Jaguars GM Dave Caldwell met with Alex Marvez and Mark Dominik of SiriusXM NFL Radio yesterday, and the interview produced some interesting tidbits. Here’s some of what Caldwell had to say (via Hays Carlyon of The Florida Times-Union):
On the front office’s thought process when it came to selecting Jalen Ramsey:
“I don’t think there was a lot of [debate], it was pretty unanimous. Jalen, we wanted to come out with an impact defensive player in the top five. This was the year we wanted to start focusing on crafting this defense and building it from the ground up. He’s a rare athlete. You see him on the field being as big as he is, how he moves and how explosive he is. You don’t find guys like that that come along every year. Once every couple years, you get a player of that ability.”
On what compelled the team to take a risk on Myles Jack in the second round:
“We said, let’s take a guy that we know a lot about who is excellent talent. We have to take some risk. We have to close that talent gap and we won’t do it by being very conservative. Let’s take a risk on a guy that we know is a great worker, very diligent and he’s going to take care of his body. Doctors are wrong too, just like scouts. It’s a matter of opinion. The risk was worth the reward at that point in time.”
On how third-rounder Yannick Ngakoue will fit in:
“He and [Dante Fowler, Jr.] will split time at that Leo position. In nickel, they’ll both play the ends. Both are athletic enough with their versatility they can drop into coverage and take tight ends man to man. You need more than one pass rusher. We don’t have a lot of experience here, but we feel like we have a pretty good skill set in those young guys.”
On the left tackle battle between Luke Joeckel and Kelvin Beachum:
“Luke’s probably had his best camp since we’ve been here. I think it’s maturity in his growth and physical maturity. So, it’s going to be a good battle over these next couple of weeks to see where that ends up. I expect [Joeckel] to play some left guard in the preseason. When we get Kelvin back, he did individual today, we’ll slowly bring him along.”
On the wide receiver depth chart:
“Our three spots are a little in flux, because there is no true three. If we go slot, we have Rashad Greene and Bryan Walters that are really good slot receivers. Marqise Lee can take the top off but he’s outside so then you bring one of [Allen Robinson or Allen Hurns] inside. All from our three-to-five spots, I think those guys are going to play quite a bit. Rashad is a dynamic punt returner, so that will be his focus and Bryan Walters does a really nice job on special teams too.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
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