On the first real day of the NFL combine, Jaguars' head coach, Doug Marrone, and general manager, Dave Caldwell, both spoke with the media. It was the first time either talked to the press this offseason. Marrone was up first, starting his media availability at 10:15. The Jaguars head coach is entering his third season at the helm. He touched on a number of topics including scouting young QBs, Leonard Fournette, the Jaguars offensive system entering 2019, and Marcell Dareus. Let's get to it. On the subject of what Marrone looks for from young QBs: "You look at, obviously, the production of the field. I think you look at the leadership ability because it is the one position that, outside of a title, meaning captain, it's a natural leadership position. The QB usually drives the boat, and I think that the more experienced or the more knowledge a QB has in a perfect scenario for me. I like it where the QB knows more and everyone else has to catch up to the QB. " On Marcell Dareus' restructured contract:
"I can't say enough about Marcell. Our relationship goes back to my time in Buffalo. What a great player he was then. Just a guy that, when he's in the building, loves to practice, loves to play. And when we had the opportunity to acquire him, we were able to get him. The emphasis for Marcell at that time was to come in here and stop the run. He's a very focused individual and he came in and did a heck of a job. He did the same type of job last year, and I think probably when you look at our football team, or you look at players around the league he's probably an underrated player in the job that he's done in stopping the run. The one thing I remember about Marcell though is kind of the opposite. My first couple of years with him in Buffalo he always wanted to rush the passer and was a good pass rusher. When he came here, I think he wanted to do such a good job stopping the run. I told him, where's this guy that can get after the passer? Because He's a very, very talented player. He said coach, I came here to stop the run. I said I know that and I appreciate that. But I really think we're going to get more out of him and he's going to be a more dominant player going into next season. I'm excited. I spoke to him, and he's excited. And I'm glad that we're together." On Leonard Fournette: "I think last year, obviously, was tough with the injuries. And I think anytime that you're young and you have a lot of expectations put on you and you have injuries it's tough to deal with . . . after the season was over it was noted that we sat down and spoke, he and I. I really believe he's in a good place. He's been in the building and working out, you know, working hard." On the Jaguars offense in 2019: "Basically what we've been able to do is put in a playbook, which is like a menu, which has everything covered. Depending on what we do at QB or what we do at other positions, we're able to fill that in as we get that player . . . It's just a matter of seeing what need to put together to put our players in the best position . . . A lot of it comes down to what we do at QB . . . So the way that we've done it is a lot like my first time with coach Peyton in New Orleans. We got together and said to ourselves, we've all got these different backgrounds, we all come from different types of systems. Let's put something together that's our own. For us, it'll be the Jacksonville Jaguar playbook. So not necessarily John DeFilippo's playbook." Next up, embattled general manager Dave Caldwell spoke with the media at 11:45. Caldwell spoke on this year's QB class, Marcell Dareus, Carlos Hyde, and Austin Seferian-Jenkins among other things. On the topic of the2019 QB class, Caldwell didn't rule out the option of taking a skill position player in round one and coming back to take a QB in round two. He said that strategy has worked for some teams in the past and made it clear that he liked the number of quality QBs in this class. Caldwell also revealed that it was Marcell Dareus who came to the Jaguars about restructuring his contract. Dareus wanted to keep this group together and stay in Jacksonville. It was a highly unselfish move by Dareus. According to Caldwell Carlos Hyde is still in the plans for the Jaguars at the running back position. Many, including myself, figured that Hyde would be a salary cap dump this offseason. Releasing Hyde would save the team around $5 million in 2019. Finally, Caldwell said the Jaguars would leave the door open for an Austin Seferian-Jenkins return. The team didn't pick up his contract option for 2019 due to the fact that his injuries were still a concern. What are your thoughts on what Dave Caldwell and Doug Marrone had to say today? Let us know in the comments below. |
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