Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Dan Arnold, who recorded 324 yards in eight games last season, sat down with Andrew Eshman of The Jag Roar Podcast in an exclusive interview.
Arnold discussed many things, but kept things positive surrounding the Jags and their upcoming season.
When asked about quarterback Trevor Lawrence and his leadership in comparison to Drew Brees, Dan Arnold said the following:
“You talk about those guys… that have that attention to detail and that preparation… Trevor is definitely one of those guys where you see those glimpses of Drew Brees-esque type of characteristics… and that’s when you know that this kid is going to be good. And no matter what circumstance he’s in, he’s going to perform and just make the best out of it. I really think the sky is the limit for Trevor. He’s got all the intangibles. I mean look at him. He’s a generation type quarterback just looking at him. He’s tall. He’s got a good arm. He’s accurate. He’s smart. And he can read defenses better than a lot of rookie quarterbacks that I’ve seen and been in camps with. Just to see that level last year already, I was like holy cow, this is actually crazy. He’s sitting in meeting talking with the line (offensive-line) like ‘hey, this is what I’m gonna do with protection here because we’re seeing a slot, nickel pressure from this side so I’m gonna do this when we have this look’. You just don’t see a lot of younger quarterbacks have that ability to talk to an offensive-line. A center who’s been in the league for x number of years and like he’s he’s telling them this is what we are doing. It’s pretty cool to see Trevor at that level already… you just know it’s coming… he’s going to be really good, just let him do his work and he’ll be there.”
When asked about playing for new Jags head coach Doug Pederson, Dan had to say the following regarding his excitement:
“I think the coolest thing is you see the change of mentality as soon as we got in day one of OTA’s. It was like, ‘hey guys, look, I watched tape of you guys last year, and you guys competed your a** off’. Right at that first meeting that we had with them (the new coaching staff), everybody was like ‘all right it’s go time’.
Dan also talked about the mindset in the Jaguars locker room:
“That’s kind of the mindset right now… who cares if we’re rebuilding the program… got a new coach this year… had a brand new coach last year… yada, yada, yada… we’re gonna go in and compete every single game and we know we’re gonna have the scheme to do it and we’re gonna surprise some people this year, I guarantee it. Because there’s no way that this talented of a roster should be losing games. There’s just no way.”
To watch the full interview, click here.