NFL Draft-Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars surprised many people last year...just not in the way they would have liked. A lot of the experts were saying that Jacksonville could even be a dark horse superbowl team, instead they finished with a very disappointing 5-11 record. You could attribute their poor record to either the tragedy that struck them just before the season (Richard Collier getting shot 9 times and having a leg amputated, thus ending his playing career), injuries all along the O-Line, their rookies not contributing (Derrick harvey and Quentin Groves combined for 6 sacks), or spotty QB play. Whatever it was, the Jags hope it gets turned around, and fast.

I think that they aren't far off. They have lost a great lockerroom guy in Fred Taylor, they couldn't afford to keep a guy who has sharply declined 5 million a year, but they did rid themselves of problematic LB Mike Peterson and the troubled Matt Jones. These moves could be thought of as "rebuilding" moves, but if you look a little closer, thats not the case. They still have one of the best RBs in football in Maurice Jones-Drew who will be complemented by 2 other solid backs in Greg Jones and Chauncey Washington, a good game manager at QB, a good TE and an improving O-Line on offense coupled with some really nice, young talent on their front 7.

In the first round, with the 8th overall pick, I am expecting the Jags to go for a really talented perimeter player (WR or CB) seeing as they already shored up their tackle spot with the signing of Tra Thomas. Vontae Davis would be the only real possibility of a CB at pick #8, but that would be quite a reach for a player who should go around 18th or later, so that leaves one option really-Missouri's Jeremy Maclin. He would provide an instant spark to their return game and they could really expand their playbook with him-although it may take him a year or two to get his route running down.

With their second pick, (39th overall) the Jags could be looking to lock up a good corner. Prospects such as UCONN's Darius Butler, Vandy's DJ Moore, or possibly even Utah's Sean Smith who could also work some at a safety spot-are possible selections.

The remainder of their draft (3/72, 4/107, 5/144, 6/180, 7/232, 7/250, and 7/253) will be focused mainly on depth. Any position save for QB are possibilties seeing how they have almost zero depth throughout their team.

THE PICK: Jeremy Maclin-Missouri, WR