5 Takeaways From Jaguars' GM Trent Baalke's End-of-Season Press Conference
The Jacksonville Jaguars are entering the 2023 offseason full speed ahead.
A year after being the hunters, aiming for the Tennessee Titans at the top of the AFC South. Now, they are the ones entering the offseason being hunted after winning the division in 2022.
“The good thing about that, first of all, it’s a lot easier to be the hunter than the hunted, right? As you get better and you become the hunted, the challenge gets harder," Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke said on Tuesday.
"You’re going to get every team's best when they show up in Jacksonville. In the past, maybe they thought this was going to be an easy out, that’s no longer going to be the case. I think the last part of this season really prepared this young group to understand that there’s a real sense of urgency that goes into being a championship-caliber team. It just doesn’t happen. The players saw that, you really see it in the playoffs, but because we were playing playoff football for the last month of the season, it was evident to them just how much urgency there is starting on Monday. You don’t wait until Sunday to get excited about playing or get prepared to play. It starts on Monday and as they got to understand that better, we played better. That should carry over to next season for us.”
So, what else did we learn from Baalke's end-of-year press conference? We break it down below.
Jaguars hope not to use franchise tag for the third season in a row
The Jaguars and Baalke have used the franchise tag in each of the past two seasons, utilizing it each time to ensure left tackle Cam Robinson would not hit the open market. Robinson played on the franchise tag in 2021, but the Jaguars were able to work out a long-term deal with the veteran starter before the season began in 2022.
With the Jaguars once again having a young and ascending offensive tackle set to be a free agent in Jawaan Taylor -- as well as tight end Evan Engram entering the offseason without a deal -- the Jaguars could be seen by some as a candidate to use the franchise tag once again. Not so fast, though, says Baalke.
“I’m hoping we don’t need to use it," Baalke said.
"Right now we’re evaluating this team as a staff. Doug (Pederson) and the rest of the coaches are going through a process, an end-of-the-season process that we’ve set up. Our personnel staff is doing the same thing. We’ll join forces tomorrow and meet for most of the morning to really put a plan in place for how we’re going to attack this offseason.”
Does this mean the Jaguars absolutely won't use the tag? No, but it does show Baalke hopes to either strike deals with Engram and Taylor, or potentially let them hit the market. For now, the expectation should be for the Jaguars to not tag either.
Baalke wants Evan Engram back, and familiarity should help
The message Baalke and head coach Doug Pederson delivered this week was consistent: they want as many players back as possible. This is a bit of an obvious point when you consider this was a playoff team that won the AFC South, so of course the Jaguars want the group to return. But it is worth remembering when you think about players like Taylor and specifically Engram.
“I think you’re always looking to keep as many players in the nest as you can," Baalke said. "You work hard to draft these guys or to secure them through various methods, whether it’s free agency or the draft, college free agency, a lot of different ways these guys come onto the team. Once they’ve proven themselves, not only on the field, but in the locker room, those are the core guys you want to build around.”
The primary focus it seems, however, is Engram. Engram emotionally expressed following last Saturday's playoff loss to the Chiefs that he wants to return to Jacksonville. But it will have to be for the right price considering Engram had a career year and has proven to the Jaguars just how valuable he is to their offense.
“Obviously, we’d love to have Evan back. Evan and I visited yesterday as he went around the building and visited with everybody. I think it’s mutual," Baalke said. "Now we have to make it happen. That’s something that we’re going to work on with Evan and all the other free agents that we have. We have a list of them that we’ve got to mow down one at a time.”
The reason to believe the Jaguars can get something done with Engram? Familiarity for both sides. Engram saw in New York just how much a bad fit can derail a career. He then saw this year how a good fit can change not just his career, but his life. As for the Jaguars, they can confidently bet on Engram this year because they know he is a fit on and off the field as opposed to being an unknown.
“Obviously, you’re dealing with the known versus the unknown," Baalke said. "I think one of the things that we’ve talked about with this free agent class this year and last year’s free agent class, I think they’ve been two very productive classes, and it’s weighed out on the production that they’ve had on the field, but there was a lot of work that went into that process and getting to know these guys as much as we could from a distance.
"The coaching staff was heavily involved, the personnel staff was heavily involved, the support staffs were heavily involved, the trainers, the strength coaches. The more information you can get, the better your chances of getting what you believe you’re getting.”
Jaguars are not expecting much change at the skill positions in 2023
The Jaguars roster is obviously going to look slightly different in 2023 than it did this season. The NFL is the 'not for long' league for a reason. No matter the desired to keep the gang together for as long as possible, there will be changes in some respects to a number of roster spots.
One unit Baalke does not seem to anticipate much change at, however, is the skill group. While the Jaguars will be adding Calvin Ridley to the fold in 2023, Baalke made it an emphasis to say how important it would be for Trevor Lawrence to have the same supporting cast that he had this year. While many may have the Jaguars pegged to take a wide receiver in the early rounds of the draft, it appears the Jaguars are going to lean on Christian Kirk, Zay Jones and Travis Etienne once again.
"We feel really good about the guys we have under contract. I thought that group this year did an excellent job, but the most important thing is we’re going to surround Trevor with the same cast of characters, if you will, the same cast of receiving threats, the same running back core for the most part," Baalke said.
"We’re always going to look to insert guys here and there, but for the most part, getting that core group back for a second year in the same offense with the same play caller and all of that goes with it, I think that’s really going to help Trevor take the next step and this team take the next step.”
Baalke sees another level to Trevor Lawrence's development
Few quarterbacks took the strides from 2021 to 2022 that Trevor Lawrence took. The former No. 1 overall pick went from a largely unproductive rookie year to being a top-10 quarterback in terms of every important and sustainable metric for passers. But, Baalke said, there is another level Lawrence can still reach. It is clear after Tuesday that while pleased with Lawrence's development, the Jaguars know and think he can get even better.
“Well, I think he’s certainly trending that way and is there more? There’s a lot more," Baalke said. "I think Trevor would say the same thing. His upside, his ability to grow at the position from just a knowledge standpoint. You got to remember now, this is the third offense in three years that Trevor has played in, counting his senior year in college.
"You go from that to a new system in the NFL and then all the sudden, it’s a hit the reset button as we’ve got another offense. It’s his third offense in three years, and it takes a while to master that. I think you saw the development in him mentally as well as physically throughout the course of this season. I think it’s only going to trend upward from there.”
Where can Lawrence improve in 2023? His decision-making was strong this year, but his overall ball security in terms of fumbles is one area he can clean up -- as is his down-to-down consistency and accuracy. But Baalke and the Jaguars know that 2022 is a heck of a starting point.
"One thing about him, he’s really a lot like Doug [Pederson] in the sense that he’s very steady. He’s very even-keeled. That’s a marriage made in heaven there because they related to each other that way," Baalke said.
"They’re both fearless, Trevor doesn’t fear anything. They’re very authentic, so when you have leaders at the quarterback position and at the head coach position that are like that, everybody else just kind of falls in line.”
Jaguars, Baalke see ways around the cap -- even if it means the Jaguars have to evolve
For the first time in Baalke's tenure, the 2023 offseason will be about managing the cap. The Jaguars have spent big in the last two seasons, but 2023 will be a season where the Jaguars will have to change their mindset. 2021 and 2022 saw the Jaguars spend to build a foundation, while 2023 will see the Jaguars shift to a draft-and-develop mindset.
“Yeah, I think it has to be that moment. First of all, we’re up against the cap a lot more than we were the previous two years. We feel really good about the nucleus of young players that we have on the team," Baalke said.
"I believe we’re the fifth or sixth youngest team in the National Football League right now. We have a lot of young players on their first contracts, a lot of players overall on their first contracts. As you transition into more guys that are on their second deals, it becomes more and more difficult to use free agency as a strong vehicle to improve your team, so we’ve got to look to the draft. We’ve got to look to developing the guys that are currently here and obviously retain as many of these guys as we can.”
But while the Jaguars' mindset will obviously shift gears this year, the Jaguars and Baalke know they can still take their shots. While many see the Jaguars' limited cap room and wonder where they can go from here, Baalke emphasized flexibility on Tuesday.
"Cash is more important than cap. There’s ways to maneuver the cap, and there’s ways to extend things into the future, but you’ve also got to be smart and diligent when you’re doing that," Baalke said.
"Again, we’re going to look at all of our options, we’re going to meet as a staff tomorrow, go through what our wish list is, then we’ll sit down with ownership, we’ll sit down with those that work on the cap and contracts, we’ll sit down with them, and we have been. We’ll have a fina l meeting with them to really get the ball rolling for the future.”
