When incoming, high-profile free agents are hyped to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars, you can tell there’s a culture change going on within the franchise. On a recent episode of the “O-Zone Podcast” with Jaguars.com senior writer John Oesher, Marvin Jones Jr., a free agent signing from Detroit, spoke highly of the teams new pieces in Urban Meyer and Trevor Lawrence.
“When there’s a coach like coach Urban, you bring in guys — generational talents, who I think Trevor Lawrence is — and along with my offense that I know,” Jones said, according to transcripts obtained from 247Sports. “I’m running with the No. 1s, but I’m still coach. When I’m not in there, I’m like, ‘Boom, this is what you’ve got to do.'”
Jones has a lot of experience within this offensive system. Jacksonville’s new offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell, held the same role with Jones for the last two seasons in Detroit.
“I know (the offense) like the back of my hand,” Jones said. “So why not? Why wouldn’t this be the situation for me? So that was my whole thought process, going in, coming in.”
Jones is coming off a 2020 season that was his most productive since 2017, making 76 catches for 978 yards and nine touchdowns. The Jaguars invested a decent amount of money in the 31-year-old, especially considering the fact that they already have a pair of impressive young receivers on the roster in D.J. Chark and Laviska Shenault. He signed a two-year, $12.5 million deal, and he will likely see significant action on the outside in 2021.
“I just want to catch the ball and make great plays, and that’s all I’ve ever done so that’s all I want to do,” Jones said. “So when I go in there and the stadium’s full or it’s not full, I just want to make those big plays, those big impactful plays and score a lot of touchdowns. So it’s all fun. I just keep going. So when there’s any doubt in my mind, I’m just going to stop. But I don’t see that happening now, when I’m playing at the level that I’m playing. But I’m not going to try to chase any records.
“… You always want something to look forward to and you just want to be around good people, great people with great energy, and the moment that I’m around bad people with bad energy and I just feel bad about the situation, then I’m just not going to play. But being here, I don’t see that happening for a while. So we’ll see.”
Jags fans will hope that “great energy” in the building translates to early on-field success for the new regime.
Note: All used quotes were transcribed by 247Sports.