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Touchdown Jaguars!
Touchdown Jaguars!
Episode 88: Stadium of the Future Approved / Jaguars Mount Rushmore
Ever wondered how a $1.4 billion renovation could transform a city's identity? Join us on the Touchdown Jaguars podcast as we unpack the recently approved renovation plan for EverBank Stadium. Hosts Phil Smith and James Johnson share insights on the Jaguars' significant financial commitments, including covering all cost overruns and contributing $100 million to the Community Benefits Agreement. We also experience the excitement of future stadium features, from full seating coverage with a canopy to expanded concourses and new food and beverage points.
We reflect on the broader implications for Jacksonville, including a separate $94 million in funding for community benefits. Despite some imperfections, the deal has relatively favorable terms for taxpayers and the potential to elevate fans' pride in their city. Shad Khan's respect within the ownership circle is highlighted as a crucial factor in navigating these challenges.
What's next for Jacksonville's stadium development? Get ready for a discussion on the transformative potential of this renovation, from attracting major concerts and sports events to spurring broader urban development. We envision EverBank Stadium becoming a landmark akin to SoFi Stadium or Allegiant Stadium, enhancing city pride and identity. Our conversation also includes a passionate debate about the Jacksonville Jaguars' Mount Rushmore, spotlighting legends like Tony Boselli, Fred Taylor, Maurice Jones-Drew, and Jimmy Smith. Tune in for a comprehensive look at the past, present, and future of the Jacksonville Jaguars and their iconic stadium.
https://jaguarswire.usatoday.com/2024/06/25/jacksonville-jaguars-stadium-of-the-future-deal-passes-city-council-vote/
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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.
Still ready and good. That is a goal Good. Touchdown Jacksonville 109 yards. Incredible, incredible Play action. Upstairs, wide open Tommy Bohannon Touchals. Upstairs, wide open, tommy Bohannon. Touchdown Jacksonville Looking for Jimmy in the end zone. Touchdown Jaguars. Touchdown Jaguars Touchdown Jaguars.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. Here are your hosts, james Johnson and Phil Smith. Hey everyone, welcome back 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 after we took a week for you to do a solo episode, after we were having some technical issues.
Speaker 1:What else is new in the world of podcasting? And you know, this week has brought a whole nother just laundry list of issues, but we pushed through in order to bring everybody the best possible content that we have. Jay, obviously there's been a lot going on here within the city of Jacksonville. Obviously, it's news pertaining not just the Jaguars but the city and the county as a whole and, honestly, all of Northeast Florida. So we're going to talk about that and also we are going to take a topic that I know has been a hot discussion over the last couple of weeks. Yes, we are a little bit late to this discussion, but it is also the middle of the summer and we're looking for content. So you know what? I don't want to hear it from anybody. I think it will still make for a fun conversation regardless.
Speaker 1:So, jay, how are you doing in here tonight? We made it through the technical difficulties and you know, we knew well at least I knew I had to get this recording done here tonight, on Wednesday, july 3rd, because it would have been impossible to record tomorrow. Because I know poor Shuri, my dog, is going to be having a rough night when it comes to the 4th of July. I don't know how Snug does with fireworks, but over here it's going to be a long night.
Speaker 2:Yeah, to answer that question, Snug does not do good at all with fireworks. Yeah, I will be going through the same thing that you will be going through, uh. So, yeah, we'll have to get him in his little safe zone, you know, and hopefully that'll help. Same for shuri, you know, comfort her as best as you can, uh. But yeah, man, glad to be back man and glad to talk about, as you said, a topic that we have kind of been on the forefront of discussing, not the Mount Rushmore thing but in terms of the stadium situation, which we'll spoiler there, we'll get into. But yeah, we kind of been on the forefront of just trying to get everybody prepared for what it would take to get this deal done and how unique the deal would have to be done, and just educating people to the best of our abilities on this podcast. And the time has finally come and you know, boy, did we ever get good news last month in terms of that situation.
Speaker 2:So, as always, you can find our content on touchdownjadwarscom in terms of written content and archived episodes of the podcast. They go there automatically when we upload them. And, um, you can follow me at sportsground underscore don on twitter. Follow phil at phil the filipino on twitter. Um, and I will let phil take over after that. Uh, just in case I forgot anything to plug.
Speaker 1:Yeah, everything you need is in the Linktree link of the show notes, all the social medias, the website, as well as the link to download the SeatGeek app. Save yourself $20 using promo code TOUCHDOWNJAGUARS and use that promo code on some I don't know some jumbo shrimp tickets, some concert tickets, whatever you feel like using that promo code on, just don't forget to use it. Promo code T jumbo shrimp tickets, some concert tickets, whatever you feel like using that promo code on, just don't forget to use it. Promo code Touchdown Jaguars. But yeah, jay, as you stated, we are going to be talking, of course, about the stadium of the future and the deal that passed a couple of weeks ago here at the time of recording, and well, a little bit over a week ago at the time of recording. I will say so yeah, like you said, jay, we have kind of been on the forefront of this, dating back to our Jags Den podcast days. So if you guys want to go back and check, you know and call us on this and fact check us, you can go find those old episodes. The quality isn't the best, but you can still go up, go out there and find that and, of course, in our Believe in the Jaguars days. So you know that those conversations are still very much on the internet and I'll go ahead and just read the article here we have from zach goodall over at the jaguars wire. Shout out to zach.
Speaker 1:The jacksonville city council passed the legislation for the jaguars 1.4 billion dollar plans to renovate everbank stadium tuesday evening with a 14 to 1 vote. Remember, this is a little bit over a week ago. The $775 million total public investment allocated for stadium construction, deferred capital and maintenance startup expenses marks the largest single capital project in city history. The Jaguars will contribute $625 million to the construction costs and be held responsible for all stadium cost overruns. They'll also make a $10025 million to the construction costs and be held responsible for all stadium cost overruns. They'll also make a $100 million contribution to the Community Benefits Agreement. Among the stadium plans include installing a canopy to provide shade, rain cover and improved airflow for 100% of observers in outdoor seating. Increased air conditioning. Doubling the width of the main concourse and creating a 360-degree connectivity on the upper concourse. 16 new escalators and 12 new elevators. 12 new restrooms and renovations and expansions to existing restrooms, and 190 new points of food and beverage sale. The construction is on track to begin following the 2025 season and complete before the 2028 season. Begin following the 2025 season and complete before the 2028 season.
Speaker 1:The Jaguars, as we have discussed in the past, will likely be playing at Camping World Stadium in Orlando or Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in 2027, while most of the construction is conducted. The deal includes a non-relocation agreement and a 30-year $1.35 million per year lease extension for the Jaguars on the stadium, which will take effect in 2028. We'll make sure to. There's a lot more information here. I'll make sure to link the article in the show notes of this episode. But, jay, the news that we were waiting for you know we got Josh Allen's deal out of the way. We got confirmation that the throwbacks were going to return in 2024. We got the lawrence deal out of the way. Next on that checklist was the stadium. And, jay, I can't remember the last time in an off season where we could check off so many things that we wanted to get done and, lo and behold, they are happening.
Speaker 2:So walk us through how you felt about a week ago when this news came through we are finally functioning like a nfl franchise, right, and who would have thought we would have had such a offseason where we achieved so much with trent balky's gym? Right, good job, trent. You won't hear me say that much, but, um, I mean, we lost ridley, but all things considered, that was like the worst part of the offseason. Right, it was mostly positive but, yeah, when I heard the news about this getting done and the city council approving it, it was a sigh of relief, right, because it's something, as I said earlier that we've occupied a lot of our time on this podcast, researching and informing the people and preparing them for this moment. And, um, you know kudos to, you know not just us, but other media, you know platforms that you know put the information out there for jazz fans to know and to be prepared and to understand what it would take to get this done, because this very well could have been a situation like St Louis. But we learned from that situation, right, and you know we applied what we learned from that situation to our situation. Our fans became well educated kudos to the fans became well educated on this situation and you, what could happen, what it would take to get this done, so on and so forth.
Speaker 2:Now, of course, now, look, you know a lot of people will say, well, we're not completely out of the woods yet, we're more so on the one yard line pushing it in for a touchdown. But of course there is, you know, the whole aspect, that the owners will have to approve this, of course. And you know we got people like Mike Florio out there saying like you know, not necessarily saying that the owners would vote against it but what if the owners don't want to set a precedent for you know 50-50 deals, which this kind of is, but when you add in the money that the Jaguars are going to put into the old stadium, it's not a 50-50 deal. But yeah, he's out there talking about you want to set a precedent of, or at least the owners might not want to set a precedent of, 50-50 deals, and you know this deal might not be to their liking. And you know we got to clear the woods with them. But you know, again, not to pat us on the back, but we asked Cameron Wolf about this, right, phil, two weeks ago, because he's somebody who has been to these meetings multiple times and you know, as he put out there, you know, and I never really looked at it this way, and it took somebody who has been to the owners meetings to say this. But you know, at some point in time, if you're a young enough owner, right, you're gonna have to go through this too. And you know, you don't want to be the one that has your deal voted down on right and have egg on your face when it comes your time to get renovations or get a stadium, a whole new stadium, whatever the case may be. And also, too, you know, um, I think hayes from 1010xl kind of said this um, you know, something else to factor into this is, you know, maybe just the owners just have a great amount of respect for shot con too as well. So there's that. So I'm not really concerned about the owner's part of it. Of course, you know you're it's never set in stone until it's set in stone, right, but I'm fully confident in that part of it going through. And, um, yeah, like I said, man, it was just a sigh of relief.
Speaker 2:One thing I do want to add to, though with the community benefits part of it, I do think about 94 million, I might have to fact check myself on this. About 94 million, I might have to fact check myself on this about 94 million will be pushed to a separate legislation. So they didn't get the whole amount that they were asking for in the deal, in the stadium deal packaged in the stadium deal. But they'll have a separate vote and I think that vote is this month actually, actually in the month of July for the other 94 million dollars which you know. That's another thing too, man, let's stay on top of these politicians. And what have you about getting this done? Because that's just important. As important to me as the stadium itself is to make sure the community benefits from it in some way, shape or form, and I think that's one of the unique things about this deal is that you know the taxpayers get screwed in all these deals. Don't get me wrong, but this one looks a lot better than some of the deals we've seen in the past. Right, with the community benefits that's in there, with the amount that you know taxpayers will be paying.
Speaker 2:Me and phil, you know we've come out to say like we were expecting this to be, like I had this conversation with phil a long time ago like near a billion dollars.
Speaker 2:I thought they were going to attack jacksonville taxpayers for the simple fact that they're a small market, and we've heard mark Lampin say hey, the NFL wants small markets to pay a little bit more than bigger markets. So that, to me, was something that I always kept in mind. And lo and behold, we're in a situation where it's a 55-60 split or whatever the math checks out there. But yeah, that'd be 55, 55, 45 split. But yeah, anyway, all of that said, this deal, as we said in the last podcast, all things considered it is not a bad deal when comparing it to some of the others out there. Of course we would have liked to have a fully controlled climate stadium, but still nonetheless, even for an open air stadium, that should bring in more events. For you know the city of Jacksonville, this is a very big, huge, significant step for the city of Jacksonville and fans should be very, very, very proud and happy about what was achieved last month.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, is it perfect? No, absolutely not. And when you deal with these types of situations, when it comes to, you know, spending this kind of money we talked about this, I think, a couple weeks ago Can this money go to other things? Of course it could. Of course it could if you want to keep your football team, if you want to keep your team in town and not join the ranks of the chargers, you know, the the san diego chargers and the st louis rams and so on and so forth. This is the game you play and, like you said, jay, the the deal that they got is pretty damn good all things considered. I know, kind of going a little, uh, a little viral, as Buffalo definitely took a shot during the vote. I don't know if that ever really went viral over on Bill's Mafia Twitter, but I know we were preparing for a war over on social media, but I don't think it ever happened.
Speaker 1:This has major, major ramifications on the future of jacksonville, obviously the future of the team, and I'm just very excited, jay. It does, kind of it does put me in an interesting spot because, you know, my daughter is set to graduate here in a couple years and I consider leaving jacksonville now? I'm not so sure about that. I gotta stick around at least until the stadium is done, right, so we will see what happens, but it's very exciting. I can't wait to see, uh, what, what type of events come through, assuming aew and we don't have any reason to believe that I won't be around in 2028, but I can only imagine that we'll get like an all out or an all in one or the other, right, jay? That's going to be super exciting. The type of massive concerts that are going to come through here. You know I'm not a fan of her music, but like getting somebody like a Taylor Swift or a Beyonce or one of these big stadium shows in Jacksonville is going to be a big deal. And I know they've hosted a couple big time stadium shows here. Luke Combs, I think, did a stadium show at the current stadium.
Speaker 1:But when we're talking about, you know, big time next level facilities, it's just going to be, I think, a sense of pride driving downtown and seeing that building in our city, right, jay? And obviously you're not here, but you're here. You're here quite a bit and you know driving through downtown and seeing this structure and being associated with our team, and you know, driving through downtown and seeing this, this structure, and being associated with our team and, uh, you know our, uh, the quarterback and and what this means for uh, everybody. Uh, it was definitely a very proud day. I didn't know there was the one guy, the one council member, who voted against it just for the sake of I don don't know what their excuse was. I didn't really care to look into it. But when looking at it just from the perspective of a citizen here in Jacksonville and a fan of this team, jay, and taking the business stuff out of it, I felt very proud to be around for this to happen. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and you kind of mentioned something I didn't really think of just having the stadium as a centerpiece, as you know, something that you know people remember when they're passing through downtown Jacksonville, and that'll especially be the case with how beautiful the stadium is. Is it perfect, like you said? No, we wish it was fully climate controlled, and who's to say in the future that won't be a possibility, right, you know we see how engineering is just evolving quickly, right? So who's to say they can't fully enclose it? You know what I'm saying down the road it may be even possible now.
Speaker 2:But, um, yeah, going back to what I was saying, yeah, how these stadiums kind of stick out for cities, right, they stick out for cities like that that are way bigger than Jacksonville, right, for, like LA SoFi Stadium is beautiful to look at. I mean, I know you and Eric have been there and you've discussed your issues with that stadium on this podcast, but looking at it visually is beautiful and it's something that you always remember. I can remember when we went to Dallas with you for the draft. Seeing that stadium always will stick out in my mind of how beautiful it looks.
Speaker 2:Right, and the one in Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, las Vegas is known for his beautiful hotels and you know the beautiful lights that come with the casinos and all of that Right. But when you see Allegiant Stadium, that's something that sticks out too. Despite all of that, a lot of people are starting to remember Las Vegas. Now for Allegiant Stadium more than gambling Right, because the, as they call it, death star looks so beautiful. It's such a pleasing visual for your eyes. So if a stadium sticks out like that for cities like LA and Las Vegas and you know all of these places.
Speaker 2:I've named Atlanta too. Atlanta Stadium is very beautiful too. I know it will do the same for Jacksonville, and that's just the starting point for it. That's, you know, that's kind of what I text you in the thread, when you were saying, like man, like I, can I move now? And I was like, well, you know, the thing about stadiums is typically how this thing goes. History shows is, you build a stadium and the rest comes to your city and the rest will build around it, right?
Speaker 2:So maybe this is the kickstart jacksonville needs to, you know, start building the downtown area up. That's always been what they've been saying and that's always been the goal, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. I mean, we're already kind of seeing it the hotel going next door to him, right, the, the four seasons hotel, and also I read an article too not only is it the hotel and the jaguar stadium, but around the same time, in terms of completion, the new museum, the scientific museum, will be done too, which I think they're putting five million dollars into that. So, yeah, the new, the new mosh, yeah yeah. So like they'll have three projects completed around the same time and generally the same area on the same road. Almost that will be completed around the same time.
Speaker 2:So Jacksonville in three years, four years, is going to look downtown is going to look a lot different than it does now. Downtown is going to look a lot different than it does now. Of course, there's still a lot more to add there and the shipyards still need to be, you know, built on and you know something needs to. You know they need to come to some kind of conclusion with that. The Lower Street Trio. I don't know how that's going, but last time I checked maybe they were having a breakthrough in fixing that up. It looks like the downtown area is going to look, you know, by a decade, significantly different than what we're seeing right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know, I'm curious to know if, like a lot of other people feel this way. And, jay, you know I've expressed this frustration with you. You know, in terms of Jacksonville, like I have a very complicated history with Jacksonville in terms of just things to do and obviously, if you really look, there's always something going on in Jacksonville. It's a great city but, like all those projects you mentioned and like you said, you know, just having just a big landmark, like when you drive through downtown Atlanta or what you see, you know Mercedes Benz Stadium, and you know it's a big deal, it's just a great landmark to have in your city. And you know, with adding the hotel and hopefully, the stores down the road, and then, like you said, like I said, the new Mosh building. You know that you brought up all that.
Speaker 1:You know, like you said here, in the next few years, jackson downtown Jacksonville is going to be completely different. Few years, jackson downtown Jacksonville is going to be completely different. You know, obviously they're renovating a lot down there. You know, I don't know if you've ever been to the library in downtown Jacksonville, but it's beautiful. It's a gorgeous building inside and out. You know, I do wish there was a little bit more nightlife.
Speaker 1:Now, of course you could go to Riverside for that, and you know that's great. But even Riverside and five points is changing, some for the good, some for the bad. That's a whole different conversation. But you know it does give somebody who maybe is thinking about leaving, like myself in a few years, second thoughts, you know, because you want to stick around to see what Jacksonville is evolving into. So I'm very excited about that. Can't wait to go see games there. Can't wait to see how much my season tickets are going to increase in price. Hopefully not too much, but we all know how that goes. But it's going to be exciting nonetheless. And, jay, we have to make sure that we are there for the first ever. Whatever if it's Everbank, whatever stadium, it is for the first stadium stampede that's going to be held in this arena. We can't miss it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I in this arena, we can't miss it. Oh yeah, I already told josh, our our homie, josh. Shout outs to josh. Shout outs to the yellow label podcast, shout outs to the yellow label crew. Um, but I already told josh, I can already see, like tony khan and the like young bucks, thinking about something wild on top of that. That, um, that roof. Uh, don't know what they'll dial up, but I would not be shocked if they didn't try something crazy in that stadium, that roof in general.
Speaker 2:And also one thing I wanted to add, to feel the next thing we have we've been on this agenda of getting the stadium situation fixed for 10 years on this podcast or other variations of this podcast.
Speaker 2:The next thing on the agenda is getting a joypolis downtown, and I don't know if you ever heard of joypolis, but it's this indoor theme park in japan and everybody has always wanted an american version, and I know this is a long shot, by the way, but everybody has always wanted an american version and jacksonville would be a great spot for it.
Speaker 2:If I don't, you know, I'll just put the city on right now and do what I'm supposed to do as a former citizen joy police, if you want to build this indoor theme park. Uh, in america jacksonville is the spot is plenty of space and uh, basically the concept of it is like they got a lot of video game themes in the inside sega's attack on titan, type of stuff on the inside. This is a real neat concept, so I just wanted to put that on the agenda and you know, if it happens, you know they got to pay us our money. That was the point in doing that is we got to get our share of the cut if it ever happened I have seen these on like instagram and tiktok.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, hey, like you said, jay, plenty of room for one of these. I'd be totally down in terms of you know, obviously I wouldn't be riding any rides or anything like that sports bars and stuff like that, with a lot of interactive things inside like digital golf and dodgeball football, all that kind of stuff. So just take a page out of Orlando's book and let's get one of these here in Jacksonville. I'm tired of top golf. We can, we can upgrade a little bit, but, jay, anything else you want to mention in terms of the stadium deal, before we move into a little bit of fun as we jump into this Mount Rushmore topic, yeah, yeah, no, I didn't think about that part.
Speaker 2:Phil, with with your, uh, with your condition, we don't need you on the attack on titan ride, virtual reality attack on titan ride or anything like that. You just stick to the arcade games. If they bring one, all right and you'll be good. But I know, man, we've covered it all. Man, I'm ready to get on to the arcade games if they bring one, all right and you'll be good. But I know, man, we've covered it all. Man, I'm ready to get on to the next topic here sounds good.
Speaker 1:Well, exciting times ahead here in jacksonville, to say the least. But let's move into, uh, the topic for this week, again just having a little fun. And on the 27th, so about a week ago, uh, the jaguars tweeted out who is on your Jags, mount Rushmore. Now I know that this has been covered by some other content creators. Of course, 1010xl got into it and our buddy T-Wig, who, by the way, on the day of this recording is his birthday. So shout out to T-Wig Happy birthday to our friend. We're hoping to get him on the pod one day and do a little collaboration. But T-Wig has also done an episode on this that I'm sure a lot of other people have added their 10 cents in. But, jay, we are going to go over our mount rush moors. Do we want to go over some honorable mentions first? I wrote, I wrote a couple of those down, did you?
Speaker 2:yeah, I got a couple, if you want to do that as well.
Speaker 1:So a couple guys came to mind for me yeah, so here are some guys that are left off of my list, that were were, like just on the cusp. Um, the first one I'll bring up is somebody that I saw a lot of people mention, uh, and also t wig mentioned this as well, I think, in his list of honorable mentions tony brackens. Uh, tony brackens definitely got some consideration here. Um, I think it really came down to longevity, and also just the other guys that are on my list have such incredibly strong resumes. Not that Tony doesn't, but Tony Brackens is one of my honorable mentions.
Speaker 1:Mark Brunel obviously the quarterback, one of the first quarterbacks to lead us to that early success and really put Jacksonville on the map. I don't know if this guy is on your list, jay, I know he's on a lot of people's. I have Jimmy Smith as an honorable mention, just barely on the outside, certainly somebody that I could probably be convinced or talked into to be on this list, but again, it just came down to a really, really four strong resumes when it comes to the guys that I did pick, and then also rashid mathis, right there on the outside, for me as well. Um, did you have any of those guys on the outside looking in as well?
Speaker 2:yeah, I had runel and brackens on there. Puzz is another one. Um, I, I know, you know we came upon a time where you had to get a little faster on the field at linebacker, and you know. Then you know we had to come up with a package where we had to get off the field at times, but still, man and we, you know, we got to take a picture with them and everything when we went to the draft party. So I was to the OG man. He was the first one I went to and dapped up. But yeah, puz man, he, that man, made a lot of tackles for this team and like a lot of tackles, a straight up tackling machine. And I also have Henderson on here. Big John Shout outs to Big John. He was a force in the middle.
Speaker 2:I hate it for any young Jaguars fans that didn't get to watch him in person because it was straight havoc on the field and I probably shouldn't put this person on the list because he wasn't drafted by the Jaguars, but he meant so much to the city and he was a high-time performer, a big-time performer, should I say for us, for the amount of times that he was a high, a high time performers, a big time performer, should I say for us, for the.
Speaker 2:You know the amount of times that he was here. But you know, and people will probably be like you can't put him on the list, but calais meant so much to the city man, um, you know, being the first man of the year to, you know, for the jacksonville jaguars, that was significant and it meant a lot to the community and you even hear him still talking about donating to the city of Jacksonville and and helping out with the city of Jacksonville and I mean the performance on the field matched too, like he was, he was out there wrecking havoc. I'll never forget what was it? A four sack game he had in his first game with us feel, if I'm not mistaken, against the Texas. It was something pretty insane.
Speaker 2:But you know the birth of Saxonville right yeah, yeah, but of course I can't put him on the Mount Rushmore because he wasn't drafted by us. But yeah, those are some of the guys that came to mind with honorable mentions for me yeah, I actually also considered coleus.
Speaker 1:I think, jay, if he were still here now like if he hadn't been, you know, traded after the whole debacle, after 2018 and everything that happened I think if he were still here now, I think he would get strong consideration because, like you said, even though he wasn't drafted by us I remember brunel wasn't, you know, and he's on a lot of people's lists uh, jimmy smith he wasn't drafted by us. So I don't think that's necessarily a deterrent, but I think if calais were still here now and had been with us this entire time, through the rebuild and, you know, getting through urban and everything like that I think he would get strong consideration for a spot. So I don't think that's too far off from, uh, what you saying there. I don't think including him is really that much of a stretch, but I do believe he belongs on the honorable mention list.
Speaker 1:How should we do this, jay? Should we go one by one, because I think, for the most part, ours is a little bit similar, but I think I have one person on here that you don't have, and also Wig did not have either. So how do we want to do this?
Speaker 2:you don't have, and also wig did not have either. So how do we want to do this? Yeah, so you go ahead and give your list, because for the most part it's going to sync up with my list and, um, the one that we disagree on. We'll have a discussion about that as well, if that makes sense okay, yeah, that sounds good, jay.
Speaker 1:So let me give you the three that I think we do have in common. And the three that I have are tony baselli um, I think that makes a whole lot of sense. Our own, our first and only uh hall of famer so far, first ever draft pick, you know that goes without saying that one's pretty self-exclamatory. Next up, and this isn't in any specific order, this is just uh, four people, uh, fred taylor I have on there as well. I think a lot of people would agree with that one. We don't have to talk about that too much. And then I have just like Wig has, and I believe you do Maurice Jones Drew, and because he, I think, really ushered in this new era of Jaguar football right, we had the Fred Taylor, tony Buscelli, mark Brunel days and then we got MJD and it was just like the seamless transition of a guy who became mainstream right. And this was, of course, even. This was still when Jacksonville was still trying to get any type of recognition. And in comes this guy, second round pick. He's charismatic, he plays the game the right way, he's incredibly likable and to this day obviously still has a lot of love for the city. Maurice Jones Drew, I think, is a because of his resume and because of what he means to this town to this day. I mean, you go to any Jaguar game it's still full of Maurice Jones Drew jerseys. Because of this and because of the impact he had, making the team more marketable. I have MJD on here and the guy that I think I've seen maybe a couple people mention and this, you know, a little bit cheating, because I would put both of them on here, jay, but I do have Wayne and Dolores Weaver Now. Would put both of them on here, jay, but I do have wayne and dolores weaver now. If you have to pick one, then obviously I'll put wayne weaver on here, but obviously because the you know we wouldn't have the team without him and a bunch of other people.
Speaker 1:And listen our podcast for those of you that do not know, it's in every single show note of every single episode, the history of how the jacksonville jaguars came to be here in jackville. Wayne Weaver obviously a big, big part of that. And Touchdown Jacksonville was the name of the ownership group that was organized in order to try and convince the NFL to expand to Jacksonville and remember to this day, even when we get this new stadium. Jacksonville is not supposed to have an NFL team. You guys, we are the franchise that is looked down upon, obviously the London BS and all that stuff that's not going away. Even we get, you know, a new stadium, but Wayne Weaver, along with that group, but obviously Wayne Weaver being the face of, you know, of that group to bring the team here.
Speaker 1:And you know there's that iconic picture of him holding up the newspaper. That's on the Duval Till we Die shop t-shirt. Love that shirt, One of my favorites. Wear it all the time. I put Wayne Weaver on here for that reason, jay, just because of what he means to the city, what they continue to mean to the city in terms of the team. And you know, without him, who knows if they are even here and if we are?
Speaker 2:No, you make a good point with putting Wayne Weaver on there. After all, he influenced the name of this podcast, right, like we don't come up with the concept of the name of our lot if Wayne Weaver doesn't, you know, put forth the money and the team and the resources to put this operation together and make this and, you know, have the organization started here in Jacksonville. So, no, I mean that that makes complete sense to put Wayne Weaver in there. And I completely agree, and you know me, you have had this conversation. You asked me once, like who is the guy that I just really, really want to interview for this podcast or other versions of our podcast? And I said Wayne Weaver.
Speaker 2:I would love to hear from Wayne Weaver, despite you know him, no longer being the owner, but just, I want to hear the story of you know, the whole mindset it took to come up with, you know, even believing this was possible for Jacksonville, right, I want to hear about that. And I want to hear about the people he got involved in, the people, the key parts of his team that helped this to happen as well. Because, again, as I said, without Wayne Weaver, quite frankly, um, you know, our friendship doesn't happen. Uh, a lot of what we're doing on Twitter doesn't happen. You know like we've been blessed enough to get jobs out of this team. You know what I'm saying? Like not jobs directly through them, but jobs and opportunities to sit in the press box and meet new people within the fan base and outside of the fan base. So nah, man, I mean that's. He's actually probably the top guy that should be on the mount rushmore. If you're talking about it from the perspective of jags fans and the touchdowndown Jaguars podcast.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't even consider that right, like the whole trajectory of our friendship, and you know we had a lot of mutual friends. You know we probably would have crossed paths eventually, but we sure wouldn't have been at training camp that day. Right, that wouldn't have happened. So, yeah, you know, I'm sure a lot of people can really trace a lot of the relationships they have now back to Wayne Weaver and the Jacksonville Jaguars. You know how many people have made lifetime friends with the people that they sit with. You know that. I do know. Shout out to Jay, paul and them. I know those people have created lifetime bonds. You know what I mean. Like that's their family now, like found family, you know.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I think Wayne Weaver has to be on this list. I know a lot of people would slot in somebody else, but I'm interested to see what your list is, jay. I do want to bring up, before you get to yours, some some other names that were on here on the thread from the Jaguars. I see a lot of people mentioning Tom Coughlin, so I want to ask you this first so does Tom Coughlin's second tenure here, but had a lot to do with the Jaguars being in the slump that they were in is because of the way that he micromanaged this team. Does that keep him out of this conversation for you, or can you solely isolate what he did, obviously when he was here as a coach?
Speaker 2:No, no, yeah, you can't hold what he did as a VP a vp, even though, like me, you have been very vocal especially me about how terrible you know how the divide was between his mentality and the youngest player mentality, and they could just never meet in the middle and, as a result, a very, very, very promising team, um, as close to a super bowl team as we probably ever had was dismantled, right. But no, you can't just hold that against him solely, um, and it's because tom, tom coughlin is a big reason, right, why we even have a smidgen of winning history, right, this franchise, when you look at it in this whole, what 30 years of existence doesn't have a lot of winning to talk about? And when we have these conversations about winning, you have to start with Tom Coughlin and what was done in the 90s, right? So if it weren't for him, let's call it what it is, man, we be talking about one of the worst franchises ever in pro sports history. Probably and unless you know they, you know the Jaguars go another direction, get another coach that was just as winning as Tom Coughlin, or you know better than Tom Coughlin, we'll never know. But again, at the very least he is a key part of what small resume of winning we have and let's put this in our minds, right, phil, let's say we never have that spurt of winning under Tom Coughlin and is replaced with mostly losing seasons.
Speaker 2:Are we even still Jags fans? You know, like? I mean, I could say I probably would be. I've stuck through some terrible times, but a lot of people don't have that kind of money and patience, and if they don't have that kind of money and patience, could you blame them? You know? So like a lot of the fan base would be maybe gone or tanked out by now. But that's just my opinion on the matter. I don't know how you feel about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know that's a really good question. I think I still would be, just because you know I did end up moving here and I have a lot of family here. When I first started becoming a fan of the team, I was living in Michigan and my team at the time was the Lions. You know Barry Sanders, johnny Morton, herman Moore those days, and then they were obviously awful. But you know, when the team, you know, when they got the team, obviously I knew my cousins and everybody and aunts and uncles were incredibly excited, no-transcript and and everything like that.
Speaker 1:Uh, if you, if you take away that success, or is the team even here still like, let's just, let's just keep it real. Like, is the team even still still Like, let's just keep it real. Like, is the team even still here if they don't have that early success? Because remember, following that, you know we had the Lefwich and Garrard years and those were, you know, those were pretty solid and we had obviously MJD. But then you know you follow that up with the Blaine, gabbert and Blake Bortles years. Who knows what happens if you take away that early success of the team. So that's, there's a lot of good conversations to be had, um, but I agree, I I think tom coughlin deserves uh consideration for this list and I don't blame people at all if they have him on their list as well. Um, but yeah, that was a guy I definitely wanted to talk about. But, jay, who do you have on your jaguars? Mount rushmore?
Speaker 2:yeah, so I have tony bocelli, of course, and this probably a dead giveaway of my list was the list I put on jaguars wires like what five years ago of top jaguars players that were played, uh, so if you somebody dug that up or were to dig that up, that'll probably be a dead giveaway. But Bo Selle, of course, our first ever Hall of Famer Fred Taylor, mjd and Jimmy Smith are mine. I'll just give a little brief discussion on all of them. As I said, with Bo Selle, he is the first Hall of Famer, first ever draft pick for this team. He is the first Hall of Famer, first ever draft pick for this team. And like, when you talk about starting a franchise and their first ever draft pick, I mean who better to start it with Right? I mean, I guess you can make some cases in history, but you know he started things off right for this team. In terms of him being the first ever draft pick, I don't think he could have, you know, ended better for his career, aside from you know, maybe he could have been a little bit more healthier and all of that, but the man ended up being a Hall of Famer. So we are blessed to have our first overall pick in history in franchise history, be a Hall of Famer and provide us with just a high level of performance for the many, many years that he did. I mean we all seen the videos of him chirping at Jason Taylor and shouting, you know, shutting him down, and just all of the premier defensive ends and edge rushes he shut down back in the day. It was a thing of beauty to watch. And with Fred Taylor everybody knows I'm a huge Fred Taylor advocate. I believe Fred Taylor should be in the hall of fame and I'll argue till I'm blue in the face that he should be.
Speaker 2:He played running back at a time where it was not easy to play running back. People would say, well, you know, he wasn't the healthiest guy in the world. Well, yeah, back then playing running back was a whole different animal and people got to remember. With Fred Taylor is he played in an era where you could probably say owners and you know just the league in general didn't care as much about player health as they did now. So you know that was a hard thing to do at his time and also to keep in mind. This was well before the two-back system thing was a thing, or three-back system or however. You know now we see running backs by committee is that's just the most natural thing to see on the team, right? But then you know you, you had one, one, one dude that could carry the load, and that was for us.
Speaker 2:That was fred taylor, who has he said it, his words, not mine murk some of the dudes that you know are the favorite greats on your team and the hall of fame on your team. So we ain't gonna name any names, but he's right about that and he should be in the hall of fame. I mean, you look at the all-time rushers list, right. When you look at the top 15, 16 dudes uh, 17, if you include him, just about all of those guys are in the hall of fame, except for adrian peterson and frank gore, and I would say they belong in the hall of fame too as well, just as well as fred taylor. If he had not played for the jacksonville jaguars, that man would be in the hall of fame and he absolutely should be in the hall of fame now and um, again, if there's anything in my power I don't hold a power that, like Gene Furnette or anybody does when it comes to a pro football Hall of Fame vote. But if it was anything in my power I could do to get him in there, I would have Fred Taylor in there. So that's how much I respect him. Mjd man, he was just so good for us in a time where we weren't that great around him. He was really all. We had, him and Fred, you know, for the time that they worked together. He came in at the end of Fred's career, so Fred didn't always have him. But yeah, mjd man, like he's just one of my favorite players, if not my favorite player to watch.
Speaker 2:When it comes to Jaguars film, we heard Jarrion Jones shout out to Jarrion Jones talk about and I love hearing young guys talk about MJD, but he said quote unquote when MJD came through the A-gap, you know somebody was getting ran over or demolished or whatever the case may be, so that you know he was all business man, hard to bring down. You know, former he led the league in rushing one time, went to the Pro Bowl a couple of times. Man, this guy was the epitome of Jacksonville in terms of hard working, getting stuff done and doing the best you could with what you had around you. And then, lastly, as I said, I got Jimmy Smith on there, who you know he's another guy that you can really argue should be in the Hall of Fame, right. I know you know he has a troubled history, but he's now past that and you know he's a guy that me and Phil have seen make some dynamic plays on the field.
Speaker 2:Him and Keenan McCardell. You know they were kind of ahead of their time from the perspective of what they were able to do together as a pair in a time in the 90s where it was all about running the ball Right, like that was a big thing. And here you have these two guys you know, kind of on the forefront of at least in the 90s at that time, for you know how a dynamic passing attack could look. And of course, you know jimmy more so than keenan, and keenan did some amazing things too. But jimmy, more so than keenan, was the guy that you saw every week beating on whoever was the best cornerback on the opps side. You know whether it was deep slants. Whatever the case may be, he got it done.
Speaker 2:And, like you said, phil, he was a guy not necessarily drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars, but it feels like he was A big mistake on the Cowboys part right that we took advantage of. And you know, had it not been for a guy, as you said, Phil, we mentioned earlier, and Tom Coughlin, seeing his talent, and Mark Brunel's talent as well, you know a lot of Jags. History isn't so great without you know what Jimmy Smith was able to do. So those are my four and I think I can concretely say it probably won't change for a very, very long time. Trevor Lawrence could get in there, right, if he does what I think he could do, but that list probably won't change for a very, very long time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jimmy Smith, he's a guy. When you turn on his highlights for anybody that like isn't familiar with what jimmy smith did you turn on his highlights and you're like, oh my god, like he was. He was like that. Like people are surprised by how dominant jimmy smith was. And you know he certainly deserves his flowers. And you know, and again I put in wayne weaver for for my reasons, and you know, I think we both make some good reason, uh, some good arguments for, for both of our lists. But yeah, I mean, jimmy was just just like, he was special man. And then pairing him with keenan and the whole thunder and lightning thing for the longest time, uh, who knows, you can talk about that too.
Speaker 1:As far as lumping him in there with Coughlin and Brunel, like you know he was a guy who. Where would this franchise be without those three? You know, without those three guys? As far as uh, on offense, so, uh, I don't have a problem at all with Jimmy being on on your list. I think that is a very, very good choice but uh, yeah, I don't think I.
Speaker 1:I don't remember if you had mentioned it. Jade, what do you think about uh rashid mathis as far as a honorable mention, would you? Did he get any consideration from you?
Speaker 2:I love rashid mathis man.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know everybody know I got affinity for dps, uh, but with Rasheed man, a lot of what I can't get past with his career. As much as I love him and as much as you know, I'll argue with somebody on Twitter about his accolades, and you know, especially another fan. If another fan has something to say about Rasheed Mathis, we can have an argument. But one thing that always stood out with me with Rasheem was a lot of his career was centralized around like gambles and they were gambles that paid off. Granted.
Speaker 2:Now, don't get me wrong, but sometimes I have to wonder, like is is he as good as I think he is? You know, am I putting him a little higher on a pedestal than you know he truly is, and that that's always kind of resonated with me. So you know for me, like I think I might have some personal bias with him. But when you look at the film, like he was like the king of gambling, right, and you know, had those, a lot of those gambles not paid off? You know we're talking about a whole different player. That makes sense. But, yeah, love Rasheem man and uh, funny story about Rasheem. We wanted to have Rasheem on, you know, as a guest host with us at one point in time, right, phil, uh, so that's a nice little story about him. Wish we could have made that happen.
Speaker 1:Uh, that's just kind of the respect that we have for him yeah, that was definitely one of the names that we threw out to hopefully work with. Unfortunately it didn't happen, but hopefully we can get him on the podcast one day. He's in a lot of work for the high school that's right next to my neighborhood over at Sandalwood. So I will tell a funny story about Rasheed Mathis. I don't even know if I've ever shared this with you, jay.
Speaker 1:For a very brief holiday period I worked at Best Buy one of the worst jobs I've ever had, by the way. I was working at Best Buy during the holiday season and he came in there with his family and, mind you, I worked in the computer department, like laptops, desktops. That's the department I worked in. But obviously I recognized him, dapped him up, told him we appreciated him and everything he was doing. It was a bad year too. They were not playing very well, but obviously, you know, showed him love and he said he was looking for the beats headphones right, mind you, nowhere near my department. But I left my department to go help Rasheed Mathis find these beats headphones for him and his family. I w I didn't care about where I was supposed to be at that time. I am helping rashid mathis right now. So if I I didn't get in trouble, but if I had I've been like I mean, I don't know what to tell you. Rashid mathis needed beats headphones. I was going to show him where the beats headphones were.
Speaker 2:Jay, I don't know if I ever told you that story no, you absolutely did the right thing, though, and you know not only that, I don't think your manager could argue with like come on, man, like you gotta. If rashid mathis steps through your, your doors, you gotta get him what he needs, man, not to say anything against any other customers there. But if rashid mathis walks through my door and I'm a manager and he says he wants some beats headphones, I don't care if we don't have the beats headphones, I'll walk over to apple in the town center, get them for him and give be uh, give him the beats headphones that he wants. So no, I'm totally with you, man. I never heard that story from you, though that's the first time I've heard it it was the best buy at the town center.
Speaker 1:Uh, not the one that's on the. That was over by the the toys r us. So I was at the town center. I was prepared to go wherever he needed to go. If he needed help, I would have helped him out. So, uh, yeah, but obviously, jay. Uh, somebody mentioned this on on twitter on the thread and I I can't believe we left this goat off of the off of the list. Uh, frank gore where does frank gore go on? Do we just create a fifth mount rushmore head for Frank Gore specifically?
Speaker 2:hey, I kind of mentioned Frank Gore when I mentioned Fred Taylor in that list, right, uh, so that shows you how much I like Frank Gore, right? Um, but yeah, no, no, you come on, man. You heard me say it on this podcast. Man, with the new stadium, there should be a hall of fame, like the Packers have in their stadium. There should be a hall of fame, like section, in the stadium.
Speaker 2:I'm not talking about the pride. I'm talking about like an actual place you can go in and see. You know memorabilia Mike Thomas' jersey from the Hail Mary, jimmy Smith's old jersey, mjd's Pro Pro Bowl jersey, all these iconic pieces that have been a part of jazz history. We need a place like that where we could go. And definitely I have said this on the podcast like four times Phil, a Frank Gore statue needs to be in there. Like no ifs, ands or buts, personally, put him on the pride. Personally needs to be in there. Like no ifs, ands or buts.
Speaker 2:I personally put him on the pride personally. Like people might be like okay, you're, you're overstepping your boundaries, but no, that man gifted us with a quarterback and that is something that we had talked for on this podcast for years and years and years and years of not having. We almost spent a decade of talking about not having a quarterback on our podcast and Frank Gore eliminated that. So shout outs to Frank Gore when will you guys get that statue in there? And when you get it in there, we need Frank Gore to do the ribbon cutting, because that guy absolutely deserves to be a part of Jaguars history. No matter how you slice it.
Speaker 1:History, no matter how you slice it, the house that Frank Gore built. That is what it will go down in history as. But, jay, this was a very fun conversation. You know, again middle of summer looking for stuff to talk about. We appreciate the Jags admin for throwing this out there. Not that this is a new conversation. We've kind of had this discussion before.
Speaker 1:I remember years ago in one of the awful Jaguar Facebook groups throwing this out there, and somebody actually had an issue with me putting Wayne Weaver on there First off. If you're in any of those Facebook groups for the Jaguars, leave them. They're all awful. You're arguing with somebody who doesn't know what they're talking about and whose primary social media site is Facebook. If Facebook is still your primary social media site in 2024, I'm imploring you, please leave it.
Speaker 1:Do something else. It doesn't have to be Twitter, it doesn't have to be Instagram. Just don't do Facebook anymore. That is what I will implore you to do. But, jay, anything else you want to mention, anybody else you want to mention as a possibility for this list, or anything else you want to mention as a as a possibility for this list, or anything else you want to discuss before we wrap up this week's episode well, note to self, never post our podcast in one of the facebook groups again, because I probably did that once or twice this year but yeah no right, as you said, though, um, we're, we're a different time.
Speaker 2:Facebook shouldn't be the primary source for Jaguars news, right? But, yeah, man, nothing else I wanted to add. Man, great episode, the nostalgic ones are always fun, right? Hopefully we'll have a few more, and not only that. Just have on some guests that could give us some nostalgic stories. Man, some of the best moments for podcasting for me have been the nostalgic stories like Leon Searcy, you know, telling me, and Jacob shout out to Jacob that Tom Coughlin was trying to basically tell him how to live his nightlife. Right, and all of that like great stories, like that we could get by having these guests on. So this was fun, uh, to have a nostalgic conversation within ourselves, and uh, yeah, I can't wait to uh have more of these. As always, like I said, you can find the website for us, touchdownjadwarscom, and, um, as phil has said as well, you can find all our other information in our link tree, link, which is in our bio on twitter that's right, folks.
Speaker 1:Everything you need in the show notes of this episode. Make sure you follow the social medias, check out the website and download the seakeek app to use our promo code. Touchdown jaguars. Folks, that is my co-host, james johnson. I am phil smith, and do not forget to tune in to touchdown Jaguars for every Jaguar touchdown and we will see you next time. Stay safe.