(11-18-2019, 08:33 AM)Talented Kalamari Wrote: This one’s always fun. Let’s assume that you’re the GM of our Jaguars (You’re guaranteed the job for at least the next few years hypothetically)
What do you do to fix this team? Spend big in free agency? Add some pieces in the draft? Blow it up and start all over? Clean house and bring in an entirely new staff?
Now’s your time to shine.. aaaand go!
For this year, help is not on the way.
Step one is you determine what your identity is. If you stick with Marrone, you are going to continue being a tight-game, run-first offense. You continue to emphasize linemen that are road-graders with a mean streak, get guys with speed and vision who can get outside and make players miss. We already have our battering ram in Fournette. You get receivers who block as well as they receive, and focus on tight ends that can double as a smaller tackle when blocking is needed. We are not a wide-open offense, these undersized TE that catch first and block as an afterthought are our undoing. Wash is gone. I don't care if this ruffles Doug's feathers or not, Wash is going to cost Doug his job if he stays here any longer. We need a thumper in the middle at LB. Jack can move back outside. If this means Quincy loses snaps, so be it, just win, baby. He can relieve Jack, or heck, if he outplays him, Jack can be shopped to another team in search of a confused, undersized MLB.
If you go in a different direction offensively, you are in for a couple years of frustration while you retool the roster. Cam is nearing the end of his rookie deal, so the time is now to make that determination of how the offense will be designed, and either keep him around or let him walk.
I do not spend big in FA. I look for the guys who were miscast with other teams and may be more affordable because they failed to appear as dominant as they could actually be. I use FA to patch holes with short-term fixes, and do not hamstring my cap with older, ill-fitting members on the roster. I offer Yan a sound, long-term deal that is intended to see the contract played out - no shenanigans with over-inflating end-of-contract salaries that result in players being cut due to cap hits and yielding no compensation to the team.
If I start today, I let Foles finish the season. I don't want to break Minshew, and I think he can apply the half-season of experience to all instruction and training reps on the practice field without risking a long-term injury. Next season, though, it's a battle, and the best player gets the nod, regardless of their cap implication.
Most importantly, I start headhunting scouts from Baltimore. They seem to hit very well on guys that have talent, fit their systems, and end up translating to the pro game after college. I don't know how they've done it, short of making a deal with the devil. And considering that Art is down there campaigning on the team's behalf, it's a rather plausible explanation.
