-
ATLjag
Veteran





-
Posts: 3,452
Threads: 41
Joined: Jul 2002
Reputation:
33
Here's my thoughts of what the Jags will do (not necessarily what I would do). Meyer is the decision maker, and Baalke is just a support service to the head coach and his coaches. In recent interviews and pressers, Meyer (and to some extent Baalke) has been surprisingly candid and open in regards to position group needs. His stated general goals were to increase team playing speed and create a top 8 (top 4th in league) defense this year, with a priority emphasis on a big/elite defensive front. In the most recent Peter King podcast, an interesting tidbit was that he wants to make decisions to win this year, and not make decisions based on what is best for 2 years from now (he further articulated that it would not be fair for players on the roster today that may not be here in 2 years).
For the defense: His upfront interior DL was priortized in free agency, with likely starters Malcolm Brown and Robertson-Harris, and backup Jihad Ward. Tyson Alualu, a possible starter, went back to Pittsburgh. He seems to like Davon Hamilton in the existing group, but hasn't mentioned any others. Although this group is vastly improved, I don't believe they would be considered collectively top 8 in the league. I don't recall Meyer stating a change needed to the edge, but he does seem to have a tremendous amount of respect for Josh Allen. I thought it slightly strange or interesting that he did not mention Chaisson, the prior year first rounder, at all when mentioning Allen and the edge. I don't recall linebacker as a group being mentioned as a group they wish to fortify, and none were acquired in free agency. He did mention that they wanted to add resources to the secondary, and he did add a significant and a solid piece in the secondary with signing Griffin and Jenkins, in addition to re-signing Herndon and Jones.
For the offense: Meyer has stated he's OK with the existing OL, and did not acquire any new free agent talent there. He mentioned adding some speed to the WR group, and acquired Jones and Dorsett. They mentioned the RB room may need some work, and, although they brought in Hyde, most see him as solely a workhorse backup and not addressing speed. He mentioned the TE room needs to be overhauled, and they lost out on any new TE talent in free agency. Bringing back O'Shaughnessy doesn't meet his objective there. It's no secret that the number one need and likely direction for the first pick per Meyer is QB.
Based on comments, first year goals, and actions to date, I think he'll have positional opportunities of priority (not in ranked order) as QB, speedy RB, TE, DL-interior, and DL-edge. If they turn out to be more needs-based drafters, I think we'll see these in the first 3-4 rounds of the draft. I would like to see an OT, but his comments and actions don't align with that being prioritized.