Jaguars Draft
By: Jason Bishop
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Jaguars came into the 2017 NFL draft on the heels of a very disappointing 3-13 season. The poor 2016 season was preceded with a 5-11 record in 2015 and 3-13 in 2014. You get my point right?
There were high expectations coming into last season as far as improving the team. Several free agent signings and a couple of really good drafts made things look as if they were improving. That did not happen, at least not in the sense of wins.
Head Coach Gus Bradley was fired and Doug Marrone has been named the full time coach after filling in as the interim. The Jaguars also hired former Head Coach Tom Coughlin as Team Vice President and now are applying pressure to starting quarterback Blake Bortles to turn the corner.
With all of that going on the Jaguars entered the 2017 draft with some glaring needs on the field as well. Jacksonville needed a serviceable running back, and to upgrade the depth on the offensive line. However, I guess when you are 3-13 there are really needs all over the place.
The Jaguars had the 4th overall pick and even though there was some speculation they may take QB DeShaun Watson out of Clemson, Jacksonville took RB Leonard Fournette out of LSU.
That pick signaled the Jags were not quite ready to pull the plug on Bortles and they were going to continue to build around him. Which they showed again in the second round by take OL Cam Robinson out of Alabama. Robinson and Fournette will directly help Bortles be a better QB.
In the 3rd Round the Jags went defense and drafted DE Dewuane Smoot out of Illinois. The hope here is to continue to build depth with pass rushers. In today’s NFL a good pass rusher is worth his weight in gold.
In round 4 Jacksonville went back to the offensive side of the ball and took WR Dede Westbrook out of Oklahoma. I must admit this pick confuses me as the Jags have a very talented and deep receiving corp. Especially, when you consider there were still some very good offensive linemen on the board here.
In the fifth round the Jags continued to build depth on defense by drafting LB Blair Brown out of Ohio. Brown is a smart linebacker that depends on his football IQ to make up for his lack of size and foot speed. We will see how this goes.
The seventh round saw the Jaguars make two picks; CB Jalen Myrick out of Minnesota and RB Marquez Williams out of Miami. I love both of these picks. The 2017 version of the NFL is one to where you must be able to defend the pass so anytime you can get a talented DB to play in your nickel and dime sets you should do it.
As far as Williams goes, it was no secret the Jacksonville running backs were not getting the job done on 2016. Thus, by drafting Williams you add some much needed depth behind Fournette.
Overall, the Jaguars did a good job in this year’s draft. The team addressed needs and improved in those areas and that is the point of the draft. I give Jacksonville a B+ with this draft. I would have liked to see more attention to the O-line.
