2023 NFL Combine: 5 Observations on Doug Pederson's, Trent Baalke's Comments
The 2023 NFL Scouting Combine is officially here.
All 32 teams gathered at Lucas Oil Stadium on Tuesday to kick off the first day of the week-long event, with most head coaches and general managers taking the podium to discuss the 2022 season and what is facing them in the 2023 offseason.
For the Jacksonville Jaguars and head coach Doug Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke, Tuesday was a good bit different than last year's opening day at the combine. After holding the top pick in last year's draft, the Jaguars hold No. 24 this year, making this week world's away from last year's event.
So, what did we learn in Indianapolis on Tuesday? We break it down below.
Jaguars' free agency period will be about retaining players
We have banged the drum since during the 2022 regular-season that the Jaguars' offseason this March would consist of retaining players rather than acquiring them. That has been the buzz in Indianapolis this week after the Jaguars have been hard at work extending and re-signing starters and depth players alike, and Baalke once again reaffirmed that this is the new direction of the Jaguars franchise. The days of big-money spending in March, for now, are gone.
"The last two years, we’ve delved heavily into free agency, and we’re at the point now where it’s draft and develop," Baalke said. "We’ve got a nice core, a nice core of young players. I feel really good about that group, with a good mix of veteran guys with a lot of experience. The whole thing for us now is about the locker room, making sure we keep the locker room where we’ve got it.”
The Jaguars like their locker room. They liked the players they added last year, with Evan Engram, Christian Kirk, Foye Oluokun, Brandon Scherff, and Zay Jones all becoming key pieces on and off the field. Now, the Jaguars franchise is about keeping those players around for the long haul instead of the constant turnover the Jaguars are accustomed to.
“The benefits are you get a chance to keep a lot of good football players. At some point, most teams in the league have had to do that," Baalke said. "If you look, I think there’s only one team that hasn’t pushed any money out into future years. You’ve just got to be very diligent in the decisions that you make and who you make those decisions for.”
Jaguars are still playing the waiting game for Calvin Ridley
There is a lot of warranted optimism for Calvin Ridley in Jacksonville. But for now, Pederson and Baalke are doing what the rest of the football world is doing with Ridley: waiting. As both Baalke and Pederson said on Tuesday, Ridley's reinstatement is completely in the NFL's hands, and there is not yet any clarity on when the former first-round receiver can join the roster.
“We really don’t, no. We really don’t. It’s in the league’s hands, but we’re just waiting for that day," Pederson said.
"I don’t know. He hasn’t been cleared yet. I’m just waiting for that day, anticipating the day that he is cleared by the NFL. We’re looking forward to that day. I can only go off of what I’ve seen on film. He’s excitable. He’s a top receiver in this league when he’s on his game. I’m excited when that day comes that we can embrace him onto our team, and he gives us just another weapon, potentially, for Trevor."
The Jaguars still of course expect Ridley to be cleared: Baalke said in a local media scrum on Tuesday that the Jaguars have already put aside the $11,116,000 Ridley is due in March. The Jaguars wouldn't be saving that money if they didn't think Ridley would be coming. But for now, all they can do is wait.
Could the franchise tag still be on the table for Evan Engram or Jawaan Taylor? It seems that way.
Could the Jaguars really use the franchise tag for the third year in a row? That remains to be seen, though it does seem more likely the tag would be used on Engram than Taylor considering the price tag an offensive tackle tag would carry. But after two years of utilizing the franchise tag to keep core players in Jacksonville, Baalke noted both Taylor and Engram "could be," candidates for the tag.
“Again, I think with Jawaan and Evan, I don’t want to speak for them, they know how we feel about them, and I think we know how they feel about us, and there’s a win-win in there somewhere," Baalke said.
"We’ve just got to get to that. Negotiations are ongoing, and they’re something that, they’re not going to get finished today, but we’ve got a nice window here before free agency starts, and our goal is to try to close those deals within that window.”
Trent Baalke won't rule out a (small) trade up
The Jaguars weren't afraid to move up for a player they deemed a must-have in last year's first round, moving up from No. 33 overall to select Utah linebacker Devin Lloyd at No. 27 overall. Lloyd had an up-and-down rookie season, but he was the best example of Baalke making aggressive moves in the draft as the Jaguars' general manager, even if he just moved up a handful of picks.
With the Jaguars returning much of their 2022 roster in 2023, it is fair to wonder if the nine draft picks the Jaguars hold could even turn into nine roster spots next fall. As a result, it is clear the Jaguars would at least explore the idea of another Lloyd-like trade up, even if it isn't a seismic move up the board.
"You’ve just got to assess the board and kind of where you’re at. You’ve got 23 picks that are going to come off the board, and you start getting the feel for where you’re going to be around pick 18, 19, and who might be available and how many guys you’ve got at that point," Baalke said.
"I don’t know that we’re going to be big movers and try to trade way up in the draft. Will we move a little bit? We could, but it really depends on how the board gets stacked. Right now, it’s way too early to tell what we’re going to do exactly in terms of move up, move back.”
Which hire was Doug Pederson's "top name on his list"
If there is one Jaguars hire who had those in Indianapolis excited, it is wide receivers coach Chad Hall. One AFC Scout said that Hall is a "future coordinator," and was impressed the Jaguars landed him after his stint in Buffalo. It was clear when Doug Pederson spoke on Tuesday that his review of hiring is a step beyond glowing.
"Chad was kind of a free agent. I actually got a chance to coach him when I was an assistant coach in Philadelphia. Again, he played the position, he knows it, he’s got a great mindset, he’s energetic, he’s a great teacher. Those are all kind of the traits you look for in assistant coaches, and he was the top guy on my list," Pederson said.
It is worth noting that wide receivers coaches are right up there with running backs coaches on the totem pole of impact, but the Jaguars acquiring young, forward-thinking football minds with legitimate futures as potential play-callers? That is a win no matter how you slice it.
