Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Franchise Focus: Jacksonville Jaguars

Episode Date: July 14, 2022

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) invites Jaguars beat reporter John Shipley (@_John_Shipley) to discuss the upcoming season for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Franchise Focus Podcast series is brought to you by Underdog Fantasy (@UnderdogFantasy). New users can sign up to Underdog using promo code FANTASYPTS for up to $100 in bonus cash on their first deposit. Visit fantasypoints.com/underdog for more info. The podcast series is also sponsored by Evan's Sports Cards & Collectibles (@evanscards). Follow @EvansCards on Twitter for weekly updates and card releases, Like on Facebook, and head to evanssportsnj.com for more info, including the always-updated eBay store. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fantasypoints.com and the 2022 franchise focus series is sponsored by Underdog Fantasy, the best and easiest way to play fantasy sports, with no waivers, trades, or lineup setting for season-long drafts. New users can sign up to Underdog Fantasy Fantasy, PTS, for up to $100 in bonus cash on their first deposit. That's promo code FantasyPTS. Head to FantasyPoint.com slash Underdog for more information. Now let's get to the show. It's time for the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoints.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle,

from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Franchise Focus series of podcast here at Fantasy Points.com. My name is Joe Dullen. I'm sounding just a little better than maybe the last time you heard from me. COVID-19, hey, I didn't feel so bad, but I have sounded like crap for about two weeks, but I am finally getting better. And I'm glad I'm getting better because today I have a really special interview as we're breaking down the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Look, if you're on fantasy football Twitter, if you're on NFL Twitter, you've probably seen him because John Shipley does an absolutely outstanding job covering the Jaguars for Jaguar Report. you can follow John at underscore John underscore Shipley. That's two underscores in there. Or you can follow the website at Jaguar Report. Hell, why don't you just follow both of them because you're not going to get a better source for the Jaguars.

John, thank you so much for joining me here on the Fantasy Points Franchise Focus podcast. It's an honor to talk to you. And I'm really excited to talk some Jags today. No, man. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it. I, the two underscores has become kind of my famous moniker every time I come on,

whether Drady or a podcast. Everybody's like, well, he's got two underscores in his name. There's like a 50, like he's been reporting Minnesota sports like 50 years, the guy named John Shipley, who covered his like the Vikings and the twins. And I'm just waiting him out. But I appreciate you having me on, man. Well, it's funny. We've actually had a lot of underscore discussion on this podcast because I had a,

I had think a Patriots writer who has the underscore at the beginning of his name, and then I had on a Dolphins writer who has the underscore at the end. Now, you've got one at the beginning and the middle. You are the underscore king. You have won that battle, John. Hey, that's what I sought out to do when I'm at it. As you guys know, the franchise focus series of podcasts is brought to you by Evans, Sports Cards, and Collectibles, the best place for cards, collectibles,

autographs, and more. All of our memorabilia giveaways at Fantasy Points are from Evans, and Evans always has the latest boxes. releases from Panini, Upper Deck, Tops, and more. And it's a family-owned small business, not one of those super stores, so you feel really good about supporting them. It's great for an in-person visit if you're in the Philadelphia area, but if you're like me and John and you live far away, it's just as good to visit the eBay store. You can follow at Evans Cards on Twitter for weekly updates and card releases. You can also get that by liking Evans on Facebook and head

to Evans SportsNJ.com for more info, including a link to that always updated E-Bee. base store. That's Evansportsnj.com online and at Evans cards on Twitter. And when you go, tell them that the guys from FantasyPoints.com sent you. John, I've been kicking off these podcasts, by the way, by like breaking down, you know, just usually the first question is about like a big change at the quarterback position or something like that. But we all know what happened with the Jaguars last year under the Urban Meyer, just an absolute disaster of a tenure. big question to you from being around the team under Doug Peterson, who was, by the way, was a culture changer in Philadelphia coming out of the Chip Kelly era. What's the vibe around the

Jaguars like? Do you sense a palpable difference? I do definitely sense a difference. I'd say there's a difference not just from, you know, people on the coaching staff and people in the locker room, but really from people all around the entire building. I think there's a difference organizationally. There's, you know, last year, you know, really throughout the entire season last year, but especially when things were really bad, I think it was the entire building that was hurting. You know, it wasn't just the players, even though they were obviously the biggest victims of the overmire fiasco, but it was more of that, you know, it was team employees. And I think now that I really do think that's turned around. And, you know, the Jaguars, they did end up keeping, you know, a couple coaches from

the last staff that are still on the staff, you know, guys like running back to coach, Bernie Parmally and inside linebackers coach Tony Gilbert. And they weren't shy at the end of OTAs to talk about how dramatically different this coaching staff and this regime is than the one they were on last year. You know, I mean, they both were open, you know, saying last year was, you know, probably the worst year of, you know, their football lives just because there was dysfunction from the top to the bottom. There wasn't a leader, you know, at head coach.

And I think you can tell just from talking to players and coaches that's different. And I think the fact that the Jaguars had really good attendance this offseason kind of speaks volumes. Because to me, if you're going to pick any team that would maybe not have great offseason attendance, I would have said, you know, the Jaguars simply because, you know, I know, I know urban was fired, you know, long time ago and Doug was hired. But you would imagine there would still be some distrust and animosity toward the franchise and toward really coaches and generals after they were sold, you know, a, you know, a fake bill of good by Meyer. but that wasn't the case, you know, it seems like guys that bought in, they bought in early.

They had great attendance this offseason. So I definitely do think the morale is turned around. And I think one of the key things here is the focus on the quarterback. And Doug Peterson, when he was in Philadelphia, I mean, they built a really quarterback focused organization. And that led to the trade up for Carson Wentz. We know what happened with Carson Wentz. But the fact of the matter is Doug Peterson has a ton of experience, tutoring quarterbacks. And now that goes all the way down to Jim Bob Cooter and Mike McCoy, who are also on this staff. What was the first step for this team in evaluating and projecting Trevor Lawrence forward?

Because, I mean, I think there's a, in the fantasy industry, there's a little bit of a tendency for us to almost completely throw last year out. Did the coaches think there was anything positive to take away, or are they essentially treating Trevor like he's a rookie again? No, I haven't gotten the sense that they're treating this like Trevor Lawrence's rookie year. I actually think, you know, the guys that are with him now, you know, Peterson, Press, Taylor, Mike McCoy. I've gotten the sense that they're happy, you know, he played as a rookie, you know, had 17 games of starts because it really helped them, you know, see what he can and what he can't do, you know, his own limitations compared to, you know, there were simply things he could do at Clemson, Windows, he could test, matchups he could test that he can't at the NFL. and he was able to get, you know, a crash course in that last year.

So I do think, you know, obviously everybody wishes last year, you know, inside the building would have went different for Trevor Lawrence. But I think when you roll back to tape and, you know, you put aside the fact that the numbers weren't there and you see some of the positive things that he did, and the fact that he did get 17 games of experience after being, you know, in my opinion, a little bit more raw coming out of Clemson. And, you know, he was probably giving credit for it. Everybody liked to compare Lawrence to Andrew Luck.

Andrew Luck was coming out of a complete pro-style system at Stanford. He was mechanically, schematically, he was ready to go in the NFL. Whereas Lawrence, for all the elite physical tools he has, he wasn't coming out of an NFL system at Clemson. Clemson isn't a system that produces quarterbacks, even though they've had him and the Sean Watson both get drafted high from there in recent years. It's not a system that is intuitive to quarterback developing. So I don't get the sense they're treating it this as his rookie year.

I get the sense as they're treating it as, okay, this is the year you need to take a step forward, you know, take what you learned last year and be better from that. But I don't think they're throwing out last year. And I don't think people should either because as far as much bad as there was production-wise, I do think there's still a lot of good as well. When you're watching the offense in OTAs and minicamps, and I know it's hard, you're going to get a better sense once we got the training camp. But what were some of the notable differences you can see from what Doug Peterson is looking to implement as opposed to what Urban Meyer implemented last year?

I think one big thing was there was a lot more clear direction with, in my opinion, what you were seeing on the offense this spring. Last year, it was just a weird marriage between Urban Meyer and Darryl Bevel and also, you know, he had Brian Schontheimer helping with a scheme some. That offense just, I couldn't tell you even today what their offensive identity was supposed to be last year. Whereas this year, I feel like there's a more really defined plan. And I feel like there's more attention to the details this year. Even, you know, just watching some of the positional coaches, this coaching staff has taken more of an approach to teaching and ironing out the little things. Whereas, you know, we saw last year, that's where the Jaguar struggled. You know, they struggled with misassignments.

They struggled with, you know, bad. timing, running the wrong routes, getting, you know, to the wrong death in your route, drops, holding penalties, stuff like that. So, I mean, I remember their very first offensive driver of the season. It was like a false start, did an illegal formation play, and then a negative run. And, I mean, you know, set the tone for their entire season. Yeah, it was an offense that they couldn't even do the little things well. So that's the shift I've kind of noticed the most.

So I think the big question or the big change that I think a lot of people, people picked up on, obviously from free agency is all the additions in the past catching group. And I know the contracts for Christian Kirk and Zay Jones were heavily criticized. I think the Christian Kirk one pissed off a lot of general managers around the week. That has a lot of the wide receivers stuff exploding, but then also bringing in Evan Ingram at tight end. Very clear to me, John, that the Jaguars thought this receiving group needed to be revamped. and you can argue what I think with the money,

but how do they think Kirk and Zay Jones really fit into what, and Evan Ingram as well, really fit into what Doug Peterson wants to do. Yeah, no. So Kirk is somebody who I think is going to be their starting slot receiver. I have a story up on the site from last week, I believe, where, you know, I talked to their wide receivers coach, Chris Jackson about, you know,

a big thing that Jaguars did this offseason was they wanted to have the position coaches have a big say. free agency and kind of how they teared and ranked the guys they wanted to target. And Chris Jackson explained to me that, you know, when they were looking at free agent receivers, they had outside receivers and slot receivers. And Christian Kirk was in the slot receiver group. But he said the reason he was above everybody else in that group was they believe he has the versatility that also, you know, line up on the outside, which he obviously did his first three years in Arizona.

He wasn't a true slot receiver until his final year there. So he's going to be their starting slot receiver, but all indications, both public, and privately that the coaching stuff has made has been that he's somebody who they also think can play on the outside. So I'd imagine an 11 personnel, he's in the slot, and then when they go to 12 personnel, have two receivers on the field, I still think he's going to be on the field.

I don't think he's going to be, you know, a Jerry Judy situation where he's taken off the field in, you know, those situations. Marvin Jones is going to be, they're starting Z receiver, just like it was last year. I wouldn't expect him to be much in the slot. And, you know, it leaves Zey Jones on the, at the Xbox. and he's going to be the guy that they hope can, you know, kind of win those intermediate to deep ball kind of situations. He can be a guy who lines up on the outside a lot.

But they have said that they want all the receivers to basically learn all the spots. You know, they want it to be interchangeable to where, you know, one week it can be, there's a mismatch with Christian Kirk in the slot. One week maybe say Jones is, you know, the guy getting the most work there because they think Kirk has a mismatch on the outside. So I think they'll be riding a different hot hand each week. I think in the most traditional sense in the vacuum, you'll see Kirk as their starting slot receiver. Zay Jones is a starting X receiver. But when they go to 12 personnel, I think you'll have Kirk and Marvin Jones on the field. Well, I think a lot of folks also, when Doug Peterson took over, they remember Philadelphia.

And they remember, you know, Zachertz and Brent Selig. And then Zachertz and Dallas Goddard. So a lot of 12 personnel. But all the reports I think that I've read from you and other people around. the Jaguars suggest 11 personnel is going to be kind of the base package. Where does that leave these tight ends, Ingram and Arnold, within the hierarchy? Because in theory, that's a pretty good pair. Yeah, I do think it's going to be a lot of 11 personnel, just because, you know,

when you're talking 12 personnel, if you go out there with Arnold and Ingram and 12 personnel, I'm not sure how much defenses are going to respect you running the ball in that scenario. You know what I mean? Just because those are two past catching tight ends. Those are two, you know, F tight ends who Jaguars ideally would like to move around the formation. I do think that that doesn't mean the Jaguar's going to shy away from 12 personnel because they're super high on Chris Manhart as a blocker. Richard Angulu, their tight ends coach, he helped coach Nick Boyle in Baltimore.

He told me he sees a lot of similarities. He thinks Banhurts is one of the better blockers, you know, in the league at the position. And then Luke Farrell, rookie day draft the last year, he's the only guy on the roster. I've gotten the indication that they see as somebody who can be both an inline and, you know, that kind of move tight end. So I really think that when you go to 12 personnel, a guy like Luke Farrell, you know, could be somebody that's on the field a good bit. But I do think ultimately when you consider both Arnold and Ingram or past catching tight ends,

that's going to be a lot of, you know, 11 personnel, maybe a lot of them shifting out wide. But I think if I had to put together a list of the five players, I think are going to receive the most. targets. I mean, Ingram, in my opinion, would probably come third. And I'd say Arnold would come fifth. I think both are going to play a big role in the offense. So I'm like a, I'm like a one-hit wonder at a concert, like a one-hit wonder band, saving my like big hit for the end of the show. So to keep people in their seats the whole time, I am bearing the lead severely here, John, because the Jaguar getting drafted, and I know you know where I'm going with this. The Jaguar is getting drafted first in all fantasy.

drafts is Travis E.T.N. He's getting drafted sight unseen in like the third round. Obviously, he's coming off a major injury, an injury that takes a long time to recover that list, Frank's brain. But the reports have been positive. What have you seen from Travis E.T.N. out there. What is the Jaguars expectations for Travis E.T.N. What kind of numbers do you think he could put up this year in Doug Peterson's offense? Yeah, no, I think the Jaguar is absolutely, you know, excited about what they've scene from ETIN the spring. I think that at least from what I was able to observe, you know, his ability to cut and change direction on his foot that he injured last year.

I didn't feel like he was any less explosive than the player I watched in training camp last year before his injury. Obviously, you know, pads weren't on. And, you know, in the spring, it's kind of hard to evaluate running backs because everything is almost throwing and on air. But to me, his ability to stop and start, we're still there. his speed after the catch. He just, it looks like a different caliber of athlete than, you know, the rest of the guys

that they had on offense even, you know, after his injury, which is a very serious injury, you know, especially for running backs of his style. So I think that the Jaguar is optimistic that he'll be, you know, 100% and the player that they thought he would be coming out of college. Just in terms of his role, I think it's clear that, you know, he's going to have a big early down role, you know, they're going to use him on a lot of, those attempts to have, you know, chunk plays, a lot of their RPO stuff, a lot of their screen game.

And he's also going to be somebody who they trust that they can, you know, move around the formation. You can get them on, you know, mismatches with linebackers. I'm not talking, you know, make him a half-wide receiver like Urban Meyer thought, but he has somebody who, you know, he has the ability to win, you know, as a receiver, split out wide from the backfield. So I do think they're going to use them that way. My question really with E.T.

And especially when it comes to fantasy is I think he's going to have a lot of value for the Jaguars because I think he's going to be able to generate big plays at a rate that they haven't had in a few years, which in turn, I think will get him a lot of volume on first and second down. But I do wonder how much he'll play on third down when James Robinson comes back. And the reason I say that is because I think most people, when they hear about a third down back, they think about past catching ability. whereas in my opinion, I think NFL teams and coaches see a third downback as the back that they trust most in pass protection. And coming out of Clemson, you know, that was ETAM's biggest, you know, red flag coming out of Clemson. You know, he was a bad pass protector in college. And you look at him now, I mean, just physically compared to the other running backs on the field. I mean, he has the stature of a guy that you would think would probably be, you know, one of the lesser pass blockers.

You know, he's just, he's a skinny guy, you know, he has a slender frame. That's just not his game. Whereas James Robinson, he's, you know, one of the most reliable pass blockers at running back in the NFL. Both in terms of his physicality, his strength, and then, you know, his mentality, he kept Trevor Lawrence out of a lot of sticky situations last year that, you know, went unheralded just because pass pros, you know, kind of an understated part of the game at running back. So I think when James Robinson gets back, the fact that he can not only pass block, but I mean, he's a heck of a receiving threat, too, because of his, you know,

he has good hands. He can get yards after catch. He's not as explosive as ETN is, but I think overall, ETN will probably command a lot of the early down work, but I think when it comes to third downs, I do think that'll be Robinson's down. So when do they expect James Robinson to come back? They haven't really made clear, and I think that's smart of them to put any kind of timetable on it. If you listen to James Robinson talk, you know, he gave an interview at E&OTAs or he said he expects me back by training camp, which would be, you know, severely optimistic considering he was injured.

I believe it was week 16. You know, it was the day after Christmas. So it would be just a little over, you know, seven months, eight months, I believe, since he's been injured if he came back for training camp. I guess Cam Acres, by the way, is kind of like muddied up that typical timeline, though, right? Yeah, like for sure. So, yeah. Sorry, I'm stepping on your toes there, but you go ahead now. No, I'm so sorry, by bad.

But I just, it's weird. Like, that's the biggest question I get when I talk Jaguars. And I hate sitting on the fence about it, but my answer really is just, you know, I'm not sure. I really don't. James Robinson thinks it's coming back really soon. The Jaguars have yet to be definitive about it. So I really think it's wait and see, but I think it's noteworthy when the player himself thinks. he'll be back at a certain point.

Yeah, but then you also have to kind of take into the equation, right, that they trade it up to draft Snoop Connor, who is kind of more of that bruising kind of back. So that throws a little wrench in there too. Yeah, absolutely. And I would also go to say that when you look at Doug Peterson's offenses, you know, with the Philadelphia Eagles, you know, other than maybe that last year with Miles Sander,

they always, you know, kind of employed a platoon at running back. You know, they had three running backs who seemed like on any given, you know, game day. They would be an active part of the game plan. And I think it was key for the Jaguars to enter training camp with a third running back that they felt comfortable with in a potential starting role or at least playing a big role on game days. So I think that was why they drafted Connor. But I also think having that insurance, just in case Robinson isn't ready, is even more. John, I've been asking everybody kind of at the end of the podcast for a little bit of a fan. Tennessee sleeper from every team. And I hope I just didn't step on your toes there with Snoop

Connor. But is there a name that comes to mind for the Jaguars? Maybe not somebody who's really, you know, getting drafted in the realm of where Christian Kirk is getting drafted, but maybe somebody a little bit lower down the depth chart who might surprise some people. Now, the second you said Snoop Connor, that was exactly what I thought. Dang, that's exactly what I was going to mention. I think that. Let me pivot then. Let me pivot then. Because you've got two guys. I think one was a pleasant surprise last year, and the other was a terrible disappointment. Comparing contrast, Lequan Treadwell and Loviska Channalt, who are, I'm going to guess,

fourth and fourth and fifth on the receiver depth chart right now. Yeah, right now I'd say Chanel is fourth on the receiver depth chart, and Treadwell, I'd say, is probably fifth. It's hard to judge him and Jamal Agnew, because, I mean, Jamal Agner is making the roster, you know, as a return man. It's hard to tell, though, how much this staff sees him as a potential receiver threat. Because, I mean, he was there basically their starting slot receiver for half a year last year because he had to be because of injuries.

But who knows if they see him that way this year? So I'd say, Solitz is definitely the fourth receiver, whereas Trudorwell is the fifth, maybe six. I think Trudderwell has a better chance of making the roster than the guy like Kevin Austin or, you know, any of their other undrafted rookies that they sign. But I think, you know, Sonalt is somebody who I think will get more looks than Treadwell. I think that they'll still have certain packages and plays and ideas for Chanel in place, even if he's not, you know, one of their true starting receivers.

And then, I mean, receivers are a position that you see guys, you know, go down at all the time. And I think, you know, once any of the Jaguars' top three receivers go down, I think Chanel would be the next guy up. you know, they'll re-figure how they're going to do things from there. But he's somebody who they think can also play inside outside. My personal opinion is he can't play outside at all, you know, after last season, that was one of my biggest swings and misses. After his rookie year, I was like, dang, you know, they should put him on the outside more

and see what he can do vertically. And then they did it last year. And I was like, okay, maybe you guys were right in the first time. Yeah, maybe sometimes the coaches do know. Like we're all sitting here and like, I call it, I call it the, um, uh, Janice's razor. There was a guy for the Green Bay Packers, um, a number of years ago. If you were deep in fan, yeah, Jeff Janice. And everyone, because he had these metrics that tested out of the building.

So everybody's like, why doesn't this guy play more? And then they, when they put him on the field and then like Aaron Rogers don't throw him, we're like, ah, you know, probably they know something that we don't. But, uh, maybe I could change that to, uh, Leviska's. razor because there was a reason he was not playing outside. Guys, if you want anything on the Jaguars, news, reports, analysis, you got to follow John Shippley. At underscore John underscore Shipley, make sure you underscore the John there.

You should just get a huge underline. Maybe you can underline it on Twitter and connect the two underscores. He's the Jaguars beatwriter for at Jaguar Report. He does a podcast there. You can listen to his pod there. Get me out of the way. just listen to all to John. John, it was wonderful having you on the franchise focus podcast series. I really appreciate you coming on and I'm looking forward to a less chaotic

Jaguar season. Let's put it that way. Yeah, the next two of us. I'll be back later this week with more guys from the franchise focus, but just thanks for tuning in. Thanks for sticking with me through this COVID thing. And I'll be back. So my name's Joe Dolan, by the way. I don't even know if I ever said that at FG underscore Dolan on Twitter. Thanks for listening, everybody. and I'll talk to you later this week. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. And come join the roster at FantasyPoint.com.