JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …
Lane from Winter Garden, FL
Zone, A lot of Jaguar fans had issues with Pederson's aggressiveness in going for it on fourth down. Do you think Coen will be a bit more traditional in terms of going for it on fourth and short?
This is impossible to know for sure because you don't know the aggressiveness of a head coach in that situation until he is the one making in-game decisions – and Jaguars Head Coach Liam Coen never has been a head coach on any level. Still, while former Jaguars Head Coach Doug Pederson indeed was aggressive on fourth-and-short situations it's not as if he was an extreme outlier in this area. The NFL increasingly is an analytics-based league and analytics tell you it's beneficial over the long term to be more aggressive in fourth-and-short situations than "traditionally" has been the case. Remember, too: This is an issue on which many head coaches are unfairly judged. Few fans/observers remember when a team converts fourth-and-short situations. It seems no one forgets it or likes it when the conversion attempt fails.
Kevin from Jacksonville
Please stop with this fiction that Trevor Lawrence was in the Most Valuable Player conversation in 2023 when the Jags were sitting at 8-3. To that point, he had thrown just 12 TDs, seven interceptions and four lost fumbles. Nobody had him in the MVP conversation because he was not even playing well. Cut it out. It's absurd.
Except it's not. And he was. Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence wasn't likely to be named MVP in 2023, but through 11 games the Jaguars were contending for the AFC's best record. Lawrence also had played very well in the games leading to their 12th game – a loss to Cincinnati. He played well in that game before leaving with an injury. I can't control what people remember. I don't know how many people were discussing what. I do know that some observers were discussing Lawrence as an MVP candidate at that time.
William from Savannah, GA
Tony B: "John. You lollygag the articles around the office. You lollygag your way to a lede. You lollygag in and out of the restroom. You know what makes you? Gene!" Gene: "A lollygagger!" Tony B: "A lollygagger."
The rose goes in the front, big guy.
Anita from Springfield
How does Travis Hunter compare to Justin Blackmon when it comes to that all-important "catching the ball" quality? How does BTJ compare to those two?
Jaguars rookie wide receiver/defensive back Travis Hunter's hands from this early and premature view are soft, and his ability to track the ball and make phenomenal catches look easy is elite stuff. Former Jaguars wide receiver Justin Blackmon's hands seemed to swallow the ball; when he caught it, it was as if the ball had no choice but to be there. Both skills are elite stuff, and both are effective. At the same time, the two players hardly could have felt different. I don't know that I would put Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr.'s hands quiiiite at the level of Blackmon and maybe Hunter, though it's quite possible he's the best overall receiver of the group.
Gary from St. Augustine, FL
Even in the dead zone – or whatever you call it – you still suck.
Jaguars 2025 Training Camp is scheduled to begin in late July, with veterans reporting July 22.
Kei from Kitakyushu, Japan
Am I the only one who finds this "generational" discourse around Trevor (and other super-prospects) to be exhausting? Fans and media slap that label on players who never ask for it, and judge them based on totally unrealistic expectations. Not to mention that they're drafted No. 1 overall pretty much every time, which is to say they're being asked to rescue a sinking franchise from rock bottom essentially on their own. This isn't to say that Trevor is totally blameless in the inconsistencies during his age 22-25 seasons, but I would argue that the clock is only now starting on his fate as a franchise quarterback in the NFL. And lest we forget: Even if not for an extended period of time, we've seen him look like a top eight quarterback QB in the NFL – with Christian Kirk as his No. 1 receiver, no less.
You're not alone in your exhaustion; I certainly share it. And while such labels and expectations long have defined the narratives around early-drafted NFL quarterbacks, the thought here is that the constant, deafening focus on whether or not quarterbacks such as Lawrence have reached this or that status has become more deafening amid the dumbing down of our collective society during the decade-and-half Twitter/X era. There's no solution and we're certainly not as a sports/political society likely to return to past eras of reason and measured discussion. Perhaps the best alternative for weary fans/observers is to shut off phones, turn off televisions and pay less attention to the incessant forced debates on who ranks where and who's at what level. This is what the wise players in the conversation do. Ratings and discussions don't matter. It's how players focus, prepare and play – and what they do within the context of their teams – that matter.
Howard from HOMESTEAD
Did OJ do it?
Norm sure thought so. So probably.
David from The Island
I'm surprised you listed Cincinnati as the first choice for press box spreads. Aren't the Bengals notoriously stingy when it comes to paying players? Maybe if they saved some on the spread for the press they could get Trey Hendrickson signed.
I don't cover the Cincinnati Bengals. I do know they're paying quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receivers Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase worth about a combined $250 million guaranteed. Keeping that in mind, it's perhaps not surprising that it's tricky trying to pay a 31-year-old pass rusher.
John from Jax
Hi, KOAGF - I don't understand players, especially quarterbacks, not having every game be a good game. This seems to be a common excuse postgame. "Got to clean things up" is a common statement. They get paid well, practice most days and have three hours (60 minutes of game time) to work with teammates, coaches, adjust, and be moodachay good (offense) and nomoodachay good (defense).
You really don't understand this? How fortunate for you to be in that rare minority of the world's population that is perfection. The NFL is hard. The world's best football players in the world play in it, which means those best players on the other team are also paid well, practice most days and have three hours (60 minutes of game time) to work with teammates, coaches, adjust and be moodachay good (offense) and nomoodachay good (defense). When everyone in a game is very good, it's not all that hard to have a game that's not a good game. The slightest slip can make you look very bad.
Ryan from Apopka, FL
Another reason there is some excitement/optimism with fans is that we lost 11 games by one score last season. And while I know records and teams change year to year, with the improvements you mentioned, plus a coaching staff that the players seem to buy into, that could help flip some of those close losses to close wins next season.
Perhaps.
Larry from Wattsburg(h), PA
Hemingway is classic. Any author that can keep a young student's attention (mine thirty years ago!) for over a hundred pages with a story about fishing deserves some proper credit. One 'fer educators everywhere also with an especially big nod to English and Music teachers!
Ernest Hemingway is the gold standard. When making a list of great writers, write him in at No. 1 then figure out the rest of the list.
John from The Villages, FL
Will Foye Oluokun be past his injuries and ready to play Week 1?
Jaguars linebacker Foye Oluokun played the last 10 games of the 2024 NFL season and participated full throughout the 2025 offseason program. There's currently no reason to expect he will not play Week 1.
Marco from Lima, Peru
KOAF, is Trevor becoming the new Andrew Luck? A supremely talented quarterback with sky-high potential, but plagued by injuries only to retire unexpectedly early, leaving the franchise reeling for years. Could Trevor be headed down that same path?
A couple of differences. One is that Lawrence has yet to come close to the level former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck achieved at his NFL peak. The other is that Lawrence hasn't yet been injured enough to be considered "injury-plagued." I'm not saying injuries haven't been an issue for Lawrence. He just hasn't been "plagued" yet.
John from Jacksonville
How about a list of the worst books we've ever read? Mine would have to be "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. It's 544 pages of pure boredom. I had to tap out halfway through and take an F on the book report because I couldn't stay awake.
Sounds like maybe your expectations were too high.
