JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it … Scott from Daytona Beach, FL:
So, maybe – just maybe – with Mr. Khan going to spend $30 million more for an indoor practice facility we're not going to be moving. I'm sure the haters will still be hating something, though.
John: You're referring to the news Tuesday that Jaguars Owner Shad Khan plans to build an indoor practice facility on the South end of EverBank Field, spending an estimated $30 million of his money to do so. As far as whether or not what Khan has done since buying the Jaguars is a signal that he is committed Jacksonville, well … my father spent his career in the moving and storage business. Best as I remember, he never mentioned a moving van big enough to take video boards, a training facility, a renovated locker room and a state-of-the-art indoor practice facility cross-country or overseas. Maybe I missed it, though. Like most young people, I didn't always listen to my father.
John from Boynton Beach, FL:
It may be too soon, but have you flexed your physical prowess to the new kid Myers yet so he knows where his place is? You kept Scobee in a constant state of fear for years and look what it did for him! Bring Myers into your dojo and let him feel the wrath of the senior writer.
John: He's a kid. Give him a few weeks.
Mike from Julington Creek:
Can we quit with the London crap? Put a quality team out there and see the response of the city before throwing away a home game every year for 15 years! All in or all out; quit screwing with us!
John: I don't say this to stoke the fires of your anger, Mike, but Shad Khan and the Jaguars don't see the London game as throwing away a home game. They see the sponsorship/revenue from the game as solidifying the franchise in Jacksonville for the long term. Khan in his life has been pretty successful in matters of finances and vision. He's also the owner of the team. If he thinks a game in London a year helps this franchise's stability … I don't know … maybe he has a point.
Tom from Virginia Beach, VA:
If an operation is necessary, why did it not happen three weeks ago? Mr. Thomas would have been ready for week two at the latest. Is this injury more serious than first believed?
John: The way it was explained to me was when the hand injury to tight end Julius Thomas first happened – on August 14 in the preseason opener – there was about a 90 percent chance it would heal on its own by around the second week of the season, maybe the third. There was about a 10 percent chance that surgery would be needed. Either way, the Jaguars figure there was a fairly limited chance of Thomas playing in the regular-season opener and maybe a 50-50 chance of him playing Week 2. The difference in this scenario – the scenario in which Thomas undergoes surgery – appears to be a week or two at the most. Not ideal, but in the view of the Jaguars, not season-crushing, either.
Daniel from Windsor Heights, IA:
Myers has looked good. The real question, is he clutch like Scobee?
John: There's no doubt that's the question, and it's one both Jaguars General Manager David Caldwell and Gus Bradley have been asked in recent days: more specifically, what happens if/when Jason Myers misses a clutch kick? Will there be buyer's remorse? The answer was no, that not only did Scobee also miss late-game field goals (all kickers do), but that this is a long-term decision. In other words, if Myers misses a kick or two early, don't look for the Jaguars to be scanning waiver wires. This guy is the kicker.
Jeff from Albany, GA:
I know NFL scouting is a multi-million dollar business but I think the infrastructure is not necessarily set up to find the best players. Unlike basketball, where your innate skill set is more specific (guard vs center), football is inherently more flexible. However, too often, at the high school/ college level, the best athletes on a team get selected for premium positions (i.e. DE, QB, etc.) even if they are better suited for another NFL position. Classic example is James Harrison. Despite his talent, he went undrafted and almost didn't make it in this league. Do you think if there were more roster spots allowed than 53, teams would spend more time drafting athletes and molding them into their ideal position?
John: I think if more than 53 roster spots were allowed teams would use the extra spots on players they believe would help them win immediately.
Dan from Lake Mary, FL:
This defense going into Year Three is supposed to be the strength of the team; right now it looks like a major weakness. I'm not asking for the top defense but something that shows signs of a top 10 Defense not bottom 10. Tell Gus WE WANT MORE!
John: Yeah, Bradley knows this. I get this is going to be a topic for the next couple of weeks, but I sense this is going to be an area that looks different in the regular season. I don't know that the defense will be dominant. And I imagine that without Dante Fowler Jr. – and with Sen'Derrick Marks returning from a knee injury – the pass rush could be a concern, but I don't think it's a guaranteed weakness.
J. Hooks from Orange Park, FL:
John, can you clarify for us the injured reserved rules? If I'm not mistaken, Josh Wells can return to the roster on Week 6 as well as the other injured players.
John: You have injured reserve confused with the physically unable to perform list. A player on injured reserve is done for the season. The exception to this is a team can designate one player on injured reserve for return later in the season. That player must be placed on IR after the final cut to 53 players and he must have sustained what is considered a six-week injury. The player can then practice six weeks after the injury and can play eight weeks after the injury. A player on the PUP list at the beginning of the regular season must remain there for at least six weeks, after which there is a five-week window in which the team can choose to activate the player. Teams can have multiple players on the PUP list, but they may not have participated in even one practice after the beginning of training camp.
Kevin from Jacksonville:
So I get an update on my phone that the Jags traded Scobee … the first thing I do is run to what I consider the foremost source of Jaguar information, the Official Jaguar website. But there was nothing related to the trade listed on the site. What's up with that?
John: We've explained this before, but it's worth repeating. There are occasions throughout every year where we on jaguars.com because of team policy can't address a reported news story. These usually involve certain roster transactions that we can't report until they are official. In the case of the Scobee trade, no one with the organization – including General Manager David Caldwell and Head Coach Gus Bradley – was addressing the trade until it was official at 4 p.m. Monday. Therefore, we could not address it until then. The Jaguars as an organization allow this website and the people who appear on it – me and some other guys whose names I struggle to recall – a wide berth in terms of discussing the team honestly without filter, so to have a few instances a year where we are a bit behind the curve seems to me a very reasonable trade. As far as the occasional delay … it ain't ideal, but 'dems da rules.
Andrew from Tehachapi, CA:
Now that I've come down from the ledge, I have a sensible question. I think. Would it really been so bad to keep two kickers on the roster this year? Make Myers the starter and keep Scobee in case the kid starts missing kicks or gets hurt. What do we lose? A sixth rounder? To me, that's worth it.
John: What the Jaguars would have lost in this case was a roster spot. They didn't think it was worth it. Very, very few others teams would have, either.
Brian from Just this side of Reality:
I like Josh Scobee as a player and as a member of our community but, good grief, the overreaction tells you the where this franchise fan base is on the big NFL scale. #DTWD
John: No, it just means fans like their favorite players and it means Scobee is a good guy who was easy to like. It also means fans gonna fan.
John from St. Augustine, FL:
The worst movie I've ever seen was Pearl Harbor. The latest version not the original. Saw it at a screening in Jacksonville with actual Pearl Harbor veterans in attendance and some of them got up and left the theater mid-movie. Sort of tells you how bad it was. What would be your worst? Go Jags. #DTWD
John: Honestly I mentioned "Titanic" only because I was drawing a blank. Had I thought of "Pearl Harbor," I wouldn't have mentioned "Titanic."