Jaguars Draft Talk
The Pro Bowl is behind us and the Super Bowl is upcoming. The Jacksonville Jaguars season ended, with a substantial playoff run, at the hands of the AFC Champion Kansas City Chiefs. In Jacksonville, the end of football season means the beginning of mock draft season. Mock drafts are all very different every time you participate in one. This is especially true when you get down to the 24th pick, which is where Jacksonville currently sits after Doug Pederson’s phenomenal first year as head coach. Here is an example of a mock draft (no trades) that we just ran:
24. Isaiah Foskey - EDGE ND
56. Siaki Ika - DT Baylor
88. Deonte Banks - CB Maryland
121. Jordan McFadden - OT Clemson
127. Mike Morris - EDGE Michigan
161. Garrett Williams - CB Syracuse
179. Will Mallory - TE Miami
209. Tykee Smith - S Georgia
228. Max Duggan - QB TCU
What are your thoughts? I will say that drafting with the 24th pick is much easier than drafting with the first pick. There is so much pressure associated with the number one pick in the draft. Everything is scrutinized. You essentially have two camps when you are drafting number one. The first are the people who believe that the number one pick should be immediately NFL ready and make a substantial impact on day one. This is the Aidan Hutchinson group. The second is the group that believes you should take the most athletic player. The one who will help your team the most in the long run, over time. This would be the Travon Walker group. We don’t believe you can be solely in one group year after year. It’s team dependent. In looking back at the 2022 draft, and with hindsight, Aidan Hutchinson may have helped the Jaguars get further in the playoffs this year. And that may very well mean a Super Bowl birth, considering how close JAX came to beating the Chiefs and how beaten up the Cincinnati offensive line was in the AFC Championship game. The Jaguars desperately need a pass rush. This is the argument for the Hutchinson crowd, and it is a very good argument.
It’s more difficult to quantify the impact Travon Walker had on the Jaguars season. Walker was dropped into coverage quite often so his sack number was extremely low for a number one draft pick chosen to disrupt the backfield. You might be surprised to learn that the Jags were in the top five in the league in QB hurry statistics but in the lower half of the league in sacks. The surprise being the first part of that sentence, not the latter. This means that they were always just a single step away. Arguments can be made that this is the fault of LBs Josh Allen and Travon Walker. Others will claim that it’s due to the 3-4 defensive scheme run by first year D-Coordinator Mike Caldwell. There exists merit in this claim, as toward the end of the season Caldwell seemed to manipulate his 3-4 into more of a 4-3, at times. Walker was playing with his hand(s) in the dirt more often and lining up on the edge or coming up the middle. Plus, Josh Allen seemed to come alive in this pseudo 4-3 scheme toward the end of the season. Were the Jaguars not using Travon Walker correctly last year or were they correct in saying that Walker would be more of a project that won’t “hit” until later. This guy thinks it’s a little bit of both. One thing is for sure, after the impressive rookie season had by Aidan Hutchinson, if Walker doesn’t explode in year two, his selection at number one will be considered a bust, and rightfully so.
Two of the biggest, most glaring, problem areas for the Jaguars are CB and pass rush. Both could have been solved with the number one pick last year had Jacksonville selected Sauce Gardner or Aidan Hutchinson. Instead JAX made a choice that thus far has solved very little. In truth, the more I think about it, a better pass rush may have had us playing football this weekend in AZ. That said, fewer turnovers, fewer missed passes, fewer drops, moving Williams to the outside sooner, etc… may have also put the Jaguars in the big game. It’s never just one thing, but it does make for an interesting debate.
There is such scrutiny put on draft selections, and rightfully so. Both the Eagles and Chiefs have groomed many key starters in this upcoming Super Bowl from the very beginning, minus a few key wide receiver acquisitions (especially in KC). The bottom line is that, if done right, the draft is a wealth of talent waiting to be uncorked. If done wrong, your organization can be set back years. That in mind, who are your draft picks for the Jags in 2023? Do they go EDGE, CB, or TE first? Who is more important? Let us know in the comment section below.