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Thanks, Etdavis, for your response. I agree that the Texans and Bills had a lot of talent, more than the 2012 Jaguars roster. Neither team had a QB, however, no one mentioned 12 wins for the Jaguars. What was mentioned was that the 2012 Jaguars were a QB away from being 'competitive' and that a solid Tackle was let go.
I do think that Dukes was unnecessarily harsh in his criticism. He could have addressed the question much better, but overall here are his points:
1. The Jaguars top 3 areas of need are O-line, RB, and Edge rusher. He mentioned that the Jaguars let Eugene Monroe go and then talked about adding Parnell, who was a back-up in Dallas. In his opinion, this move hasn't addressed the team's biggest issue. With the Jaguars having so much cap space, I think most expected more moves to address the O-line. Is this unfair criticism? I mean it's not like there was some premium RT available this year. Bulaga was the cream of the crop but it became apparent to everyone that he didn't want to leave Green Bay as soon as free agency got underway. So who else was there to sign?
2. Last year, the RB situation was addressed with Gerhart and Robinson. He mentioned that at no time did Gerhert show that he was a 1000-yard rusher, however, he was brought in to address this issue. Robinson was a college QB. Again, is this unfair criticism? Could the Jaguars have made better decisions here? Is RB still an issue or have these issues been properly addressed with those moves? Dave tried to address this area with the pursuit of Demarco Murray. Dave set a limit on how much he was going to spend on a 27 year old player who's coming off 450+ touches last year. Does anyone fault him for not overpaying? Without a doubt the RB position will be revisited during the draft.
3. Edge Rusher: Dukes mentioned that this will be addressed through the draft. He went on to say that with the cap space available, the Jaguars could have looked into a difference maker at the CB position or even adding Greg Hardy to help address this issue. Again, who should we have pursuited at CB that was available? Revis? He had every intention of resigning with NYJ again. Maxwell maybe? But is he worth nearly that whale of a contract signed? Dave did pursue McCourty and was close to snagging him until the Patriots uncharacteristically stepped up their offer. Does he get credit for that? It's not like he didn't address the position at all. He did sign House, who many believe is an up and coming player who should fit well in this scheme.
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I appreciate the discussion. This may be my last post regarding Jamie Dukes' comments. I am not particularly fond of Dukes and don't feel that it's necessary to defend his remarks. I hope that it's okay that I may not have any follow-up after this response.
With that said, thank you, Knarnn, for your comments. Let me see if I can address them.
1.
I mean it's not like there was some premium RT available this year. Bulaga was the cream of the crop but it became apparent to everyone that he didn't want to leave Green Bay as soon as free agency got underway. So who else was there to sign? I think that since Caldwell was looking for a RT in FA this year, Dukes' comments of letting Monroe leave has some merit. It was a potential opportunity to have bookend tackles but now the Jaguars are left looking for a RT. The O-line remains an issue, which was his main point.
2. Dave tried to address this area with the pursuit of Demarco Murray. Dave set a limit on how much he was going to spIend on a 27 year old player who's coming off 450+ touches last year. Does anyone fault him for not overpaying? Without a doubt the RB position will be revisited during the draft. If Dave is still looking to address the RB position, then it's fair to say that the addition of Gerhart and possibly Robinson was not the answer. Dukes' comments regarding the run game is fair, in my opinion. It's evident that the run game is still an area that needs substantial improvement.
3. Again, who should we have pursuited at CB that was available? Revis? He had every intention of resigning with NYJ again. Maxwell maybe? But is he worth nearly that whale of a contract signed? Dave did pursue McCourty and was close to snagging him until the Patriots uncharacteristically stepped up their offer. Does he get credit for that? It's not like he didn't address the position at all. He did sign House, who many believe is an up and coming player who should fit well in this scheme. The #3 area for improvement was Edge rusher. Dukes mentioned that it would be addressed through the draft, which I think we can all agree with. Then he mentioned that since the Jaguars had so much cap space they could have addressed other areas of need for improvement, such as CB. He mentioned Revis and others, but the point was that the Jaguars have plenty of cap space and did not effectively use their cap to address needs with impact players. Rather, a majority of the signings were players who were back-ups on their respective teams and are now expected to produce on a team already devoid of some talent.
