HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON AND GENERAL MANAGER TRENT BAALKE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2023
Trent, what can you tell us about Brenton Strange, what type of person he is, all that? He said he
hadn’t had any conversations with you prior. What did you learn about him through your research?
TRENT BAALKE: He had several conversations with some of the scouts at different times. Tyler Bowen,
who coached here two years ago, was on staff, recruited him and coached him in college as a young guy.
We had a lot of intel.
Sometimes you just don’t want to leave a paper trail when you got a lot of information on young guys,
everything checks out, all the boxes check out, everyone you talk to says the same thing about him.
Again, a culture fit. Coach can talk more about the versatility of him, how he can use him, and the staff.
Just a guy that really plays the game the way we want to play it.
Doug, could you expand on what he brings to the table.
DOUG PEDERSON: Well, this guy, he’s kind of a ready-made tight end for us. He’s a guy that can come in,
obviously got to pick up the offense and learn, it’s already a good room with Luke, with Evan, Gerrit
Prince has an opportunity, too. Just adding to the competition and depth that you’ve heard me say
many, many times.
His versatility, he can be an inline blocker for us as the wide position, so he’s got that versatility that
way. Just getting him in here, getting him going in a couple weeks with the team, then really kind of
figuring out the upside with him, too. It’s extremely high.
Guys around the league talk. I have tight end friends around the league. They said it was a good pick,
he’s a good guy. They spent time with him. Our guys spent him with him, studied him and everything.
Really excited to get all these three guys going in a couple weeks.
Did the cornerback, edge rusher market, whatever, just not fall right for you guys today? Were you
not happy with the options there?
TRENT BAALKE: Well, the board fell the way it fell. When you’re picking where we’re picking, there’s a
lot of good players that are going to go off the board. You try to make some trades at times to do some
things. It takes two to tango. Sometimes you can make a move, sometimes you can’t.
At the end of the day we stayed true to the board. Feel really good about the value we got. We got two
really good football players at key positions that add a lot of depth and versatility to what we want to do
offensively.
Let’s get into day three and see what that has in store for us.
Doug, how do you feel about the running back room?
DOUG PEDERSON: I feel really good about that room. There’s a lot of depth there. There’s some great
competition that’s going to show up when we get into training camp obviously with pads on, really see
how these guys do.
We understand even with Snoop (RB Snoop Conner), a big opportunity for him this year to take a step
forward and grow, see where he’s at as a pro.
Again, it’s one of our stronger rooms, obviously, on the team. I’m excited about that. The type of person
that Tank (RB Tank Bigsby) is, he’s another one that we met at the Combine. Just love the way he runs.
He’s a smart guy. He understands fronts, defense, knows what he’s looking at. He’s a smart runner. Just
have to get him in here and get him started.
Trent, you’ve taken a running back in every draft you’ve been a general manager. What stood out to
you about Tank?
TRENT BAALKE: Every draft?
Yes.
TRENT BAALKE: I like running backs (laughter).
Again, you stick with the board. We felt at that point in time what he brings to the table, his physicality,
the way he runs between the tackles, it was something that we needed to add to the rotation.
It’s going to be, like coach said, great competition. You got a room with guys that got to now go earn it.
That never hurts. Iron sharpens iron.
Doug, you’ve been able to add some different offensive talent or depth to the offense. Was that an
emphasis, what you hoped you’d be able to get out of the draft class?
DOUG PEDERSON: You have a plan heading into the draft. Obviously you have needs, right? You look at
your roster and say that these are certain needs you may try to address, whether you do that through
free agency or the draft.
Again, you’re not just saying that we’re going to focus on one side of the football. A lot of times you
want to make decisions that are best for the football team. Doesn’t matter if it’s offense, defense or
special teams.
It’s just kind of the way the board fell to us the last two days. We’ve got several picks left to address
many, many other areas. Really I think just to be able to add depth, good football players that are still
there, to bring that competition that we look for, that I look for, that’s what makes us better.
Trent, with all the draft capital that you had coming into today, was there a consideration at any point
to moving up or did the board not fall the way you wanted it to? You have 10 more picks for
tomorrow.
TRENT BAALKE: We got a lot of picks.
Again, it takes two. We talked about a few scenarios. Coach and I are sitting in there and we’re looking
at the board, we’re looking at opportunities and stuff.
You try. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes you don’t make a move and you kick
yourself that maybe you should have. That’s all part of the game.
But again, we came out of this day with two really good football players. We feel good about the day.
Now it’s about attacking tomorrow.
Did you try both second and third round?
TRENT BAALKE: That’s why we’re late coming in here. We tried to get back into the third round again. It
didn’t work.
As an aside, your three AFC South rivals have all taken quarterbacks. What do you think that says
about the progress you’ve made with your No. 1 quarterback from two years ago?
TRENT BAALKE: Well, as we all know, it’s a quarterback league. If you don’t have one, you got to get one.
We didn’t spend much time obviously talking about the position and stuff. Those guys are good football
players. How they develop in this league, that remains to be seen. But they’re quality football players.
All three of them are talented guys that are smart guys that understand the position, what it takes to be
leaders. Let’s see how they develop.
Doug, could you address that? You now have a quarterback that has two years more experience than
the other long-term answers.
DOUG PEDERSON: You guys have heard me say this before. It’s going to be about us, the Jaguars. We
don’t worry about the other three teams in the division. We’ve just got to stay focused on our guys.
Trevor is in a good place right now. We’ve got to continue to grow him, keep him coming in the right
direction. He took a big, big step forward this past year. The opportunity is right for him and our football
team at this time.
That’s what we’re focused on. We’re focused on getting better for ’23. We finished the season last year
good, but not where we want to be. That’s got to be our motivation as we prepare for this year.
Not to put you on the spot, but obviously Tyson (CB Tyson Campbell), Darious (CB Darious Williams),
corner one, corner two locked up. Who would be your corner three right now or is the answer still
perhaps not on the team?
TRENT BAALKE: Tre (CB Tre Herndon) is on the team and Tre is back. We won a lot of football teams with
those three on the field. We feel good about them. We feel good about the younger guys developing, as
well.
We still got another day with a lot of picks, a lot of capital to attack that position. We’ll get through
tomorrow and see where we’re at.
Of your 127 players on the board, not a specific number, but at this stage of the draft how much of
that board is left?
TRENT BAALKE: There’s some players left. Exactly the number, I don’t know. There’s enough players to
pick from.
Surprised at maybe some of the positions that had runs as opposed to others so far?
TRENT BAALKE: If you go in and look at the board, where it’s at right now, I think it’s fallen pretty true to
exactly what we thought. The first three rounds are pretty clean. Round four is getting cleaned out, as
well. The board held up.
But there’s still some good football players on there. It’s our job to find them.
Doug, when we talked to Strange, he said he was very excited to come to Jacksonville, specifically to
work with you because of how you use tight ends. When you hear the player you’ve drafted knows
how you use a tight end, what does that mean to you as a coach?
DOUG PEDERSON: It’s exciting. The players understand who is going to be coaching them. I feel with
Richard Angulo, our tight end coach, former tight end that played in this league, played here in
Jacksonville. He understands the things that we strive and we stress to our tight end room.
I think the history of the tight ends I’ve had, whether in Philly, obviously my career going back to Green
Bay, being around good tight ends, being on offenses that have had good tight ends, it’s an integral part
of the offense. You become very versatile with multiple tight ends, guys that are athletic, guys that you
can move around, create the matchups that you want.
I think players like him, like Strange, they see that, right? They see those opportunities. They get excited
about that.
We’ll get him in here and get him plugged in with that room and get him around the guys, see where he
can help us win games.
With 10 picks tomorrow and a dwindling number of guys, when do you get to a point where you start
taking chances? If you make all 10, are you looking for a certain trait or can you even see yourself
making all 10 picks tomorrow?
TRENT BAALKE: You got to make ’em if you can’t trade, right? We’ll be prepared to make 10. But we’re
going to look to move around, as well.
Again, it’s one thing to say you want to move. It’s another thing to have a partner to move. Sometimes
you make the calls, you make a lot of calls, like we did to try to get back into round three, and it just
didn’t work. That’s part of this game.
It’s frustrating at times, but it’s reality. We got 10 and we’ll see, put them to use the best way we can in
the morning.
Do you look at a trait, take a chance on a guy like that, sixth and seventh?
TRENT BAALKE: Sixth and seventh, that’s generally what you’re doing, is taking guys with traits. Height,
weight, speed. Might be somebody that has a high, high DNA that you’re looking for. There’s all different
things we’re looking for at this point in the draft.
There’s still some good players on there. As coach said, we got to address some of the other needs we
have, the depth, special teams. This is the rounds to do that in.
