A Jaguar Fan’s Questions for David Caldwell

Questions for me?

Understand that I support the direction of the club and want to give them time, my season tickets reaffirm that.  I do have some questions for Mr. Caldwell that I would love to ask. See if you agree with me.

Why the strong support in the old offensive line?

I know the right tackle had to be upgraded and I like how it was done, but David Caldwell seemed to have a strong belief in the rest of the line. The thing that I question was the guard position. Will Rackley wasn’t that good as a rookie and had no game tape to review last year. Why did he bet on Will Rackley as a good starter?  Brad Meester was signed as our center and I am fine with that, but his backup is Mike Brewster. Mike Brewster is not a replacement for Brad Meester and does not look to be growing into one. I am not sure what they see in him.

So we find ourselves very thin in the offensive line and I am not sure even at full strength we are that good. Andy Reid grabbed a guy named George Schwartz for a one year $1.4 million contract who is grading out wonderfully as a right guard.  He was not expensive, he had to win the job, and he is getting the job done. We brought in a lot of competition for Tight End, why did we not bring in serious competition for the offensive line? Why did we have a belief that Will Rackley would be good and Uche Nwaneri would stay healthy?  David what made you believe in our offensive line?

What was the big problem with signing Daryl Smith?

I know we brought in Geno Hayes and he is working out great. I know we had Paul Pusluszny and we love Pus but Daryl Smith was really good and pretty good at  covering Tight Ends. For Baltimore, no one has played more snaps than Daryl Smith has. He has been in every game and is being effective. In his first two games, he is grading out as well as Pus. Geno Hayes, Pus and Daryl Smith would have made a nice linebacker crew. I like Russell Allen, but give me Daryl Smith any day. Mr. Caldwell why did you not feel good about Daryl Smith?

Why the belief in Andre Branch?

This is what confuses me as much as anything else.  The Oakland Raiders had Tony Pashos and Khalif Barnes as their two tackles and we generated no real pressure.  It is no secret that the Jacksonville Jaguars had the worst pass rush overall for 5 years. We all know it. David Caldwell did a decent job addressing the middle of the line. I don’t know what Tennessee didn’t like about Sen’Derrick Marks but they were wrong. The issue has been the edge rushers. I like Jason Babin, not crazy about Tyson Alualu, but that is it. I know there are decent guys better than Andre Branch out there. Michael Bennett went to Seattle for a one year $15 million contract. He had a great game against San Francisco.  Was that too much to pay for a defensive end? I am not sure. I know the free agent list of defensive ends was weak, but we were a non-player. Did David and Gus think Andre Branch could be coached up? David Caldwell what did you see in our defensive line that gave you a sense it would be ok?

I am sure David Caldwell has very good answers to these questions. I am sure he thought of them all. I would bet he might have called some of the guys I mention and they didn’t want to come. I don’t know. These are just questions I would love to ask.

– Terry O’Brien