well. So he's a key part of Trent Balkie success with the Jacksonville Jack Wars. I don't understand, like why is this? You know this drawn out process of why he hasn't received his deal. But I digress from my point. Had Josh Allen been signed on, a long term deal could have kept Kevin Ridley, and we discussed this in the thread and I tweeted about it before this even happened, before we got into the free agency process. What I posted in the thread me, you and Boogie and Vez is let's watch how Trent Balkie functions when it comes to the basic functions of a GM, right, when it comes to keeping the people that's the most important to this team, the people that's the most important to Trevor Lawrence especially, and he came up short, as we expected and as we were projecting. And you know. Also, what I said in the thread is how does he perform, which we already have seen when the bullets are flying in negotiations and you know this team is offering some, that team is offering something, offers are coming all off, you know, from different directions. How do you receive this offer and counter offer? How do you perform these basic functions that we even see Dave, dave Caldwell, be able to make happen, although, you know, the big thing with Dave Caldwell is oh, you had to overpay for a lot of people. Well, you know, that's what happens when you're the GM of the Jacksonville Jaguars. So here we are, calvin Ridley, as a result.

Speaker 2:

You know, and another thing too I don't want to hear this whole thing about. You know well the the Titans came in late and swooped in and kind of blindside it. The whole aspect of the Calvin Ridley situation. As a GM you got to. You got to see that coming. The good GMs know they see this stuff coming. The good GMs know somebody could try and swoop in last minute.

Speaker 2:

Me personally, I had always had my alarm up for the Kansas City Chiefs personally If I was a GM to come in and swoop in and you know, take a skilled player just right out of the blue, you know just out of nowhere. But the good GMs know to keep in mind, hey, somebody could blindside us. Let's be ready for that. But I think it just got out of hand, which it wouldn't have if he was franchised. But it just got out of hand to a point where you know you got a team throwing $50 million at Calvin Ridley and you know I would love to be a fly on the wall when Trent bulky found out. You know that this wasn't going to happen and I would love to know how do you accept or how does it feel when you just traded what you traded for Calvin Ridley last year, or well, this year, which is the third round pick and then come to a situation where the Titans come in blindside you and you have to come to grips with, you're going to have to let this man go for nothing. You lost your third round pick. You didn't lose the second, but you lost the third. Coming to grips with that, the fact with, like that's just too much. I'm really going to lose my third round pick over this. Now, granted, we got a compensation or compensatory third round pick for John Taylor, luckily, but still that third round pick was much more valuable, the one that Calvin Ridley basically took out our hands, basically. So I just would love to be a fly on the wall when it just came to reality. Like I'm about to lose my third round pick and I'm about to lose a key player for Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 2:

As we all know, though, the offseason isn't over. Things can happen. We'll kind of talk about that. Maybe there's a way to recover from this, maybe it isn't, but with how Trent Baalke operates, I don't know if we can have faith that it'll. You know it'll whatever that could be cooked up or go through, but time will tell. Still early in the offseason. We'll see. But it's a disappointment overall, and I'm not letting the fact that that's great move, by the way, to get Eric Armstead the reason you're able to do it, because you didn't get Calvin Ridley, by the way but I'm not going to let the whole armstead situation sidetrack us from the fact that, look, armstead, don't bring that third round pick back. Armstead doesn't help Trevor Lawrence in terms of when he's on the field and he needs a target to throw to. So let's not let that sidetrack us from this franchise, and Trent Baalke especially, not doing Trevor Lawrence any justice.

Speaker 1:

Right, let's not get lost in the fact that something positive happened today negates the bad that happened yesterday. All right, I know a lot of people are, and it's already starting. We're going to hear the BS of a. We owe Trent Baalke an apology. Look at you now he's cooking all that crap. I don't want to hear any of it. Just because something positive happened today does not negate the negative that happened prior, and not only this.

Speaker 1:

I saw this kind of making rounds as well over on Jaguar Twitter. They're probably going to target a wide receiver within the first two rounds at least I would in one of the most wide receiver heavy drafts maybe in NFL history. But what confidence do you have that Trent Baalke is going to pick the right guy? Because he's not. He's not going to identify that player correctly. For the most likely he is going to pick the wrong guy or target a position that we don't necessarily need to address, whether it be the first round or the second round. Like you said, jay, erick Olmsted doesn't bring that third round pick back. It doesn't take away the fact that you invested draft capital in him, in this man, in Calvin Ridley, and then we're unable to retain him when it came time to come to the table and pony up and show your cards, you got bested. He dragged his feet. This is what I said over on Twitter. He dragged his feet and he lost again, and that is the continuous pattern of ineptitude that we continue to see from Trent Baalke.

Speaker 1:

You know what? I feel good right now, jumping ahead a little bit about Erick Olmsted. I feel great, but we have to see how this next draft class goes and who we identified, because last year's was essentially a disaster. Outside of Anton Harrison, I mean, you're talking about a draft class that had basically no impact whatsoever, and you can't have that. They ran back a nine and eight team with the same exact roster and they won nine and eight again, and they seem to be the only one surprised about that. So, yes, something good happened today, but I'm still. That still doesn't mean and I can and it's not us being pessimistic. Don't give us that crap, I don't want to hear it it is us identifying the faults in Trent Baalke and understanding that he is incapable of running a team properly until proven otherwise, and that's as simple as it gets. Go ahead, jay.

Speaker 2:

And yeah, also, it's just the fact that we are seeing continual occurrences, the same occurrences, you know, over and over. It's a pattern of this stuff. Now, and also, don't get sidetracked by this too we are going to pay Erick Olmsted a lot of money and guess who still hasn't got his contract? On the defensive side of the ball, who it has been one of probably the longest tenured Jaguars in this franchise, Still hasn't got his paycheck yet. You're investing money in a first round pick that you drafted over in San Francisco and Armstead. You're investing money into him, but yet Josh Allen hasn't got his contract yet.

Speaker 2:

That's money we could have gave to Josh Allen Now. Granted, it's enough money to pay Armstead and Josh Allen, but what my point is is Josh Allen is still waiting for his contract. Meanwhile, a guy that hasn't taken a snap for the Jacksonville Jaguars, who we're glad to get, we're happy to get in Josh Allen is happy to get probably two, by the way but he's still waiting for his contract, you know. So that's something that Josh Allen oh yeah, you got us, you got me some help that he's probably looking at from that perspective, but what's taking so long for me to get my deal? Like, let's make it happen so we can get both of these, these young men, on the field at the same time and, you know, start to get this defense going in the right direction. But I just wanted to throw that out there too, man, that's, that's money that Josh Allen, that ain't going in Josh Allen pocket is well.

Speaker 1:

And let's talk about a team that made a move here just a few days ago, jay, the New York Giants. They gave up compensation to get Brian Burns, knowing that they were going to have to pay him, and they did so. Doesn't necessarily make doesn't make Daniel Jones better, probably not, or whoever their quarterback is going to be. I think they signed Drew Locke today. But they know the Giants know where they're at and they know that if they pair Brian Burns with Kavon Tibido, their team is just going to. Their team is going to be better for it. They identified an asset, they brought him in and they paid the man. They knew they were going to have to pay him and they did so. So Josh Allen shouldn't have to wait for training camp like Evan Ingram did to get his deal. We should be talking about this now. We should be talking about this right now and acknowledge the fact that, oh, we got Josh Allen signed long-term and we brought in Eric Armstead and they could maybe identify somebody in the draft. But, lo and behold, here we are again talking about the lack of. I don't know if it's urgency or the lack of, I don't even know. I don't know what it could possibly be, but all I know is we're dragging our feet again and hopefully doesn't fight us on the back end.

Speaker 1:

But let's go on to that move that was made today, jay, as rumblings started happening throughout the day. Now, first, obviously, what had to happen was the Niners had to release Eric Armstead. That happened yesterday. So the San Francisco 49ers released 30-year-old Eric Armstead and, jay, I believe you had mentioned he was a Trent Bulke draft pick back in 2015. And then we started hearing rumors that the Jaguars were interested and then, I believe right around maybe 4, 5 pm, ian Rappaport had come out and stated that a dark horse had emerged and the Jaguars were closing in on a deal to add Eric Armstead to the team. That ended up happening. He also stated the Jags worked, obviously, to sign Calvin Ridley, who landed with the Titans, and Trent Bulke, who drafted Eric Armstead in San Francisco, used some of that money to beef up their defensive line.

Speaker 1:

Again, great move. We're happy that there are continuing to add to this defense. Still definitely want to identify a pass rusher, whether it be in trade, draft, whatever it may be, but that certainly beefs up the defensive line. I mean, we talked, we joked about it ahead of time. The Texans got fully fucked, kazi, we ended up with Eric Armstead. We'll take that trade any day of the week. But, jay, looking at this move on its own, definitely very, very positive. We're happy to see it, and it may even lead to another big move that we'll discuss here after we talk about Eric Armstead. But what do you think about this move and what does it mean for the defense going forward?

Speaker 2:

Oh, it means the pass rush is drastically improved from the perspective of. So Armstead, on PFF, had a pass rush grade and again, we say this all the time either you're a believer in it or you're not, or you're somewhere in the middle. Get me a feel of okay, this score don't add up to us, but this score does. But yeah, I mean, he had a pass rush grade, which this, again, what I always do with PFF is I look at a player and see if what they're seeing matches what I see. A lot of what I saw in Eric Armstead matches this pass rush grade for Eric Armstead, who had a 85.1 pass rush grade, which is pretty dang good. You add that into the mix with Josh Allen, who was notoriously excuse me had great pass rush grades with PFF. You add that with a Travon Walker who's coming off a 10 sack season, or is it 10.5? Correct me on that if I'm wrong when you come up to speak, phil. But yeah, you have a Travon Walker double digit sacks as well. Some of this just needed to be made to this. You know this front as well, but it helps them very, very, very much from a pass rush perspective, especially, that's huge when you're dealing with CJ Stroud, anthony Richardson, who would. Admittedly, I think a lot of people are putting a lot on Richardson's plate because this is young man, that he didn't finish the season and like people are just expecting him to come out guns blazing, you know. But I don't know, man, I'm team slowed down with Richardson, who I believe has all of the physical talent in the world, but I do think like the expectations are a little crazy for him right now. We'll see and then time will tell. But he does, you know, arm said does help you from the perspective of, you know, getting to him and also getting to Will Levitt's to.

Speaker 2:

You know, another young and up and coming quarterback. I mean, between him and Josh Allen you have two of the better graded pass rushers in football. That's tremendous. And then, you know, trayvon Walker is only going to get better from a pass rush perspective. You would still probably argue now he's probably more of a run stuff and specialist despite the double digit sets, but he's only going to get better in time.

Speaker 2:

And yeah, man, I'm real happy about this addition. I still want Josh Allen to get his money as well too, though, like you said, we should be talking about Eric Ormsted and Josh Allen, both getting their paydays and being a part of this Jacksonville Jad Wars defense. Also to another thing Ryan Nielsen is a defensive line specialist to our new defensive coordinator. So you know he's happy about it and I'm happy about the aspect of you know him. You know Ormsted is 30 years old. He's been in the league a while but still he's a veteran when paired with Ryan Nielsen, who you know we might see maybe even improve, who knows but I'm glad to have him on the team man and excited to see what they bring for this front.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and to confirm what you said, j10sax for Trayvon Walker last year. So yeah, I mean what this means for the entire defense is it's going to be excellent to see. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, eric Ormsted, I mean boy, talk about coming out of left field. Obviously the bulky connection was certainly there. But I mean when you talk about a guy, I mean first off 6'7" and 2'90" and he moves around like that. I mean as, like you said, j, his his pass rush win rate was ranked seeing here from Daniel Griffith shout out to him he was ranked 11th amongst 129 defensive linemen. He also collected 7 Saks in just 12 games. Definitely was all over the place. And you know we talked about his age as well. You know, sometimes the 30 can be kind of like a taboo number in sports, but like for defensive linemen, I mean we've seen it here personally with Kaleis Campbell. We've seen these guys continue to be productive well into their 30s. And you know, getting Eric Ormsted in here, pairing him with Josh Allen as well as Trayvon Walker, the immediate upgrade that we have over, well, you know, with Foli Fadrakazi, I mean you wait and see what happens with Devon Hamilton, if he can get back to form, maybe a year removed from the injuries. But yeah, I mean it increases the output 10 fold for everybody. I think Now obviously we want to still see them address some things in the secondary, specifically a defensive back. But hey, working from the inside out, I mean you certainly love the move and I can't wait to see all these guys out there chasing Will Levis and Anthony Richardson and CJ Stroud around. I mean, like you said, you know the Titans can have Calvin Ridley, but if they can't get him, the football then it doesn't even matter. So very, very excited about this. I mean, overall, the group of guys you know that they have brought in there's still time and we'll talk about a name that people.

Speaker 1:

You know there are rumors circulating right now. We'll talk about that here in just a moment. Normally we don't like to dabble too far into rumors, but this one is a little bit, you know, too bright to to ignore. But they're certainly very happy with it. I mean, but again, we can be happy about the moves that are made and still be able to criticize missed opportunities or blunders, right, I mean that's, that's perfectly fine and you should do that, you know, just so you guys know those the good can come with the bad and it's okay for you to to not be okay with those things and criticize them. But, jay, do you want to?

Speaker 1:

Let's talk about this, this rumor here, because earlier today Brandon IU followed Trevor Lawrence, I believe Christian Kirk, and maybe one of the person I think it was over on Instagram. If you remember who it was, let me know. And then there are rumors circulating out there that the Jaguars are interested in bringing in Brandon IU, obviously another guy from the 49ers tree, and you know a lot, of, a lot of familiarity there between not only Trembulque but also Ethan Waugh. So, jay, what do you think? I don't know, if there's fire here just because there's smoke, what do you think about the ability for them to bring in Brandon IU? Do you think there's any credence to this? Or is this going to be another one of those situations where IU is, you know, kind of using some leverage to get himself a new deal with San Francisco? What's going on here?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean well, the social media world. At times, the social media world can tell you a lot. And Trevor I think it was Trevor that's following IU, and maybe Gabe Davis and a few others.

Speaker 1:

Gabe Davis yeah, that's who it was. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so they're following each other. I mean, what did the Neil Hunter go and do when we had interest in him, even though we didn't? And that's a key to keep in mind here is, you know, during the trade deadline, we started following a bunch of jet wars and none came into fruition and we left with egg on our face. So you know, this could end up very well, very much end up the same way, but, as you said, you know there's a connection with Ethan, while Trent Balkie probably still knows people over there as well. So that is one that could definitely catch some fire. You know, and we know, they do need a receiver. We do know that Trent Balkie does not know how to draft receivers. We do know that Trent Balkie prefers veteran, proven receivers Marvin Jones, right, christian Kirk, of course, zay Jones, of course he prefers that route, even though he did draft Jalen Camp and Parker Washington. Jalen Camp is no longer with us, parker Washington is. Those were late round picks and when Trent Balkie has drafted a receiver early, it hasn't been pretty. So I think he definitely would prefer the route of going with a veteran. Now look again, man, like you can't be frugal. You got to handle yourself like a GM when it comes to negotiating. Can you handle yourself and meet the 49ers somewhere in the middle and negotiate and do the negotiation aspect, or perform the negotiation aspect of acquiring a player like a veteran? And that's supposed to be done again. So last year trade deadline couldn't get it done. Couldn't get us the Neil Hunter, couldn't get us the young man that's escaping my name, my mind, from the New England Patriots, couldn't get it done. Got caught up, according to me, old Brian and we have no reason to doubt me, old Brian on a fourth round pick of all things. A fourth round pick, how crazy is that Right? But nonetheless, we love to have Brandon Iuk here with the Jacksonville Jaguars. You'll be talking about a pretty interesting group of receivers between him Gabe Davis, evan Ingram and, of course, christian Kirk, who was winning the slot, one of the more deadlier receivers. I mean one of the more deadlier receivers in general in football. But we'll see and time will tell. I mean I would love to see it happen, but with Trent Baulkey you just you never know what you're getting. So I don't want to put too much into it because he will leave you disappointed. But if it happens, kudos to him and kudos for recovering from a misstep where you put travel lorns in a bad predicament, but also to keep this in mind people keep this in mind.

Speaker 2:

We landed Calvin Ridley two years ago via trade. Here we are talking about Calvin Ridley leaving after one year of his tenure with the Jacksonville Jaguars. So even if we get Brandon IU, the big cloud over our heads is then can he keep Brandon IU? And also, not only can he keep Brandon IU, can he keep him in a time where we're going to have to pay travel lorns and we seem bulky cannot handle multiple big time contracts? We are sitting here fussing about it right now today, Josh Allen.

Speaker 2:

Calvin Ridley couldn't handle it and he handled the aspect of having to pay both your quarterback to premium positions, by the way, that aren't cheap. You can't approach these two positions in a cheap manner. You can't do that. Got to leave it in the past trend. Got to leave that in 19, whatever early 2000s, late 2000s, man Premium positions cost, and it is what it is. That said, can he keep Brandon IU if he, if he got him through trade or what we've been talking about, a situation where he traded for him and we lost Brandon IU within a year after that. We'll see. In time, we'll tell.

Speaker 1:

What are you giving up for? Brandon IU Jay? What is reasonable compensation in your opinion?

Speaker 2:

You definitely start with a second round pick from the perspective of you're going to have to pay him to. You would think Brandon IU wants to leave San Francisco and also get an extension. That we see this you know this, although this is a different position burns right. That trade was paid as well, and if you would please look up that compensation on it because I'm not sure what the compensation on it was, but I don't know that the Giants gave up a first round pick and paid him. Like that's a lot to ask for. So you, I think you do start with the second round pick, probably put some more in there with it as well, but definitely the starting point is a second round pick because, again, like you know, having to pay him and give up a first round pick, that's an axing of a lot.

Speaker 2:

And also to another thing too is, you know, just from how it looks, brandon IU is disgruntled too as well. So you know we're in a situation where, when a player wants to get out of a situation more so than in the past, they get what they want, more so than the team gets what they want. It kind of like in the NBA, right? Kind of like that. And then there's more to a trend where the team doesn't necessarily get exactly what they want. Sometimes they do, but the team more so has to give in a little bit just to get a disgruntled player off of the roster.

Speaker 1:

The compensation for Brian Burns Jay was their second round pick this year, which is pick 39, and a fifth round pick next year.

Speaker 2:

There you go. I know my stuff right. You started at the second round pick, especially when not to mention again receivers aren't cheap. So you talk about a premium position where you're going to have to pay a lot of money out. So yeah, I mean, it's no way. If you're saying for Cisco like, yeah, you're giving us a first and you got to pay them, I don't know how that even that discussion would even go.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, there you go. We have picked 48 in the second round, so you know you start there. I mean, is anybody you take at the 48th pick going to be as good as Brett and I Do? You think you know how you look at it.

Speaker 2:

I do believe that. Yeah, there's some players out there.

Speaker 1:

I think so too. I love ADMitch. I think there could be a receiver there. Yeah, I think there could be a receiver there at 48.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you don't have to do this now. You don't? It would be nice. And again, like with, the reason why we're trending in this direction is because Trent just I don't know that he knows how to evaluate the receiver position in terms of a young prospect, right, so this is probably the safer route for Trent.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, he's going to have someone else do it for him. Look, man, I wouldn't be opposed. Let Ethan make the call at receiver. If you're going to draft one man, ethan's probably got his hands in this IU situation too but let Ethan make the call. Somebody who's played for a franchise that actually showed that they know how to draft receivers. You know, but you know Trent too stubborn to do that. But you know what I'm saying. Like, why bring this man in as an assistant? Lean on him, lean on his expertise. Let him make that call at the wide receiver position in terms of the evaluations going into that.

Speaker 2:

And I think this class one thing I will say about what you said earlier feel this class is, I don't want to say foolproof, but one thing I will say is now, trent has done well in the first round since he's been with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Not, he was OK at it with the 49ers, but his issue isn't drafting in the first round. So chances are, if he drafted a receiver in the first round, he probably would hit on him. Chances are. But the issue is, you know Trent drafting outside of the first round. Since he's been with the Jacksonville Jaguars he's come up with way too many classes where it's just the first round pick, that's the most productive player in the class and nobody else is really contributing anything. That's what's kicking them in the teeth right now.

Speaker 2:

But that being said, man like, lean on your front office. It's sometimes. This is a collective, a whole collective collaboration in terms of putting together draft classes and doing what's best for the franchise man. The rest of the teams in the league do it all the time. Man, they lean on. You know their right hand man's evaluation on this player. Look at what Chris Ballard does with Ed Dodds. Look at what John Lynch did with his guys that you know. Rand Carthon is one of them. He's a GM now with the with the Tennessee Titans. You know, lean on your people that have expertise in certain areas and see how it goes.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the next few days are definitely going to be very interesting. Ultimately, I think what's going to happen is he's just going to get a new deal done with San Francisco. I think this is a lot of posturing from Brandon. I use camp and you know we'll see what happens. Again, there was a lot of posturing from we just saw it happen with Calvin Ridley. So you know that price yesterday's price is not today's price. That's what happened with Calvin Ridley. So, again, a lot to keep our eye on here as we navigate through the next few weeks. And then, you know, turn the corner into the draft.

Speaker 1:

Jay, I guess I'll just leave it on this kind of put you on the spot. Is there anybody else that you know out there on the market that you'd like to see them target? Obviously they need to address kicker. You know whether that be in the draft or if they, you know, talk about one of those guys we discussed before we got started. But anybody else that's lingering out there that you know you think would be a good addition to this roster that you can think of off the top of your head, or you know? Do you think they need to just start focusing after the IU thing, whether it happens or not. After that, do you think they're ready to just focus on the draft?

Speaker 2:

No, I wanted to pay Josh Allen. That's what I wanted to do.

Speaker 1:

Well, yeah, well, yeah, obviously, yeah, obviously that's the top of the list, Right I?

Speaker 2:

mean no. Like you know, it was an article on Jaguars where I got caught my quick kickers that the Jaguars should look at, and the kicker last name, joseph Runner Vikings, is the guy that you know I might look at in terms of rounding out this class. But no, at this point, man, I want Josh Allen to get his money, and the reason I say that is because the one guy that I did want them to get it and I wanted to get him after Josh Allen got paid but if it happens in reverse order, that's okay, they got him that was Eric Ormsted. So, yeah, no, I don't have anybody at this point, because that was the guy I wanted him to get for the reasons I mentioned. With his, you know his skills as a pass rusher. So you know, give Balkia Pat on the bat for reading my mind on that part of it. Now, get Josh Allen his deal.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think we can all agree with that. Let's get 41 paid and get them to work. So, jay, anything else you want to mention before we wrap up this episode? Again, it was a long time coming. I apologize for the delay, that one was on me last week, but we'll see how the next few days stack up. And who knows, jay, by the time this episode releases, it will already be obsolete, which is just the how things go with sports journalism. Anything else you want to mention before we get out of here for the evening?

Speaker 2:

No man, Just glad we can get back in the booth and excited to see where the offseason goes. As much of a roller coaster as it has been Excited to. I've been reaching out to guests to come on talk about a draft. So excited about that and the offseason in general. But yeah, man, nothing else, Just glad to be back in the booth and, you know, glad we had some decent additions to talk about as well. It's something to gripe about too, so can't wait for the next episode.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely Well. Just as a reminder again, guys, make sure you head on to the link tree. Link in the show notes of each and every single episode. Find the links to the website as well as our social media pages. That'll be the best way to keep up with everything going on with Freedency and the NFL draft. Also, do not forget to download the Seekik app and use our promo code. Touchdown Jaguars Help support the podcast, save yourself some money. It is a win-win. Folks, that is my co-host, james Johnson. I am Phil Smith, and do not forget to tune in Touchdown Jaguars wherever you. Jaguar touchdown and we'll see you on the next one.