JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …
Scott from Wichita, KS
Ramsey ... OK. Smith ... please. Is he learning how to taunt better from someone?
This question not at all unexpectedly refers to Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey and linebacker Telvin Smith missing the start of the 2019 Jaguars offseason program. I'll begin this answer by emphasizing for the eighth consecutive offseason that all offseason activities except a three-day mid-June minicamp are voluntary. And voluntary means … voluntary! Therefore, I do not, nor will I ever, get worked up or criticize a veteran player for not participating. It's OK for the offseason to be the offseason, and I've never been convinced that any part of the offseason is all that important for veteran players. To your point, it's absolutely OK for Ramsey to miss; he is an elite, two-time Pro Bowl player who obviously knows how to prepare and his place in this organization is secure. Smith also obviously knows how to prepare his body, but if fans want to make the point that Smith perhaps didn't play well enough last season to feel as secure with the team as Ramsey … yeah, you could make that point.
Joe from St. Auggie
Since the 2019 NFL Schedule gets released Wednesday, do you have a prediction for the Jags' first game? I'm gonna guess the Carolina game, with both franchises being 25 years old.
That would be cool. Let's go with that.
Bruce from St. Simons Island, GA
Have the Jaguars ever drafted a player that became a Pro Bowl player in the last 15 years? Good time to start?
Tight end Marcedes Lewis, running back Maurice Jones-Drew, Ramsey and Smith all have made the Pro Bowl after being selected by the Jaguars in one of the last 15 drafts.
Brian from Jax 125
If I can be acting general manager, I'm expecting to draft offensive best player available. At this time, it's important for the Jags to select a player whose game is complete and includes actually scoring. I'm signing some veteran offensive lineman in free agency and going with the best eight or nine. If a quarterback we're really excited about is available that we feel will replace or succeed Nick Foles eventually, I take them.
I fear you will experience substantial draft-day disappointment, with the only likely scenario at No. 7 overall remotely fitting your equation being tight end. I can't see the Jaguars selecting quarterback, running back or wide receiver there. Now, maybe in the later rounds …
Dave from Salt Lake City via Jagsonville
O-man, I can't wait for the moment when the Jags have the ball: fourth quarter, 1:30 remaining, down by four. Foles drives 80 yards and scores the winning touchdown. Been a long time since we've seen that happen.
That's why the Jaguars signed Foles. If he's not that guy, the signing was a bad idea.
Brian from Gainesville, FL
Big O, as a lawyer who was a prosecutor for nine years allow me to make something clear: driving on a suspended license is a criminal offense. It's a first-degree misdemeanor that carries with it a penalty of up to one-year in the county jail. I've seen many people go to jail on this very charge. So, while it may have started with a speeding ticket, that is not all it is for Leonard Fournette and fans should understand that. Will he be sentenced to jail? Almost certainly not given that it's a first offense. Nevertheless, it's serious. Moreover, when you couple it with the disciplinary issues he's exhibited by things like missing a photo, paying more attention to his phone than to his coaches during meetings, getting into fights on the sidelines, and being lazy with his injury recovery, it makes me wonder did he at all not present as a red flag during the pre-draft process? After all, as a college player he once shoved a Florida assistant coach before a game in which he was supposed to sit out with an injury.
Anytime an arrest is involved it is – or at least should be – safe to assume it's a serious violation, but it's hard to place driving with a suspended license by itself in the same category of transgressions such as physical violence and the like. As far as red flags involving Fournette while in college, I would imagine some arose during the pre-draft process. Many prospects raise red flags. It's up to teams to determine how to respond to them. It's difficult to draft players if you rule out everyone with a red flag.
Sam from Winter Park, FL
Tiger winning The Masters is cute and all, but I guess everyone missed Gene shooting a nine on the Back 9. I was there, grinder in my hand. Mayo dripping from my gaping mouth as he holed-in-one a par 5 while chiding his wife and children for not being as good as he is.
Longtime Florida Times-Union sports columnist and Northeast Florida cultural icon Eugene P. "Gene" Frenette is a family man – perhaps the greatest family man of all time. He has received numerous awards and national accolades for this. So, he wouldn't have chided the wife and kids. But the nine on the Back 9? Yes, that was something to behold.
Pedal Bin from Farnborough, Hampshire, UK
Oh Mighty 'O' / King of Funk with all this talk of 40-yard timings is there any truth in the rumor that longtime Florida Times-Union sports columnist and Northeast Florida cultural icon Eugene P. "Gene" Frenette ran sub-four seconds at the combine this year? Apparently, he slowed down to take a call from a "T Woods" who was after some golfing tips.
Don't be ridiculous. No one runs a sub-four 40, not even Gene. His time was 4.15 but him live tweeting it during the run does make it all the more remarkable.
Rob from Ponte Vedra, FL
Vernon Davis ran a 4.38 apparently....
Well, goodie for him …
Unhipcat from the Golden Sands of Camp Pendleton
I like to pronounce Uber with a long u … yoober.
… and goodie for you.
Greg from Section 122 and Jacksonville
You have convinced me, O-man. Your answer was spot on and I think you are on to something. Let the Jaguars start a new trend and have draft approach like one of these contest shows where the fans decide. Let the season-ticket holders weigh in and select their top 15 draft picks then let the front office draft with that approach. I bet it would make for a very entertaining roster at least. :) I still hope they go quarterback, but I get your logic they probably won't. Hopefully, it doesn't bite them in hindsight.
I'll run our draft-contest idea past the higher-ups (I'll say it's your idea; I'm not putting my name on that). But if those higher-ups don't agree with you on the quarterback thing – and I can't imagine they will – remember: This is not widely considered a great quarterback draft. This may be the right year to pass on the position in Round 1. We'll see.
Chuck from Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
In 2016, we were fortunate given that cornerback Jalen Ramsey was expected to be drafted earlier. We were also fortunate with linebacker Myles Jack available in the second round. How about speculating on who might fall to us at No. 7?
Maybe (but not likely) edge rushers Nick Bosa of Ohio State or Josh Allen of Kentucky. Or maybe (but not likely) defensive tackle Quinnen Williams of Alabama.
Nick from Palatka, FL
Z, If Bosa and Florida right tackle Jawaan Taylor are available at No. 7 (assuming Ohio State quarterback Dwayne) Haskins is gone and the Jags haven't migrated to another spot), who do you take? I'm thinking with both a stud edge rusher and quarterback named Nick, what could possibly go wrong?
You take Bosa in your scenario, even if Haskins is there.
Fred from Naples, FL
If Taylor is so good, then why didn't he play left tackle at the University of Florida? Someone in the Jags' front office needs to ask that question to Florida Coach Dan Mullen.
Because he's a better fit at right tackle and because the difference in the importance of the two positions isn't as pronounced as once was the case. (I'll pass on the scouting advice to the higher-ups; they're forever looking for "tips.")
Scott from Jacksonville
I don't read a lot of national opinions on our team, but I read at least one that was less than complimentary of Foles. I'm pretty sure it was an NFL.com piece, grading all 32 teams' 2019 free-agency classes. Of the 32, we got the only "F" grade of the bunch thanks to the Foles signing. I don't think Foles is some kind of savior or anything, but that was pretty ridiculous. Oh well, at least I got and am still getting a chuckle out of it.
Oh … it is to laugh.