Mac Jones Making Progress, Jaguars Season Preview || Boston Has Entered The Chat

he's John Shipley Jaguars meat reporter on Jaguars on SII covers the team been covering them for a while now John thanks for hopping on Boston zenter the chat how you doing today man hey appreciate you guys having me hey we know that the Patriots don't play the Jaguars until week seven in London we both can't wait for that early wake up but ever since M Jones signed with Jacksonville in the offseason these two franchises have been intertwined Mack is the failed experience of a franchise quarterback for the Patriots now he's the backup for for a franchise quarterback in Trevor Lawrence but what have you seen from Mac so far in a short stint with the Jaguars and what Impressions has he made on you as a member of the media and what have you heard from the team yeah know he definitely seems like somebody who I think has kind of accepted his role on the roster and where he's kind of at at this time in his career you know I've said that I think the Jags and Mack both viewed this season is kind of like the M Jones Rehabilitation you know project you know trying to get you know his career His image back on track and I think he's you know really settled into that he's comfortable in the backup role and you know if you take you know what the coaches say in press conferences you know at 100% face value which maybe you should maybe you shouldn't there was a legitimate competition between him and CJ Beth you know at the started training camp for that backup job and it just seemed like throughout all training camp that Jones is pulling away and pulling away from him he he's a lot different than Trevor Lawrence he doesn't have like the athleticism or the ability to kind of improvise inside and outside the pocket but gets rid of the ball quick he has good you know good enough arm strength good accuracy it at least seems like they're comfortable if they ever have to head into a game with him that they're okay with it yeah that checks out I mean Mack was a top 25 pick for the Patriots because of his processing this was a guy that was targeted by Kyle Shanahan coming into the draft because he loved his IQ his accuracy his ability to play within a system is his cealing as high as Trevor Lawrence is absolutely not but this is a guy right now especially after what happened the last two years can be a good backup quarterback for any franchise to have but we also know that he signed with the Jaguars and then Doug Peterson made waves especially up here in Boston saying that sometimes he sees ma revert back to his Patriot ways from what you heard from what you cover this team every day from what you see from Mack what did Doug Peterson mean by those comments yeah so you know Doug later said it's seemed like he knew that he had more or less stepped into it he you know later said by his way of putting it he was saying like at times he'll come up with like hand signals or verbiage that he had used in New England when and said you know maybe they're trying to do something similar in Jacksonville in terms of the actual scheme and what they're trying to run but he's just pulling up stuff from you know his past couple of years so I it was interesting that he said Patriot ways specifically but I really think you know Max inter Jacksonville as a guy who you know he's ready to put New England and you know that experience behind him he's not somebody who you know he'll answer it when he get asked but he's not somebody who's openly you know like pointing it out for you you know up there every day it's clear that I think he's trying to really move on to this next step of his career and get past whatever happened in New England yeah after going from a pro bowl alternate his rookie season to a 20 22's failed experiment with Matt Patricia and Joe judge to 2023 just looked like a broken piece like forgot how to play football I don't blame him for wanting to put that behind him is Doug Peterson that kind of coach that is calculated with what he says in the media and a guy that's been around football forever been around great coaches like Andy Reid he probably misspoke but he wouldn't you know intentionally go to dog on the Patriots and take a dig out another franchise yeah no 100 perc uh Doug's very you know I've said it before he's helped the Jaguars kind of become a grown-up franchise you know they went from being you know that the everybody's little brother who they could beat up on to he's help the jagar was kind of mature and get past on their ways I definitely think it was just something that an immediate aftermath of of the game and you know we don't know the entire cont like there's probably something that happened in that preseason finale where Mack you know completely screwed up a call or something brought back something from New England but I definitely anticipate tug being that way and Doug's somebody who you know he's always a coach who shows a lot of respect you know to the opposing teams opposing coaches and he's somebody who he also understands the importance and the role of a backup quarterback I mean he was a backup quarterback himself he developed backup quarterbacks Nick FES obviously lot success so I think he understands from all the different angles you know kind of how to approach Mac yeah and that's what we know him as a QB whisperer now Mac obviously was acquired by the Jaguars do you see him as a long-term backup piece for Trevor Lawrence especially after T law signed that extension or do you think Mack could be a guy that they get him in they fix him they get him back to being a serviceable starting level quarterback and could maybe be a trade piece down the line for a team that made Moves this offseason get closer and back into the playoffs but maybe if they need something to push him over the top I really think that's their hope with Mack it's you know twofold one they saw what happened last year when Trevor was banged up you know their best option A lot of weeks was in injo Trevor Lawrence starting the game just because they didn't have that backup option behind him CJ bethard obviously had a great relationship with Lawrence but he just you know he wasn't somebody who many teams are rolling out there as a starter on you know many given Sundays so I think that was part of it and also think yeah you know maybe they help Mack out Mack helps them out you know say mac signs with a quarterback needy team in frency next year the rers to get a compensatory pick for quarterbacks are relatively low he wouldn't need to sign a major deal at all so it could be in my opinion some long-term planning like that I don't expect him to be in Jacksonville long that's that's not my expectation hey they traded just a sixth round pick in order to get a good backup quarterback and again you said if he sign somewhere else compensatory pick in return if that gets him a fifth rounder or better that's just good smart business by the Jaguars all right enough enough talking with a backup quarterback let's talk Trevor lawren we know he signed that 5year $275 million extension this off season a lot of people mocked him I say 2021 was a lost year because of Urban Meyer 2023 was a tough year because of how banged up the offensive line was and how injured Trevor Lawrence was as you mentioned and what he had to play through but what's the belief behind him in that building in Jacksonville oh it's as high as I think it's been really since I've covered him I've covered the entirety of Trevor's career so far I really think that they feel he's in a good place right now you know he had one of his better training camps he didn't play much in the preseason but when he did I think they scored on like four or five drives something like that so he he at least showed you know that he's in command and he's ready I think physically athletically whatever you want to call it to take the leap on the field it's just he has to do the little things you know he has to make sure to keep himself safe I think that's probably the biggest lesson he had to learn last year is you know like you're the franchise quarterback maybe don't you know put your shoulder down and try to get an extra yard when you're going out of bounds maybe don't try to you know elongate this play you know try to protect yourself because there are a lot of jobs and a lot of people's livelihoods that uh rely on him and I think that's probably the biggest lesson he had to learn coming into this year but there's a lot of positivity surrounding him and a lot of people internally feel like he's about to have a really good season what have you seen you said you covered him his whole career we know 2021 where it was one of the most toxic worst cultures you could be in of what Urban Meyer did to that franchise and that was his rookie season now getting into his fourth year into the league fourth year as a starter of course for this team how have you seen Trevor Lawrence come along as a leader of course being a quarterback but also just overall as a professional athlete that has to take on more than just being the guy under Center but the guy in the building especially once you get a contract like that yeah no I think I've definitely seen Lawrence become much more vocal over the years you know his rookie year I think even if you're the quarterback most rookies kind of accept it's you know kind of speak when you're spoken to kind of thing and but there were a lot of times where you know Urban Meyer would you know put his foot in his mouth do some and the rookie 21y old quarterback was the one answering questions about it at the podium so I think that helped him grow a lot that year and over the years I think you've seen him become more of a vocal leader on the field he's not like a super you know out loud bombace guy you know on the offset personality wise but you will see him get more you know intense correcting guys you know really telling them how to elevate their play and then just as a player I think you know he came into the league with a ton of physical tools all the traits that you want but there wasn't a lot of fine tuning uh he he has said you know he didn't even take a single snap under Center at Clemson so he had to relearn a lot of things about the quarterback position I think you've just seen him become a more refined more efficient passer over the years yeah efficient loves to take the Deep shot down the field and I love that gets into the new weapons he has we know that they bring in Gabe Davis signed him over from Buffalo big athletic guy good downfield Target but really the one is Brian Thomas Jr the rookie out of LSU what does the addition of those two receivers on the outside for quarter back that loves to take deep shots down the field what do they do to help enhance and improve Trevor Lawrence's game yeah no Ian if you look break down Trevor Lawrence by of numbers he's been at his best the last couple years when pushing the ball down field the thing is Jacksonville has not had many vertical threats with Trevor Lawrence on the roster rookie year he had DJ CH for like four games before he got hurt and then he was chucking up you know deep balls to Lon Treadwell and Tavon Austin his next year you know Z Jones and Marvin Jones no team is really looking at them as a number one vertical throw and then last year Calvin Ridley kind of got miscast as that vertical threat you know he has the speed to beat defenses deep but he's just not the person you want stretching the field every play I really think Brian Thomas is the best pure vertical threat deep guy that Trevor lwen has had skill setwise in his career with the Jaguars I I think they fit together perfectly because Trevor you know at of core is a big armed quarterback who wants to push the ball downfield and Thomas showed a lot in training camp you know he might he had a little bit of a slow start the first couple weeks but but it seemed like all it took was for him to make one play in training camp and then he just started stacking days stacking performances it really looks like they're going to be a good combination moving forward and what is the expectation too from an Evan Ingram a Travis etan those guys that add a lot in the past game but of course this offense overall as well yeah no I think Ingram it wouldn't surprise me if Ingram was still top two in targets along with Christian Kirk just because he has such great chemistry with Trev Lawrence I mean you saw him catch two touchdown passes in the preseason finale I mean it's for a reason he he he was probably the most targeted player by Trevor Lawrence in training camp this year he's been this is now their third year together and etn I think the Jaguars are expecting an even bigger year out of him this year you know he hit over a thousand yards last year he had good touchdown numbers but his yards per carry was below you know the usual people looking for at least four and a four yards he was at I believe 3.8 so they want to see a little more efficiency they hope that comes from the blocking and they think he can take a big role as a pass catcher this year as well is there belief in the offensive line I mean we talked about the quarterback we talked about all his weapons but end of the day if Trevor Lawrence isn't upright and healthy this team isn't going to go where they want to is there a belief in the offensive line the Five Guys they have up front right now that they can make it through the season keep him healthy and as you just mentioned too even get the Run game going which will help out Taw and his receivers as well yeah so internally there is it still feels like they kind of have to prove it to everybody else the you know look at the week 18 starting offensive line against the Titans four of the Five Guys from that team are returning to start on this year's offensive line the only difference is they benched a former third round pick Luke forner they brought in Mitch Morris from the Buffalo Bills it's definitely an offensive line that has potential uh it should have a raised floor from what we saw last year but the jagar are banking on a lot of things they're specifically banking on guys to stay healthy uh that was a big issue for them last year and they haven't really done much to upgrade the offensive line depth so their starter should be you know fine but there's one injury to it it could be a unit that comes down pretty quickly and finally let's get into some Defense John on this one the underrated addition for them this offseason in my opinion was Eric Armstead sign him that's good interior pass rusher to compliment Josh Allen and Trayvon Walker who are great on the edge as rushers last season what does that addition of Eric Armstead do for this defensive line to improve and of course you get it up front you win the line of scrimmage it helps out everything that happens behind them on the defensive side of the ball yeah no I mean Trayvon Walker and Josh Hans T last year 27 and a half combined sacks they were a terror last year but beyond them the Jaguars just didn't get much pass rush production especially the interior you know you look at stuff like pass rush win rate and pressure rate that most of their defense tackles were in the very bottom you know tier of qualifying defensive tackles so I think that's somewhere armstead's going to be asked to help a lot is the interior pass rush and then armstead's also somebody who they've talked about him even playing some defensive end moving him up and down to formation you know Trayvon Walker when he was coming out the big thing with him was positional versatility this is a guy who can win inside and outside he hasn't lined up much inside in Jacksonville so now having Armstead you know have the potential to move Walker a little bit more maybe a little bit more like he was always designed to yeah looking at Trayvon Walker Josh Allen's numbers combined 93 hurries they had together last season it's all about going to the quarterback obviously want to sack them but speeding them up and speeding up that offense John what do you think is the realistic ceiling for this Jaguars team I I think 10 and seven I I think if everything breaks right they're a 10 and seven team they're entering the playoffs in some fashion but they do have a tough first month of the season they play four teams that are in the playoffs in their first four games they do get a little bit of a break they play some inexperienced quarterbacks some rookie quarterbacks throughout the season but just with how tough the AFC is and AFC South in general I think a 10- win season is probably the best possible outcome