1st & Goal: Jimmy Smith, Former Jaguars Wide Receiver

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That's BODi with an I.com. The NFL season is inching closer and closer. Who are the contenders and who are the pretenders? We have four downs to figure out your team's future. It's time now for First and Goal on the Zach Gelb Show. Time to preview the Jacksonville Jaguars. We'll do so with the man that played for the Jags from 1995 to 2005, led the NFL in receptions in 1999. That, of course, is a great wide receiver in Jimmy Smith. Jimmy, always appreciate the time. How you been?

Oh, thanks for having me on your show. Well, let me start you off with Calvin Ridley. The last time we saw him a full go on the football field, he had nearly 1,400 yards receiving. The last two years, not able to get on the field, had the gambling suspension and some other things as well. Now back in the fold with the new team, the Jaguars.

What are your expectations for someone that we know has done a lot in this league before? Well, for me observing Calvin really, I didn't really watch him until he was signed by the Jaguars. I knew who he was. I knew he was from Alabama. I knew he played for Atlanta and knew he was a pretty good route runner. But just seeing him in the OTAs and in training camp, oh my goodness. Clearly, he's got to be top two or three in the NFL right now as far as route running.

He is an outstanding route runner, just a route running specialist. And then, you know, it works out good for me, even though it's expensive for gambling and, you know, he's apologized and he's taken ownership of it. And that's what leaders do. That's the kind of guys that, you know, when they make a mistake, you know, they own up to it and they take it on the chin and get through it.

That says something about an individual. I'm just excited to see him catching balls from Trevor Lawrence. The Jaguars got to be the most exciting team to watch this fall. And a lot of that is because of Calvin Ridley. And the expectations for Calvin Ridley and Trevor Lawrence, that should be a dynamite connection. And last year, you know, they bring in Christian Kirk.

Everyone crushed the contract. And then Christian Kirk shut a lot of people up. What did you see out of Christian Kirk a year ago? I mean, he was an outstanding, he was a thousand yards. To get a thousand yards, I mean, that's, you know, he's the Pro Bowl receiver. And, you know, with Christian Kirk, Calvin Ridley and Zayd Jones, you know, Zayd Jones is our third receiver. You know, most teams, Zayd Jones would probably be a starter. So in my mind, we got three starting receivers. If we go three by one, along with having Travis A.T.M. and even Tank Bixby, which is, you know, my favorite player. Tank Bixby is, he's going to be a monster.

He's a downhill threat. Man, I just, I'm just so excited about my former team and just can't wait to see, see how they perform this year. Love it. Let's get to the next down. Jimmy Smith here with us. If you were still playing in the league and you were still playing with the Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence was your quarterback, how would you kind of look at your quarterback and what would you think the type of quarterback is that you have?

Well, first of all, Calvin really would not be starting. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. That's, yeah. That's the, you know, you know, just by looking at his balls, you know, he, he throws the tightest spirals.

They're very easy to catch. You know, he, he, he has incredible intangibles, you know, he's six six strong guy. He can run, he can, he can improvise and he could run when, when, when he needs to. I mean, last year watching him come back in that playoff game against the, the, the LA chargers, I thought I was watching a younger Paige Manning, the way he took control of that offense and drove down the field. So I can't wait to, to, you know, to watch this team again this year. And it was great to see the year that he had because his rookie year was wasted because of the horrible coaching job by Urban Meyer. And it was great to see the year that he had because his rookie year was wasted because of the horrible coaching job by Urban Meyer. And I got to give a lot of credit to Doug Peterson. We saw what he did in Philadelphia.

No one liked the hire. The guy wins the Superbowl then comes into Jacksonville. That's a team back to back years, number one, overall pick.

And he takes them to the second round of the playoffs. And it also seems like Doug is a really player friendly coach. Do you have any relationship with Doug and how about what he's been able to do in a short time in Duval?

Yes, I do. You know, he's a former player. You know, he, he, he gave my son a chance to come into that rookie camp and you know, last year and you know, for, you know, for him to, you know, to recognize, you know, how players who have sons and to just give my son a chance to actually, you know, suit up in a Jaguar uniform, you know, man, that's, I can't thank him enough. And now that I see he has a son that's just got signed to the practice squad. So he's a player's coach. Everybody likes him.

You know, when, you know, when you see that and you go out and you, you break your back for the guy, you know what I'm saying? You want, he's going to the Superbowl. He's going to the Superbowl again.

He's going to take this team to the Superbowl. And it might be this year. How likely do you think it's going to be this year? Because that's a, the big question is that team got to the second round of the playoffs last year. You still got Kansas city, you still got Cincinnati in that conference just for starters. You think they could, you really think they could take that jump this season? If it won for Ted Henning last year for Kansas city, they would have been, they would have been in the Superbowl or at least the AFC championship, but Ted Henning saved Kansas city seats last year when Patrick Mahomes got hurt against Jacksonville. Ted Henning came in and drove 90 some yards and that's pretty much, you know, saved Kansas city until Patrick got back off that ankle. But I see this team young, hungry, young is what I like.

Young. The defense is, you know, we've got a couple of people hurt, but the, you know, our front four, you know, uh, I hate the fact that Hamilton is out for the season, but we're going to rebound. We've got some young ends, you know, we got, we're loaded, we're loaded, our linebackers flow to the ball. And, uh, you know, offensively just watching the offense in the preseason, even though it's vanilla, it's going to be tough to game plan this offense because you don't know where the ball is going.

Let's get to the next down. Jimmy Smith here with us. You talked about the defense. I thought they got better as the season did go on. Um, I remember that Ray Sean Jenkins got to get a few turnovers late in that season too. I think up against Dallas was the game. Uh, when you look at that defense, I know what you said up front, but how much of a step does the defense need to take this year with the high expectations that you have for this ball club? Well, it's the same, just like you mentioned that, uh, uh, that turnover against, uh, Dallas, uh, also, uh, the turnover that, uh, Josh Allen had against Tennessee Titans.

Uh, those are opportunistic plays. And when the defense starts getting, getting those opportunities like that, I mean, they're, they're on their way. They have the confidence to get takeovers and take the ball away from these offense. Uh, no, we just, uh, I just can't say enough about, you know, this entire team on both sides of the ball. Uh, we're pretty stout. Let's get to the final down. Jimmy Smith here with us talking about his Jacksonville Jaguars.

So I'm with you. I think expectations are high. I think this team could easily get to a conference championship game this year. They should dominate their division. The only thing that I wonder is this organization two years ago was in such a bad spot.

Then they take such a big step. I wonder if any complacency kind of sits in when you have that success, how do you kind of focus back in to make sure that you could take it the next step further, uh, for this upcoming season? Yeah, I understand what you're saying about complacency, but we're not at that point yet because we've had, you know, uh, a lot of those players that were, that were, I mean, I'm not here, you know, you know, some, maybe a handful, but, uh, any complacency coming from those, those horrible years. I mean, we had two, two years, I believe, or just, uh, just a horrible season. It's embarrassing.

I mean, extremely embarrassing. So we've, if you really look at it, we paid our dues as an organization and having those two horrific seasons, you know, uh, and you know, it's, it's only right. If we're going to have those two horrific seasons, why not be in position to draft a player like Trevor Lawrence as a generational talent, you know, because we paid our dues, can't pay your dues forever. Now we got a window and a chance to win the Superbowl. We got a generational player for the next 10 years. You know, we're going to be in contention.

No doubt about that. Well, last thing I'll ask you, um, you played your college ball at Jackson state. We know what Deon Sanders did the last three years. Now, uh, he's at Colorado getting set this weekend to make his debut for coach prime. Just what did that mean to you to see what Deon did at your alma mater? And how do you think and how do you think he'll fare at Colorado? See, I don't know if you have been watching Jackson state this year, but Jackson state looks better and they look like they have more talent than they had the last few years when coach prime was there.

So you know what that says? He's laid the blueprint for Jackson state. That's the most important that he's left the thing that he's left behind. He's, there's a blueprint there and they are going to follow it because it, you know, before we had no direction of how to, you know what I'm saying? Scheduling and, and, uh, just, just, you know, just football operations period, you know, it wasn't there with Deon.

He's brought all that to the table and that blueprint is there and all we got to do is follow it. And man, I tell you the way this thing performed last weekend against, uh, South Carolina state who beat them in the championship game the last few years, it was a beautiful thing to see the quality of football that those guys are playing. You know, before I could barely even watch that can stay playing, but now they look like, uh, I mean, they, they look real, they look good quality football. You know, I can look in and tell where the players are lining up.

There's stances, how they come up the ball, their technique, those players have it now. And now you're going to see some players get drafted. Our jacket state, Jimmy Smith, always appreciate the time. Thanks so much for doing this. You have a great Labor Day weekend. Thanks for having me.