Media Personality Takes Foolish Shot at the Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars have had a stellar offseason.

There is no other way of saying it, no matter how much people might be turned off by the Jaguars' personification of change.

That is why cheap shots from media personalities such as this one from Dave Portnoy and others in the wake pf the Jaguars' massive NFL Draft week make little sense. At best, they are being foolishly ignorant. At worst, they are being judgmental just for the sake of it.

Yes, the Jaguars made a bold and risky move to get Travis Hunter. Yes, Jaguars general manager James Gladstone is not your average NFL general manager with his youthful looks and ability to spit out his own personalized version of team-building jargon and buzz words.

But that doesn't mean the Jaguars haven't completely remade their franchise this offseason. Just because they aren't using the standard NFL scouting logo from the 1980s and attempt to come off as brutes doesn't mean the Jaguars aren't on the verge of becoming an example of how to redefine a franchise's identity.

Not everyone can relate to the identity the Jaguars are building, but that does not mean they should be subjected to potshots from skeptics.

It is fair to wonder if the Jaguars' new regime can deliver the goods on what they are selling. It is fair to wonder if the move for Travis Hunter meant giving up too much draft capital. What is not fair is to judge the Jaguars based on things that have nothing to do with football or their team-building process.

Gladstone and the Jaguars are different. They are not asking the NFL to accept them, but they are making a clear statement to the rest of the NFL that they do not care if they are deemed too bold.

"It was really cool to see this guy work. This is his Super Bowl really in a lot of ways at first. This is the first Super Bowl that's to happen for us really. He was unbelievable," Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said about Gladstone.

"The communication, the resilience, the ability to move around this draft and navigate it the way he did and the way these guys communicated was really fun to watch. The work was done, and then he went and operated, and the staff went and operated at a high level, it was really cool to see. It's really cool to see the guys, the players' responses, to hear that, because that's what it's all about. Like, when you get them on the phone and you actually get to hear their response and make somebody's dream come true, that's what it's really all about.”