JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it … Jane from om:
Why have they not signed Marqise Lee yet?
John: Wide receiver Marqise Lee, the first of two second-round selections by the Jaguars in the 2014 NFL Draft, indeed is the team's last unsigned rookie – and neither side has publicly discussed the reason for the delay. The thing to remember is it's not a situation that's expected to linger, and there's nothing to be gained or lost from signing Lee in May or June compared to signing him two days before training camp. As for the reason for the delay, it's almost certainly not financial. The NFL's rookie wage scale essentially ensures that. That means it's likely about offset language or timing of payments. Those are relatively minor details and shouldn't be major enough for Lee to miss any camp time.
Me from Jacksonville:
John, be honest: how many times have you slept on the job? (Please don't lie).
John: Once. No, I'm sorry. That's a lie.
Sid from Pittsburgh, PA:
Riggins and Alstott!!
John: This likely is an exclamation-point-based – and a very enthusiastic – weigh-in on the recent discussion of what running back you would want most on a big goal-line situation. I lived and died with the Redskins during Riggins' career, so I'm obviously diesel-biased, and Alstott was a very good player with Tampa Bay for a lot of years. I can't put either in the category of Jim Brown or Earl Campbell.
Dalton from UCF:
What will happen first? Aaron Colvin will be promoted to the active roster or Blake Bortles will earn his first start? Go
John: I believe it will be rookie cornerback Aaron Colvin being promoted to the active roster, because there's a good chance that could happen around the midway point of the season. He is expected to begin training camp and the regular season on the Physically Unable to Perform List, but could come off of that after Week 6. Bortles is expected to enter the season behind Chad Henne on the depth chart, and it's not yet certain he will be the top backup. Bortles in theory could start before midseason, but it almost certainly will take at least an injury to Henne for it to happen.
Jarod from Cantonment, FL and Section 116:
My wife argued with me that I shouldn't get a rookie's jersey but instead choose a veteran who is proven. I decided on Johnathan Cyprien instead of a proven veteran. I believe I will be wearing this jersey for a lot of years.
John: You should probably wash it once in a while, too.
Dakota from Dupree, SC:
Is expecting Marqise Lee or Allen Robinson to have a rookie season comparable to Ace Sanders' rookie year expecting too much? Ace was in a very favorable position as a rookie and saw a lot of snaps. Do you think one of the rookies will see as many snaps as Ace did?
John: I would think both Marqise Lee and Allen Robinson can have at least as good of a rookie season as Sanders produced last season. Sanders played 616 snaps last season, second on the team to Cecil Shorts III, and it seems absolutely reasonable that Lee and Robinson would play that many as rookies. Sanders caught 51 passes for 484 yards and a touchdown. That's a solid rookie season, but I would expect Lee and Robinson to push for that many receptions and probably produce a few more touchdowns and a higher yards-per-catch average. That's no knock on Sanders, but he was a fourth-round selection and Lee and Robinson were drafted two rounds earlier. They each have the capability of being higher-impact players quickly.
Quinn from Jacksonville Beach, FL:
Will Mark Brunell be on Jaguars radio this year?
John: No. Brunell will continue to provide analysis on the Jaguars' preseason broadcasts, but he chose not to be on the radio on Thursdays. J.P. Shadrick will host the Monday show with Pete Prisco and Tony Boselli and Shadrick will also host Thursday with Boselli and Jeff Lageman. Brunell also will continue to coach football at Episcopal High School.
Ray from Vernon:
Have are the rookies signed
John: Green color is cars on hill the barn
Nick from Jacksonville Beach:
We haven't discussed the center position lately; has Mike Brewster pretty much won the job? I'm a big fan of his. I'm not sure how he went undrafted since he was one of the best centers in college for the couple of years he played. Care to shed some light on this matter?
John: I hesitate to say Brewster has guaranteed himself the opening-weekend starting position. The ultimate decision on that front will come during training camp and preseason, when Brewster – like several other young veterans – will have to play well enough to solidify his position. Brewster, though, appeared to do as much as he could possibly do during the offseason, organized team activities and minicamps to put himself in the best situation possible entering training camp. He rehabbed to recover from a season-ending ankle injury and impressed coaches with his approach the entire offseason. As for how Brewster went undrafted, although he was an All-America selection at Ohio State, he needed to add size and strength to play the position at an NFL level. Considering he hasn't started the first two years, I wouldn't say the NFL missed on him, necessarily. But now he has done the work necessary to be ready to start. That gives him the opportunity to find out if he can become a long-time contributor/starter. His time is very much now.
Clark from Metropolis:
I'd like to settle all this "best ever at X position" debate, because in fact I am the best ever... at everything. I just choose not to play, because I'm so humble and stuff.
John: Good for you.
Mike from East Moline, IL:
As a Jacksonville native, I grew up watching Dan "The Man" Marino. I used to get upset when people would use his lack of rings as an argument. He just wasn't on a lot of good teams. It would be interesting to see what Marino could have done with a run game, and with the pass protection Brady has gotten over the years. It would be interesting, too, to see Manning and Brady going back to play against the '85 Bears defense, or taking blindside hits from Lawrence Taylor repeatedly. You really can't compare these guys, and say one is definitely better than the other. However, this is the dead zone, and we need something to do, so we talk about our favorite players.
John: Marino is the classic example – maybe the best example – of why the Super Bowl ring argument falls flat. Anyone who saw him play can attest not only to his skill set and statistical production, but to his ability under pressure. Few quarterbacks ever have been as dangerous or successful in the final minutes of games. He didn't win a Super Bowl because his team never was the best team in the NFL, which amazingly enough is a reason many quarterbacks lose Super Bowls. I fully realized the fallacy of using Super Bowl rings as a measurement of a quarterback's greatness at the end of John Elway's career. In the mid-to-late 1990s, it was generally believed by many that Marino was the superior quarterback to Elway, and Elway's reputation among many was as a great quarterback, but one who couldn't win the Super Bowl. He won two Super Bowls in his final two seasons and he suddenly inched up a few notches on most people's Greatest of All-Time lists. Did these two Super Bowls – won when Elway was clearly past his prime – really make Elway a better quarterback? Of course not. He was better in the years he didn't win, but the two Super Bowl victories changed his legacy. That's fine and it's understandable, but it also shows why Super Bowls are not the end-all when it comes to judging quarterback greatness.
Steve from Section 215:
Watching the golf tournament at the Greenbriar in West Virginia this past weekend they showed the Saints' training facility. It's a great setting, but I wonder what they really get out of it (other than avoiding all the distractions of New Orleans). Do any other teams travel that far and to such a remote location for training?
John: Teams traveling to cooler climates used to be very common. The Jaguars, for instance, trained in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, in their 1995 inaugural season, and teams such as the Kansas City Chiefs, Saints and Chicago Bears long held their training camps around Wisconsin for the same reason. The so-called "Cheese League" is no more, but the Dallas Cowboys do train in Oxnard, California, many seasons and will do so this season. As for why teams do it, it's not so much about distractions but avoiding heat.
John from Main and Arlington:
Monday, 12:44 PM... HELP! Live Cam temporarily unavailable... What should I do? HURRY? WHAT SHOULD I DO?!
John: Do what Shadrick would do … no, actually don't do that.