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Touchdown Jaguars!
Touchdown Jaguars!
Episode 90: Jaguars Preseason Kickoff: 4 Things To Watch vs Chiefs
Week 1 of the preseason is here and the Jacksonville Jaguars will be starting things off against the defending Super Bowl Champs in the Kansas City Chiefs. Join Jay this week as he took a dive into four things Jags fans should look for in Saturday's game.
With the Jaguars offensive line currently banged up, Jay shared his insight on what the group could look like Saturday and dove into the latest injury updates for Cam Robinson and a few others. There was also a discussion about the excitement fans should have about the defensive backs, who've impressed in training camp.
Lastly, you'll hear about the depth and diversity in the wide receiver room, which features talents like Christian Kirk, Brian Thomas Jr., and Parker Washington, all of whom have stood out in camp. All this and more was discussed and you won't want to miss Episode 90 as the Jags will begin their journey to the Super Bowl Saturday.
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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 running, and a goal that is a goal. Let's go. Touchdown Jacksonville. A hundred and nine yards Incredible Play action. Four holes Upstairs, wide open. Tommy Bohannon. Touchstairs, 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. All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast episode 90. As we are creeping up on the 100th episode, I am your host for today.
Speaker 1:One half of the Touchdown Jaguars crew, as you all know, james Johnson will be riding this one solo, as Phil, you know, has some things to take care of this evening, and by this evening I mean August, the 7th, wednesday, as the Jacksonville Jaguars are preparing for their first preseason game, which will be on Saturday, on the 10th, against the Kansas City Chiefs at, if I'm not mistaken, 7 pm. And, yep, they will be taking the field against the reigning Super Bowl champions, who brought home their fourth Super Bowl championship, if my memory serves me correctly, this past February. So what a way to start a preseason. And that is what we are going to discuss, because it's that time of the year. Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake about it. The preseason is here. Training camp has been going on. For what you know, we're in double digit days for training camp, so the Jaguars have kicked that process off. We didn't really get to talk about it last week, so this week we will get to talk more so about the action on the field, and we will be discussing in particular in this episode, as you probably seen by the title, we will be discussing saturday's game and a few things to look for heading into saturday's game, which, um, again, there's a lot of excitement brewing after everything we saw in training camp and the offseason we had. What an offseason we've had, right, um, you know. And, and then kudos to the jaguars and the things they've done, um, aside from like losing calvin, really, really, there haven't been any complaints about the offseason overall, not just like the stuff on the field though, um, but you know, off the field, the stadium deal getting done and what have you. And then, when you talk about on the field, of course it is the Trevor Lawrence deal, the Tyson Campbell deal, the Josh Hines-Allen deal. A lot of things got achieved financially and contractually, in terms of what the Jacksonville Jaguars did on the field too, so we won't stall too long on getting into the show.
Speaker 1:But of course, before we get into the show, as always, we have to plug our handles. As you all know, you can follow me most notably on Twitter at Sports Grind underscore done is where you can follow me. You can follow my co-hosts, who will be back soon. You can follow my co-host, who will be back soon. I think me and Phil will do a show, probably Sunday, recapping the first preseason game, and that's going to be a pretty exciting episode. We finally get to talk about some on the field action in terms of an actual game, albeit not a regular season game, but still. Of course, breaking down the preseason games are always fun for the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. But you can follow Phil Smith at Phil the Filipino, and that's Phil the F-I-L-I-P-I-N-O. And of course, you can follow the Touchdown Jaguars podcast handle at TDJaguarsPod.
Speaker 1:As you all know, we also have a website, an official website, touchdownjadwarscom, where we do written content on as well. And while I'm at it, shout outs to Fox Sports Jacksonville radio station that was recently revived, in February. That is now back. They had us on the Touchdown Jadwars podcast or they had me on for the first time on Jacksonville Airwaves. Can you believe it?
Speaker 1:All of this time that we've been doing podcasts, we have never done a radio appearance on Jacksonville Airwaves. We've done radio appearances all over the country Right, you name it. I've even done some in New Mexico. Phil has done some in Hawaii talking Jags, some in new mexico. Phil has done some in hawaii talking jags. I've done some, um, in in columbus, ohio, you name it, tennessee all over the country.
Speaker 1:But we've never, uh, been on the airwaves for a jacksonville radio station and um, fox sports radio 9, 30 am gave us the opportunity to come on the till tailgate show, which is their local show, of course, dedicated to the jacksonville jaguars, hosted by andre sullivan. Shout outs to andre sullivan uh, feel free to give him a follow as well. I have all of the uh information retweeted into my timeline, so go ahead and then pull that up if you all would like it. Give him a follow and give the station a follow. As a matter of fact, I'm on x right now, so I could just go ahead and then pull that up. If you all would like it. Give him a follow and give the station a follow. As a matter of fact, I'm on X right now, so I could just go ahead and give that to you while I'm at it.
Speaker 1:The station can be followed at FSR Jacks if you will, and you can follow Andre at Dre on the mic, and that's D-R-E-O-N-D-A-M-I-C. You can follow him as well. Again, the show that locally comes on is called the Teal Tailgate. You can catch that every Sunday morning at 9 am, and I was on the last episode talking jazz for about 10 minutes or so. I will get the recording of that up on Touchdown Jaguars eventually, or we'll retweet it, whatever the case may be, if you want to go back and listen to it. But we appreciate them having us on over at the station and we look forward to working with them in the future as well, as we, you know, get our feet wet in terms of the Jacksville airways and also the.
Speaker 1:The show broadcasts in um, orlando as well. So any new orlando followers, if you are now listening as a result of hearing me on the radio, we appreciate you. Uh, feel free, like our regulars, to rate, comment, subscribe, what have you? You can find us on any platform, whether it's apple music or or excuse me Apple Podcasts, spotify, iHeartRadio, you name it. We're any and everywhere. And if we're not on your favorite platform. Feel free to let us know and we will get on there.
Speaker 1:And also, lastly but not least, before we get into the topics at hand, of course, we want to give a shout out to our sponsor, seatgeek, which is your go to place for all of your ticketing needs. Whether it's in the sports community which we cover, whether it's specifically in the NFL which we cover, the Jacksonville Jaguars or the NBA or the MLB or whatever the case may be, they got you covered over there at SeatGeek, and not just when it comes to your sporting needs, but events in general which will require ticketing. So that includes your music festivals, your concerts, whatever the case may be. They have you covered at SeatGeek. And for first-time users, you could get $20 off of your first order simply using our promotion code, which is touchdown Jaguars. Save yourself some money. Use that twenty dollars towards the gas or hot dogs, whatever the case may be. We all know everything is kind of inflated now. So, whatever the case may be, save yourself twenty dollars and treat yourself to something nice with that. But SeatGeek is your go to place for your ticketing needs. And if you haven't checked them out, feel free to check them out. They have an app, of course, and they also have the website, seatgeekcom, and they've been with us for much of this ride in terms of sponsoring the podcast and we really, really appreciate them.
Speaker 1:Now for the topics at hand that we will get to. I thought about doing some quick hits, but I don't want to delay this podcast and make it longer. Y'all know how I get. And actually, the quick hits, we'll just kind of discuss them along the way with the topic at hand. Again, some things to look forward to heading into Saturday's preseason game against the Kansas city chiefs, because a lot of the quick hit news ties into the topic at hand that we will be discussing today. And looking at my notes here, I have about four things that I will be looking for and if you heard me on the radio on the Teal Tailgate show, I already kind of alluded to some of these not all of them, but some of them. And we'll just go ahead and start with the offensive side of the ball and I think this is the biggest question for a lot of people the status of the offensive line. Right, they're going into this thing a little beat up.
Speaker 1:Now we got some good news as Cam Robinson last week he sustained an injury, a shoulder injury, that he has been battling today. According to me, o'brien I'm on her quick kick Shout outs to me O'Brien. Cam Robinson was back in action for the team. He participated in team drills, which is a good sign heading into the game we got a few days before we get there, so he has some more time to get ready. And also Cooper Hodges participated as well in team drills. He was dealing with a back issue, so that helps them from a depth perspective. So they won't be going in there too shorthanded if those two are back.
Speaker 1:The third injury worth mentioning who? You know the status for him is still to be determined, but Anton Harrison sustained an injury last week and he is in the concussion protocol injury last week and he is in the concussion protocol and he is currently being evaluated on that day after day to see if maybe he would be available too. But when you look at the injuries that occurred last week, you're looking at a situation where it was looking like the Jaguars could be without their two bookend tackles. It's looking like Ken Robinson should be able to go. We'll see in time, we'll tell, just based on the news I just discussed, from me or O'Brien, but Harrison is still up in the air. So what you could probably be looking at there is Walker Little If he can't go more than likely Now, if Cam Robinson can't go and it's looking like he will be able to go again but if he can't go, go then that really complicates things, especially with the Jacksonville Jaguars wanting to put starters out there for two series. But you probably have Walker Little at left tackle and you will probably end up having to put maybe Blake Hance or Javon Foster, the rookie we got in the fourth round from Michigan there. It could get interesting if both for of the starting left tackles are out, but I think we'll at least have one of those guys.
Speaker 1:And another injury that I missed actually, on the offensive line is at guard Ezra Cleveland also sustained an injury too last week, and he sustained that in the day that they took practice in the stadium, inside the stadium where I think it was for season ticket holders. Correct me if I'm wrong on that, uh, in the stadium, inside the stadium, uh, where I think, um, it was for season ticket holders. Correct me if I'm wrong on that somebody, but he is dealing with a leg injury. So you know that's three of the starting offensive, three members of the starting offensive line that are dealing with injuries at the moment. So you know you gotta wonder what what they'll do there. You probably could put Tyler Shadley there, who actually announced he'll be retiring after this year, but long time veteran, has a lot of stars under his belt. So you know, if push came to shove and it looks like Ezra Cleveland probably won't be able to play because we haven't heard any like updates of him taking the field for practice as of late uh, you probably have to put the veteran tyler shatley in there at guard, at left guard, with probably cam robinson and a to be determined member at the right guard spot. Again, maybe, you know, you put blade hands or foster there. We'll see in time we'll tell what they do there.
Speaker 1:But the the offensive line does look a little shaky heading into that game and of course that's a concern because you want to protect your quarterback. We already remember the issues that, uh, trevor lawrence had last year. You know he sustained like three major injuries and you know that that ended up hurting his performance and hurting the jaguars down the stretch. So, um, you also want to be smart and protect him Right. So we'll see how that goes and time will tell on how many of the starters are available, but at the very least it looks like we'll have Cam Robson. And you know, you never know with Anton he might be cleared from the concussion protocol in the coming days, which that would be huge too. And then you're just looking at a line that's just missing a starting line. It's just missing Ezra Cleveland.
Speaker 1:But whoever takes the field with the starting offensive line unit and not just the starters to the backups too, because, as we've seen and as we're discussing, the starting offensive line has shown issues with staying healthy and issues with getting the starting five and keeping the starting five on the field all at the same time. But what you want to see from the starters and the backups, you know, just simply, you want to see more physicality, which is one of the things that I'll get into later here. But just, you know them firing off the ball a little bit better and the run game coming a little bit easier for the running backs, you know. So their ability to get push in the run game, which is something that, coming out of training camp, you know the reports have been positive there in terms of the running backs and the success they've had with running the ball and running in the lanes, with Tank Bigsby looking a little bit better and with, of course, the starter, travis Etienne, doing his thing. There have been positive reports, at least when everybody was healthy on the offensive line. There were positive reports coming out of the Jaguars training facility that the offensive line looked much more improved, and I want to see that translate into this preseason game. Now Andy Reed said he's going to play his starters for a quarter, I believe, if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 1:So the Jacksonville Jaguars will get a look at some starters in terms of when, their starters on the field, their offensive starters on the field, their offensive starters on the field. We'll get to look at the starters on the Kansas City Chiefs side, which I mean. What better team to do it against in the reigning Super Bowl champions? And not only that, but a team that beat you last year in a game in which you know we could have won Right, we should have won, but we just didn't capitalize on a lot of opportunities. This sets the Jacksonville Jaguars up against a team in which they can get some great evaluations from just because of who they are and just because of how well coached they are and you know just how physical they are too. You know they got some all-stars on that side of the ball and on that team in general.
Speaker 1:So, in a nutshell, what I'm looking for is you know how many of the starters can take the field? Of course you want to get out of there healthy too. That's another big one. But also, how do they look physically, you know? Are they more physical than they were before? Because that was a huge issue for this team headed forward and the emphasis that you know Trent Baalke and the team you know something that they put emphasis into this offseason in fixing that. You know we would love to see all of the offseason moves paying dividends early, especially against the Super Bowl champions. You know that would give the Jacksonville Jaguars fan base a lot to talk about, and you know I don't think people would hear the end of it if you know we just those first two series, our starters came out and dominated or at least look pretty good in the process. That would give the Jacksonville Jaguars fan base a lot of physicality from the backups too, because there are going to be some times where absolutely some of these backups may have to come in and fill in for is just how does the rookie class look? Because the Jacksonville Jaguars make no mistake about it, they're going to need some contributions from those guys as well If they are going to make the playoffs and go to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:But this rookie class is one that we have heard positive things about in camp. While Brian Thomas Jr did start off a little bit slow their first round pick from LSU at wide receiver, he did start off a little bit slow. He's finding his own day by day, especially, you know, now that the pads have gone on, you're starting to hear his name a little bit more and particularly you're starting to hear hear his name in connection with Trevor Lawrence for deep ball connections. So that's a good thing, because that's one of the things the Jacksonville Jaguars offense lacked and that's one of the things that the Jacksonville Jaguars need and the reason that they brought him into this organization. So he'll be one to watch, not just for the sake of explosiveness and adding explosiveness to the offense, but also to um.
Speaker 1:You know he's a bit of a raw receiver in general. You know how does the route running look, how's he coming in and out of breaks, how is he if he, if he does see any man coverage, how is he coming out of his start and how is he dealing with, you know, being pressed at the line of scrimmage, which is something that you know? I think it was CJ Stroud said he worked out with BTJ and that was one of the things that he was trying to help BTJ work on as well. So you know, how is you know how is he dealing with that work on as well. So you know, how is you know, how is he dealing with that? How is he, um, coming out from a stationary position if he sees, uh, press coverage, whatever the case may be? So he'll be one to watch in terms of just the technical things and the mechanical things which I already said.
Speaker 1:You know, it's a drop off between him and you know know what Calvin Ridley offered there, if you want to talk from the perspective of, you know, the Jaguars, losing Calvin Ridley and bringing in BTJ. That's one aspect of BTJ's game that people are going to probably have to be patient with, and it all starts this week in the preseason, preseason, you know, again, making this evaluation process a learning process, taking advantage of taking the field with some elite talent that you know. Not only that is elite, but also taking the field with some talent that isn't quite familiar with you, that you don't practice against every day. There will be some valuable reps out there for our young receiver, valuable reps out there for our young receiver, and one can only hope that he continues to improve as he has throughout camp and gives us a lot to talk about heading into the next preseason game. So I'm very excited to watch him and just kind of monitor his development and just kind of see what he needs to work on heading forward.
Speaker 1:And then there have been some positives coming out of camp about Mason Smith right, and how he's been in the backfield and how he's kind of been disruptive as well. So I want to see if that translates and he will probably get to see some snaps against starters. Um well, no, probably any. He definitely will get to see some snaps against some starters, which I haven't looked at the Chiefs injury report or injury news. They don't have an injury report yet because it's the preseason, but injury news but yeah, when you look at that Chiefs offensive line, you're talking about some elite talent there Creed Humphrey, some notable veterans in Joe Thune and Trey Smith. There are some guys that have made a name for themselves themselves over time that he'll get to go against and we'll get to kind of measure his skills against too.
Speaker 1:And you know another thing with him too he's a guy that could develop slowly too, because you know, when you look at his college career, due to injuries he hasn't seen a lot of time on the field. But the unique thing about it is coming into camp, he's impressed and he, he seems to be developing a lot faster than people were predicting. So seeing him against this Kansas City Chiefs offensive line will be interesting to see if some of that success that he's had during training camp will translate against those guys. Because you know, make no mistake about it, josh Allen and Trayvon Walker are going to need some help from the interior and they're going to need those guys to be more physical and more dominant in the interior If they are to continue their success or, you know, in Trayvon Walker's case, take an even bigger step. And of course you know you want to see Smith just kind of take advantage of Eric Armstead not being ready to go just yet. He is working in that direction, he is trending in that direction, according to Doug Peterson, so he should be back soon.
Speaker 1:But just kind of, you know, seeing a rookie take advantage of the time that Eric Armstead is off the field, because we already know what Eric Armstead brings to the table. You know we're hoping the minor procedure he had doesn't limit him and you know they're confident that it won't because obviously they paid him a lot of money. But it would absolutely be nice to just have that rotation going of Eric Armstead and then when he comes off the field, you know a dominant Mason Smith who might be developing a little bit quicker than he we thought he was going to develop. So just having that rotation, as we all know, is just kind of key in the NFL in terms of separating the good teams from the bad teams, in terms of separating the good teams from the bad teams and also, you know that's just kind of key in terms of the teams that have success when they get into the playoffs, advance and into the playoffs.
Speaker 1:A lot of times it comes down to the rotation at the defensive line position and just kind of continuing on the rookies on the defensive line, both BTJ and Mason Smith's teammate from LSU, jordan Jefferson. I want to see how he's going to look, although you know the crazy thing is I just recently watched Jordan Jefferson because I'm still doing those scouting reports that I was supposed to be finishing up from April and I got on to Jordan Jefferson's scouting report and I watched a few games of him and you know he's a guy that you know I wouldn't expect a lot of him in terms of helping with the pass rushes based on the tapes I've seen, but he's a guy that certainly can help them with physicality in the run game, sustaining double teams, freeing up people, that kind of thing, kind of what they, you know, have in mind for Devon Hamilton and providing depth behind Devon Hamilton. So you know he's a guy that I'll be watching, although, again, I wouldn't expect a lot of a pass rush from him, but just kind of how he shows up in the run game. He's one of those kids that can help us a lot in terms of the rotation late in the season to avoid those big chunk run plays that we were seeing from. You know that Derrick Henry put up on us in the last game of the season and some other guys before that and then also, continuing on the rookies, we got a rookie kicker in Cam Little. So how does he look? You know he's had a great camp and he is a guy that the Jacksonville Jaguars obviously have faith in because he's now the long kicker on the team. They released or cut Riley Patterson, who you know is a veteran kicker, is play some regular season games for the Jacksonville Jaguars. So they freed up that spot, which obviously is a indication that Cam Little is doing just fine.
Speaker 1:We've seen the videos of him. You know he obviously has a leg. You know he's been booming them in camp and I mean you know he kicked in some high-pressure situations, just alone from the fact that he's coming from Arkansas, you know in the SEC. So all of those stadiums are pretty much hostile, at least with the good teams. You know you can barely hear yourself think in all of those stadiums are pretty much hostile, at least with the good teams. You know you can barely hear yourself think in many of those stadiums. So you know that's that's pretty big, that he's already been in situations that are probably going to be louder than some of the situations he's going to see in the NFL to begin with.
Speaker 1:But does his rookie or does his performance from training camp? Does it show up and does he continue the success he had in training camp? Uh, because, if one thing about jazz fans, if you want to make them panic, um and we've kind of discussed this because special teams play is just on the decline in the whole league in general but if you really want to make jazz fans panic, look no further than a kicker struggling. That'll certainly do it, man, because the twitter certainly will voice their concerns if cam little um isn't performing at a high level, which is a lot to put on a rookie. But that's just kind of what comes with the kicker position, right? So he'll be a guy that I'll be watching as well.
Speaker 1:And what about DeAndre Prince, the late round cornerback? It seems like this team is forever picking up late round cornerbacks. What about him? How does he look? As well? He's had some highlight plays coming out of camp, which leads me to my next thing that I'll be watching, which is the defensive backs in general.
Speaker 1:So while I'm talking about prince, I might as well just go into that next topic at hand, which, yeah, how do the defensive backs look? Because they have been impressive in camp, whether it's been tyson campbell, uh, whether it's been christian bradwell been hearing a lot of positives about christian bradwell, uh, ronald dar, dewey Wingard, who's injured, and they had to pick up Adrian Amos recently I think it was a few days ago that they picked him up, so they got a veteran in the house to hold it down while Dewey Wingard, you know, nurses his injury and it seems like he might be out for a while for them to make a move like that. So, adrian Amos, teaming back up with Darnell Savage, who is, you know, that's a guy that you keep mentioning that looks like an alpha like. Basically, he looks like Foye Aluokin for the defensive backs out there, which is huge, you know, because they need more alphas. You can never have too many of those guys on the defensive side of the ball. So, yeah, when just looking at all of those names that I've named, just a lot of people are having good camps from that defensive backfield, which is huge, because that's a big concern we had going into the offseason, right and going into this preseason is, you know, will these defensive backs struggle like they did last year? And also, how would they fit into Ryan Nielsen's scheme, which that should be another thing that I should have put on here? Um, it's just kind of just monitoring how does the new scheme look. But how do these defensive backs specifically look in Ryan Nielsen's scheme? Because you know a lot of what he did in atlanta was a lot of heavy man and you know tyson campbell is a guy that people have concerns about in-man coverage. So, um, that being said, just want to see the dominance continue for the defensive back group because, if they continue, what you know has been reported out of camp they could be one of the leading forces for this team. You know what I'm saying. I mean, it's almost like and I don't want to put this on their plate, but it's almost like the way people are talking about how they looked in camp, especially early, like when the pads weren't on, you got shades that this team could get back to what they had in 2017.
Speaker 1:You know, with Jalen Ramsey, aj Boye or you know at, or you know at least close to it, but I think with this team it's much more or more so. The safeties are kind of the standouts as opposed to the cornerbacks were. Back then it was, you know, boye and Jalen Ramsey, but now you know you hear a lot about, a lot about Sisko and Darnell Savage, more so than Tyson Campbell and the cornerbacks. But at the same time you've been hearing Disco and Darnell Savage, more so than Tyson Campbell and the cornerbacks, but at the same time you've been hearing a lot of positives from the cornerbacks. That's not to say that we haven't been hearing positives from the cornerbacks coming out of camp, but you're not hearing about them as much as the safeties is how I would put it, which probably is a good thing that you know a lot of with Tyson is probably that he's not being thrown at a lot. So that's probably why we're not hearing a lot about him.
Speaker 1:I have heard about Darby. You know once every two days or whatever the case may be, he's shown up and you know he was a guy already told people that Ronald Darby is a great ball player. You know his concern is just with him at least it's just injuries, right. But when I looked at that Ravens tape of how he looked in Baltimore I was like, yeah, that's a great pickup that could actually work out for us and it sounds like he's been doing his thing and just looking much more like the player he was with Baltimore last year.
Speaker 1:But what I'm saying is the safeties. It sounds like the safeties, or it seems like the safeties are the guys that are leading the way for the defensive backfield as opposed to the cornerbacks. But collectively they've all looked pretty good and I can't wait to see them on the field, even some of the young guys, let's see. You know also how does Buster Brown look. After having to come in last year and make some starts for this team right after the injuries Does he improve a little bit? He's a guy that I like and I was high on to another SEC guy that can continue to develop. And again going back to Christian Braswell, who we keep hearing about, you know how does he look out there. You know just how do the guys behind the starters look and perform Because, much like the offensive line we saw, you know there were instances where they had to bring in some backups in that secondary, at the cornerback position, and have some backups start as well too.
Speaker 1:So you know a lot of in general with preseason games, a lot of what you want to look for because the starters are in there a limited amount of time. A lot of what you want to see is the depth, and it's no different from this secondary, which has been one of the highlights of training camp. And then, lastly, the thing that I will be watching for in terms of Saturday's game is the back end of the wide receivers depth chart, because the Jaguars are going to have at least the staff is going to have a time on their hands trying to basically figure out who to keep on this roster in terms of the last few receivers and how many receivers. Of course, we know the first four guys Christian Kirk, brian Thomas, parker Washington and Gabe Davis. So you have your first four, but after that, you know, it's a matter of who else do we bring on to the roster Now? You would think Devin Duvernay, since he was one of the free agent pickups and you know he had a decent sized contract. He's one of them and in today's game, which we'll get to actually see this a little bit, which this actually should have been one of the talking points of, one of the things I want to see too, is we'll actually get to see the new kickoff rule Right, and it sounds like it. Just looking at the Hall of Fame game, you know each team could use to get good kick returners. So that help, or that helps Devin Duvernay's chances to be on his roster, even with Parker Washington being on it as well roster, even with Parker Washington being on it as well. So at that point you have five receivers.
Speaker 1:Joshua Cephas, the undrafted free agent that the Jazz got from the University of San Antonio, texas, was a guy I was high on, a guy that I praised. In one of the episodes in April I think it was with Daniel Griffiths. I was saying he was one of the guys that I was excited about in terms of the episodes in April. I think it was with Daniel Griffiths. I was saying he was one of the guys that I was excited about in terms of the undrafted guys and he was a guy that I praise because he you know he was, he had draftable grades. He's a guy that you know a lot of analysts felt like could have been a fifth round pick, you know, maybe a little bit even higher than that. And he has actually shown up in training camp, which isn't surprising just looking at the tape with him. And the Jacksonville Jaguars have a good track record with undrafted free agent receivers too. So their history has been good there and you know this kid could be another one of those guys that we can put kind of in that mold with Alan Hearns and Alan Lazard. Even though Alan Lazard didn't stay a Jaguar too long, he was, you know, brought into the league by them.
Speaker 1:And then you have some of the guys that have been on the roster or some of the guys who just joined the roster last year, like your Elijah Cooks, who I was very high on last year big body receiver. Like your Elijah Cooks, who I was very high on last year big body receiver. You have Seth Williams, who you know has flash here and there, you know in the preseason when he's been presented the opportunities, not necessarily this season but just in the past with the Jacksonville Jaguars. You have Tim Jones, who has stuck around on this team, whether it be on practice squad, whatever the case may be, has actually seen some time in regular season games that you know. He just never seems to really go away. He's a guy that has stuck around as well. So you know it's a little bit crowded there and after you get past DuVernay and Joshua Cephas, that will make what six? Do you have a seventh guy on there? Is it Elijah Cooks? Is it Self Williams? You know that's something that the preseason will help the Jacksonville Jaguars staff determine on what they should do there.
Speaker 1:And you know, of course, a lot of other things play into it. You know, are there other positions where the competition is hefty too, where you might need to keep an extra guy or two, or you want to prevent a guy from um, maybe getting scooped up by the the rest of the league, um, and you don't want to risk waving and trying to bring back to your practice squad. So you know, we'll. We'll see if there are other positions where the jaguars have to make some tough choices, like at the wide receiver position.
Speaker 1:But right now, heading into this first game, I would definitely say the wide receiver position is the one I'm watching in terms of a group, in terms of that back end and figuring out. You know how many guys you want to take in and you know ranking those guys on an official depth chart. I know they have an unofficial depth chart out, but on an official depth chart you can kind of gauge. You know who's ahead of who and who should make the team over who, and you know, unlike the starters, who will only get what two series in this game. We'll get to see a lot of those receivers I just mentioned yourself Williams of the world, elijah cooks, joshua Cephas, even I just mentioned your Seth Williams of the world, elijah Cooks, joshua Cephas, even Devin Duvernay, probably, and so on and so forth. You get to see a lot of those guys because, again, this is a game in which more so the backups will see time than the starters, so that'll be the last thing that I'm watching. So, all of that said, I mean those are pretty much the main things that I want to see.
Speaker 1:Don't want to make this one too long or too long-winded. You know some other little small things that I would like to see again. How does the defense look under Ryan Nielsen, although it won't be a lot of game planning in there. So that's why I kind of saved that one. But I'll go ahead and wrap this one up.
Speaker 1:I know this one was a little bit brief and straight to the point, but that's OK. Sometimes that's what's needed, and I'm actually shocked that I was able to achieve that, because when I do the solo episodes, I get to rant and all of that good stuff. But we'll go ahead and wrap this one up. Before we do so, of course, I will go ahead and plug all of our information in terms of following us at Sports Grind underscore done is where you can find me on Twitter at. Td Jaguars podcast is where you can find a touchdown Jaguars podcast handle. A touchdown Jaguarscom is the official website and, of course, you can follow my co-host, who will be joining me on Sunday, phil Smith AKA, at Phil the Filipino, on Twitter as well. So can't wait to get back in the booth have that conversation about what we saw. Hopefully it's a lot of positive things that we're not concerned or terribly concerned coming out of the preseason week one game, but time will tell on that.
Speaker 1:Also, shout outs to SeatGeek, our sponsor. Again, you can go to SeatGeek for your ticketing needs, whether it is in the sporting world or for concerts, you know, music tours, whatever the case may be, seatgeek has you covered. And for first time users, you can use our promo code, that is Touchdown Jaguars, which will save you $20 off of your first order. Again, that's Touchdown Jaguars. You can download the app SeatGeek or you can go to SeatGeekcom and take care of your ticketing needs. All of that said, as I said, it's an exciting time to be a Jacksonville Jaguar. Everybody that'll be going to the game. Enjoy yourselves. I know a lot of people will be tailgating all that stuff. Enjoy yourselves, take care of each other, and I can't wait for the season in general but to start the preseason analysis in the next few days. But until then, everyone be safe and I will be signing out.