Jaguars make all right moves on road to recovery
The most surprising team this season has been the Jacksonville Jaguars.
When I visited them before the start of the season, I thought this was going to be a total rebuilding year. I liked their draft, but I thought they were going to be too dependent on young players, and with a schedule of Arizona and three division opponents in their first four games, I thought they might not win in their first four and may be in for a long year.
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| David Garrard (9) and Maurice Jones-Drew have been more fun as this season has gone along. (US Presswire) |
When I talked to Del Rio before the season started, he told me the Jaguars needed to get back to a strong-character philosophy in building their team. Some of the big-money players they had brought in had not panned out. Also, trying to integrate free agents into your team culture can be tricky. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. (In all fairness to the 2008 Jaguars, they had a number of injuries that certainly contributed to their 5-11 record).
When I talked with Del Rio last week, he emphasized how he has worked this young team hard, a "pedal to the metal" approach. It has paid off with the players responding and improving as the season has gone on. He also credited strength coach Luke Richesson with the work he has done with players, especially with the post-practice routine of stretching and having each player sit in an ice tub to help them recover.
Del Rio also had high praise for the rest of his coaching staff and is right to do so. It is clear this is a total team effort with so many young players performing well, especially considering that they have gone back and forth from the 3-4 defense to the 4-3 and still has been highly competitive.
Jacksonville is a good example of how a team can manage its way through a disappointing season and build for the future. The Jaguars have a sharp general manager in Gene Smith, who came up the right way as a true personnel man. By that I mean he has scouted college players, constructed a draft board, was involved in pro scouting and understood the basics of the salary cap. That's why it wasn't a surprise to me the Jaguars had a terrific draft.
The other thing a good personnel man does is work the wire and the street to pick up players who can help your team after the draft. Adding depth and building the backside of your roster can result in picking up a player who can be more than a future backup.
Some of the players Smith has picked up since the draft and who have contributed are defensive end Bryan Smith (two starts), safety Anthony Smith, safety Courtney Greene, cornerback William Middleton, safety Brian Russell (one start), quarterback Luke McCown, receiver Ernest Wilford (four starts), linebacker Adam Seward, safety Gerald Alexander (five starts), long snapper Jeremy Cain, cornerback Tyron Brackenridge (started last Sunday), defensive end Julius Williams and linebacker Russell Allen (two starts). This is what I call having a "second draft."
Their productive draft class includes 13 rookies, 11 of whom play on Sunday but four start full time. Those four are left tackle Eugene Monroe, right tackle Eben Britton, DT/NT Terrance Knighton and cornerback Derek Cox. They lead the league in the total starts of their draft class with 41.
There was a clear philosophy as to what they wanted to get out of the draft. They wanted to rebuild their offensive line. That became a focus in the offseason when they let go of Khalif Barnes, their starting left tackle, and brought in Tra Thomas as a stopgap if they were not able to land one in the draft. But since the draft was deep at the position, they were able to fill their needs at both tackles.
Unlike last year, Jacksonville's offensive line has been healthy and generally played well. That has helped David Garrard have a clean pocket to work with, which has helped his play and also cleared the way for running back Maurice Jones-Drew. But the point I am making is they had a philosophy of building a strong offensive line, made it a point of emphasis and did it.
The other philosophic point in building the team was stopping the run with two good defensive tackles. When the Jaguars rebuilt eight years ago, they started with a foundation of two very good defensive tackles, John Henderson and Marcus Stroud. They made it difficult to run on the Jaguars and gave them a good inside push on the pass rush. In drafting Knighton, who has been dominant at times, they have found a strong inside presence to go along with a revitalized Henderson. That has given the Jaguars that strong inside presence you want in your defensive line.
At the receiver position, they have been helped by the development of Mike Sims-Walker and the play of rookie Mike Thomas, two young guys with talent. The addition of veteran Torry Holt, I am told by the Jaguars, has been a plus from the leadership point of view. Holt, 33, has given these young players a role model on how to prepare and be a pro, which is essential for a young team. The other player Del Rio pointed out who has been a great leader is Jones-Drew, 24, which tells you leadership can come from older veterans and younger veterans too.
I think you also have to give credit to owner Wayne Weaver for remaining steady this offseason. With season-ticket sales down considerably, he did not make a knee-jerk reaction and fire the coach after a bad season. He resisted going for headlines by hiring a big-name coach to sell tickets. Weaver stuck with his coach and backed him and the GM in their plan. They have proven him right.
Whether the Jaguars make the playoffs or not is not the point here. They have a nucleus of good players, a strong draft to build on, a sound philosophy, a good coach and a GM who has a strong personnel background to build this team's level of talent to playoff level.
