5 Observations on Jaguars GM Trent Baalke's Season Finale Press Conference
Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke held court at Miller Electric Center on Thursday, clearly painting a picture of his team's shortcomings in 2023 and what needs to change in 2024.
For 30 minutes, Baalke spoke candidly on the dynamics between him and head coach Doug Pederson, self-scouting after the 2023 finale, the Houston Texans, and everything in between.
So, what were our five observations on what Baalke said? We break it down below.
An emphasis on getting bigger, stronger and more physical
In many ways, the 2023 Jaguars didn't play like a Trent Baalke team. They didn't run the ball well, the offensive line wasn't an overly physical unit, and the defense struggled against the run late in the season, especially in a Week 18 loss that ended the season. For Baalke, those are some of the issues that have to be rectified.
"Well, when you can’t run the football and later in the year, you can’t stop the run, that’s a problem in the National Football League. We’ve always prided ourselves on being able to do that; run the football, stop the run. For whatever reason, we weren’t able to do that." Baalke said.
"I think there’s a lot of moving parts to that. I don’t think it’s just player-related, I don’t think it’s just scheme-related. We’ve got to get bigger, we’ve got to get stronger, we’ve got to get more physical in the trenches. If you want to compete for championships, you have to do that. I think we’ve got some good pieces in there, we have some good young players in there, but we have to get better.”
This wasn't the only time Baalke mentioned this, and it wasn't the only time he alluded to it being a potential developmental issue. He also mentioned a desire to push the Jaguars further in the weight room this offseason, an emphasis on where their perceived shortcomings arose. Expect for the Jaguars to pour resources back into the trenches this offseason.
Where things stand with Calvin Ridley
Baalke made the obvious official when it came to the Jaguars' most important free agent on Thursday: Josh Allen will still be a Jaguar. That means the focus for the Jaguars' in-house free agents should now shift to wide receiver Calvin Ridley. Baalke spoke glowingly of Ridley on Thursday, which isn't surprising considering Ridley put up 1,000+ yards and eight touchdowns in what many are deeming a down year.
“Calvin did some awfully good things. I love Calvin Ridley. He’s all ball. You guys and gals that were able to see it at practice, he loves to practice, he loves to play, he loves the game," Baalke said.
"When you bring somebody in that hasn’t been a part of football for over a year and a half, you’ve got to knock the rust off. He did that and at times, he showed exactly who he was, who he can be. The sky is the limit, he’s only going to get better because of the way he works. When you love something as much as he loves football, you can’t help but get better."
Baalke made it clear the Jaguars are high on Ridley after 2023, and the expectation should be that he could be even better in 2024 after another year in the system and back in the swing of the routine of NFL life. It remains to be seen what the ultimate solution is, but if the Jaguars have to franchise tag Josh Allen then they will need to sign Ridley. Whether that is an extension before free-agency, which would result in losing a second-rounder, or a deal after free-agency begins would be the next question.
"We would love to have Calvin back and we’re going to work toward that. What that means, I don’t know right now," Baalke said.
Why the offensive issues go beyond a few pieces here and there
Perhaps the most important thing Baalke said on Thursday related to the Jaguars' identity. Whether it was giving his take on the Jaguars' big-picture issues or speaking to the Jaguars' short-yardage issues, Baalke said more than once that the Jaguars need to develop an identity on the field.
“I’m not a coach. Those are questions for coach [Head Coach Doug Pederson]. I think if I look at it from a big picture, create an identity," Baalke said when asked about the offensive issues in 2023.
"Who are we? Offensively, defensively, special teams, I felt we did that towards the end of last year, I’m not so sure we got to that point this year. That’s number one, you’ve got to have an identity. Who are you?”
Then when asked about the short-yardage issues on offense, Baalke went back where he believes the Jaguars came up short before the season began.
"More of a coaching question, but I do think you’ve got to have an identity. You’ve got to develop that identity in the offseason and all the way through training camp, the preseason and into the season. You’ve got to stick with it," Baalke said.
"I think if you ask the coaches, we probably didn’t do that to the level we wanted to. At the same token, as I mentioned earlier, we’ve got to get bigger. We got to get stronger and get more physical in the trenches. We’ve got to trust we can do things that you need to do in this league to win games. That’s run the football when everyone in the building knows you’re going to run it. You’ve got to be able to still run it.”
And finally, Baalke saw it as a big-picture issue when asked about Luke Fortner and, in many ways, the offensive line in general.
“I truly believe in Luke [Fortner] as a guy that has what it takes to play the position and play it well. He’s showing signs of doing that. This was not necessarily one player’s issues," Baalke said.
"This was a systematic issue. So when you look at across the board, the things I talked about going back to the basics, going back to three-point stances, coming off the ball, forming an identity. All of those things, we’ve got to do better. We also got to look to how we make this a more competitive situation. Guys get nervous when the guy behind them is pushing them everyday for the starting role. Iron sharpens iron. So you got to make these rooms as competitive as you can, whether it’s through the draft or through free agency, we’ve got to attack that to make these rooms as competitive as they can be so the guy that’s starting is always feeling the pressure of the guy behind him.”
In short: Baalke thinks the Jaguars' issues within the offense are deep-rooted and really go down to a philosophical issue. Whether that improves in 2024 remains to be seen.
Could the difference in Ryan Nielsen's be overemphasized?
Ryan Nielsen seemingly left an impression on the Jaguars during his interview process. Baalke spoke highly of the Jaguars' new defensive coordinator on Thursday, praising his reputation and his preparedness and knowledge of the Jaguars' roster when interviewing for the position. And, yes, Baalke has seen the posts about man coverage and press technique. Per Baalke, it is an overblown talking point.
"Well I don't read all the stuff, but this idea that he's a full man-coverage guy is fully blown out of proportion. I think I'll let him speak on scheme," Baalke said.
"It's really a zone-based system, not a man-based system but a lot of times when you play zone, and you play it well it turns into man with the match concepts and everything else. But that's as scheme-related as I'm going to get."
Perhaps there is truth to this point, though there is a lot of public data that suggests otherwise. It could be semantics and getting too far into the weeds, too, though. At the very least, it does not seem as if the Jaguars' general manager subscribes to the idea that the Jaguars will need a dramatically different type of cornerback on the roster, which is what really matters.
Baalke goes to bat for his relationship with Doug Pederson, but does point to where development can improve
To Baalke's credit, he spoke candidly and openly about several reports and rumors on Thursday. Instead of no commenting and not giving it any credence, Baalke took questions on his relationship with Doug Pederson, his view of Press Taylor and the offense, and whether he considered retiring.
“I think that’s a good question. I think it’s probably even more so," Baalke said when asked if he and Pedersons till had the same mindset.
"When you go through tough times, you find out a lot about a lot of people. The season didn’t end the way we wanted it to, we had some strong conversations throughout the year of where things were at and where things were trending. Great communication, great collaboration, and really respect him and everything that he does. A lot of what’s written, a lot of the narratives out there are just false. Plain and simple, false narratives.”
“Again, Coach [Pederson] and I, and ownership, we talk throughout the year and we’ve talked about everything. Those discussions will remain private, but at the end of the day, like I said, Coach owns the coaching staff," Baalke said when asked about the Albert Breer note about the Jaguars' front office looking at Press Taylor.
"He’s held responsible for that coaching staff. I can tell you this, I have supported every decision that he makes, one hundred percent. We have discussions, we get through with the discussions, whether it’s the draft, free agency, coaches, personnel staff, support staff, we go through the process and we talk about everything. At the end of the day, once a decision is made, we make it and we move on. I’m one hundred percent behind anything Coach decides because I’ve been factored into it. I’ve been a part of those discussions.”
There did seem to be one point of contention in regards to the relationship between the front office and the coaching staff, though, and that had to do with preparing younger players to play quickly. When you look at the play time for rookies like Tank Bigsby, Brenton Strange, Yasir Abdullah, Tyler Lacy, and others, it is clear why there may be some disconnect.
"We feel we have some pretty good football players. Sometimes, you have to execute the vision that you had for these players. Coach [Head Coach Doug Pederson] and I have talked a lot about this year’s class in particular," Baalke said. "The onboarding process of them, getting them up to speed, trusting them. You’re in a developmental league now. You don’t have time to say that we can shelf them for a year or shelf them for two years. You got to get them up to speed quick and when you go in and you have as much collaboration as we do, because trust me, we have a lot of collaboration on these decisions.
"It’s not one person making these decisions. When you look at bringing in a player and the vision you have for them, at the end of the day, you got to ask yourself, ‘Did we execute that vision or didn’t we?’ I think if you ask Coach and certainly you’re asking me right now, we’ve got to do a better job of that vision and executing it. We feel really good about the young players we got. Have they all reached their potential? Not yet. There’s still a lot of growth to be had, but we trust that we got a pretty good nucleus of young players on this football team.”
