Waiver Wire

JT: The Kicker Carousel Continues

It’s getting crazy out there. The NFL 53-man roster cutdown was this past Tuesday. Immediately after, teams were scrambling to grab other team’s leftovers off the waiver wire. Jacksonville, due to the fact that they were worse than my first marriage last season, has the pick of the litter. That in mind (their first pick, not my personal life) we can take a more informed look at why Pederson and Baalke made the decisions they did on cut-down Tuesday.

Many were questioning Jacksonville’s moves. Keeping only 5 wide receivers was extremely questionable. Keeping an anorexic number of offensive linemen was also a concern. I know I’m not the only one who remembers that 1986 episode of Diff’rent Strokes when Kimberly was sneaking into the kitchen at night, binging and purging. I know that’s technically bulimia, but the end result is similar enough. Jacksonville’s wide receiver room and O-line room were purged. To many empty seats for our liking. Also, it’s never fun when a comedy turns dark and dramatic. That’s why we have dramas. Nobody is tuning into The Office to learn about Michael Scott’s incurable stage-four pancreatic cancer. Stick with Jim pranking Dwight. Let’s all stay in our lanes here. What I’m trying to get across is that there were some suspect maneuvers made by the Jags brass on cut down Tuesday that had JaguarsTalk slightly worried. Like keeping two brand new kickers, one who missed his only attempt, yet releasing Laquon Treadwell. Just saying. Now that waiver wire Wednesday is in our rearview, we can better assess why Pederson and Baalke did what they did. The curtain has been pulled back and fortunately for the First Coast, there was something more substantial behind it than the great and powerful Oz. 

First and foremost, JaguarsTalk was extremely cocky about the fact that they predicted JAX would only keep three running backs on cut down day. Even though both “starters,” Travis Etienne, and James Robinson are healthy and fully recovered, they both are coming back from extremely significant injuries. This point alone would make a team want to carry four RBs. Add in the fact that running back in the NFL is a brutal position to play. They take an extreme amount of punishment and require more rest and recovery time. For these reasons many teams, to the annoyance of fantasy football fans, platoon their RBs. They play two, much like Green Bay with Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, or Dallas with Ezekial Elliott and Tony Pollard, or Jacksonville this year. So, we felt vindicated when the team kept only ETN, Robinson, and Snoop (still the best name on the team). Vindicated, but slightly nervous. Our nerves were quickly put at ease when Pederson attacked the waiver wires like a rabid fox on an old lady while she was gardening (you had to have seen that video? It recently made the rounds on the socials. That fox was undeterred.). He snatched up running back JaMycal Hasty (San Francisco) out of Baylor. This 25-year-old has some name recognition. He is a very decent back for the honorable mention position (fourth string). He won’t see too much playing time unless injuries ruin Jacksonville's world again this year. Let’s hope JaMycal (also a cool name to say) has a clean uniform all season long.

To calm the nerves of everyone who is up in arms about the release of Laquon Treadwell, the trade of LaViska Shenault and the fact that the Jags left themselves with only five rostered wide receivers (yeah, only five), the front office picked through the scraps and pulled out wide receiver Kendric Pryor. He was released by Cincinatti and from the University of Wisconsin, where he played for 5 seasons, “You know a lot of people go to college for [5] years. I know, they’re called doctors.” Kendric, I went to college for 5 years as well. I’m not giving you crap; I just look for any excuse to reference Tommy Boy. In college Pryor was used as a pseudo Deebo Samuel, scoring 5 touchdowns with 409 yards on 40 carries. That is exactly the type of player that LaViska Shenault was supposed to be. Everyone who has been crying about the Viska trade was teary eyed because they really wanted a Deebo type WR on the Jaguars. Well, now you have one. 

Finally, for the most important player on the Jacksonville Jaguars, the place kicker. It’s not a joke. A joke was when Kevin Hart went to speak to the Los Angeles Rams and at the beginning of his pep talk he asked all the kickers to stand up and get the hell out of the room. He was there to talk football to real football players. That was funny and seeing as how I am no Kevin Hart, you know JaguarsTalk truly believes that the most important position on this year’s JAX team is the place kicker. Jacksonville has very expertly put everything into place to field a team that can stop the opponent and be efficient on offense. Efficiency means eating the clock and points on the board. Any kind of points. If the preseason rings true in this regular season, as far as the Jaguars first team offense is concerned, then a consistently accurate place kicker will be the difference between winning and losing 4+ games this year. Agreeing with JaguarsTalk, Head Coach Doug Pederson kept both kickers on his roster on cut down Tuesday. He was watching and hoping that the kicker he’d been researching would come available on waivers. If he didn’t, then he still had two guys on the team to duke it out. Luckily for the Jags, Pederson’s man was claimed by Jacksonville on Wednesday. His name is Riley Patterson and he kicked for the Detroit Lions before coming to JAX. When asked what they liked about Patterson the same answer was often heard… Consistency. They said the ball comes off his foot the same way every time. In 2021 his field goal percentage was 92.9% with 100% of extra points made. The only question is does he have the leg strength for the 50, 55+ yarders?

The other two waiver wire grabs were safety Tyree Gillespie who played for the Raiders and then was traded to Tennessee. Anytime you can take a player from a division rival it’s a good thing. I don’t see Gillespie making as big an impact this year or being as important as the players listed above, but it’s always good to stack a defense, especially one like Jacksonville’s, which will play fast and hard. He currently sits in the third safety position. DBs are one of the questions heading into this season. 

Lastly, is linebacker Ty Summers. Eh… He won’t play much at all at linebacker. Jacksonville is stacked at this position. By stacked I’m not talking about just numbers but skill. The Jaguars linebacker position is the absolute best position on the entire team. We would argue it’s the most important as well (actually the entire front 7, but you know what we mean). If I were to share my hypothesis, to bring back a seventh-grade science fair word, I would surmise that Summers is going to make his name known on special teams. Looking at his picture from when he was with Green Bay, my man’s neck is wider than my shoulders. If he can throw his 241 lbs. around on kick-offs and punts, some people might get hurt.

To sum up, Pederson and Baalke seemed to have addressed all of JaguarsTalks 4:01 pm Tuesday worries. There no longer exists a skinny position. All the rooms are filled to our liking. Literally the only thing we need to see to feel good about our prediction of an AFC South division title is the foot of Riley Patterson. If that kid can put it in the good hands of Allstate every time, then Duuuval will have reason to smile. 

Breaking news: Jags released D-Lineman, Adam Gotsis to make room for linebacker Caleb Johnson (Chicago Bears). This is somewhat surprising considering how many linebackers Jacksonville already has versus the number of defensive linemen. Jacksonville is starting to look skinny at D-line now with only Dawuane Smoot and Arden Key to spell the starters. Expect more action with the D-line before leaving for Washington.

Let us know what you think of how the Jags worked the waiver wire in the comment section below.