Touchdown Jaguars!

Episode 96: Re-Shaping the Jaguars - GM Candidates Who Could Change Everything

James Johnson/Phil Smith Episode 96

Can the Jaguars turn their losing streak around with a fresh perspective at the helm? Join James Johnson on a solo episode as he briefly dissected the recent humiliating defeat to the Buffalo Bills and spotlight the desperate need for change in the Jaguars' front office. With the trajectory of the season unlikely to change, James zeroed in on the role of General Manager, scrutinizing Trent Baalke's tenure and laying out why a new leader is essential for the franchise’s future. Tune in for a candid examination of Trevor Lawrence’s struggles, the frailty of our offensive line, and defensive woes amplified by injuries and depth issues.

Explore with James the impressive resumes of potential GM candidates who could transform the Jaguars into a winning team. From Will McClay’s success in building powerhouse offensive lines for the Dallas Cowboys to Ed Dodds' mastery in talent evaluation for the Colts, we break down the strategies these experts bring to the table. James also shined a light on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ front office, showcasing how their smart personnel decisions and robust organizational culture have kept them competitive, even without constantly drafting franchise quarterbacks.

The conversation doesn’t stop there. James also highlighted the remarkable drafting skills of the Lions, revealing how potential GM candidate Ray Agnew has what the Jags need to revive themselves. Lastly, learn about Mike Borgonzi’s strategic brilliance with the Kansas City Chiefs and how his approach could be the revolution the Jaguars need. As we chart a path forward for our beloved team, stay with us for future episodes where coaching candidates will be put under the microscope as it’s clear changes are needed.

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James Johnson and Phil Smith bring you the best and most up to date Jacksonville Jaguars news. "Touchdown Jaguars!" is a tribute to the prospective ownership group "Touchdown Jacksonville!" In 1991, the NFL announced plans to add two expansion teams and "Touchdown Jacksonville!" announced its bid for a team, and Jacksonville was ultimately chosen as one of five finalists. In November 1993, the NFL owners voted 26–2 in favor of awarding the 30th franchise to Jacksonville. James and Phil have been fans of the franchise ever since and have had the honor (and sometimes dishonor) of covering the team professionally since 2017. The rest as they say, is history.

Speaker 1:

You. Touchdown Jacksonville, looking for Jimmy in the end zone. Touchdown Jaguars. Touchdown Jaguars. Touchdown Jaguars. Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. Here are your hosts, james Johnson and Phil Smith. Ladies and gentlemen, the sigh says it all right, but nonetheless, welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. I am one half of your hosting panel, james Johnson, here.

Speaker 1:

Typically, I am joined by my co-host, phil Smith, here, but this week when we recorded the episode right on brand with the Jaguars, right, I forgot to put my memory card in my Rodecaster recorder. So the episode that Phil and I uh, actually did not get saved. So I guess I was just, you know, following on brand with the team there, uh. So this will be a solo episode. I told phil you know my b on that, um, I'll have to rectify this and just do a solo episode and I am here, which that might not have been a good idea, because to do this solo is going to be hard, right. But then again, you know what? I probably won't spend a lot of time on the game and my disappointment in the game, because it's not much to say that we haven't already said, right. So, that being said, me and phil were thinking about what we were going to do for this episode and how difficult it was going to be. It did dawn on us and I think maybe my nephew boogie maybe even have may have put it in the thread as well that we're with with stodge and um. You know, phil and myself. But instead of maybe harping on a game and and sounding like a broken record because a lot of what we're going to say is kind of what we've already said maybe we should start looking at the future and that's what this episode is about in terms of what we saw and realizing and coming to the realization that it's time to move on. So what we're gonna do?

Speaker 1:

We'll briefly talk about the game, but a lot of time and effort and energy does not need to go into that, because what we saw on the field was straight pitiful and embarrassment to the city, embarrassment to fans. I'm out here in my twitter picture repping this team head to toe with expensive gear. You know they got us buying expensive throwbacks and all of that good stuff and hyping us up for the season, and they start the season this way. And not only that, when it comes to going to a national stage, they went out there on Monday night football, which we rarely get Monday night football opportunities and opportunities on ESPN and they embarrassed us in a 47 to 10 blowout pretty much, and right from the start it never felt like it was going to be a game that went well for the Jacksonville Jaguars right out of the jump. All of that said, we'll spend very little time on the game and box score and recapping it and the topic more so of this episode and the theme more so of this episode again.

Speaker 1:

And you know, boogie, I think, put this idea in our head and thought process or maybe it was Phil idea in our head and thought process, or maybe it was Phil, but we're going to look at five GMs to keep in mind because, make no mistake about it, the Jacksonville Jaguars and we've long been critics of Trent Baalke and hard on Trent Baalke, but make no mistake about it, the Jacksonville Jaguars need to make changes and obviously for us it starts there and that's not to get coaching off of the hook and how they done with developing players. They've been terrible as well. So we will also do down the road, maybe even next week, an episode on five coaching candidates to look at as well. So don't just because we're not discussing coaching as much in this episode don't mean we let them off the hook. We're going to get on them too later down the road too, because what they've done and how this team has gone out there to look these first three weeks is just utterly ridiculous. So they got something coming too, but for now, we'll start at the top, and by the top we mean at the GM position, the person that we've been most critical of of Trent Baalke, as it's clear as day that he needs to go as well.

Speaker 1:

Right, I see a lot of tweets about the coaching and press Taylor and Ryan Nielsen and all of this and them needing to go, and those are spot on too. But when you look at the bigger picture, don't don't miss the bigger picture. Here it all starts with Trent Baalke at the top and, of course, it starts with Shaq Khan, who is above Trent Baalke. But here's the thing you can't replace an owner unless he wants to sell the team. So let's kill that noise right now that Shaq Khan needs to go, because it's not happening, especially with how much he's making year in and year out and how much he's improved the jaguars income and net worth year in and year out. Shotgun isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so we'll nip that in the bud.

Speaker 1:

Right now that's not even a topic to discuss as much as we've been on him too, and a lot of this is his fault too. He's not blameless in this. I know 1010XL was saying that. You know it's not Sean Cunn's fault or somebody from 1010XL was saying that, but you can't change ownership at this point unless he wants to sell the team and you feel like, if it ever, you know, came to a situation where Sean would be less involved with the team right and age or whatever kicked in. You know whatever, we see it all the time with owners. You know they get up there in age and um, you know there's, they're not around the team as much. Then you know it's tony's team to inherit, so the cons are probably going to be around for a long time.

Speaker 1:

But all of that said, um, we are going to look at five gm candidates for jaguars fans to know and this is a personal list, this is not something where I got like sources or anything going or you know anything I got hints on or anything like this. This is a personal list after doing some research and, that being said, when this idea came about and we talked about it. You know, with me and Phil and Boogie, I kind of got excited a little bit because I wasn't excited to record this episode when it came to expressing what went on, went down on the field. But when we came to the conclusion, hey, like maybe we should go another direction with the episode and maybe the direction should be looking into the future, and maybe the direction should be looking into the future, I think I got a little bit more excited about it, right? So if you want a recap of the game and all of that, you're going to get it very briefly here. But if you're looking for something in depth, due to the fact that we've already gone through a lot of this and we tried to prepare people beforehand for this situation a Trent Baalke-Rand team and how it could go, being that we tried to prepare people beforehand and have been harping on this is how it could go, possibly for a long time now, we will instead talk about the GM candidates. There's plenty of other podcasts that can give you in-game analysis on what happened on Monday Night Football Also too.

Speaker 1:

At the same time, just looking back at it in hindsight, me and Phil did give this team the benefit of the doubt. A lot of us did give the team the benefit of the doubt, saying that they can have double digit wins, because I mean, well, quite frankly, that wasn't wrong to do, because they do have the talent. That's what's so head scratching about this team is the talent is there and the 0-3 start that they have does not match what they have on the field. We've seen talentless teams Me and Phil been doing this a long time. We've seen the Gus Bradley teams that had no talent and you could tell right off rip, they were going to get boat raced each week.

Speaker 1:

But this is different. This team is different boat raced each week. But this is different. This team is different now. They invested in the eric armstead right. They've invested in first round picks at the quarterback and running back position. They have a brian thomas jr who is a ascending star. They have evan ingram, who's not available right now because of injury, but they have guys that are of pro bowl magnitude. So that's what's puzzling and that's why it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities that this team could actually be good and get double digit wins. But we just should have stuck with our guns and just went with that little inkling in the back of our mind that, hey, it's a Trent Baalke ran team and it's all gonna come crashing down eventually.

Speaker 1:

So, um, that's my intro for this episode, before we get into the brief recap of the game and before we get into the topic at hand about the gms, of course, we got to get all our information of how to follow us and keep tabs on us out there. If I didn't say it in the beginning of the podcast, you can follow me on Twitter at SportsGrind, underscore Don. You can follow my co-host, phil Smith, at Phil the Filipino on Twitter. Feel free to hit us up Venture frustrations. Let us know how you're feeling, let us know what you agree with that we said and what you disagree with in terms of what we said, and it'll be a lot to talk about. I would especially love to hear some thoughts about this list of GM candidates that I'm very excited about, by the way, and I know it does come down to shotgun being smart enough to make the right decision to want a GM in this, in this organization, or hire somebody to get the right GM in this organization, but we'll worry about that later down the road. You can also follow the podcast at TD Jaguars pod on Twitter as well, so feel free to follow us there.

Speaker 1:

We have a website as well, and that is wwwtouchdownjaguarscom, and you know our archive episodes go on there and written content from time to time goes on there too. I will definitely have a lot of written content to put on there now, because it's going to be a long season and it's going to be hard to watch. So for us it's time to start pivoting into the future. Into the future, right, if we've already. You know, if you kind of monitor the temperature of our episodes throughout the past, we've already kind of been ready to get there and get Trent Baalke out of here, right, and I do want the coaches going too, so they're not exempt to this too, but we've been long one Trent Baalke gone. Um, if you've been monitoring the temperature of, you know how we feel about the front office. We've been ready to go to the future and they've given us a reason after losing 47 to 10. They've given us more than enough reasons. Even though it's just week three. They've given us more than enough of a reason to start looking into the future.

Speaker 1:

One last thing before we get into the episode, if you all would be kind enough to shout out or to check out our sponsor, seatgeek, who have been sponsoring us for mostly the whole entirety of this podcast or the time that we've been recording this podcast, the touchdown Jaguars podcast. Go ahead and head on over to seek geek, who is your go-to ticketing merchant for any event or any key event or a notable event that you want to go to. Of course, we talk sports here. We talk about the Jacksonville Jaguars here. You probably want to avoid getting Jaguars tickets. That's something Phil was saying in the podcast that we record. That we did but wasn't recorded. But if you want to spend your money on jazz tickets, you know you want to torture yourself like we've been doing for many, many years. You could do that, but if not, there are also many, many other sporting events and just music and concert events and events in general that SeatGeek has you covered on in terms of getting a very good price.

Speaker 1:

You can always use our code here for first time users as well. It's Touchdown Jaguars. We tag that in our bio and everywhere we post the episode if you ever forget it. But it's Touchdown Jaguars you. You get 20 off of your first order with them. So go ahead, save you some. Save yourself 20. Spend that on gas or food chips, whatever the case may be, but save yourself. Save yourself some money by using our code again. That's touchdown jaguars and head on, head on over to seat geek, uh, to go ahead and purchase your tickets for whatever event it is you're looking for mlb. I know we're cruising up on the playoffs. Hopefully the braves uh will go ahead and and punch in that wild card. It's a tight race right now, but hopefully we'll make that happen. Go braves right. At least I got something to look forward to with them. Maybe. Maybe it's been a rough season for them, but they have a excuse. They've been really banged up. But whether it's the mlb, you know when the nba is started, has started again or will start again. You can get nba tickets. You can get concert tickets to your favorite musician, whoever that may be. Head on over there to SeatGeek and see if you can find what you need, and if you can, we can save you $20 there also, they have an app as well, so feel free to download the SeatGeek app.

Speaker 1:

All right on to the topics at hand. We'll get into the game itself. I'll briefly go over the box score. We'll start with offense. They didn't put up many points, obviously. Score was 47 to 10, right, trevor Lawrence really wasn't able to get anything going. Right, he hasn't been able to elevate the team like we wanted out of a first round pick. But he's far from the only issue here. Right, they haven't built correctly around him. So, you know, that's another topic for another time.

Speaker 1:

But Trevor Lawrence 21 of 38, 178 yards, one touchdown, one pick a very, very terrible pick, albeit that was his first one of the season. That's one thing I think people are missing too. By the way, you know they brought up the pick statistic on espn, if I'm not mistaken, but not that this. That trevor has played well, but that was his first pick of the year. Right, everybody was saying he needed to get the picks and the fumbles and all of that fixed. Well, he hasn't turned the ball over a lot, but he hasn't been effective either. So all the criticism that he's getting has been warranted, but in terms of a qbr 19.8, just yucky stats in every way, shape and form.

Speaker 1:

I wanted to say something worse than that, but just just terrible, abysmal stats there. On his end, matt jones got in the game as well. He threw about five passes or so as well. So that's how bad it went for the jacksonville jaguars. Just wasn't able to get nothing going behind center, and it's probably hard to do that when you have the offensive line that we have and how they are playing and how cam robinson has played at left tackle, and just not not just him but the whole unit in general. They have been underwhelming.

Speaker 1:

Travis Etienne had 11 carries for 68 yards. Wasn't really able to get much going on his end. The receivers also weren't able to get much going. Christian Kirk had 79 yards on eight catches. Brian Thomas Jr had five catches for 48 yards. There was one touchdown in the game for the Jacksonville Jaguars and it came via reception and it was Brenton Strange who got that. That was one of his two receptions for 12 yards. And then on the defensive side, montaric Brown led the way with seven tackles. He had a rough game the game before against the Browns. He looked pretty good, but he had a rough game here, and behind him was Chad Moomer, who also had seven tackles as well.

Speaker 1:

There were no turnovers on the Jazz part, to my recollection, because the Bills just flat out did what they wanted to do in terms of just taking advantage of the Jazz scheme, and a lot of people will say and I think this is where we can end this right, this gives me an out in terms of recapping this straight up bloodbath here. Straight up bloodbath here. But the the biggest talking point, or one of the biggest talking points about this game was, of course, that the jaguars almost allowed 50 points and their defense could do nothing to stop joe brady's offense and stop josh allen from throwing the ball wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. But this goes back to the topic at hand, right, gm's, who we're going to talk about, and and not just that, the again. A lot of this falls on coaching too. We'll get on them in another episode, though, but I think I think, when you look at this Bills team almost dropping 50 on the Jacksonville Jaguars, it's still inexcusable, despite not having some key players. I know they're minus Tyson Campbell that was one of the topics Louis Riddick mentioned uh, him, I know they are missing. Darnell Savage, who was very impressive week one. I know Foye got hurt in the game as well, and and he is going to miss some time for plantar fissiitis as well. I know all of that.

Speaker 1:

But Trent Baalke has been building this team since Urban Meyer got here, right, and he even had a draft last year where he was able to make the most amount of draft picks that has been made for the Jacksonville Jaguars in their history. What was it? Ten picks or so, something like that. Double digit picks Crazy amount of picks, right? So somebody who's had four years has had enough, more than enough time to build the depth that is needed to overcome these injuries, especially when you look at all of the names were mentioned and a lot of guys in the secondary. Well, guess what y'all? Trent Baalke has been drafting defensive backs late for the last three years or so, so he's put the at least the effort into sustaining injuries in the defensive backfield. They just haven't been able to hit on those picks. Right, and that's part of being, that's part of your job as a GM. You have to hit on some of the late round picks. You don't have to hit on all of them, but the many, many picks that the Jaguars have put into their secondary injuries shouldn't hurt them this bad, to the point where they're getting beat 10 to 47.

Speaker 1:

I can remember Pete Prisco, also a big critic of Trent Balky, when he was saying that Trent Balky sat in on the defensive interviews they were having for a defensive coordinator right earlier this offseason and it took me off a little bit. But then when I thought about it in the session I was like, well, you know, the gm is going to be drafting the players for this scheme, so it kind of does make sense that he would sit in on the interviews he needs. He needs to know what kind of players, um, it is that he needs to draft. So I kind of down a little bit. But also with that, with you sitting in on the interviews for the defensive coordinator right, that just shows you how hands-on you've been, trent Baalke, with making sure the defensive coordinator has what he needs when injuries occur. All right, so you're sitting in on the interview process before the man, ryan Nielsen, even got the job. You're assessing what it requires for this defensive scheme to go well and what's needed. And with that you also know what, where your weak spots are and where you need to address in terms of depth, wise.

Speaker 1:

And yet here we are with a 10 to 47 loss, an egg on our face and the people that were backing up the starters just look flat out. Loss that boils down to evaluations. The evaluation part falls on you as a gm, trent balky, so we'll leave that at that. No need to spend any more energy on that box score or this game or recapping it. Let's get into the topic at hand. That'll segue us right into where we need to be and looking at the future and looking at people who can evaluate and fix this issue and have it to where the Jaguars, if they lose players, they can continue to look like a watchable team and a team that can win and a team that has a chance despite the injuries that they've sustained. So we will start.

Speaker 1:

I'll start. I have five candidates or five people that I really like. I have five candidates or five people that I really like and we'll start from five and we'll work our way up to one. And number five on my list is probably number five and could be ranked higher. But he's probably number five on my list because it's just hard to see him leaving where he is, and that's Will McClay of the Dallas Cowboys.

Speaker 1:

He's the VP of player personnel, an article I was looking at earlier. Kind of put it perfectly. He's basically a GM without a title. As we all know, jerry Jones and his sons are like the mouthpiece or or like the, the megaphone for the front office, so they're the leaders of the front office, and that puts Will McClay in a position where he's a GM, but he doesn't have the title. And Will McClay has been with them for a long time at least a decade to my knowledge, and I can actually pull it off right now. Yeah, he's been there since 2002. And guess where he was before that? With the Jacksonville Jaguars, as a assistant director of pro scouting in 2021. Excuse me, I'm so used to saying 2020 something. So he's been with the Cowboys for over a decade, excuse me, there. So he's been with them longer than that and he's worked his way up the ranks and he's a pivotal part of their player intel, their player acquisition and their player evaluation is, needless to say, current theme that is going to surface in this podcast.

Speaker 1:

Right is a lot of these candidates. A lot of what drew me to them is what they can build in the trenches, especially the offensive line, because that has been a weakness for the current regime. That's been a weakness for Trent Baalke. It's not that Trent Baalke hasn't tried to draft people, the right people, in the trenches. He's been ineffective in doing it, especially on the offensive line right. It just looks like he has no sense of direction or no sense of evaluation as well.

Speaker 1:

At that position, drafting luke fortner probably the worst start was the worst starting center in the league before mitch morris replacing. Drafting Walker Little, who's a swing tackle Drafted him in the second round, by the way, swing tackle a guy that when you draft him in the second round you're looking at your left tackle of the future or the right tackle of the future, and we have yet to see him on the field consistently enough to even know that right now. After drafting Walker Little, you extended cam robertson but dave caldwell pick, so that kind of had us scratching our head, okay. So why did they draft walk a little? Maybe they're looking at him as bookends of the future? That never came into fruition because eventually he drafted anton harrison, who he you know we're pretty high on Anton. He'll figure it out. He's a young player, that happens.

Speaker 1:

But between the massive miss on Luke Fortner, the lack of a direction for Walker Little, paying Brandon Scherff crazy money when he doesn't even look closely like remotely close to the pro bowler he was in Washington Resigning Ezra Cleveland who easily looks like the weakest offensive lineman on the unit in terms of physicality, and you gave him a three-year extension at that, confidently confidently wanted the guy to stay right and, as a result, you have arguably the worst offensive line in the NFL. But I digress from my point. The theme here, when looking at these GMs, are, you know, gms that can build the offensive line that Trevor Lawrence needs to thrive, and the reason for that is because Trevor Lawrence just signed for $200 million. It feels like he's going to be around here a long time, so it's about building around him and building, uh, the giving him the resources he needs to succeed. And when it comes to offensive lines and how consistent an organization has been with building big, physical offensive lines, you look no further than the Dallas Cowboys in terms of consistency in doing it. So that was a big part of putting Will McClay on this list. And not just that, though, not just putting him on the list, but the others that are on this list, right?

Speaker 1:

I mean, you look at what the Dallas Cowboys have done over time. It was one point in time this was probably a while ago, five, six years ago they had all first round picks on their offensive line. And when you look at this team like we can't help but see the Dallas Cowboys. They play in 90 freaking Prime time games. They're forced on our TV screens so you can't help but see them. And every time we see the Dallas Cowboys, for the most part it looks like offensive line has not been an issue for them. They've had other issues. Right, can't do anything in the playoffs. You know constantly one and done in the playoffs. If they do make noise in the playoffs, it's just one round and that's it. Maybe you know.

Speaker 1:

But one thing that you can't help but notice with the Dallas Cowboys organization is that they bring physical, massive offensive lines to the table year in and year out. Just this year they drafted Tyler Guyton, a physical presence at the tackle position. A lot of people are familiar with Guyton because he played with Anton Harrison and also he was the ideal bulky pick. But he ended up going to the Dallas Cowboys 24th overall. Another guy that we frequently mocked to the team right in the offseason Cooper Beebe. Right, that just goes to show you in the top three rounds, right there the attention to detail in terms of getting that offensive line where it needs to be, two of their top three picks were spent on the offensive line, and not only that was spent doing was spent on straight-up maulers who bring physicality and strength to the unit. And even before that, though, right, they drafted Tyler Smith back in 2022, right, he's their guard currently as well out of Tulsa.

Speaker 1:

That goes to show you, right again, their desire for building in the trenches. It looks like they're always targeting somebody in the first round in the trenches, whether it's in the offensive line, defensive line, and then, even before that, you know, in terms of getting their pass rush right, getting their front seven right. Micah Parsons we all know that he pretty much is unstoppable when it comes to his ability on the field and rushing the passer and the other things he can do. And you know, this team hasn't just drafted well in the trenches as well, like we see. Again, we can't help but see him because they're on primetime football all the time. Right, but they've also got some other players you know in this draft that are notable or in this organization that are notable players. They draft very well. You know they do dabble in free agency, but a lot of the people that we hear In primetime games when we see them, our players that they drafted Right. There's others like Deron Bland who I know he is currently on injured reserve right now but led the league and I think he hit the record for picks for a cornerback as position. Cd lamb Right, which that helps as another premium position. So that's another feather in the cap of Will McClay and company Trayvon Diggs Right, who he at one point in time you know know he was going crazy with the picks as well. Tony pollard, no longer there, but still a running back. That was very exciting to watch.

Speaker 1:

You know, the list goes on and on and on in terms of what they've been able to draft, but I guess what I was trying to say is their most notable picks and what they're known for is how they draft in the trenches. Right, they have zach mart in the trenches. They have, as I said, tyler Guyton in the trenches as well, even though he's a rookie and time will tell you know how he looks. They also have again the other young man I mentioned, tyler Smith. Got him from Tulsa guard and I just want that mindset in terms of my front office of building in the trenches, because that would feel more so like the old school Jaguars used to build right when we had Jack Del Rio here and we had guys on the offensive line like Brad Meester and Vince Manowai rest in peace, right and all of these guys that were straight-up maulers that you know Fred Taylor was able to have a very successful career with and Maurice Jones drew and that's another thing too, man is, when you move people off the offensive line, you make life easier on your quarterbacks, right, we didn't have great quarterbacks then. The reason those franchises were successful when they had the success that they had was because they were able to run the ball well. Right, and that has been something this Jaguars team has struggled with since. Trevor Lawrence has been here for the most part, and I think Will McClay is a guy who, once again a former Jaguars executive, right is a guy that will get us back to that mindset and that culture in terms of controlling the line of scrimmage.

Speaker 1:

Now, a lot of people will say this now, will mcclay has been there a long time, as I mentioned, since 2002, and when you read about him, the thing is like it's really hard to pry him, even though he do what he does want to become a gm eventually. It's really hard to pry him from the dallas cowboys organization, and I can see why that's a thing, right? Jerry Jones is probably paying him good money. It's hard to probably take people out of their front office, and you know you? Probably the question you'll ask yourself and this is why he's number five on my list why would he leave Dallas? It's been hard for him to leave Dallas, and he does want to be a GM, but nonetheless he's still there and has been there for a very, very long time. It's Jaguars fans that weren't even born when Will McClay started his journey as a Dallas Cowboys executive. That's how long he's been there.

Speaker 1:

All of that said, though and this will be a theme for the GMs, the other GMs I mentioned too, or at least some of them is what could entice these GMs and executives to Jacksonville is that Sean Conn is a hand, is a hands-off owner, the very opposite of Jerry Jones, right? If you're Will McClay and you've been looking for the right opportunity, one of the things you're looking for is a very hands-off owner, but also very, a very wealthy owner like Jerry Jones is the best of both worlds, right, you're getting somebody with the wealth of Jerry Jones, but you're getting somebody who is not going to be in the way when it comes to football decisions and what have you and you're going to an organization where you have some familiarity with although Sean Conn was not the owner at the time that Will McClay was with the Jacksonville Jaguars but all of that, will McClay is number five on my list and when I look at what the Dallas Cowboys have and how consistent they are you know that's Phil's second team how consistent they are with at least being a postseason caliber team or getting into the postseason caliber or into the postseason. That is what draws me to Will McClay as an executive and potential GM candidate for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Moving on to number four on my list, I have John Spitek, who is one of two assistant GMs for the Tampa Bay Bucks, so he's one of Jason Litch's two lieutenants, basically with how their front office is structured. The other one is Mike Greenberg, who also wears the title of assistant GM, so it's Jason Litch, his two lieutenants, John Spitek and Mike Greenberg.

Speaker 1:

And the Bucs are a team that you know. When you talk about front offices, they consistently rank in the top 10. They are a team that you know. When you talk about front offices, they consistently rank in the top 10. They are an organization that gets the importance of having the right front office and, you know, in terms of having the right people to make personnel decisions. Right, they haven't always been a team that year in and year out, is in the playoffs, but for the most part they've been a consistently watchable team, if not better. Right, they've won Super Bowls. As the most part, they've been a consistently watchable team, if not better right, they've won super bowls as well. So they've been either watchable or better or exciting. Right, and they're never really. They're a team that every time you look at their roster, they're never really out of the possibility of going to the postseason. So so that just shows the consistency there.

Speaker 1:

But what drew me to John Spitek is that I'm a big fan of a lot of picks that the Bucs have made over the years. Right, vita Vey is one of my favorite players in the league. Right, and we all know he is probably one of the top. I mean not probably in it, but he's one of the top nose tackles in football and is a straight-up force. Right, and if you get that man one-on-one, chances are that's a battle that you're going to lose and you're going to end up looking silly, uh, but just like I was saying with will mcclay, they have that mindset of wanting to build through the trenches as well, and I think what's telling of that is this team has been in a position where they haven't had to really draft a franchise quarterback, and it's crazy because we've seen the statistics right in terms of how a team has success.

Speaker 1:

Chances are you have to draft a quarterback first and foremost, and chances are you have to get that quarterback in the first round, and the bucks have somehow mastered the algorithm of how to do that without getting a quarterback and without drafting one in the first round. They got Tom Brady in free agency. A big reason for that right was because they already drafted so well around the quarterback position and they only just needed that one piece. You look at what Baker Mayfield is doing and the success he's having. Everything was already in place for him to come there and have success. So this is a franchise that understands how to win without having him at quarterback. And that may be you know, something that jaguars need to consider that they might not have him at the quarterback position, but they got somebody. That's good enough right. Tom Brady was still playing at a high level, but he was up there in age right.

Speaker 1:

Baker Mayfield clearly isn't, you know, a top tier quarterback, but good enough, and they're making noise with him and they're having success with him. So in this search for the next GM, maybe you should find a GM that has mastered or knows how to rack up games without having, you know, a top 10 quarterback. And look no further than Tampa Bay Bucks in terms of a team that has that down to a science which, again, that's just insane that they haven't, and a part of it is because they are never bad enough to draft in the top 10, but they haven't had a need to draft quarterback in the first round for a very long time, if at all. Uh, you know, if my memory serves me correctly. But going back to um, their organization and how they've built the roster that they have, they obviously believe in building in the trenches too. Right, I just mentioned vita ve. This year they drafted graham barton. I liked him as a prospect.

Speaker 1:

The center from duke. Uh, well, he was. He was a utility guy. He played a lot of positions, but most people thought he'd be a good center or a guard in the league. But him um year before last they drafted uh khaled jacancy from uh pittsburgh I think he was there what first round pick the year before that. So two straight back-to-back years.

Speaker 1:

They are building in the trenches defensive line and offensive line Barton on the offensive line, cansey on the defensive line and they also have picked up a lot of people that when we're doing these mock drafts that we've done for the Jaguars and would you look at what's going on on Twitter in terms of the mock drafts that people are putting together. They drafted a lot of people mentioned in these mock drafts. Yaya Diaby, right from Louisville Barton, was one of them as well. I also really, really like Tristan Wirfs. He was one of my favorite prospects of his draft. He has come along quite well in terms of being one of the better tackles in football as well. So that's another notable name.

Speaker 1:

And then you have others outside of the offensive line again, kind of like I did with Dallas. It's not just the offensive line. They had hits outside of it as well. Anton Winfield, of course, son of Anton Winfield Sr. He's been a great safety for them. And you look at the OGs too Levante David, still hanging in there, still playing decent football, right as well, like they have guys that stick around for years and years and years so that's something of note too, to keep in mind too is like once they get somebody in the organization, they stay around for a good amount of time, and I think that's telling of the culture of an organization, because most of these guys you know when you draft them, if they endure their whole rookie contract with a team, they go somewhere else nine times out of ten. So I would definitely look at tampa bay and what they have in terms of not, it isn't just spy tech, as I said, it's greenberg. Um, they have jacqueline davidson in that front office as well. Uh, who I think she has the salary cap stuff. I've tweeted about her before when we thought we were going to get Brian Lefwich.

Speaker 1:

But that's an organization that understands the importance of having the right personnel and drafting right, like that's kind of their thing and that's what they kind of been known for. And also to something else before we move on to the next candidate is they? They obviously know how to find coaches as well, and that's something that might fall on the GM here. We don't know that yet, but when it comes to Doug Peterson being out of here, who's going to make the decision on the head coach. If you need a GM to make that decision and to go through that search, well, the tampa bay bucks. They obviously know how to find coaches. They had bruce arians right, who they won a super bowl with and still with the organization to this day on an executive level or something like that, and they also, at that time, they had their successor to him in Todd Bowles, so the successor was on Bruce Arians staff. When Bruce Arians retired, they just handed the keys to Todd Bowles, a franchise that obviously gets not just front office personnel and the importance of drafting, but also understands how to pick and find coaches.

Speaker 1:

So John Spitek is my number four. My number three is somebody that you all have probably heard me talk about and tweet about on Twitter, because I always mention the Colts front office, and while they aren't a great team right now, I do think they have a good front office and I think a lot of their lack of success has been because it's not their front office, but it's more so because they've always even when they lost Andrew Luck they've always been good enough to not be in the top of the draft to draft the replacement for Andrew Luck, and I think a lot of their shortcomings is because of that. And you know, with Trevor Lawrence making 200 million dollars, he's not going anywhere anytime soon. So if they are a franchise that understands his talent and their front office understands his talent and his skill level, then they will be. You know, they could be okay with keeping Trevor Lawrence and having a quarterback in place that has experience and has the tools at the very least.

Speaker 1:

That being said, the member from their front office that I'm referring to is not Chris Ballard, of course, who I mentioned a lot, and I like Chris Ballard but his second in chief, which is Ed Dodds. And Ed Dodds, his name has come up frequently In terms of GM searches and what have you in terms of GM searches and what have you. And every year, you know he has remained with the Colts and he's one of those candidates, kind of like Will McClay, probably even to a stronger degree that has been very selective. He wants to go to the right opportunity, right. So he's not just interviewing anybody. He is looking for something very specific in a franchise before he becomes a GM. And you look at the Jaguars, they do have some enticing things about them, right. They have a hands-off owner and Dodds would love that right A owner that doesn't meddle and stays out of the way. They also have somebody that, as I said earlier, an executive would look at and say they potentially got something to work with it there at quarterback. It depends on, you know, if these executives feel like Trevor Lawrence has been ruined or not, but if they don't feel like he's been ruined, that's another enticing thing is like hey, we got a quarterback with all the tools and the ability. I don't have to draft a quarterback, possibly at least in the beginning stages of my tenure there, and I have a quarterback with the experience that I can hit the ground running with. So that could be enticing too. So for picky GMs, the Jacksonville Jaguars could be enticing for picky GMs.

Speaker 1:

As for his background, he was somebody that spent a lot of time when he was young with Al Davis. We all know Al Davis liked to be very hands-on in terms of his draft picks and making personnel decisions and what have you, and a lot of people have, uh, bless his soul. A lot of people have criticized his picks and then there's been times where you know he's made picks that made people scratch their heads and it's like, oh, that actually wasn't a bad pick at all, right? So when, when you talk about owners and owners who have been really high on making their own personnel decisions, you know that's one of the people you start with is with al davis. So he, you know he was with al Al Davis a lot. When he was younger, dodds was spent time in the Seahawks front office. The Seahawks front office is a very respected front office as well and some of their executives are going on to you know other teams. Most notably, one is going to Carolina. His name is escaping me right now, but he came from Seattle Seattle, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 1:

And when Chris Ballard got the job with the Colts, you know Dodds was his hand-picked choice to be his right hand. So a lot of that is because when, when you look at Dodds and his evaluation skills, he is a very good evaluator. So the reports say and you know, according to the people around, a lot of the key decisions that have been made in terms of evaluations and player evaluations, ed Dodds was behind those decisions, whether it was, you know, seattle or, most notably, now with the Colts. And when you look at the Colts organization, I like how they draft as well. You know, I think I saw on PFF they have the third best offensive line. I know it's not translating the wins necessarily. They only have one win right now but it's because they have a super raw quarterback that played in a very limited amount of games before coming into the NFL.

Speaker 1:

But they have the pieces in the trenches and they've drafted well in the trenches. They've drafted well in the trenches most notably, of course, quentin Nelson, arguably top guard in the league or best guard in the league. Ryan Kelly has been a staple for them, for a former Alabama guy, a center there that's been there a very long time, braden Smith, who you know he has been doing well by PFF standards. I think he's one of the top guard at tackles in football Last time I checked. And the Raymond kid that they got about two years ago at tackle as well. He's a guy I've been seeing frequently in PFF with high grades as well.

Speaker 1:

So they again another team that believes in building in the trenches and building right in the trenches. Also another guy I would know is Grover Stewart, one of their defensive tackles. He went to Albany State University. Shout out to the Golden Rams, you know we'll always shout out HBCU colleges here. But yeah, that's. You know, that's a guy that you have to dig deep to find Right and a guy from Albany State that shows their scouting acumen and their thoroughness Right. And it's nothing for the Colts They've always been kind of high on this. It's nothing for the Colts to come down to scout at Albany State or Fordham but I digress from my point or for them, but I digress from my point.

Speaker 1:

But they're a team that really seems thorough with their evaluations and going to the smaller schools as well, and that's what you like. I mean, when you look at the Jaguars history right, a lot of their history there, you know, in terms of undrafted guys and late round guys a lot of their history in terms of success there has been from small school guys, especially, you know, back in the Gene Smith era. He didn't hit on a lot of draft picks at all but you know, when they did find somebody who was from a small school that was a very respectable player on the NFL level and same for, like you know, shaq Harris. So their thoroughness and their scouting process kind of reminds me of those days back in the day with the Jacksonville Jaguars, except for they hit on their first round picks too. Right, they're not just hitting on small school guys, they're hit on. They hit on the most important picks. That's the difference.

Speaker 1:

And I think for a guy like Ed Dodds, who don't want to go to an organization full of nonsense and I guess that's not something that we would associate with the Jazz, but they're not full of a lot of nonsense in terms of Trodcom meddling with the personnel and in terms of him meddling with football operations, that could be something that I think Ed Dodds would be intrigued with. And also, too, ed Dodds is already familiar with the AFC South, so that's something to consider, although the Colts could block it, but I don't know if they are the type of franchise that would stop somebody from getting the opportunity, but that's something to mention here too. He's familiar with the AFC South. He can hit the ground running. He already has done the scouting on the Colts. He's already done the scouting on us as well and what we have in the Titans right, he's familiar with the division. That's a guy you can bring into the organization and maybe have immediate success with, because he's already familiar with the personnel in the AFC South. So he's intriguing. That's why he's number three on my list, and then I have my 1A and 2B here. So or excuse me, my 1A and 2B here. So or excuse me, my 1A and 1B here. So it's two people atop my list. I'll start with 1B, and that is Ray Agnew from the Detroit Lions. He's the assistant GM for them currently under Brad Holmes.

Speaker 1:

I've always been intrigued with disciples of the Les Snead tree. As we all know, les Snead is the GM with the Rams and he's been with the Rams even when they were in St Louis. He had been with them for a long time and it seems like a lot of what Les Snead and his disciples have done have pretty much been gold, has pretty much been gold. You know Les Snead is a guy. While with the Rams we made jokes about it and how willing they were to give away draft picks and just build with free agents and trades. But it worked and they won Super Bowl as a result. Right, and when they did have the draft picks and they currently do now they're not in that position where they're without first and second round picks now now, but it took them a while to get past that point in terms of having those picks, but they were still winning when they didn't have them, but now that they have have those picks, they are making the most of them as well.

Speaker 1:

Right, and they've always been an organization that has drafted well from the get-go, whether they had a lot of picks or not. Obviously, you know, aaron Donald was the most notable one and a guy that will be in the Hall of Fame down the road. But when it comes to the less-need tree and less-need disciples, they know their stuff. And when Brad Holmes was sent to Detroit, a team that has traditionally or had traditionally bad culture, had been in the mud a long time, much like the Jacksonville Jaguars Brad Holmes touched on that organization, turned things around and now they look like a Super Bowl contender. You heard me right. The Lions went from a traditionally poor organization to under Brad Holmes to where they are now, a team that we would no longer be shocked. Nobody would be shocked if the Lions were representing the NFC in the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1:

Ray Agnew is also another one of those guys that learned a lot from Les Snead, alongside Brad Holmes, who is time. He's a little bit up there in age he might be 56 or you know older, but that's okay. We're looking for a front office executive, not a player or a coach, so that age is not really a big deal here, but, much like Brad Holmes, he reminds me. Agnew reminds me a lot of Brad Holmes in terms of just longevity under less need and learning a lot under less need. And when Brad Holmes went to the Lions, he eventually brought Agnew with him and made him the assistant GM for the Detroit Lions. So, that being said, agnew he was with the Los Angeles Rams in 2017 to 2020. Then, when Brad Holmes came on over to Detroit in 2021, he joined him there and not had. Not only has everything the Rams have have built has been impressive, but everything that Brad Holmes has done with Ray Agnew as his second hand man with the Lions has been very impressive.

Speaker 1:

I put a tweet out about this last year, I think it was, and I already knew Brad Holmes was a good executive, but it was during a playoff game last year that we were watching the the Lions and it dawned on me that everybody that the announcers were talking about were people that the Lions had drafted within the last three years or since Brad Holmes has been there, and when I pulled up their draft history, it was crazy how many hits they had. Like they might be the best team right now in terms of draft pick and hit picks and hitting on them at least the early ones and some late ones too. They might be the best team in terms of hitting on their draft picks and building through the draft, and in the tweet that I was referring to, I put a screenshot of just all of the draft picks they made within the last three years or so, and the list included Jameer Gibbs, jack Campbell, sam LaPorta, who is probably I think he is going to have to go on IR, but Sam LaPorta is an up and coming tight end and was able to produce as a rookie. Aiden Hutchinson, who I know is a person that we don't like to mention a lot, but let's face it. Aiden Hutchinson is a very good player and he has done great things for that organization. Jameson Williams loved him.

Speaker 1:

Coming out of Alabama was a deep threat guy that I was interested in as well. Kirby Joseph you always see him around the ball when they're playing on tv and you see them on tv. Panacea levi on wuzeriki. Aline mcneil another guy um, all of those last three were from 2021. Amin ross, st brown, who they found in the fourth round y'all in the fourth round and he has been magnificent for them. As a matter of fact, they just gave him a contract extension and he's one of the highest paid receivers in the league, so that shows how deep they can draft.

Speaker 1:

Right that that was after the third round, right there they found the number one receiver after the third round, right, and they they've had these spurts of finding late round guys that can contribute. James houston from jack Jackson State gave them 10 sacks as a rookie. He was somebody they drafted out of 2022. So these guys can hit late too, and I think the years that Agnew has spent with Brad Holmes and Les Snead, I think it's time for him to not only become a GM himself, but I think, like the knowledge that they passed along has rubbed off on him and he's well equipped to turn a team around like the Jacksonville Jaguars. Again, when you look at franchises who have had traditionally poor success on the field, going to the Lions and changing that culture was no easy task at all, not easy at all. And changing that culture was no easy task at all, not easy at all, and Ray Agnew has experience in that. Now Right and turning a bottom feeder franchise organization into an elite team or, arguably, a Super Bowl team. And that's what shotgun should be looking for Somebody who can just change a poor cultured organization into something better. So ray agnew should be on his list, and not only ray agnew, but some coaches and we'll get into the coaching list on another episode but it's coaches over there that shotgun should be looking at. Or the jaguars organization should be looking at too, because what they've done in terms of turning that franchise around is nothing short of miraculous.

Speaker 1:

And then, lastly, my one, a um. You know those of you who've seen my tweets in the past probably know who I'm going with here and that is mike borgonzi, who is the assistant gm with the kansas city chiefs. Y'all have heard me rave about the chief's front office for quite some time. I know a lot of people say, well, hey, they got patrick mahomes. How hard is it to build with Patrick Mahomes leading the way? But make no mistake about it, man, they've hit on more than just Patrick Mahomes and they've built a structure and a foundation in place for him to continue to be successful, despite having to give up a lot of, you know, high-quality players.

Speaker 1:

Right, they lost Tyreek Hill arguably Well. Arguably well, I mean, there's no arguably in it. Tyreek Hill was voted as the best player in football. They gave up the best player in football. Listen to me, y'all. They gave up the best player in football. They traded him to the Dolphins and still won the Super Bowl. That's indicative of how they drafted and it just seems to never really matter. Again, a lot of it is because they have Patrick Mahomes, but never really matter who they have at receiver. They've still been able to overcome adversity and overcome their flaws and get back to the Super Bowl. Right, and you look at their draft history. Even when they you know they traded Tyreek Hill to Miami, they've done a somewhat good job of finding people that can produce at the wide receiver position between Xavier Worthy, who I think is going to be a star we already kind of have seen it in the early stages of his rookie career this year. I have him on my fantasy team but he looks like Tyreek Hill, like he looks like he's not going to have an issue replacing Tyreek Hill. But you look at Hill, but you look at him. And you look at Rasheed Rice who's making noise. He's you know, arguably he's their favorite target right now. They got him in the second round um of last year's draft out of SMU, if I'm not mistaken. So, yeah, you look at him and Worthy and what they could be. Tyreek Holmes isn't gonna um, excuse me, patrick Mahomes isn't gonna drop off in terms of play anytime soon.

Speaker 1:

Going back to what I was saying about the offensive line and GMs that can build an offensive line, they have done that too for Patrick Mahomes. Their center, creed Humphrey, got him in the third round, arguably one of the better centers in football. They also drafted a guard. His name is, uh, trey Smith, I think. Uh, out of Tennessee. I'm a big SEC guy so, of course, like he would stand out as well, trey Smith has been one of the better guards in football as well, so putting that interior foundation in front of Patrick Mahomes has been no issue for them.

Speaker 1:

You know, while things are a little suspect on the edge, right, they have juwan taylor over there right now, who they got out of free agency. There's no doubt in my mind that they have the drafting ability, or had the drafting ability, to find the answer at right tackle too as well, but they just decided to go the free agency route, and I mean. That's another thing, too that I found interesting is they paid juwan Taylor a lot of money. They're not scared to spend money, even when they're tight against the cap, right, and that's what it takes to win a Superbowl. That's why they have won Superbowls with Trent.

Speaker 1:

You get a sense that Trent always feels that you know, enough spending is enough, right, and the chiefs are the exact opposite, right. That's the kind of mindset that I like is that the chiefs are always willing to get better and nothing, nothing feels like it's off the table for them. I guess is how I would put it again. They traded tarik hill, right? How could that even be on the table for a franchise? They traded him and did it, got draft compensation or received draft compensation for him and still went to the Super Bowl, and they probably have his successor, right. So that's a franchise that nothing really seems off the table. And the reason for that is because they believe in their draftability and they believe in their front office, and we would not be shocked if this Kansas City Chiefs team is back in the Super Bowl once again.

Speaker 1:

And when you look at a GM, brett Veach Mike Berngunzi has been there with Brett Veach for a very long time. If I'm not mistaken, mike Berngunzi has been in the Chiefs organization since at least like 2011, and I'm actually shocked that he's still there. And as the years go by, I keep. I'm just so terrified that somebody is going to pick him up and the Jaguars won't even have a shot to interview him. And it is odd because you know, this guy has been out there and he's been passed I don't want to say passed on.

Speaker 1:

He might be one of those guys who has kind of been selective of where he's um interviewed with, but you see, a guy like mike berngunzi out there, or borgunzi out there, and the jaguars keep rolling with a guy like trent balky, right like it's shotgun, not watching the chiefs organization and seeing how, year in and year out, they are, you know, a consistently good team, consistently in the Super Bowl, and you stay complacent with Trent Baalke is very puzzling with me. But one day we're going to wake up and Mike Borgunzi is going to have a job and he's probably going to turn a franchise around, probably. I have faith that he'll be able to do it and if I'm the Jacksonville Jaguars, the moment that he'll be able to do it and if I'm the Jacksonville Jaguars the moment that last game takes place against the Titans I think we played the Titans last and that clock hits 0-0-0, the season is over and I would think that we're not going to be in the playoffs at the rate it's going right now. He is a guy that I would have on the phone right that instant. They'll probably be in the playoffs, so they might have to wait to interview him. I don't know how it works with GM interviews in terms of if the team's in the playoffs, but he's worth the wait. He is well worth the wait, whether it's Shotgun doing it or Shotgun simply needs to hire people to hire the GM or hire the head up. Just hire some people to do some interviews, do a thorough process and if that is done, I think Mike Borgonzi would get an interview with the Jacksonville Jaguars, as he rightfully should. But if it's down to Khan, I think Khan would overlook him and just go with a layup type of situation like Bill Belichick. But I digress from my point. So, that being said, mike is the top guy on my list and, needless to say, just based on all the information I just gave you all I am ready for the season to end.

Speaker 1:

I do not want to stomach or watch any more of what we've seen. You know they probably will win a game or two or three here. They got a stretch in London where they got two. You know young franchises coming game or two or three here. They got a stretch in London where they got two. You know young franchises coming in where they'll win. But even with that being the case, this team is probably not going to the playoffs. And even if they were I told this to Phil even if this team was going to the playoffs, they need a reset regardless, because we now know that the coaching staff and front office aren't seeing eye to eye, and that would mean any success that they do have this year if they have any success is not sustainable. Right, it'll be a one and done type of situation. If, by some miracle, they made it to the playoffs, it would be a one and done situation. We've seen that before 2017. Tom Coughlin and his crew almost went to the Super Bowl, fell off the cliff the next year, right.

Speaker 1:

So, that being said, I am firmly in the camp of getting Trent Balki out of here, as well as Doug Peterson. We'll have the coaching candidates list in one of the next four episodes at the rate it's going. So be on the lookout for that. But that's a good place to end the topics part of this podcast. As I said earlier, you can find me on Twitter at Sports Grind, underscore Dunn, and you can find my co-host, phil Smith, on Twitter as well, under Phil the Filipino. If you want to give us your feedback and thoughts on this list and on this episode, please feel free to. Also, again, the website, touchdownjadwarscom, and the Twitter handle for the podcast is at tdjadwarspod. So those are all the handles to follow.

Speaker 1:

As we said, feel free to check out our sponsor in terms of getting your ticketing needs taken care, taken care of in seat geek.

Speaker 1:

They also have an app there. You can use our promotion code, whether it's on the app or the website, touchdown jaguars to get yourself 20 off of your first purchase with them, whether it's for a concert sporting event, whatever the case may be, feel free to check them out and download that app and help us take care of the bills here. So, that being said, I will wrap this episode up. Here's to hoping the jaguars figure it out, but that's a lot to ask for for this franchise right now, and it seems we are in store for a very, very long season, but if that's the case, we'll be here every step of the way at the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. Until then, everybody out there, take care of each other. I know it's a hurricane brewing out there that can hit the Florida area and the Georgia area. It's coming to my area too. So, everybody out there, be safe and take care of each other. Until next time, you all hold it down.