JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …
Nelson from Jacksonville
Tell me what I'm missing here: Why wouldn't corner be considered our biggest need? Tyson Campbell is fine – I guess – but who else is there? We have a lot of nickels and a Tyson, and that doesn't feel like a strong position. Or maybe it's just me.
It's not just you at all, and cornerback indeed feels very much like a position the Jaguars still must address in the 2025 offseason. Fifth-year veteran Tyson Campbell is a quality starter and under long-term contract, and the Jaguars recently signed nickel Jourdan Lewis as an unrestricted free agent. That gives those two positions a solid feel, but corner opposite Campbell is less certain. Second-year veteran Jarrian Jones, who played extensively at nickel as a rookie, is a possibility. So is fourth-year veteran Montaric Brown, who has started 17 career regular-season games – including 10 regular-season games last season. The thought here is this is a position that could be addressed early in the draft or soon thereafter in late-offseason free agency. Stay tuned.
Chris from Roseville, CA
You want your team to have a home playoff game, win your division!
This continues a recent O-Zone discussion that began shortly after the Detroit Lions proposed an amendment to NFL rules to allow wild-card teams to be seeded higher than division winners in the postseason. Owners are expected to vote on this at the NFL's Annual Meeting in Palm Beach next week. This would change the current rule, under which the four division winners from each conference are automatically seeded Nos. 1 through 4 regardless of record. This concept is proposed periodically and often has a lot of public support. But I've never sensed there being close to enough support among NFL owners to pass. The league historically places great emphasis on winning a division. If they take away the incentive of a home playoff game, then what's the point of divisions? Why not just have two conferences and seed them Nos. 1-7? Yes, you could guarantee division winners a postseason spot, but the thought here is the league will continue to want the winning the division to bring a greater reward.
Sam from Orlando, FL
Another draft is about to come and go and somewhere former General Manager Gene Smith will scoff inside a dimly lit room that the Jags didn't take a player from Mount Union or William and Mary.
OK.
Rob from St. Augustine, FL
I think we should bring back the AFC/NFC Central. Just less divisions. Theoretically, you could be the 29th/32nd ranked team and win your division. That can't be good for football.
My Scooby Sense – not my Scobee Sense – tells me you're advocating returning to the pre-2002 format of six divisions. That was an Eastern, Central and Western division in the AFC and NFC – a format the league used from 1970 through 2001. The league won't do this for multiple reasons, mostly because there is an evenness to the current setup of eight, four-team divisions. It enables something close to fairness in terms of scheduling – with the league rotating schedules and having each team play three teams from its own division, four teams from a division in its own conference, four teams from a division in the other conference and three teams from predetermined divisions based on the previous season's standings. Changing the number of teams in each division would complicate that. One downside indeed is the slightly increased chance that a team well below .500 makes the postseason. But the worst qualifying record in postseason history was 7-9, and I don't know that a team making the postseason at 7-10 would happen enough to overhaul the current division format.
Matt from Jacksonville
With new face on the O-line, can you line them up alphabetically according to height?
Hold, please.
David from Maplewood, NJ
Zone, Somewhat obvious but feel obligated to point it out anyway. Draft and develop is a perfectly valid strategy and in a vacuum most if not all would agree the best approach. However, it only works if you draft well. I guess time will tell. I am encouraged by the new regime openly saying that rookies can and even will need to contribute. It's a bit of a chicken and egg debate but I think at least some rookies thrown in the deep end so to speak will figure it out. It may make for a bit of a rough start, but it has the potential to pay off in a big way.
Of course draft and develop only works if you draft well. No one who knows the first thing about football would tell you differently. The first goal of filling your needs before the draft is so you can draft as much as possible without worrying about need. The second goal of filling needs before the draft is so you can allow the rookies a chance to contribute before forcing them to do so before they're ready.
Travis from Jacksonville
The Jaguars will select Colorado cornerback Travis Hunter at No. 5 in the 2025 NFL Draft for the same reason if he is available there; he is a special, generational talent … Oh boy, another generational talent? Does that mean we are acquiring talent for a future generation? Is there a secret lab somewhere where they are building this future team? Maybe speed things up a bit?
If the Jaguars select Hunter it will be because he's the best player available at the time – and yes, many analysts consider him one of two or three "generational, special" players in the 2025 NFL Draft. I'm not sure what "future generation" or "secret lab" means. I'm good. Some would say great. But I guess I'm not that good or great.
Sam from Orlando, FL
Spelling Eugene "The Master" Frenette'' name wrong is a weird way to go missing.
Crossing longtime Florida Times-Union sports columnist and Northeast Florida cultural icon/thought leader Eugene P. "Gene" Frenette in any way is a high-risk proposition. Very, very high risk. I'm not at liberty to discuss the ramifications. I don't even like to think about them.
Travis from High Springs, FL
In your opinion, why was quarterback Trevor Lawrence able to be so dominant in high school and college, but look average so far in the NFL? I get the NFL is a whole different game, the best of the best and all, but the level of prospect he was coming out was up there with Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, and those guys showed elite traits early in their careers. Do you believe he was just getting by on superior physical ability against lesser competition, or has it been more of a scheme/personnel problem since he's been drafted? The second half of his second season he looked like the next great NFL quarterback, like he looked in high school and at Clemson. Just wondering what seemed to kind of stop that ascension, was it just injuries?
The NFL is hard. If a lot of circumstances aren't right, it's really hard. Only a comparatively few quarterbacks in NFL history achieve true greatness. That's because the NFL is hard. So much harder than college that it's almost indescribable. But it's hard. Really hard.
Rob from The duuuuuuuu
Would you have any issues with best available pass rusher? I assume Abdul Carter will be gone, but don't we need more than two? Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker can't play every down, and we made the mistake of going into last season too thin at this hugely important position. We didn't sign a free-agent pass rusher so this is also a huge need, right? I feel like the good ones are usually in the top of the first round and you can never go wrong with best available pass rusher in top of the first round. Is second-best pass rusher really such a reach at No. 5?
If a pass rusher is the best available player at No. 5 overall there's no reason the Jaguars wouldn't select him there.
Bradley from Sparks, NV
A man as smart as Jaguars General Manager James Gladstone isn't going to be the guy that passes on Hunter at No. 5. I hope he gets that lucky, but I'm guessing he has to make a hard decision with his first pick as an NFL general manager. I feel very secure in predicting that a healthy Travis Hunter will not be on the board at 6. Thoughts?
I don't expect Hunter to be available when the Jaguars select No. 5 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. I don't have a feel for whether the Jaguars would select him, but I think it would be very hard for them to pass.
Don from Marshall, NC
I shook one of those little black answer balls and Nick Foles came up!
When it comes to making obscure references that I sometimes don't understand but sort of understand Don remains "all in."
