JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …

Mason from Palm Bay, FL

Based on what you have written recently, it sounds like you believe center Robert Hainsey and guard Patrick Mekari will be an upgrade over center Mitch Morse and guard Brandon Scherff. Is there any other reason you believe the run-blocking will improve next year? Right tackle Anton Harrison going into his third year should help, too, I suppose.

The Jaguars do believe Hainsey and Mekari will help the offensive line be a better run-blocking unit – with a nastier edge. This perhaps is not as much about Hainsey and Mekari being dramatically better players over the course of their careers than Morse and Scherff as it is Hainsey and Mekari being at different stages of their careers – and having different styles. The run offense also will be a major point of emphasis under Jaguars Head Coach Lian Coen, and emphasizing an area can often lead to improving that area.

Alan from Ellington, CT

Do you have any good stories about a player earning a non-expected contract bonus?

My Scooby Sense – not my Scobee sense – tells me you're referencing players reaching what the NFL calls "Not Likely to Be Earned" incentives. This happens relatively often because an NLTBE simply is a milestone the player didn't reach the previous season. It can therefore be as reachable as, say, a running back reaching 1,000 yards. Or even 800 yards. Or many other very reachable plateaus. One cool story that does come to mind is that of former Jaguars defensive tackle Sen'Derrick Marks, who in 2014 registered a career-high 8.5 sacks. He had a contract escalator that season in which he earned an extra $600,000 if he reached eight sacks. He did so on the final play of a late-season home Thursday Night victory over the Tennessee Titans, making for a cool memory for a good guy late in an otherwise forgettable season.

Jeremy from Gilbert, AZ

I'm really looking forward to the Jags drafting and developing players. It sounds like a smart way to build a football team. Why haven't we tried it before?

Jeremy's got jokes.

Boxcutter Bill from Mass

Jalen Ramsey coming home, baby. How many of those questions have you gotten?

I have received more than a few questions along these lines, with former Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey perhaps not unsurprisingly reportedly having requested to be traded from the Miami Dolphins. I'll preface this (reiterated) answer by saying I have no problem with Ramsey – that despite some tongue-in-cheek references to his injured back around the time the Jaguars traded him to the Los Angeles Rams in 2019. Now for the reiterating. The Jaguars aren't going to be among the teams trading for Ramsey.

Joel from Yulee

Just curious, when teams are projecting these projections, do they use a projector?

Yes, that's the role of the project manager.

Joel from Yulee

Would you like me to record an audio book of Jags to Riches? It is 2025 after all.

This is a very nice offer. As I see no way it would benefit me financially, I also consider it a very uninteresting offer. But it is a very nice offer nonetheless. And it is important in the O-Zone to be nice.

Bradford from Orange Park, FL

It's no hate. But I am overjoyed that Colorado wide receiver/cornerbackTravis Hunter came out and said it himself. Because I think big NIL-celebrities are already up against being on their way to not being a DAWG in the NFL. But him laying the ultimatum down that he will play both cornerback and wide receiver or he'll "quit" ... what more do you need to hear from a potential first-round selection before it just becomes a polite "No, thank you?" See? I was nice, too.

Would he?

John from Pinehurst, NC

Jags to Riches e-book is available from Kindle for US $9.99.

You can get a Bullet Bob at Strings for about 7$. They sell them to go now, too. In cans. Those big cans. In bunches.

Don from Marshall NC

Little Spanky Horner sat in a corner eating a cherry pie. He stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum and said what the hell is this plum doing in my cherry pie. Go Jaguars!

Don, unlike Spanky, remains "all in."

Josh from Atlanta

In the ALL-IMPORTANT big board on the Bleacher Report site, University of Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham is the No. 3 prospect. While I can really care less about the site, the fact he ranks that highly there makes me feel pretty good about taking him. You draft No. 5 and expect "special." I would say the overall 3rd best prospect is arguably special. Give me Graham!

One fer Graham, though if you don't care about the site then I'm not sure why his ranking there would make you feel one way or the other about selecting him.

Micah from Chicago

John, you are intangibly rich.

Damned right.

Bradley from Sparks, NV

Now that you have hit 5K, I can only imagine the heat for an O-Zone Biopic. I was in Los Angeles relatively recently having brunch in one of those places I never would have been in if I was paying and overheard that Brad Pitt's next project had been canceled so maybe he could play you and Edward Norton as Gary, which I think would be their first movie together since Fight Club. Frenette, of course, would play himself and direct with Billy Bob Thornton as Don. I see Gary kidnapping the Culligan girl, car chases, an epic rescue with the climatic scene playing out as the Kansas City Chiefs battle the Jags in the AFC Championship Game as the backdrop. Let the Oscar buzz begin!

Damned right.

Lawrence from Blair, NE

O, since there's not much to do but blow small comments out of proportion, I have a little snippet I'd like to dive into. Jaguars General Manager James Gladstone said whomever the No. 5 pick was, they are likely to take on the "face of the franchise" moniker. Do you think a defensive tackle can hold that role? I don't really recall Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones or Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons being portrayed as "the Face of the Franchise." Is that maybe a hint it WON'T be a defensive tackle? I personally don't understand why everyone thinks defensive tackle is such a huge need. I struggle to see the need.

I agree that you may have blown a small comment out of proportion – and I didn't see Gladstone's comments along these lines during Tuesday's pre-draft media availability as a hint about what the Jaguars might do at No. 5 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. Gladstone was responding to a question about whether he had considered the importance of the selection – his first as the Jaguars' general manager – as a tone-setting moment for the franchise moving forward. I read his answer as saying that he had considered that, and that it was likely that the player indeed would be a foundation piece – and therefore "A" (perhaps not "THE" face of the franchise. He was trying to answer a question. I wouldn't read all that much into it beyond that. And if the Jaguars draft a defensive tackle at No. 5, it would be because they believe is a special talent – NOT because it addresses an obvious need.

Nicholas from Fort Cavazos, TX

Thanks for clarifying when your streak began. I had August 7 2011 in my phone based on clues you gave throughout the years. MY question is: Can you remind your new readers what prompted you to start the streak? I believe it began when "blackouts" were still occurring.

It's past time to move on from "O-Zone streak talk." It's self-serving and one can only serve oneself so much. Either way … If memory serves, I wrote in August 2011 that I would write O-Zones daily until the Jaguars had a game blacked out. If memory serves, I was making the point that this wouldn't happen. Because the NFL no longer blacks out games, the premise no longer applies. And it doesn't matter anyway. I'll write them daily now until I don't, whenever that may be.

CD from Fleming Island

Hey, John. With the big 5,000 milestone reached, it makes me appreciate all that the Ozone has given us. Sure, maybe we all have different tolerance levels for Gene Frenette jokes, OKs and You Go Girl's. But that same genius has kept Sbarro's nostalgia alive, reminded us that the Germans Bombed Pearl Harbor, warned us that Big Bo always knows where to find you, and pointed out all the bands from the 70s/80s that we weren't cool enough to know about. Lest we forget, once the Jags achieve FULL CONSISTENCY we'll be able to celebrate frequent Moodachays. Then it'll finally be easy to be a Jags fan. That's what this forum has given us. Here's to 5,000! However long the ride takes us beyond today, we'll be sitting shotgun...

Onward ho.