JACKSONVILLE – The comfort level is a little higher these days.
That makes sense, because Gus Bradley is now in his second season as the Jaguars' Head Coach, and he told jaguars.com this week the year of experience has given the 2014 offseason a different feel. What last year felt new now feels a bit more familiar.
And that, Bradley said, is pretty cool.
"Last year, everything had a faster pace to it because of the hiring of the staff and everyone learning each other's personalities," Bradley said this week on Jaguars.com LIVE!, which will air weekly on jaguars.com Wednesdays at noon.
"Now, we're doing some of the same things, but we're starting earlier. It gives us a chance to look at some of the free-agency guys even in more depth. We look at the combine guys even in more depth. We look at our self-scout, and now our cutups and our clips come from this past season – not necessarily from other places we've been.
"All of those things come together, but we're challenging now. Offensively, we're going to change some things up. Defensively, we're going to change some things up. We have a better feel for the strengths of our players.
"Now, the challenge is, 'How do we utilize those strengths?'"
Bradley and General Manager David Caldwell each talked before last season about wanting to gain a better knowledge of their roster top-to-bottom in their first season with the team. Bradley said that was accomplished.
"We made 235 or so roster changes," Bradley said. "It won't be like that this year, but we'll still have some roster changes. That's the challenge every year, is to learn your roster, until you get to a position where you're only adding one or two guys. That will be a challenge again this year, but fortunately we feel good about a lot of our core guys.
"We elevated the bottom of our roster. We know those guys. We know their strengths. We're going to add draft picks. We're going to add some free agency. We'll go through the process again."
Also on Jaguars.com LIVE! Wednesday:
*Bradley discussed the process of replacing Head Athletic Trainer Mike Ryan, who will retire Friday after 20 seasons with the team. Bradley said the team would like to hire a replacement for Ryan and linebackers coach Mark Duffner by the end of next week before the staff leaves for the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis the following week. "We've lost some very good people, some guys who had tremendous impact on our organization," Bradley said. "Now, the challenge is to replace them. It's a process. Hopefully, by the end of next week is all comes together and we're back to everybody working on the same page." …
*Of the trainer position, Bradley added, "We need to get someone in place rather quickly. We've had some interviews take place. As we get to a close on the guys we're interviewing, Dave and I will sit down and we'll make a decision."…
*Bradley discussed Seattle's 43-8 victory over Denver in Super Bowl XLVIII Sunday. Bradley had been the defensive coordinator the past four seasons in Seattle, including the last three under Head Coach Pete Carroll. "They played at a high level," Bradley said. "You kind of had a feeling, just having gone against Denver and going against Seattle that there was an opportunity for them to play really well against this team, to see it all come together was a great moment for those guys." …
*Bradley said he saw signs of the Seahawks turning into a dominant defense last season, his final season with the team. "Last year when I was there about midway through the season it felt like the team started to own it, especially on the defensive side," Bradley said. "They took really great pride in it. I feel like the Atlanta game (a divisional playoff loss) really left an emptiness in a lot of people in that building. The players really felt that and said, 'You know what? If we get that opportunity again we're going to take advantage of it,' and they did."…
