JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …
Michael from Orange Park, FL
I'm refreshing and refreshing. And nothing. Is this the calm before the storm?
My Scooby Sense – and not by Scobee or Spidey Sense – tells me you're asking if the comparative current slow news pace is the "calm" before the "storm" of free agency next week. The NFL's "negotiating period" begins Monday at noon. Teams can negotiate with the agents for projected unrestricted free agents from other teams at that point. Contracts can be officially signed Wednesday at 4 p.m. – the start of the 2026 NFL League Year. I expect free agency leaguewide to be stormy because teams can't help but leap in – sometimes recklessly – to the free-agent market. Will there be local storms? If you mean the Jaguars signing a lot of high-profile players from other teams, I'm not sure I expect anything major on that front. Call it some light storms, with the forecast calling for measured spending – and nothing anywhere close to the storms we saw in these parts last offseason. Or in a lot of past offseasons.
John from Jax
Hi, KOAGF. Next week is going to be hard for us Jag fans. Watching a couple of our best players land on another team, likely in our division or with the Kansas City Chiefs, will require feelings of despair. On the theme of next week, what are your thoughts on the "Jerry Maguire" movie?
The coming week indeed likely will be difficult and emotional – for NFL fans, and for teams and players. The free-agency negotiating period will open Monday, with news likely to spread soon thereafter that high-profile players from one team are moving onto other teams. I expect that to be the case for popular, well-known Jaguars players such as running back Travis Etienne Jr. and linebacker Devin Lloyd – and I expect it could be the case for cornerback Montaric Brown and safety Andrew Wingard. Come the Wednesday start of the NFL League Year, I expect most – and perhaps all – of those players to sign elsewhere. That will be too bad. I have enjoyed covering all those players and all are correctly loved by many Jaguars fans. I would stop short of saying Jaguars fans will require feelings of despair because there's no reason to feel desperate about the loss of these players. The NFL is a league of change, and no team stays the same from year to year. The loss of these four players – if the Jaguars indeed lose these players – should not set the franchise back and should not be impossible to overcome. As for the movie Jerry Maguire … I enjoyed it. It was a memorable, connectable love story and I choked up when Zellweger told Cruise he had her at hello. It also did an admirable job depicting the football stuff … as stuff like that goes.
Charles from Jacksonville
Hello, John, Jaguars.com has done a great job with the articles under the "Stadium of the Future" tab (top of home page). Great rundown of what to expect in 2028. Under the Q&A section there is also an explanation of the protective membrane that will wrap the stadium. Evidently it is transparent, allows the breeze to still enter the stadium and reduces the inside temperature 10-15 degrees. It also offers protection against the rain. The product is called ViewScape and the description says this is the first time it has been used as a roof and a façade? Hope it works?
That's presumably the plan.
John from Jax
Hi, KOAGF. Do you know how the Jags ranked on defensive plays for losses compared to other teams last season? I know the focus is always sacks, but curious how we rank as a total that includes run plays.
The Jaguars according to one ranking registered 77 tackles for loss, which ranked 19th in the NFL. This is an important statistic, but perhaps more a more important statistic in this vein is yards allowed per rush. That statistic gives you an idea about how well a defense is getting opponents into difficult down-and-distance situations – and teams that get their opponent sin difficult down-and-distance situations have a chance of being good defensively. The Jaguars tied for second in the NFL in this category last season at 3.9 yards allowed per rush – behind only the Seattle Seahawks at 3.8 yards allowed per rush.
Robert from Fernandina Beach, FL
We know that all teams have to be under the salary cap by the start of the League Year, which I believe is March 11, but apparently after that date you can exceed the cap until the next year ... or else how do explain these teams that are over the cap today?
Teams indeed must be under the salary cap by the March 11 start of the NFL League Year, but they cannot exceed the cap after March 11. When analysts/fans/teams say the teams are "over the cap," what they mean is their contracts as they are currently written of players currently on the roster exceed the projected cap number for a given year. The reason you see contract restructurings, player releases and other cap maneuverings in the days and weeks leading to the league year is teams are working to reduce their overall cap by the start of that league year. Teams that are said to be "over the cap" in fact are therefore more accurately "projected to be over the cap on March 11." But teams never can be technically over the cap in real time.
Lane from Winter Garden
Zone, I know you're a big tennis fan and I apologize if you've already answered this question in the past but who's your favorite old-school player? I recently saw a John McEnroe documentary that was quite good. I think the era of him, Connors and Borg was the golden age of tennis.
Johnny Mac absolutely was my favorite old-school tennis player and is among my favorite athletes ever regardless of sport. I also consider him the best current analyst regardless of sport. Roger Federer probably ranks ahead of Mac on my all-time favorite tennis players, but it's a short list – and it might be a two-person list. I agree that the Jimmy Connors/Bjorn Borg/McEnroe era was tennis' golden age – with the Federer/Rafael Nadal/Novak Djokovic era just behind.
Jesse from Texas
Does Tony Boselli have any input on the Jags' roster – including free-agent signings, releases and draft picks? How much input does Liam Coen have? I'm assuming James Gladstone has the final say. Also: How closely will those three analyze your mock draft, and might it change the direction of their picks and the franchise?
Executive Vice President of Football Operations Tony Boselli is in meetings with General Manager James Gladstone. Head Coach Liam Coen is in these meetings, too. Many scouts, personnel people and assistant coaches of levels are in these meetings. Opinions are voiced. Thoughts are shared. Ideas ae exchanged. It is a process of information exchange designed to reach organizational decisions. Within that system, Boselli and Coen have input. As do the many scouts, personnel people and assistant coaches of levels in these meetings. "How much input" does Boselli have? Coen? All others? I don't know if it's quantifiable, though Gladstone as general manager is the most influential voice. As for my mock draft … I don't even know if I will do a "mock draft" in the coming weeks. Some offseasons I do, some I don't. if I do happen to do one this offseason, here's hoping Boselli, Gladstone and Coen spend little-to-no time "analyzing it." I think highly of all three. I would hate for that to change.
George from Jacksonville
I've been reading this column a while now. You're a bit of a wiseacre, aren't ya?
I don't know about "wise."
Steve from Wallingford, CT
What's the metric for a pressure? It seems to me that a sack at 2.5 seconds is just as good as a sack at five seconds, but that's not the case with pressures. A pressure at 2.5 is great, a pressure at five is meh.
There's no real official pressure "metric" just as there really isn't an official, unassailable, end-all pressure statistic. Teams often vary in how they judge these, and the pressure statistics in an NFL game might differ from those keeping score at home (or anywhere else, for that matter). The reason, as your question suggests, is that not all pressures are created equal. A pressure that forces a quarterback to get rid of the ball quickly and inaccurately is a bit different than one that takes a few seconds and that gives the quarterback time to react. They're all better than no pressure, but most aren't as good as sacks.
Raymond Sis from Windermere
After the horrible season in which they didn't win the Super Bowl, a smart organization would fire the general manager, head coach and quarterback. Same 'ol jags.
Raymond's got jokes. The jokes aren't all that far off from some readers' reality. But nevertheless, he's got jokes.
