What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

*** Official Jaguars Thread - Team Putting #DTWD to The Test *** (2 Viewers)

Caldwell could have tried a trade down, but there was a good risk of missing out on his guy.
That's the bottom line here, regardless of who the fans felt was the best pick at that point. Caldwell is steadfast in his belief that Bortles is the guy to lead the Jags going forward. And because of that, he took his franchise QB and ignored the extra pick, regardless of what the the fans and mocks said.

 
'Get It in His Hands and He's Gone'

USC Trojan Marqise Lee's journey from Inglewood, California, to the heights of college football

http://grantland.com/features/usc-receiver-heisman-trophy-candidate-marqise-lee-journey-inglewood-california-heights-college-football/

Before he continues describing one of the worst moments of his life, Marqise Lee has to pause for a moment so he can check his tattoo.

How old was he, Lee wonders as he rolls up his left sleeve, on the day his brother was killed? His sister was with him he knows that so it couldnt have been during the years they spent in separate foster homes. He knows his mother wasnt there, so that eliminates the time he spent with her. He also knows he was sleeping on a living room couch, not a motel floor.

Hes thinking it was middle school, maybe even early high school, when his sister ran into the living room and yelled for him to wake up. Terreal, their brother, had been shot. Terreal was a Queen Street Blood whod been talking lately of leaving the gang. Hed taken a job with a veterinarians office. Hed started making new friends. Now bullets had pierced his chest, right arm, and upper back. He was dead.

Lee remembers all of that. But how old was I? he says. Man, I have to think.

This is how it goes when Lee discusses anything from his first 15 years. Nothing is linear. Each moment comes devoid of the context that places it within the timeline of his life. The memories tell no stories. There is no beginning or middle. There are only flashes that hint at chaos, and then there is the ending.

That part the end is why Lee is willing to talk through details of the days hed rather not remember. I have to talk about it, hell say later, so people understand what got me here. Here is a patio outside the McKay Center on campus at USC, where Lee is the best player on a talented team coming off a disastrous season. Here is his place as a Heisman candidate, All-American, and the best receiver in college football. Here is about 10 miles from the foster homes Lee bounced around as a kid, about 3,000 miles from where hes likely to be announced as a first-round draft pick next May. And best of all for Lee here, he says, is a place where he almost never feels alone.

Its also a place where, to jog his memory, he needs to check his left shoulder. 2006, he says. Its inked on a banner that wraps around a cross, one of seven tattoos that help give structure to Lees fractured memories. So I was 14.

Yeah, he says. Thats about what I was thinking.

Place: The house we lived in before we lived in the house on Regent Street.

Time: Elementary. Early elementary. Kindergarten, I think.

The first time the police came, Lee was at the grocery store. This, he says, is his earliest memory the first flicker of chaos he can summon to mind. They heard the news from neighbors: The cops were looking for his family. Lee thought little of it. He was old enough to know police were often lurking around Inglewood. But 15 minutes later, they returned.

They grabbed him and each of his siblings and took them outside. Before they left the house, hed like to think, someone explained to his mother exactly what was going on. It would have had to be one of the kids, however; its doubtful any of the cops knew sign language. He took his place in the backseat of the police car. The doors clicked shut and the car pulled away and after that, Lee says, his mind goes blank.

Place: The house on Regent Street.

Time: Elementary, definitely.

The Christmas tree stood just inside the front door, and the presents stretched so far you nearly tripped when you walked in the house. He was living with his grandmother at the time. His mom had lost custody thats why the police had taken him and to this day, he doesnt really understand why. I dont get it, he says. I guess you could look at it single mom? Deaf? Five kids? I guess people could have their ideas. He doesnt remember life under his moms custody, but, he says, I think she was probably doing pretty good.1

Stacy, Lees younger sister by a little more than a year, woke at 6 a.m. and jumped on her grandmothers bed. Lee remembers her screams: Its Christmas! Its Christmas! He doesnt remember any of the presents he opened, only that he got them. This was before the Christmases stopped before, he says, everything got out of whack.

Place: One of the courthouses, somewhere around here.

Time: Like every couple months, it seemed like. All the time.

They had family reunions in court.

This was after Lee and his siblings were taken from their grandmothers custody, after they were sent to separate foster homes around town. Going to court was OK, says Stacy, because that was pretty much the only time we got to see each other. Lee and his brothers bounced around a few different homes. Some light-skinned lady, he says. I cant remember her name. Some other people too. That whole time period is just blank. Meanwhile, his two sisters were on a foster tour of their own. But they got to see each other every now and again at custody hearings. The courthouse had teddy bears. Each kid would reach into a bag and pick one out to hold. Then theyd sit and watch a judge discuss their futures and an interpreter sign the translation for their mom. Then theyd leave, never quite understanding what had just been decreed. Theyd say good-byes. It wouldnt be long until the next hearing. Then, Lee always knew, hed get to see his little sister again.

Place: I cant say the exact block or anything, but Im gonna say somewhere around Slauson and Van Ness.

Time: No idea, really. Just during that time when we was on our own.

I know Im a bad kid.

Thats how Lee started the conversation. By this point, he had no choice but to admit it. There had been the fights at school he was no bully, but if you said the wrong thing to him, he wouldnt think twice about throwing a punch and there were the failing grades and the teacher conferences about his misbehavior in school.

But now he was asking for all of that to be forgotten. He was sitting with a woman named Jan, one of the only foster parents whose name he can remember. She seemed like a nice lady, Lee thought forgiving of his misbehavior, more attentive than other foster parents had been. So even though he was a bad kid, Lee thought there was a chance shed help him out.

I need my brothers and sisters, he said. I cant be here by myself.

OK, Jan said. Lee remembers little about what came next only that after a while, his brothers ended up at the house. Instead of watching TV alone, suddenly he was playing outside with them. Soon after that, Jan got custody of his sisters too.

She went out of her way to do that for me, Lee remembers. She didnt care how I acted before. She just did it. She got all of us together, and it was pretty good for a minute.

Eventually, Lee would move on. In the years to follow, hed never speak to Jan again.

Place: On Queen Street, right in between these two houses.

Time: Middle school. Wait a minute. Nooooooo. This had to be elementary school, cause I never lived over there in middle school. I had to be like 9, 10. Damn. I cant believe I was that young.

If you want to join a gang in Inglewood, the protocol varies. The only constant: Youre going to get your ### kicked. Sometimes you fight two or three people at once. Other times youll face a rotation of gang members, tapping each other in as you take blow after blow.

For Lee, at the time, joining the Bloods seemed like a reasonable life decision. Both of his big brothers, Terreal and Donte, were already running with the gang, and their fellow gangbangers all liked to hang out in the street and driveway just outside Lees front door. There was no fence around the house, so when the cops pulled up, they could bolt through the backyard to get away. Lee would spend his afternoons outside, riding a scooter or playing basketball, and the gang members kept an eye on him in between their sips and drags.

Though they were in the gang, Lees brothers had warned him to stay away from that life. But to me, he says, it didnt seem bad at all. Theyre chillin at the crib all day, not going to school. They always had money. Im looking at it like, Hows that supposed to be bad! Im going to school and yall are doing this? This seems like a pretty good life to me.

One day Lee was sitting outside when an older kid asked him, You trying to join? Lee looked at his brother, who, for the moment at least, said nothing. He looked back at the other kid. Yeah, he said. Let me try.

A group formed. Since Lee was so young, the older Bloods explained, they would take it easy on him. He had to fight only one person. Sure, the other guy was in high school and Lee had yet to finish elementary, but given the alternatives, Lee thought, this wouldnt be so bad.

Seconds into the fight, Lee got a busted lip. There were other bumps and scrapes, but Lee, already one of the strongest and toughest kids in the neighborhood, held his own as the pushes and blows slowly drifted toward the side of one of the houses. Up against the wall, Lee took his chance: He grabbed the other kids head and pounded it against the wooden siding. Then he busted his lip. Then he bruised his eye. Soon enough, the fight was called.

Lee had done it, he thought. All he needed now was a red bandanna. Still a few years from puberty, Lee was already a Queen Street Blood.

But it didnt last. Lees brothers put out the word: It was fine to let Marqise hang around, but no one could include him in gang activities. Soon enough, it wouldnt matter. Lee was gone again, moving back across town and away from Queen Street. Its tough to claim a neighborhoods colors when you cant even answer where youre from.

Place: Youth football fields across Los Angeles

Time: Late elementary school

We should probably mention here that Lee learned something about himself in elementary school. He was good at football. Really good at football. So good he took his first-ever punt return and ran 66 yards for a touchdown. So good he scored three touchdowns against one of the best youth league teams in Southern California, even though he still hadnt learned to run a proper route. So good that the next time his Inglewood Jets played that team, they triple-teamed him on every down.

Future pros DeSean Jackson and Titus Young had both come up through the Jets program, but the coaches had never seen anyone quite like Marqise. His footsteps were violent. He was the Jerry Rice of Inglewood, says DeShon Mosley, one of the coaches. Just get it in his hands, and then hes gone.

Place: Kings Motel, West Imperial Highway, Inglewood

Time: Like late elementary, early middle school; in there somewhere.

You live here? Darrie Naylor, a coach with the Inglewood Jets, asked as he dropped Lee off one night after practice.

The Kings is an Inglewood institution. It sits right on Imperial Highway, the citys unspoken border. Blood red on one side, Crip blue on the other. The motel serves as a sort of trading post. Tricks are turned, addictions fed. This, Naylor remembers thinking, is not the kind of place a child should ever have to be.

But for Lee it was home. He walked in each night past the prostitutes and johns, the dealers and fiends, and he found his room upstairs. Smoke hung in the air. Paint peeled from the walls. Sometimes, when there was enough money for two rooms, he got to sleep in a bed. Other nights he found a spot on the floor, just a few feet away from his sister and his grandma, who had custody again, along with whoever else happened to stay over for the night.

He wanted out. There was nowhere to go, nothing to do, Lee says. You could either sit in the room doing nothing, or you could get into the drug dealing or whatever. And Im at that age where I start feeling like I just want to provide for myself. But you cant. Unless you go the illegal way.

Instead he played football and basketball. Lee clung to his coaches. During football season he would ride around town with Naylor and DeShon Mosley, the man Lee now calls his god dad, and then hed stay as late as he could at the gym with Will Hailey when it came time for AAU basketball. In the afternoons after practice, he and Stacy played with friends from their old neighborhood. It was still Inglewood, but at least it wasnt the Kings. In this neighborhood, you at least have to go looking for gangs, says Armando Flores, who hosted the kids in the afternoons. At the motel, it seemed, there were more dealers and addicts than there were residents and guests.

One day, Lees grandmother dropped him and Stacy off with Flores and his wife, Maria. She needed to find a new place to stay, she said. Could the kids stay with them until she found something?

Weeks passed before the Floreses realized she was never coming back. Soon the social worker showed up, and Armando and Maria decided to make it official. They took over custody. Lee had a new home.

Place: West 111th Place, South Inglewood

Time: 2006, according to Lees tattoo

Weve been over this one. Lee was asleep on the couch. Stacy woke him up. Shed gotten a call from a relative. Their brother Terreal had been shot. He was dead.

Ask around today, and the adults in Lees life will tell you he took it in stride. I never saw it affect him, says Hailey. He could bottle up the emotion, says Mosley. Adds Armando Flores: Marqise is tough, man. Ive never seen him sad.

No one else remembers, because no one else saw. Marqise sat on the couch sad and angry and he cried.

Place: Junipero Serra High School

Time: Summer 2008

Right around now, the memories start to organize themselves. Now there are people besides Lee who can corroborate and embellish and provide context, who can take the flashes in his mind and help him place them in the narrative of his life.

People like Dwan Hurt. He was the dean and basketball coach at Serra, a Catholic high school in nearby Gardena, known for the strictness of its rules and the success of its athletic program. He remembers the voice mails waiting for him almost every day when he arrived at the office: Lee calling and begging Hurt to let him into the school. Hed spent his freshman year at Morningside High, a gang-heavy public school that sits right next to the Bottoms, one of the lowest-income neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area and home to the Crenshaw Mafia gang.

Through AAU basketball, Lee had learned that not everyone had a life like his. Some kids went to schools where there were no gangs and played for teams that attracted college recruiters. These kids spent their nights in homes with their parents and talked about the future as if it were guaranteed. These kids, for the most part, did not go to Morningside. Some of them, however, went to Serra. So Lee wanted to go to Serra too.

So day after day, he called Hurt. Finally, Hurt called back. Please, Lee told him, and Hurt heard pauses where he assumed there were tears. Let me into your school. Please let me be in that kind of environment.

Says Hailey, a Serra alumnus and coach of Lees Inglewood Gym Ratz AAU team: Marqise likes to talk about all these adults who were guiding him or showing him the way. But really, it wasnt people showing him the way. It was him deciding, This is what I need in my life, and Im going to go to the right adults and beg them to help me do it. Hes 14 years old, and hes the one guiding his own future. He just needed people to help him figure out the logistics.

Hurt gave in. He invited him to campus and gave him an application. The next week, Lee showed up for the first day.

Place: West 116th Street, Inglewood

Time: October 2008

At Serra, Lee had a friend named Steve Hester. Steve had a high-pitched voice, a consistent jump shot, and a home with two parents. Lee liked Steve and his parents and his home, and he often stayed over there so late that he might as well spend the night, and then one day in the car he decided to just ask.

Can I live with you guys?

Sure, Steve thought. That would be great. But first he had to ask his mom, Sheila, and his dad, Steve Sr. That night they gathered on the couch in the living room and they talked it over. Sheila and Steve laid down the terms for their son. Everything he had would be cut in half. Clothes, attention, time in front of the television, all of it. If Marqise was going to move in, they were going to treat him like their son. Steve said that sounded great. Lee moved in the next night.

Place: Serra High School boys basketball locker room

Time: January 21, 2009

The screaming could take you by surprise.

His teachers thought Lee was quiet, but his coaches knew better. Classmates considered him nice, but teammates disagreed. On the football field and the basketball court, Lee was a foul-mouthed, snarling sophomore hit man, and he demanded that your anger and effort match his.

On this night, that wasnt the case. With their coach, Hurt, away at the hospital for his childs birth, the Cavaliers basketball team had lost. So now Lee ushered his teammates into the locker room. His tears fell hot and livid. He screamed. Nobody say anything! Im the only person allowed to talk!

Oh, damn, Steve Hester Jr. remembers thinking. This is serious.

Lee went on to catalogue every failure, to explain that the team had let its coach down, to stomp around the locker room, damn near tearing the place apart. It was difficult, even then, for Lee to understand why his teammates werent as good as him. Maybe he was more athletic than them, but compared to most, he wasnt as big. The way Lee saw it, no way should he have been the best player on the team.

He never understood more privileged teammates. This should be easy for them! Hurt remembers Lee telling him. If I can play this hard, then they should be able to play even harder.

There were other incidents. The AAU game where Lee asked the coaches to cede the locker room to his control, then proceeded to get in the faces of teammates who were nearly a foot taller, furious because their effort didnt match their size. The football game where Lee had to sit out the first two quarters because hed missed a practice for a doctor appointment, where he began to stomp off the field, fuming, until he locked eyes with his new stepmom, Sheila Nero, in the stands. Even at USC, Lee can sometimes be found near tears on the sideline at practice, screaming because the Trojans defense is getting the better of the offense.

Some of this can be traced to a conversation Lee had with Mosley, his Pop Warner coach and god dad, when he was a child. Whatever you have in you, Mosley told him during a game, moments after Lee had dropped a sure touchdown pass, you can let that out here. Let sports be your outlet. So now he allowed himself to ball his fists up and scream, to put opponents on the ground and stand over them and watch, to delight in the pain he inflicted.

All of this landed Lee in anger-management classes. Once a week, Sheila drove him to El Camino College to meet a counselor. Are you angry right now? the counselor asked at one session. Yeah, Im angry, Lee replied. Im angry cause you keep asking me stupid questions.

Today, when Lee feels his anger rising, he goes to the gym. Its the perfect system, he says. I think about whatever it is football, school, a problem with my girlfriend, something from my past and I just focus on that the whole time. Then at the end, Im not mad anymore, and I got a good workout in.

Asked if the anger-management counseling helped him develop this strategy, Lee almost scoffs. No, no, that wasnt it. That didnt do any good.

When told of this answer, Sheila smiles. He said that? Well, thats OK for him to say. But it worked.

Place: Arizona Stadium, Tucson

Time: October 27, 2012, late evening

This, perhaps, was the game that comes closest to summing up Lees college career so far. There he was in the first half: turning a go route into a 57-yard gain, then a slant route into a 49-yard touchdown; taking screen passes as an excuse to dance before throwing his shoulders into defensive backs sternums; then furious on the sideline as his teammates failed to match his play.

By halftime he had 255 yards. In the locker room, trainers stuck an IV in his arm, presumably because its safe to assume that anyone who gains 255 receiving yards in two quarters of football surely needs some intravenous fluids. I wasnt tired, he would later say. The IV, he would explain, was just for the heck of it.

He gained 90 more in the second half to finish with 345 the most by any player in 2012, the most in the history of the Pac-10/12, and just 60 shy of a national record. Yet afterward he talked mostly about the final play, a Hail Mary that grazed his fingertips before falling to the grass.

It was a brutal USC loss in a season full of brutal USC losses, and after the game, coach Lane Kiffin told reporters, Lee acted like they had just lost the Super Bowl. It was high school basketball all over again Lee brilliant, his teammates less so, the locker room combusting.

They havent been through what Ive been through, Lee used to tell high school coaches of his teammates, as if that explained why no one else matched his level of play. So it was at Serra, and for the most part, so it is at USC. They havent seen the things that Ive seen.

Place: The Atlantic Dance Hall, Disneys Boardwalk, Lake Buena Vista, Florida

Time: December 6, 2012

At the moment he was announced as the Biletnikoff Award winner and best receiver in college football, Lee looked toward the ground and smiled.

He wore a charcoal suit with a lavender shirt and silver tie. He sat next to Stacy both wearing their Sunday best and looking straight ahead much like they once sat in court. On the other side of Stacy, there were Steve and Sheila. The ESPN graphic labeled them Lees stepparents, but when they talk about him, they call him their son.

By now, his older sister had moved 90 minutes south of Inglewood, to Temecula. His brother Donte had never left the gang life, and now he was in prison, serving time for assault with a deadly weapon. Marqise never heard anything about what happened to Terreals killer. I didnt know how to keep up with it, he says now. Still dont know what happened to him. (According to court records, James Burton Williams, a member of the Inglewood Family Bloods who went by the street name Jimbo, was convicted for Terreals murder and sentenced to life in prison.)

Lee still sees his mom. Hes still fluent in sign language. He still doesnt completely understand why shes not the one who raised him. If you ask why he plays football, he skips over any talk of competition or camaraderie. Its my mom and my sister, he says. Thats always been the reason. So someday they wont have to struggle no more.

Nine months from now, Lee will be eligible for the NFL draft. Hell also have the choice to return for his senior year. As much as Lee loves being a Trojan, he gives no lip service to the possibility of staying for a fourth year. As long as hes healthy, Lee thinks, come April the struggle will end.

Place: Sony Pictures Studios

Time: Friday, July 26, 2013, 2:18 p.m.

No one pays much attention when Lee takes off his shirt. Its only a moment just long enough to change out of his scarlet Nike USC polo and into his scarlet Nike USC jersey and the reporters and photographers in the room are either in midconversation or midlunch.

It is Pac-12 media day. Already, Lee has watched spittle fly from the mouth of a radio interviewer. He has smiled and posed for Instagram photos. He has tried unsuccessfully to dodge a question about the hottest coeds in the Pac-12, and he has perfected a rotation of evasive non-answers to questions regarding who will replace Matt Barkley as the Trojans starting quarterback.

This is his life now. There will be no forgetting what he did on this day or what hell do in the coming weeks. In the years since he moved in with Steve and Sheila, his story has had fewer gaps. Theyve been filled by memories from the network of people who saw and experienced the same things. Teammates and roommates, a god dad and stepparents, coaches and mentors and, of course, his sister and mom. And then theres one of the nice things about being famous: Reporters and photographers make a record of your lifes biggest moments. Everything is catalogued and organized. If you forget certain dates, theres always Wikipedia.

And so: Lee is shirtless. Hes changing for a photo shoot. But in that moment just between when he takes off the polo and puts on the jersey, you can see Lees history laid bare. Theres the cross on his left shoulder, announcing the years his brother and grandmother died. Just below that, theres his sisters name, Stacy, on his bicep, and on the other bicep his moms name, Toy.

On his lower back, Lee is getting outlines tattooed of fallen skyscrapers. Something chaotic, hed said earlier in the week. Something that shows what I went through, where if you look at it you might not be able to tell exactly what it is, but you know somethings wrong. Above is a darkened morass that Lee describes as a black hole, and above that, two hands with palms up, as if in prayer.

This is a progression, Lee likes to explain, from the chaos of the buildings to the darkness to the prayer, leading upward to the words Chosen One. Only he has a problem. I dont like that One, hed said. Its like Im the only one chosen, and Im not.

Place: South Los Angeles

Time: Present day

Sometimes Lee goes for a drive. Hell ride south from USC, down Vermont until he hits Slauson. To his left a few blocks, theres Figueroa; to his right, Van Ness. Somewhere in between, Lee thinks, hell find what hes looking for.

He weaves around the side streets, passing Western Avenue Elementary and Chesterfield Square Park. Shuffling in between are children with lives just like the one he lived. I look at them and think, Thats me, he says.

Rather than stop, he keeps driving, because hes looking for Jan, the foster mom who went out of her way to put all of his siblings in the same home. Of all the adults whove helped him along the way his mom and grandmom, his stepparents and god dad, his coaches and teachers shes the only one with whom hes lost touch.

It gnaws at him. Thats my mistake, he says, explaining why he never saw her after he moved out, but he offers no more details. So he takes these roads, riding slow in his Camry, eye out for a familiar face.

Someday, he hopes, hell see her walking a dog, watering the lawn, or maybe running errands. Hell stop. Hell reintroduce himself. And then, finally, hell say thanks.

 
Interesting talk from Tony Khan

“When Dave and I were in his office for the first time ever, we started talking about Marqise Lee. He was a player that … I don’t think either one of us thought, back when we first met in January 2013, was going to be on the board for us in the second round the next year. I brought statistics into the conversation then, because Marqise’s numbers were so strong as a freshman and sophomore, it seemed like he was going to be a top pick.

“But I’ve brought statistics in through that process, as we’ve been discussing the draft and free agency, and Dave’s asked some very good questions through the process. We’ve been able to introduce ideas that have helped us identify some pretty good players, and helped us find some red flags that some potential players might have had.”

Khan didn’t want to go too far into those red flags; he sees the work he’s done as proprietary, and to a certain extent, it is. The Jaguars do their own charting in addition to the purchase of metrics from services like STATS, Inc., Football Outsiders and Pro Football Focus, so there were lines he preferred not to cross. But in a general sense, teams must marry stats to tape (and vice versa) in certain organic ways, or they’re just paying lip service to the value of that marriage. One is a cross-check for the other.

“I’ve spent hundreds of hours with Dave over the last couple of years, while he’s been discussing evaluations he’s made from tape. We’ve done a lot of analysis with the raw data. So, I’ve got a good stack of numbers to compare to Dave’s tape evaluations, and we match a lot of things up. I go in and we compare notes, to a certain extent. We watch a lot of these guys, and we talk through it, and I think Dave takes it into account.

“You’re putting the two things together, and it might result in asking a question about a player you might not have graded so highly [based on tape]. Is there a reason to re-evaluate a guy based on these statistics?”
 
Only 19 players remain on the roster that were here prior to David Caldwell's arrival. And one of them is Prosinski. And a third round punter.

 
Gene Frenette: Real hope on the horizon for Jacksonville Jaguars' franchise

When Jaguars owner Shad Khan hired Dave Caldwell and Gus Bradley to be chief caretakers of his NFL franchise, it didnt take long for their transparency and friendliness to come across to people.

Sixteen months later, we can still see its not an act. Philosophically, Caldwell and Bradley are about as in lockstep as any general manager and head coach, respectively, can possibly be.

Now, whether it means the Jaguars are on a path toward sustained winning and playoff berths, thats a separate issue to be determined. Its still too early to be drinking that Kool-Aid, no matter how promising the 2014 draft class looks on paper.

But even those most pessimistic about the Jaguars have to give the teams front-line leaders this much: Khan and his organization are doing everything within reason to connect with season-ticketholders and casual fans.

Anyone clinging to those old, tiresome perceptions of the Jaguars and Jacksonvilles football market just arent seeing the big picture. How many teams that have lost 40 of their last 51 games, the worst in the NFL, would have players and a significant portion of the fan base this excited about the Jaguars future?

Thats happening because this franchise is trying its level best to do things from building the team, to how it treats customers the right way. Remember, it wasnt so long ago the opposite was true.

In a different era, as former owner Wayne Weaver once acknowledged, the Jaguars went through a period where they took revenue streams and fans filling seats for granted. By the time that cavalier attitude changed, along came a string of losing seasons to put the franchise in a financial squeeze.

And once misery entered the picture, the national media kept picking at the same old scabs potential franchise relocation, tarps on seats, not drafting/signing Tim Tebow when discussing the Jaguars.

As I look back over the last two years, weve become almost like the whipping boy, with the tarps, Khan said. As Mark [Lamping, Jaguars president] pointed out, we havent had a blackout in four years, but people think every game is blacked out when, in actuality, every game is on TV.

Thankfully, people and media taking the time to peel back the layers of what has transpired in the past year are seeing legitimate change. Maybe not from a winning standpoint (its fair game to criticize a 6-26 record so far under Khan), but anyone seeing the roster turnover must reasonably conclude Caldwell has things pointing in the right direction.

Sports Illustrated NFL writer Peter King concurs that its unfair to view the Jaguars in the same negative light as the pre-Khan era.

I see a team that has made a lot of progress toward respectability, said King. Everybody looks at Jacksonville and thinks, true or not, that eventually theyre going to be one of the teams that moves, whether its Los Angeles or London. Thats really, really premature. You can just tell Khan has given every business person and fan in Jacksonville every indication that he wants to make it work there.

I think [Khan] is doing everything right. Hes empowering a good football staff to make the decisions. So far, theyve made them and attracted some good free agents. Players clearly want to play for Gus [bradley]. Theyre in the best division for a young and growing team to be in. Theres one quarterback in the AFC South, [the Indianapolis Colts] Andrew Luck. Its the perfect division to be in. Theyve got an extremely fair chance the next few years for a legitimate turnaround.

The Jaguars push toward relevancy likely wont reach fruition this year, but the 2015 season is certainly realistic once quarterback Blake Bortles and a new cast of weapons start to get settled in with Jedd Fischs offense.

Its impossible to not see hope on the horizon. Between the $63 million stadium upgrades, the player acquisitions, and how the Jaguars are trying to fully engage fans, this franchise has synergy again.

For all the Wayne and Delores Weaver triumphs in delivering Jacksonville a franchise two decades ago, and their generous donations to charitable causes in the community, the best move might have been selecting Khan as successor.

The Jaguars were getting stale. They needed bold, innovative leadership and fresh ideas. At least now, the hope feels real, even as fans wait for the obvious missing piece of winning on a consistent basis.

Yes, in 2014, some tarps will remain in the west upper deck of EverBank Field. But for those who really take the time to look at the big picture, this doesnt feel like the same, old Jaguars.

gene.frenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540

 
6200 people showed up to rookie mini camp today. Wow! Had to close gates because they ran out of room.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Cue Rodney Dangerfield...No respect...

Matthew Berry Top 200 ranking

http://espn.go.com/fantasy/football/story/_/page/TMR140326/matthew-berry-offseason-2014-fantasy-football-rankings-top-200

Jaguars Ranked in Top 200

- Toby Gerhart RB28 (behind Rashad Jennings at 25, and both Lions RB at 26, 27)

- Jordan Todman RB70

- Cecil Shorts WR40 (DeAndre Hopkins 38, Mike Evans 39, Josh Gordon 41)

That's it.

Neither rookie WR (Denarius Moore was WR68)

No Scobee since he only had 12 kickers listed but on ESPN fantasy show he didn't have Scobee listed in Top 24,

I can understand no QB since it'll probably be a split season and he only has Top 15.

I can understand no DEF/ST since he only has a dozen listed. Again on ESPN, they weren't listed in Top 24.

At the very least, Gerhart should probably be bumped up a half dozen spots based on opportunity and pick one of the rookie WR (Marqise Lee?) in Top 50,

It wouldn't surprise to see either Lee or Allen Robinson outperform Shorts this season.

The defense should be much improved with their offseason pickups but even with Ace Sanders on returns, it's probably a 25-30 ranking.

 
LOL Gus just announced to the media that Denard Robinson hasn't dropped a pass the entire OTA ....and then knocked on the wooden podium.

 
Sales looking good

The trending positive perception of the Jaguars, locally and nationally, is starting to have an impact on ticket sales and premium seating.

With two prime selling months left before the season, the Jaguars have 6,000 new season-ticket holders and are briskly selling a variety of expensive specialty items. Most of the cabana seating near the newly implemented pools in the north end zone is sold out, as well as 38 newly designed four-person tables (costs: $14,000 per year) on the east and west sides of EverBank Field.

In addition, team president Mark Lamping says there’s a waiting list for the terrace suites. While the Jaguars will fall well short of selling out 10,800 club seats, the encouraging news is they’re increasing local revenue without putting a heavy burden on fans buying the large majority of seats.

“Let’s say we’re on a journey to climbing Mount Everest,” Lamping said. “We might be getting close to base camp, but we’re realistic about the progress. We’re still a ways away from being a stable, competitive team year in and year out.”

From a business standpoint, the Jaguars are on the upswing. Now if the football product put out by coach Gus Bradley and GM Dave Caldwell continues to progress, then true stability might not be far off. ...
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/sports/columnists/gene-frenette/2014-07-04/story/gene-frentte-business-looking-jacksonville-jaguars#ixzz36cvdGxhp
 
No respect, I tell ya, no respect

6. Will the Jaguars be favored in a game this year?

Right now, no.

Later, maybe.

From CG Technologies, here are the early lines for each Jaguars game.

+11 at Philadelphia

+9 at Washington

+6 vs. Indianapolis

+10 at San Diego

+6.5 vs. Pittsburgh

+7 at Tennessee

+2.5 vs. Cleveland

+4 vs. Miami

+11 at Cincinnati

+10 vs. Dallas in London

+12 at Indianapolis

+5.5 vs. NY Giants

+4 vs. Houston

+10.5 at Baltimore

+3 vs. Tennessee

+10 at Houston

The ones that jump out are being home underdogs to Cleveland, Miami, Houston and Tennessee.

On the one hand, the Jaguars have gone 1-7 and 1-6 at EverBank Field the last two years.

But Cleveland has been a road favorite only TWO times in the last six years.

Miami has been a road favorite only three times in the last two years.

The Jaguars defeated Houston twice last year.

And the Titans have been a road favorite at Jacksonville SIX straight years (3-3 straight-up in those games) but most preseason predictions have them behind the Jaguars in the AFC South.

The Jaguars have only been favored once in their last 32 games (Week 4 of 2012 vs. Cincinnati, a 27-10 loss as a one-point favorite).
http://members.jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/544821/ryan-ohalloran/2014-07-20/20-20-will-jaguars-be-favored-game

 
No respect, I tell ya, no respect

6. Will the Jaguars be favored in a game this year?

Right now, no.

Later, maybe.

From CG Technologies, here are the early lines for each Jaguars game.

+11 at Philadelphia

+9 at Washington

+6 vs. Indianapolis

+10 at San Diego

+6.5 vs. Pittsburgh

+7 at Tennessee

+2.5 vs. Cleveland

+4 vs. Miami

+11 at Cincinnati

+10 vs. Dallas in London

+12 at Indianapolis

+5.5 vs. NY Giants

+4 vs. Houston

+10.5 at Baltimore

+3 vs. Tennessee

+10 at Houston

The ones that jump out are being home underdogs to Cleveland, Miami, Houston and Tennessee.

On the one hand, the Jaguars have gone 1-7 and 1-6 at EverBank Field the last two years.

But Cleveland has been a road favorite only TWO times in the last six years.

Miami has been a road favorite only three times in the last two years.

The Jaguars defeated Houston twice last year.

And the Titans have been a road favorite at Jacksonville SIX straight years (3-3 straight-up in those games) but most preseason predictions have them behind the Jaguars in the AFC South.

The Jaguars have only been favored once in their last 32 games (Week 4 of 2012 vs. Cincinnati, a 27-10 loss as a one-point favorite).
http://members.jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/544821/ryan-ohalloran/2014-07-20/20-20-will-jaguars-be-favored-game
Chad Henne, while decent, doesn't scare anyone. We have Cecil and a bunch of rookies at WR. A middle of the road O-line. A reshuffled (yet promising) defense. And have been pretty terrible for the last several years. I can understand why we don't get any respect. Gonna have to earn it.

 
At the very least I would expect HOU and CLE to be pick'em games.

And double digits at HOU is pretty ridiciulous.

 
Does anyone have a clue yet as to how the WR breakdown will go, or will it unfold itself over the course of training camp?

Shorts/Lee/Robinson/Sanders/etc...

 
Does anyone have a clue yet as to how the WR breakdown will go, or will it unfold itself over the course of training camp?

Shorts/Lee/Robinson/Sanders/etc...
Early expectations are Shorts and Robinson outside with Lee in the slot. But with both rookies coming off minor injuries and missing parts of OTAs that's kinda speculative.

 
JaxBill said:
The Hank said:
Does anyone have a clue yet as to how the WR breakdown will go, or will it unfold itself over the course of training camp?

Shorts/Lee/Robinson/Sanders/etc...
Early expectations are Shorts and Robinson outside with Lee in the slot. But with both rookies coming off minor injuries and missing parts of OTAs that's kinda speculative.
I thought Shorts and Lee were the starters with Shorts moving to the slot on 3WR sets?
 
The difference between Sanders and Blackmon is Sanders is already seeking help and admitting he has a problem.

His other problem is that by the time he gets back from suspension, the Jags might have moved on without him.

 
The difference between Sanders and Blackmon is Sanders is already seeking help and admitting he has a problem.

His other problem is that by the time he gets back from suspension, the Jags might have moved on without him.
I know he was second on the team in yards and receptions, but that's not really saying much. If he's not going to return punts, I don't know how much room there is for him anyways. I would hope that Marqise Lee is able to at least duplicate Sanders' role.

 
Khan has come out and said he's not cutting Blackmon.

[SIZE=11pt]According to Mark Long of AP (via Twitter), R. Jay Soward was put on reserve/suspended list by Jags and never cut. He is technically still Jaguars property if he ever made a comeback.[/SIZE]

 
Jacksonville-based financial services company EverBank will announce Friday that it has signed a 10-year extension to retain the stadium naming rights with the Jaguars through the 2024 season, multiple sources have told the Times-Union.

The deal, which will be announced at a 3 p.m. news conference, is expected to exceed the average of $3.32 million per year that the Jaguars received when EverBank signed a five-year, $16.6 million contract in 2010 to take over the city-owned stadium name from Alltel. That deal expires at the end of this season.

“It signals a major local company’s confidence in the Jaguars and what they’re doing,” said a source close to the situation.

The Jaguars and EverBank have been working on an extension for about a year. The likely increased payout in the new agreement will reflect the $63 million upgrades in amenities of new videoboards, cabanas and swimming pools paid for by the city of Jacksonville and Jaguars owner Shad Khan.

Under terms of the previous agreement, the City Council agreed by a 14-3 vote to forgo its 25 percent share of the EverBank money ($4 million-plus dollars) and give the entire amount to the Jaguars. The Jaguars will be allowed to keep 75 percent of the money under the new contract, and anything above that must be negotiated again with the Council, a source said.The three councilmen who voted against the Jaguars keeping 100 percent of the EverBank money in the first contract were Ronnie Fussell, John Crescimbeni and Clay Yarborough, now president of the Council. Fussell is no longer a Council member.

EverBank’s new agreement and the revenue streams it produces also bodes well for the future stability of other events at the stadium, including the Georgia-Florida game and the TaxSlayer Bowl.
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/sports/football/jaguars/2014-07-24/story/jaguars-everbank-announce-10-year-extension-stadium-naming#ixzz38UGnKkc5
 
The team wants to sign Cecil Shorts to a contract extension, but the dude just cannot seem to stay healthy. I know it's the beginning of camp, but I'd be a little hesitant here if I was Dave Caldwell.

 
JACKSONVILLE Blake Bortles is finally letting it fly.

The Jacksonville Jaguars rookie is now showing why he was the first quarterback picked in this year's draft, displaying impressive progress since a June minicamp when his sometimes wobbly ducks raised eyebrows.

But the pads have come on. And so has Bortles, who has exceeded offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch's expectations with his growth spurt through the first week of training camp. Extra throwing sessions with fellow quarterbacks Ricky Stanzi and undrafted rookie Stephen Morris during the Jags' summer break are paying off.

Not that Bortles is a legitimate threat yet to unseat veteran starter Chad Henne, whose experience and knowledge of Fisch's system give him a sizable advantage.

But Bortles' grasp of the playbook and the pinpoint spirals he's now spinning turned heads during a flawless two-minute drive Thursday capped off with a perfectly thrown 30-yard touchdown to rookie receiver Allen Hurns on an improvised go route.

"That was a drive that was unscripted, and Blake just played ball, audibling to that touchdown, which was pretty cool," Fisch told USA TODAY Sports.

"That's what I've seen with his growth. He would have just done whatever I called for him in the spring. But now he's audibling and threw that touchdown against man coverage. ... The ball is coming off his hand better.

"Sometimes when you're overthinking, you grip the ball tighter. He's gotten rid of the mind clutter."

Bortles, who was drafted third overall in May out of Central Florida, looked especially natural throwing on the move while hitting receiver Kerry Taylor with a perfect strike off a play-action bootleg.

In that sense, Bortles is the antithesis of Blaine Gabbert, the former Jaguars first-round bust who felt phantom pressure after getting thrown to the wolves as a rookie in 2011 before he was ready to play.

"It's starting to slow down," Bortles said. "There's still a ton of things I need to do better and continue to work on.

"As far as the offense is concerned, it (his comfort level) has definitely been better going through it for the second time. ... It just comes with taking more repetitions."

Bortles conceded some of those woudned-duck passes launched during the spring were the result of thinking too much about where to go with the ball instead of freeing his mind to play fast and loose. His mechanics are smoother, and his footwork is in noticeably better sync with his release point.

"Jedd always likes to say, 'It's like the driving range just test your clubs out,' " Bortles said. "I guess I was doing some of that in OTAs. And it wasn't going well.

"I'm trying to find the clubs that I can hit well."

Fisch said there is currently no plan to give Bortles a preseason start, though he would seem the natural candidate to get the nod Aug. 28 against the Atlanta Falcons in the final exhibition game. To date, Bortles hasn't had any first-team repetitions.

That figures to change the more he advances.

"Chad has certainly showed he has command of this offense right now, and he's playing at a high level with great confidence," said Fisch. "But the thing with Blake is the better he plays, the more challenging it becomes for us as coaches.

"We just want to just make sure he stays in his own world, and it doesn't get bigger than it has to."

Jacksonville general manager Dave Caldwell is encouraged by his rookie quarterback's work ethic and maturity.

"Blake is doing a nice job," Caldwell said. "He's doing everything within his power to be as productive as he can be. ... He came here on his own during the break. And I know he studied a lot from home."

And now he looks at home in Fisch's up-tempo system.

"The preseason is an opportunity to show what you know, what you can do and what you've been doing for the past couple of months," Bortles said.

"All of us are looking forward to it."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/jaguars/2014/08/01/blake-bortles-jedd-fish-jacksonville-chad-henne/13439025/

 
Bortles got some good reviews in tonight's scrimmage.

Gerhart missed scrimmage with leg tightness. He said he would have played if it was a regular game.

LB Telvin Smith continues to have a good camp.

WR Allen Hurd continues push for roster spot.

 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top