13JaxSeasonInReview

END OF SEASON TRANSCRIPTS
(On the chances of re-signing RB Maurice Jones-Drew – General Manager Dave Caldwell) “Gus and I and Maurice and I had a good conversation yesterday
and I think he’ll leave that up to his representation in terms of finding him the best value for his deal. I’m not pessimistic at all about it. I
think he’s earned the right to go to free agency. This is his first time, he’s been a great player in this organization, he’s had a great career and he’s
earned the right to see what his value and his market is, and it’s our right to decide if we want to match it and bring him back. I think that’s kind
of where we’re at now.”
(On if he’ll let RB Maurice Jones-Drew hit the market in free agency – General Manager Dave Caldwell) “I think that’s probably the plan and I think
he’s earned that right to see that.”
(On the chances of re-signing RB Maurice Jones-Drew before free agency – General Manager Dave Caldwell) “I wouldn’t envision that, no.”
(On players with high cap numbers like Marcedes Lewis coming back in 2014 – General Manager Dave Caldwell) “Yeah, we anticipate him being back.
I haven’t discussed it with anybody but yeah, as far as right now.”
(On setting goals for the 2014 season like doubling the wins. Do you look at it like that – Head Coach Gus Bradley) “I don’t but I imagine that is
probably not normal. I know that’s what you generally do but I think there’s so many things that go into it and I think it’s just a feeling how your
team is playing and do you execute consistently I think we judge it more off of that because statistics are a barometer but you’ve got to be really
careful with them. Like if they wouldn’t have had that 80-yard run we held them to 2.4 yard per carry. It’s that kind of theory. You’ve just got to be
careful how you utilize that. I think we just have to trust our feeling. Just like when we were struggling in the beginning I just felt like I know we’re
struggling but I feel like we’re getting better and I do trust that it will come. It’s just a feeling I have. It’s not showing up but it’s a feeling you have
and I think you’ve got to go by that somewhat.”
(On making the turn and becoming a playoff contender – General Manager Dave Caldwell) “I think every season is individual of itself. From year to
year it’s a new season, it’s a new group of players, it’s a new energy, new culture, so I think for us it won’t be a new culture but every year is new,
just like the draft and there’s no guarantees. You can’t anticipate injuries; you can’t anticipate certain things happening, players getting suspended
or whatever it might be. You just hope that you make the right decisions to give yourself the best opportunity going to training camp to be one of
those teams that can improve over the year.”
(On the chances of signing QB Chad Henne before free agency – General Manager Dave Caldwell) “That’s a possibility.”
(On the roster turnover in 2014 – General Manager Dave Caldwell) “I don’t. We have 10 draft picks, at least ten draft picks. That’s second most, I
think San Francisco has 12 and I think Cleveland might have 10 too. So we’ll have those 10 players, we’ll have another crop of college free agency
and hopefully we will get some production like we did this year out of guys like Abry Jones and LaRoy Reynolds and then we’ll add our modest free
agency class.”
(On what specifically needs to be changed offensively and defensively entering 2014 – General Manager Dave Caldwell) “Our secondary for one on
defense, but I think we’ve talked about that already. Offensively, Marcedes and Clay Harbor did a nice job at tight end, our two tackles, Frenchie
(Austin Pasztor) and Luke Joeckel, we feel really good about those two guys coming back and being our starting tackles and I think just getting depth
across the board would be the best thing.”
(On what offensively and defensively you feel good about entering 2014 – Head Coach Gus Bradley) “I think specifically like strong safety, Johnathan
Cyprien, we feel good about that. Will T (Ta’ufo-ou) at fullback. There’s positions like that that you feel good. What I think is that step one part
where we improved the bottom third of the roster, I think we have definitely improved the bottom part of the roster. How do you know I look at
special teams and I see our rankings in a lot of special teams categories. I see improvement was made there and that’s a classic illustration. I think
that through the draft and through moderate free agency signings I think that we need to improve the upper part. We say you can compete and do
that during the season but how about in the offseason. We need to continue to improve and bring in competitive guys for that upper part of the
roster, and that’s what we have to do.”
(On if he is content with TE Marcedes Lewis’ cap number in 2014 – General Manager Dave Caldwell) “His cap number I have to sit down with Tim
Walsh and everybody and I haven’t even thought much about that. We’re more evaluating players and we’ll assign what we feel is the proper value if
we feel good about it or don’t feel good about it. But we don’t have any cap issues right now so cap is not an issue.”
(On what he would tell the fans right now about the team’s future – Head Coach Gus Bradley) “I’m into this step two part of it. Really, I am. I think
that it does two things. I think that it says that to the fans, it shows will they completed step one and it means that they must have vision. If they’re
onto the next step they know what they’re doing, they have the vision, they know it’s taking place here and good job. We completed step one and
we had success and it allows us to move into step two. We have vision for step two and how this vision is going to play out and now we’re going
to attack step two. I know they’re results-oriented and I can appreciate that. I hope they are competitive too. We just have to trust this is the way
they need to do it and you have to trust our vision that we’re going to eventually give you what you want. We have to do it in this manner to do it
and we’re looking for sustained success. To do it sometimes it’s a process. I think that’s what’s cool about what we have here where Dave, Shad and I
are really all on the same page and we all believe in this. Now, we move on to that step and we’re going to attack it. They can trust if anything that
we’re going to compete our tail off in every phase that we go through, and that’s our objective.”
(On if he agrees that a four-win season in 2014 would not be a success – Head Coach Gus Bradley) “Believe me; I would like to see some victories
too. That’s important but I just have so much conviction that in order to get those we have to do it this way and we have to really stay true to it and
have conviction in this. That conviction is going to be tested and we have to be strong in this in order for those results to come. We all want what
they want but we have to stay true to this in order to get there.”
(On if the team will draft the same type of guys in 2014 – General Manager Dave Caldwell) “That highly competitive, highly passionate football player
Yeah. I think that’s fair to say.”
(On if the team will draft the same type of “spirited” guys in 2014 – Head Coach Gus Bradley) “Yeah, I said before we want to fill this team with
spirited guys that are very competitive that love football and that’s what we want this whole team to be made up of. This past year gave us a chance
to evaluate some of that and that’s what we’re doing right now. We will write these guys up, take a look at them and see which guys meet that criteria
and get better as a team. We want to infuse our team with more of those types of personalities.”