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Touchdown Jaguars!
Touchdown Jaguars!
Episode 112: Official Touchdown Jaguars Mock Draft!
A new era dawns for the Jacksonville Jaguars as we dive deep into the team's first draft under GM James Gladstone. After years of questionable draft strategies, there's a palpable excitement surrounding how the former Rams executive might approach building around Trevor Lawrence and transforming this roster.
Our comprehensive mock draft reveals fascinating possibilities, from trading back to accumulate picks while still landing Ohio State's Emeka Egbuka as the perfect complement to Brian Thomas Jr., to the potential windfall of Abdul Carter falling to pick #5. We examine how Gladstone's Rams background might influence draft philosophy, particularly the emphasis on winning cultures and prestigious programs.
The draft board falls surprisingly well for Jacksonville's needs across both mock scenarios. We identify crucial defensive backs who could stabilize a struggling secondary, interior defensive linemen who bring the violence needed against divisional running games, and offensive weapons that perfectly fit Liam Cohen's offensive vision.
Join us as we break down picks round-by-round and imagine a draft that could finally deliver the supporting cast Trevor Lawrence deserves while building a defense that transforms Jacksonville into true AFC South contenders. Let us know your thoughts on our selections and who you hope the Jaguars target when the draft begins!
James Johnson and Phil Smith bring you the best and most up to date Jacksonville Jaguars news. "Touchdown Jaguars!" is a tribute to the prospective ownership group "Touchdown Jacksonville!" In 1991, the NFL announced plans to add two expansion teams and "Touchdown Jacksonville!" announced its bid for a team, and Jacksonville was ultimately chosen as one of five finalists. In November 1993, the NFL owners voted 26–2 in favor of awarding the 30th franchise to Jacksonville. James and Phil have been fans of the franchise ever since and have had the honor (and sometimes dishonor) of covering the team professionally since 2017. The rest as they say, is history.
Still running and good, that is a goal Good. Touchdown Jacksonville 109 yards. Incredible, incredible. Play action Upstairs Wide open. Tommy Bohannon touchdown Jacksonville Looking for Jimmy in the end zone. Touchdown Jaguars. Touchdown Jaguars. Touchdown Jaguars.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. Here are your hosts, james Johnson and Phil Smith. Hey everybody, welcome back to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. I am your co-host, phil Smith, and joining me is your other co-host, james Johnson. And Jay, we are back.
Speaker 1:After your previous episode where you broke down the free agency class, we're here with our second draft episode of the draft season and ultimately it will be what people are probably waiting for, which is a mock draft. So really excited to get to that and discuss the players that we have slotted to our Jacksonville Jaguars. I know it's been. Obviously you guys know the episode uploads have been pretty sporadic and you know that is on us. We're obviously very busy. Everybody's got personal lives. We're doing our best.
Speaker 1:So we appreciate you guys for still sticking around and listening to the episodes. The download numbers have been very good, so we appreciate that and we hope you enjoy this episode. But nonetheless, jay, it is good to be back here with you. It's frustrating because we were talking nothing but draft as far as, like, the group chats and between each other, but we just haven't had time to get an episode put out before the draft. But we're doing that now and then we'll hopefully have one more before next Thursday as well. So hope you're doing well and excited to be back here with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, just fresh off of work, you know so went up and after I got off of work he heated up the simulator. Yeah, very excited to talk about the draft because we really haven't talked about it in terms of prospects, right, and you would think we would have talked a little bit more draft right field because, for the first time, we don't have Trent Baalke as a GM. Like you would think, this would be the most exciting season for us ever and it is as you said. It reflects in our group text. But, um, you know, life is lifing and, um, you know, our other endeavors have kept us away from, uh, giving the draft the attention that we have always given it, uh, but nonetheless, I think this is going to be a great episode. As I said, I'm real excited about it because, you know, we just really haven't gotten to talk about the draft a lot.
Speaker 2:And a lot of it is the unknown too. You know, with a new GM, a lot of it is the unknown because, admittedly, you know, with us being busy Also, too, it's a lot of prospects we haven't seen. Now I have done a big board which will get that up like tonight, uh. So I have seen guys at the top half of the draft but, um, in terms of being able to dedicate the time that we have to the the later round guys, we haven't been able to. So that's going to make things interesting too as well. Man, I can't wait to uh to get this episode up and running.
Speaker 1:Man yeah, a refound excitement for this time of the year. Uh, I think we talked about this in our first draft episode from a couple months or for like a month ago. We don't have to worry about guys with small arms or, you know, blacklisting michigan players for reason. If we decide to go that route, we will see what happens, but it's just a newfound excitement for the future of this team and how things are going to go when, ultimately, we won't have to wait very long for the Jaguars to select. But let's go ahead and dive into it here. Of course, if you want to keep up with the podcast, make sure you check out the Linktree link in the show notes of this and every single episode. You'll find everything you need for the social media pages, as well as the website, touchdownjaguarscom.
Speaker 1:Jay, before I get started, before we jump into our selections, I wanted to ask you know you already alluded to it, because we've been so busy as far as not being able to keep up with the draft and the prospects as much. There is another factor that has made this process a little bit more difficult, and it's that the Jaguars are one of three teams in the league to not host any top 30 visits. This should not be surprising for Jaguar fans, because any top 30 visits. This should not be surprising for Jaguar fans because, jay, if anybody does not know, the Rams also skip top 30 visits just to wait, just to kind of avoid tipping off other teams in terms of where they may be heading in the draft. Has that also made this process a little bit harder than it has been in past years?
Speaker 2:Yeah, a little bit, because you know, and you would think it's probably the Jaguars don't want to tip their hand, you know, in terms of what's going on. And also, too, you know I've said this too I think like what might be factoring into things, right, is Gladstone didn't get into the office as soon as some of these other, or as early as some of these other GMs got their new jobs right, like we were kind of late in that regard. Trent was fired late, right, you know, I guess you can blame Shaw for that, but better late than never, we'll take it. But that being said, man, um, you know, I think that's part of it too is, um, just like Gladstone just kind of keeping people in the dark in regards to, you know, not just getting his title kind of late, but also to just like just not letting the rest of the world know what's going on. And I mean, I think that's for the better. You know, what I will say is this feel I've always said this, this is one of the sayings that you've heard me say many, many times on the podcast in general and just in person is you know, when you're in doubt, you know you always rely on history.
Speaker 2:Right. That's what you always go back to. What does history say? What does history say about this matchup with this team? What does history say about where this GM came from, or this coach came from, or this assistant came from? So that's kind of what I've leaned on. It's just kind of relying on, like you know, what kind of history have the Rams established as a front office and where they've gone. I've watched, you know, I've kind of watched them a lot lately just to kind of figure out, like what Gladstone could, could do and what direction he can go in, because that's really all we really have to go off of in regards to, you know, this upcoming draft.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of people doing that. You know, just kind of looking at what the Rams have done in the past, how they have operated, and you know you can get a real sense of maybe what to expect. I believe there was somebody on Twitter was pointing out you know when I think it was during the combine and James Gladstone you know he answered he's answering the questions We've got X amount of picks for now, and that's how the Rams always answer. That question is we have this number of picks to work with for now because they're always, you know, looking to see what kind of movement they can make and how they can improve their positioning and and whatnot.
Speaker 1:So, without further ado, jay, let's get into it here with the first round pick. If you want to go ahead and kick us off, because I think you're gonna have, uh, you listen, I'll just say this you cooked here with your mock draft and we you had a move here. That may surprise quite a bit of people, but you have a guy at the top of your list that you'd, uh, like to see the jaguars make. That may surprise some people, but a guy you've been, you've been speaking very highly of over the last week over in our group chat yeah, absolutely man, absolutely man.
Speaker 2:And yeah, I mean appreciate the kudos saying I cooked on this, but I probably didn't cook on the late rounds as much as I wanted to Because, again, like, the big board I made is mostly compiled of, like, people in the top 35. So I haven't really gotten to the late round guys yet, but I did the best I could. So appreciate that. But yeah, so when it came to this mock right, I saw the opportunity to trade back and get more picks. Not that we need more picks, like we have, like what, 24 and that's three years. But this is something Gladstone has talked about a lot, right, it's like the amount of picks we have and he's kind of alluded to. We want to rely on the draft, right, and that's. You know, that's ultimately what the Rams have done, at least as of lately. Right, you know, it was a point in time where they were just going with no first round picks, but after that they had to rely on the draft because, you know, they had a lot of stuff on their salary cap, lot of stuff on their books, so they started relying on the draft and with Gladstone going in that direction and kind of hitting at that, I was like, well, I wouldn't be surprised if he wants to trade back this is not insider information or anything like that but I traded back. I went with Emeka Egbuka from the Ohio State Buckeyes, from the standpoint of I've talked a lot about one to find somebody to pair with Brian Thomas Jr. Right, of course that was Ted McMillan at one point in time, but you know I'm not as high on him as I once was. But when I started doing my evaluations on this draft of like, who would be the perfect number to fit and I think John Shipley hit this right on the head too Phil, who are perfect prospects to pair with Brian Thomas Jr. This is one that John Shipley had pointed out. Right, and I couldn't agree more, because he does all of the dirty work and the underneath stuff that you know would compliment Brian Thomas Jr as a deep threat. Right, all your end arounds, all your short hitches, all of that good stuff. And, more importantly too, like what really drew me to him, phil too, is he's kind of the opposite of what we've been ticked off about with the wide receiver group, right Drops. This kid has excellent hands, to my understanding. I had to pick up his numbers, but from a technique standpoint, his hands are soft and also, too, he tracks the ball well out of the sky. That was the stuff that kind of drew me to him was the technical part of his game. It's the hands, the tracking, um, the ability to catch in traffic with you know receivers or, excuse me, with defenders, right there next to him and I was like you know what man, this is the answer that you need to put next to brian thomas jr. That being said, for that reason I would probably say he's arguably my favorite player in the draft.
Speaker 2:Arguably, I went with him, I traded and here's, here 's. I got great value on this, by the way, I think at least I traded back to 16. And again, that was a pick held by the Cardinals and I picked up their second round pick. Of course you know that, no dub, because they're trading up so far. I got their third round pick, I got a second from next year and I got a fourth from next year and I gave them our fifth overall and pick number 194. I think that's our very last pick. Made the trade back. That was perfect position to take Emeka and get Brian Thomas Jr and Trevor Lawrence some help on offense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and Ibuka. Honestly, this is a guy that wasn't on my radar at all until these last few days because of you, and I think there's something to be said about taking a winner right. When you talk about Ohio State, you know, obviously just recently winning, and you talk about a guy, nick Bucca, who has been alongside a Marvin Harrison Jr Right and then now alongside their stud right receiver that they have now whose name is escaping me, but yeah, he seems like he would be the perfect complement to Brian Thomas Jr. Compliment to Brian Thomas Jr. And as far as on the big board for PFF he is, let's see here give me a second, I had it right there he is number 18 on their big board, the third highest rated wide receiver on their list, behind Ted McMillan and Luther Burden III. So you're talking about Igbuka even being over.
Speaker 1:You know Matthew Golden, who has seen quite a big rise, and then you're looking in the. You know the later round receivers, second round, and on AM Manor, jaden Higgins, jack Beck. You know those kind of guys. So I think this is really great value, jay, especially when you talk about the complimentary piece that he would be to this offense, and they have made the statement over and over again that this is about supporting Trevor and getting him in the best position to win and getting a top notch receiver that has seen quite a bit of winning in his day at Ohio State. I think that's just a really, really good move, yeah.
Speaker 2:I couldn't agree more. I couldn't agree more, I couldn't agree more and again getting the value in regards of trading back and picking up more picks, man. So you know, you have a guy here who I almost put him at number one at the receiver throughout like of like grouping the receivers, but I did put golden over him. I think I put uh, a mecca at like two wide receiver two, but I did put Golden over him. I think I put um Emeka at like two wide receiver two, but I even put him out after McMillan and this is coming from somebody who you know I really like McMillan.
Speaker 2:But after just kind of watching more and more of this kid, I was like I think he is better than McMillan and he's definitely I. I think he's probably definitely a better complimentary piece for Brian Thomas Jr than McMillan. So yeah, man, I'll be excited about it if they trade it down. I mean, yeah, we'll have to wait a little bit, but you know, as we did last year, we waited a little bit. It was all worth it, because Brian Thomas Jr turned out to be a stud, ryan Thomas Jr turned out to be a stud.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of people believe he is the most NFL-ready receiver in this draft. So for those of you that aren't too familiar with Emeka Ibuka, I definitely advise you to go look into what people are saying about him. A lot of Jackson Smith and Jigba comparisons as well for those of you that are in the comparison crowd. So let's get to my pick, jay. I did not trade out a pick number five because the board just kind of fell a very, very interesting way at pick number five, and that's because Abdul Carter was there, and I know a lot of people have been kind of wondering well, how does Abdul Carter, trayvon Walker and Josh Allen work? I'll tell you what. It's a problem I want to have Jay. Abdul Carter slides to number five and I think it's because the Patriots went with Will Campbell at number four and I'm trying to remember who went with that three. Oh, actually I can still pull it up right now. That's right, I forgot about that. Yeah, travis hunter went to, will campbell went three and ashton genti actually went number four to the patriots, which, when I thought about it, like does what's the head coach now for the? Why am I blanking on the name of the patriots head coach right now. Jay, uh, does um rapes? Does rabel want to try and recreate the derrick Henry days, right? So I didn't think that was totally out of the question. So obviously, mason Graham has been a name essentially associated with us for weeks now.
Speaker 1:But when Abdul Carter is there, a guy who many, many people have number one on their big boards. He's number two on PFFs, but the highest rated defensive player, well, I guess it depends on how you feel about Travis Hunter. I think he's a DB A lot of people feel the same way but a top two player in this draft. And when that opportunity popped up, jay, again, I think you just figure out that quote unquote problem. If you have three above average to elite pass rushers on your team and when you look at how the Rams were constructed over the last few years and how they put a value on pass rush, I could certainly see them going this route. And when you have a guy fall to number five similar to how Josh Allen fell to us all those years ago, josh Hines Allen fell to us at number seven right, you do not pass on the opportunity to take a guy like Abdul Carter if he is there at five.
Speaker 2:No, absolutely not. There were some mobs that I've done in the simulation right where he fell to me and it's like I'm taking him, right, I think. My only fear is, I think like somebody would be like literally calling the Patriots with some kind of crazy offer to prevent him from falling to us. But yeah, you're right, if he's there, you absolutely take him and it's a problem that you welcome. Right, a lot of us are talking about we just need a pass rusher number three, and obviously Abdul Carter is much more than that. But that being said, man, like still nonetheless, man, you can figure something out. You know, I know a lot of people who have suggested moving Trayvon Walker inside on third downs and getting Carter on the field as well with Josh Allen, you know. So maybe that's something you can do. All I know is just thinking about the three of them on the field together is enough to put fear in any quarterback's heart. Right, I'm all for it. Man, I love Abdul Carter. He is not that far off. Now. In my big board I have Travis Hunter as the number one player, but he's not that far off from Travis Hunter in terms of being the number one player on the board of many people, and not just mine, for that matter on like the board of many people, and not just mine, for that matter. So, um, yeah, you're arguably getting the best player in the draft at five. If somebody doesn't like, call the Patriots and prevent it. So yeah, you absolutely do it. You figure it out.
Speaker 2:And, um, again, something that James Gladstone has kind of mentioned you know he mentioned this himself is right is they kind of have that door open for a lot of young pass rushers to come and make an impact for this team? He's kind of alluded to that. Now, do they necessarily want to get one in the first round? You know, I don't know if they they want to do that, but if abdul carter is there, you throw all. You throw a fork in whatever plans you had at five and you take him right. Unless him and tra Hunter are there, which is not happening, you throw a fork in whatever plans you had and you take the up dude Carter. You figure the rest out and you know I would like our chances to win AFC South at that point when looking at adding him and what the Texans offensive line is going through, I'm all for it. Phil, that's a great pick, yeah, and what the Texans offensive line is going through, I'm all for it, phil.
Speaker 1:That's a great pick. Yeah, it seems like one of those guys is, there's a possibility for them to be there, whether it's Travis Hunter, whether it's Abdul Carter. And it just seems like whenever we've had this opportunity to, you know we circle Jalen Ramsey. You're like, oh, the Cowboys are going to take him. Or Josh Heinz Allen, like, oh, somebody in front of us is definitely going to take him, and lo and behold, you know, that guy ends up being there. I do think that there could be a possibility that if he is there at number four, like you stated, that somebody could be calling New England to try and get into that spot, because in this scenario again, ashton Gentry, you could go back a few picks and still select him, probably all the way to a lot of people have been penciling him in at number 10. So you'd probably want to target you know what, vegas, the Jets, panthers, saints you know one of those teams to maybe gosh, could you imagine, mason Crosby and, uh, and abdul carter, but anyway, not mason max crosby, but yeah, so yeah, like you said, you know, this is just a problem you figure out, and if it falls this way, you know you, you kind of roll with it. So, uh, let's get into the second round here. Jay, I'll go ahead and go first. We'll do this like a snake draft, you'll go, then I'll go twice and then, yeah, you know, so on and so forth. But with a second round pick I got a guy who is definitely rising up the draft board.
Speaker 1:A lot of people are kind of debating this, I think, because some people are slotting him in the first round, but I felt like I had pretty good value here getting him in the second round. Pretty good value here getting him in the second round, even though PFF did not agree and gave me a D plus grade for taking South Carolina safety Nick Emanwari with pick number 36. They have him pretty far down on their big board I think he's number 66, so not necessarily big fans of him in terms of, I guess, on the higher end. Here is their little blurb from their website Emanwari is a tricky prospect who will require a leap of faith considering where he's likely to be drafted.
Speaker 1:His elite athleticism and playmaking abilities suggest his ceiling could be on par with a player like Kirby Joseph, but his underwhelming box play and questionable technique and instincts are more reminiscent of Isaiah Simmons, who was drafted in the first round in 2020, but has struggled to find a natural NFL position. So this is a guy ran a 4-3-8 at the Combine. He's got really solid ball skills, pursuit skills. A guy, again, like I said, he is rising up boards and I figured because we didn't take him in the first round, jay that I would get a solid grade for this, but PFF was not feeling it. No-transcript.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that pick man. You know well, he's one of the guys I mentioned in the thread too. I mean, speaking of like I've really talked about in our thread, he's probably the second most notable one aside from Mecca. So, that being said, no, I'm definitely cool with that. I mean, you know we lost Andre Sisko. I mean I know they're not the same type of safety, but you know what I'm saying is avoid in that room. So there's that.
Speaker 2:And then you know you, just you look at what we have in Coach Campanelli, a guy who's very aggressive, Right, and just strikes you as a straight up lunch pill type of defensive coordinator, right. I think Nick Imanwuri would definitely fit his brand of football. In my opinion. He just feels like a perfect match for him and somebody that Coach Campanelli would bang the table for. If there came a discussion in the war room which I don't think it'll be a lot of arguments or anything like that, or a of um, people not seeing the eye to eye, like in with the previous regime, I don't think it'll be any of that, but I think that he's a guy that campanelli would definitely bang the table for because it's just like, it just feels like he's a campanelli type of player, right, and a guy that would definitely help this defense to improve.
Speaker 2:Because, as we all said, man, like I said it on this podcast feel like the defense was just straight up embarrassing and hard to watch for me at times. So you want to bring in an SEC safety that's going to help you close to the line of scrimmage and, um, you know, bring the skill set that he's, that he brings, to the table. Go right ahead and do it, man, because I am all game for it, and he's another guy that I think Wiggs kind of high on too. So Wiggs talked about him a lot as well. Shout out to T-Wigg. But yeah, I'm all for it. Man, I am ready to change the brand of football that we play on defense, because I just couldn't stand what I saw defensively last year Not just the whole team in general, but defensively I was not a big fan of what we saw.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think the opportunity here to take two guys with your first two picks, to turn around the culture and the way that this team plays, is a really good way to start off your draft. So, while I don't agree with, of course, the PFF grade and neither do you, you know, I think even Warrior would be a really solid pick here and, like you said, not the same type of player as a Andre Sisco, but a position of need for sure. And, you know, with the right coaching staff and with the right coaching, I think that he could maybe fix a lot of those concerns that PFF is alluding to in their evaluation. But, jay, what about you? Where did you go with your second round pick? I believe you stayed put here at number 36 and maybe dip back into that Buckeye.
Speaker 2:Well, I absolutely did. Part of what hurt me the most about what I did in the first round is like, man, I got to leave Mason Graham there, you know, and it was like, do I really want to do that? And then I saw the return that I could get out of it. I was like, yeah, I do want to do that. Me passing on Mason Graham. I had to go ahead and, you know, address the defensive line relatively early, you know, as you have addressed the trenches early and I went with Tyleek Williams who is, you know, he's a guy that I mean he moves to me, he moves very well for his size. First and foremost, this is not I. When, when the conversation comes up about Ohio State defensive tackles, like, people probably start thinking about Devon Hamilton right, this is not Devon Hamilton, right, this is a guy who's pretty quick a little bit more shockingly quick than I thought he would be when I started watching him and just violent man. He's somebody like every time he hits a quarterback it feels like the quarterback is whiplash Right now. He's a guy. He's probably not going to help you that much against the pass. You know he's not going to be much of a pass rusher for you, but that's something maybe you can work on and develop with them, right, but he is a beast against the run and you know that's kind of what we need in this division. We play the Colts. They have a well-known running back and I wouldn't be shocked if the Titans want to play a running-based brand of football too as well. So he'll help us in that regard. And, again, just looking at what we saw last year against the run man, it was despicable. Right, we need that violent, brutal force and that anchor on this defensive line, on the in the middle of this defensive line, and we did see some good things out of Mason Smith.
Speaker 2:So, like, pairing him, malik, with Mason Smith is something that I'm definitely game for. And yeah, he's a guy that, like I said, man like just the violence he plays with. Again, he's kind of one of those tone setters for the defense that I could see Josh Hines Allen feeding off of and Trayvon Walker he's got that Trayvon Walker type of brute force that he brings to the table, but just from a defensive tackle perspective, I can see Trayvon Walker rallying around his kid and Mason Smith rallying around his kid. I think he would do a lot for this team, not just like in terms of physical strength, but culturally and establishing dominance. And you know he'll also, you know, keep guys off the linebackers as well. So, yeah, that is what I went with in terms of my second pick, being that I couldn't get Mason Graham in the first round.
Speaker 1:Yeah, williams, a guy that you know really, really showed out against Texas, embarrassing Kelvin Banks in certain areas, and you know who has been circling this guy a lot. He actually had, I think, a pre-draft visit and that is with Philadelphia. And if Philadelphia is circling you, then this is the guy that I want to bring in as well. When you talk about how Philadelphia has crafted their team and stayed competitive over the last decade, you look right there into that defensive line and really just the front seven in general. And if that is a guy that Howie Roseman has targeted, then yeah, we should look into him as well.
Speaker 1:Number 41 on the PFF board, williams is a compact and powerful interior defensive lineman who excels at holding the line of scrimmage. His lack of pass rush production makes nose tackle his best prediction of his best projection likely as a day two selection. So, yeah, you miss out on Mason Graham early and address that here in the second round. I like that a lot. So, yeah, solid, solid pick there. What do you have next? I think your next selection. You have another pick here in the second round because of the trade you made with arizona. Uh, where did you go for pick 47, uh, that you received in that trade?
Speaker 2:yeah, I went with benjamin morrison. Uh, the cornerback from notre dame who I haven't gotten to see a lot of, but I do remember Travis shout outs to Travis Holmes. Man, he posted this graphic, or it was like a chart, where they were saying Morris is one of the more versatile players or effective players in both doing zone and man coverage. So that being said, man, I was like look, man, looking at where he's fallen on a lot of people's big boards and draft boards. I think pick number 47, that's good value for him. And I mean, obviously we have a need at cornerback. Yeah, we want to try Jarrion Jones at cornerback and I think he'll be just fine with it.
Speaker 2:But you know where the concern comes in is tyson campbell. Right, I'm a georgia bulldog fan, like I love tyson, but he hasn't been what we needed him to be, you know, between injuries, and you know we're paying him a lot of money and that's a whole nother story for a whole nother time. You know, I feel like the jaguars could have waited on that. But maybe that was Trent trying to make one of his picks look better than you know they were or better than they had presented themselves. But you know, I'm not sure what we have in Tyson. Like I've said it, man, at times man Tyson looks like he could be a top 10, 9 quarterback in the league and then there's times where it's like what in God's name are we watching? Or, if not, that we're dealing with injuries. So with the amount of injury concern, especially that we have at the cornerback position, you know they need to address cornerback early in this draft in my opinion, because chances are they are going gonna have to put somebody in Tyson Campbell's place at least two or three games.
Speaker 2:Which I mean if now, if we get through a season where Tyson has only missed two or three games, that's a win, but still nonetheless, you know you don't want to have to rely on one of the guys that are, you know, you know, cornerback number four, cornerback number five, much like we had to do last year.
Speaker 2:That didn't really work out for us, right? Buster Brown, who I used to be high on, but you know, when the spotlight was on him, he showed that like, okay, he probably is a cornerback five, right, you know, he's not a gym that we thought he was, but at the very least a cornerback five or core special teamer. You know, like we don't want to have to keep relying on those type of guys, and I think that's what Gladstone and this this group is going to look at is like and and even coach Cohen has said this like we need to get better depth wise. I can't remember in what interview it was, but they are well aware that when the injuries hit, this team just falls to pieces. So, that being said, um, I got us a cornerback of the future, should I say, and somebody who's been praised as a versatile cornerback in both zone and man coverage.
Speaker 1:Yeah, some people will, I know, are bringing up the injury. He missed a lot of last season due to hip labor repair and has not participated in any combine or pro day workouts, but he will have a positional workout for teams on the 21st, according to adam schefter. So this is a guy that I think a lot of people may be scared off of because of the injuries, but I know PFF is pretty high on him. Let's see. They have him ranked 37 on their board.
Speaker 1:Morrison is a smart, smooth, moving man coverage cornerback with good instincts for making plays on the ball. Getting back to form after hip surgery and getting a bit stronger are the keys to a future starting outside cornerback role in a man coverage system, but really any system. So yeah, I think again, there is something to be said about bringing in guys who come from programs that are successful and for years I mean obviously this was before Tremblakey, but for years we were targeting these guys that you know weren't necessarily coming from high pedigrees in terms of their schools and you know what, targeting Ohio State and Notre Dame early on, I think there's, honestly, I think that's a really, really great tactic. So yeah, jay, as far I know, you said you hadn't gotten to watch a lot of him as far as getting to watch too much of his tape. But as far as the injury goes, any concern there, especially coming off you know the Andre Sisco thing. Now, granted, he never showed any signs of the previous injury slowing him down here. That was more of a technique thing, but any concerns using that second overall, you know second round pick on a guy with that injury history.
Speaker 2:No, I mean because, and also to like part of it is like I don't know man, the second round has been good to us in the past. Right, it's a bunch of gems we've gotten in the second round. Maurice jones drew that. He failed to us, not because of injury, but failed to us. Rashid mathis right, and it's probably some modern guys.
Speaker 1:That's just escaping my mind, tyson Campbell was second-round pick.
Speaker 2:Yeah, tyson Campbell, allen Robinson, right, that was another one, marquise Lee, who you know he didn't have the career that we wanted to, but you know he was a pretty effective receiver at times for us. You know, I guess we got good enough value out of Marquise Lee as well in terms of when he was here. So I mean it, you know, I, I say take that gamble, you know, see what happens. Um, but yeah, you raise a good question. I mean like, why replace tyson campbell? Or try to replace tyson campbell with somebody else who has an injury history there?
Speaker 2:Uh, but I think, like that versatility and just like where he was, almost big boards was like, well, look, man, you got to take gambles and look, that's what James Gladstone, in any GM's career, is going to be about. At some point you got to take gambles, right. You can't just take the approach of being risk-free, like that. Gms that are risk-free get fired, right. So, that being said, like you know, he's been kind of conservative so far. We looked at like free agency, for example. He's been kind of and I'm not going to say this, I'm not saying that's going to be his mantra throughout his career is being conservative. But I think we'll see him willing to take more risks in the draft, especially with the amount of picks we have, and I wouldn't be surprised if he looks at a guy like Benjamin Morris and takes that gamble, because this one can ultimately really pay off because, again, it's also a premium position that we haven't gotten great production out of. So, yeah, you know, taking a risk there, I can absolutely understand that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree for sure. Let's get into the third round here. Uh, now I decided to trade back uh from pick 70 because there wasn't necessarily a guy. There was a guy that I I liked, but I didn't feel comfortable taking him at 70. So I did trade back and still ended up getting him at pick 83. So I made a trade with Pittsburgh, picked up an extra fourth round pick this year as well as a fourth round pick in 2026 and I gave Pittsburgh pick number 70 and tossed them that six round pick that you gave up earlier in your mock draft. So I went with with pick.
Speaker 1:I went with Kyle Williams from Washington State. Looking up to him, a lot of people feel like he could be one of the most underrated players in this draft and could be a total steal here for the right team instance where I had not addressed wide receiver yet. So this, I think, another guy that could be a really, really good compliment to Brian Thomas Jr. He is the 64th ranked player on the big board for PFF. So again, I felt pretty good taking him here at number 83. So, jay, we are getting to, you know, kind of the range where, as far as some of these prospects. I don't know as much about them, but I have heard his name making rounds as far as a guy to maybe look for on day two or three with tremendous value. Anything you know about Kyle Williams, wide receiver out of Washington State.
Speaker 2:I do not, but I've seen a lot about him on Twitter and I mean you're right to go with that pick now. We do believe the JLRs are going to take a wide receiver early at some point in this draft, right, whether it's fourth round or higher, probably higher. So you know you were right to take them there. At what was that 83 as well. So yeah, man, I mean in your mock you went all defense the first two rounds. I mean that makes a lot of sense to finally start getting Trevor Lawrence some help after going straight defense, which I can't blame you for going defense straight with them.
Speaker 2:First two picks with Abdul Carter. You can't pass on him Right, as we mentioned. And getting Nick where you got him that was great value too. That's another part. I forgot to leave out Phil. I honestly don't know that Nick even more would be there where you got him. So that's two great value picks there that I understand. And switching it over to the offensive side and getting the offensive weapon, the receiver, makes a lot of sense there. I will do some research on Kyle Williams after this podcast, since you got him on the mock, and I'll share my thoughts on Twitter about him and in the thread as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he ran a four four. So you know a lot of people will kind of raise their eyebrow at that. But this seems to be a guy who has that game speed. So watching some of the tapes, watching some of the, the content that people put out on him, um, it seems like he could be a sleeper candidate. Uh for somebody, uh for the, for again the correct team. But uh, jay, where did you go? I believe you stayed put at pick number 70, what, what did you have the jaguars taking over on your end?
Speaker 2:I went with a player who has a lot of Duvall in him right and that's Tate Ratlidge, a hard worker, and that's the guard from Georgia. By the way, hard worker dude rocks a mullet for crying out loud, right. So like he might bring this Gardner-Mitchellite aura with him if you will, all right, so like he might bring this Gardner-Mitchellite aura with him if you will. But I mean all of that aside, man, this kid, I mean he's been starting for Georgia at least the last three years that I can remember, playing in upwards of 10 games each of the last three years. He is a young man that when you watch him on field he moves people off the ball at the guard position. That's something that I've stressed, that we don't do well and we haven't done well, especially under Trent Baalke. We just didn't move people off the ball at the guard position.
Speaker 2:Ezra Cleveland is injury prone, right? I mean I know a lot of good stats out there in terms of him in pass pro or whatever the case may be, but he's still not overly impressive to me. So you got to worry about him in terms of making it through a whole season because he has been injury prone. And I know we got Makari, of course, what they paid him. He's probably a two to three year starter, so right guard is probably set if that's where they want to put Makari. But at left guard I would definitely love to get Tank Bigsby and Travis Etienne and Trevor Lawrence as well a guy that can move people off of the ball like Tate Ratlidge and you know he's equally as good in the pass game as well too.
Speaker 2:I think his PFF grades were like 74 as a run offensive lineman or in the run as an offensive lineman, and it was about the same as a pass protector. And, uh, this is a guy that I think you insert. He becomes a long-term guard for you for many, many years and years to come. And, uh, you know, he's a guy that can grow old with trevor lawrence and, uh, help keep him up right as well.
Speaker 2:But more importantly, I think he really would help us in the run game, which is something that Liam Cohen has stressed, that they want to get going to help Trevor Lawrence, and he's a guy that I think Liam Cohen, when he gets his hands on him, he's a guy that would be a staple for that offensive line for years and years to come and somebody who would help us drastically improve our run game, much like Liam did with the Tampa Bay Bucks. Remember they were ranked in the back half of the league when Liam got there and then, all of a sudden, they top their top five. Against the rush, I think, or as a run team, I think you need a player like Tate Ratlidge to get there, and all of the free agency additions that we've made aside from Macari you know I'm not sure they're long term answers. So this pick made all of the sense in the world for me, in my opinion, not just because I'm a Georgia fan, but he's exactly what the doctor ordered for the Jacksonville Jaguars for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Tate's been, I think, one of the most consistent interior linemen over the last few years. He only gave up two sacks his entire career. Like you said, a guy that you would bring in here that could grow with Trevor and just kind of take things personally. It says that when the quarterback gets hit, it says that about him 9.96 on the RAS score. So that's something we haven't brought up in this episode yet. That is ranked eighth out of 1,730 offensive guards from 1987 to 2025,.
Speaker 2:Jay, I forgot to mention that. Yeah, man, he killed it at the combine. Man, if you go back and watch him run his 40 and that mullet just going in the wind and him just like moving, like like butter man with ease. Yeah, I forgot all about seven, four yard dash it was moving, bro, is insane.
Speaker 1:I can't run a 497. I don't even know at my fastest if I ran a 497. Right, right, yeah, I mean as far as depth, like you said, and bringing him in. You know these are a lot. You know Robert Hainsley, patrick McCurry, what was the other? Shuma Adoga? You know these are guys. Fred Johnson, like you said, guys that are on one, two year deals that probably aren't going to be long term solutions here year deals that probably aren't going to be long-term solutions here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, man. When in doubt, man, go get one of kirby smart's prospects, man, and fix your offensive line with it. I mean, hey, it worked out for the patriots for many, many years with what they had david andrews for years, and uh, yeah, there's plenty of other good offensive linemen that have come out of out of georgia. So, yeah, man, I'm with it. I think he you know he was their standout lineman. He was a tone setter. He missed a little time but when he came back, man, he just went right back to work. It was like he never missed a beat. Man can't say nothing but great things about Tate Ratlidge and the leadership also that he brought to that locker room for the Georgia Bulldogs.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so you got this next pick here. We'll go back to you. This is the other third. This is the third round pick you got from the Arizona Cardinals in that trade that landed you at Guka. Let's do a quick recap here as far as where we are at for the first round. Let's start with Jay. First, for his first pick, he traded from number five back to number 16 with the Arizona Cardinals to take Emeka Egbuka. In the second round, pick number 36, he took interior defensive lineman Tyleek Williams out of Ohio State. Second round, pick 47, he went with Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison, and then with pick 70 here going with the guard Tate Ratledge out of Georgia, my pick so far, abdul Carter at number five, nicky Manwari at pick 36 in round two from South Carolina. And for the third round pick, pick 83 after a trade with Pittsburgh wide receiver Kyle Williams out of Washington State. But, jay, I see a very familiar name coming off the board next with that pick you received from Arizona. Who is that guy?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I figured you would love this one, but I went with Andrew Makuba and yeah, man, he's just a guy like you can't when you pop on the film of Texas, you can't help but see him and that's even despite like he, you know to me, probably won't help you a lot and run support as much as you like, but even despite that, like you know, in a passing game and the athleticism and like the IQ, it stands out to you. So for me, man, I was like look, that's great value for him. I think he's like PFF, 62 ranked player and I got him at. Where was it Phil? Let me pull it up here.
Speaker 1:I got him at 78.
Speaker 2:Pff even. You know as harsh as they grade us. They even gave me an A for that as well. Earlier in the draft I went with Benjamin Morrison. So you know I addressed that cornerback position.
Speaker 2:But we can't stop there. Like that defensive back room again needs a lot of help and attention. It's one of the biggest issues on the team. So I definitely can see this team going with two defensive bats in the top four rounds. I would not be shocked by that and I would love to add somebody. You know, with the athleticism and the ability in the passing game and the IQ that um Akuba has, I would definitely wouldn't mind bringing him into the mix, especially a kid who has played at a high level, played against the best of the best in the SEC, almost at the ACC in the SEC. And yeah, he's a guy that of course, like when we make that pick, of course you'll be screaming at the rooftop. You know if we're at the facility which might get us kicked out or if we're at a draft party somewhere. So you know, I just wanted to see that reaction, that that you would give us when we drafted him yeah, man, makuba is a guy.
Speaker 1:He was one of the first guys I mocked to us in in like the very early, early process. He's just a guy that's all over the place. You know, you talked about the IQ. I think the way that he played in the college football playoff was obviously eye-opening for people that weren't paying attention to. Texas last year Started off his first three seasons at Clemson before transferring over to Texas and he did have a pretty good start. I believe he was freshman All-American and then had a little bit of a rocky couple of years in Clemson but something really clicked when he got to Austin and I would be ecstatic if Makuba ends up here in Jacksonville, like you said, trying to fill that safety spot where that Andre Cisco has left behind and also just a position that we have been trying to kind of fill with like temporary glue over the last few years. And a guy like this like you said, at pick 78, really, really good value. Pff states. Bakuba's lacking run defense skill set may turn off some teams, but his instincts and athleticism in coverage make him a top prospect. His game is reminiscent of Devin McCourty, who excelled as a true free safety later in his career with the Patriots but had the savviness to make plays from a variety of alignments because of his football intelligence. So yeah, bring in a guy high football IQ. That is a baller, like you said, played with the best of the best. I think would be a really, really great move. You alluded to it, jay, that I kind of turned this corner into making selections. That would help Trevor Lawrence, where we are continuing that trend here.
Speaker 1:I kept seeing running backs slotted to Jacksonville a little bit later in this draft and you know I went to I'm sure you saw there in our thread I went to our buddy Josh, who is our resident Miami Hurricane fan, to ask him about this pick. I went here, pick 88, so just five selections later with Miami running back, damian Martinez, and I'll tell you why, jay. Now, first off, let me shout out our buddy Josh. He said best back in the portal last year, very north and south runner, but always makes the right read at the line first man, never brings him down, average in the past game, but an elite pass blocker.
Speaker 1:Uh, now obviously, the running backs here that we have currently Travis Etienne and Tank Bigsby, and you know that's kind of been all over the place. Both of them flash. Etienne had an outstanding 2023 and kind of vanished in 2024. We got this looming contract situation with him, so I do feel like running back is a good place to address in a very, very deep class, and the tweet that really stood out to me, jay, is I don't know if their running styles are similar. I didn't watch a lot of Buccaneers football last year. The one comp that came up to me was that he is this year's Bucky Irving, and the light bulb in my head went off because of Lee and Cohen. So I don't know what you know, jay, about this guy.
Speaker 2:He is ranked 81st on the big board for pff, but yeah, damian martinez running back out of miami, pick 88 for me, yeah, martinez is not one that I'm too familiar with, even though I did watch a lot of miami film, specifically for cam ward in the top of the big board, because he's a polarizing quarterback, right. But yeah, I, yeah, I will watch him. But it makes sense because I mean we'll get to that in a little bit. But my next pick was a running back too. So we're kind of thinking the same thing that the Jaguars will at least add one running back, a running back three, to that room. And you know, look, there's no commitment to the guys that Trent Baalke drafted, right? You know we got a new regime here. So from Gladstone's perspective and from Liam Cohen's perspective, you know like they could be looking for somebody to take over, especially for ETN with you know ETN set to be a potential free agent next year. I guess we'll kind of have to like watch how the off season goes with him and see if they like give him a contract, like they did Tyson like before training camp or whatever. He can be one of those guys that I for something like that. But you know they have to get some kind of evaluation and make a hard decision on him. So, that being said, yeah, no, it makes a lot of sense to go with Martinez there and get you a guy, a developmental guy, for Liam Cohen to again he's mentioned it a bunch of times like we need to run the ball right, and that doesn't just like people think, that just alludes to protecting Trevor Lawrence and getting the offensive line better. But you know who's to say he's not looking at getting better running backs as well, or you know a more long-term answer, especially in ETN's case.
Speaker 2:Now, tank Bigsby. I think Tank's future might be a little bit more safe with the Jacksonville Jaguars. In regards to I don't know if you noticed in that video, phil, where Liam Cohen had his press conference, but the way he dapped up Tank Bigsby and looked at him, it was like man, like I'm going to do great things with you, man. I don't know if you caught that, but I was like, hey, man, liam might have some plans for Tank man. So anyway, all that said, man, I definitely agree with this pick, wise use of resources. In my opinion, a lot of people say, hey, don't take a running back until like fifth round or whatever the case may be, but I'm more than fine with taking Martinez, and yeah, I would be game for that, even though PFF gave you a C plus, you know I'll give you a much better grade than that.
Speaker 1:I'll give you a B for it yeah, one other thing that stood out here averaged 4.46 yards per carry after contact, which was second in the class behind Ashton Genting. So pretty good company there for Martinez. So but, jay, as you just alluded to, you also went running back with pick number 88. Who do you got for Jacksonville as the running back that you slotted to them?
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I went with RJ Harvey.
Speaker 2:We've heard his name a lot, right, we've heard that Liam Cohen likes him a lot and it makes sense because they're right down the road from him and he's an Orlando kid, like he was, if I can recall.
Speaker 2:He was born in Orlando so he went to UCF, but he's a guy that I said that to say this is, you know, he's in close proximity to Jacksonville and to Tampa, right, so he was a guy that was hard to miss, whether Liam was in Tampa with the Bucs or here with the Jaguars. That's one of those games, that's a hop in the skip away that you can always go to and watch in person and see the kid in person. I wouldn't doubt that that's played somewhat into this them seeing him in person. But yeah, man, I went with him. Uh, again, great value according to PFF's chart, but yeah, he's a guy that um, pff has him compared to Duke Johnson, who I don't know about, you feel, and I know his career didn't allude to what we thought, but I love Duke Johnson coming out of college, by the way, and I had big hopes for him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did too, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that kid coming out of the draft. So if that's what you're getting potentially with the offensive line, with Tate Ratlidge in the front and McCurry and all of them blocking for him, that would be kind of exciting to watch man Blocking for him. You know, that would be kind of exciting to watch, man. And you just look at what they were able to do last year in Tampa Bay with oh, he's escaping my mind a running back field. Yeah, with Irvin, like you would think, liam Cohen wants to at least get somebody in that room. That could be something like that for us, right, a developmental guy. Or I mean, in Irvin's case, they probably knew that he would be better than where he was drafted in the first place, I mean, if my memory serves me correctly. But all of that said man, yeah, rj Harvey, get a somewhat local kid or in-state kid, I guess is what I would go with here.
Speaker 1:And yeah, man, add some depth to that running back room behind taint, bigsby and travis etn, which, you know, due to the fact of etn's future, has some uncertainty surrounding it yeah, a lot of people believe that harvey will not even believe this is a fact that harvey has the probably the best burst of any running back in the class as far as his, his speed and vision. And, yeah, I think this would also be a great pick. I would love to see them address running back here in this third round range because the class is so deep. So really like that pick. So if they were to go with either one of the guys totally different runners as far as Harvey and Damian Martinez, but also another guy who has drawn comparisons to Bucky Irving either one of the guys totally different runners as far as Harvey and Damian Martinez, but also another guy who has drawn comparisons to Bucky Irving, so yeah, I think this would be a really solid selection for Jacksonville, and PFF agreed with you too. They gave you a B-plus for that selection 72 on their big board.
Speaker 1:Harvey ranks well in PFFs wins above average metric due to high missed tackles, forced averages as a rusher and a receiver and his production in the passing game. If he plays with more urgency and violence, he could be a very productive NFL running back. So, yeah, solid selection there. But, jay, let's get back to you. I believe that was your final pick in the third round and we'll move into the fourth, so this is where you certainly want to start finding value. When it comes to the depth of your team, where did you go and what position did you address in the fourth round? This is pick 107.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I took a page out of Mia O'Brien's book. I stole this one from Mia, so shout outs to Mia. And I think I got a little bit better value than her with the pick, because I got and I don't want to butcher his name, but it's Oluwafemi Aladejo, from UCLA Edge player. I got him at pick number 107. Mia took him at 70. So, like the value was there I hate to sound like Trent Baalke by saying that, but the value was there. And so, yeah, she kind of wrote something about him on 1010XL because, admittedly, he's one that I have to watch a little bit of film on. But just in a nutshell, right, she thinks he fits the and this is something that we'll stress often too. Phil, talk about the unknown and what we don't know about James Gladstone. One thing we do know about James Gladstone and he said this many, many times they want prospects who are intangibly rich, and me o'brien considers um oladejo intangibly rich. Um, he's a guy that he was an off-ball linebacker, um, initially, and then he made the move to edge and he made a heavy impact as an edge rusher. You know, as you've alluded to in your draft, you have him, to your credit, going with Abdul Carter first overall. So you got that edge being addressed real early way, earlier than I do.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, an edge three is needed, you know.
Speaker 2:So they do need somebody behind Josh Hines Allen, behind Trayvon Walker, because after them the sacks were scarce, right, and you probably could pull up theines Allen behind Trayvon Walker, because after them the sacks were scarce, right, and you probably could pull up the stats, phil, of how many sacks were accounted for on this team that weren't those two players.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's a big time need and again, the Jacksonville Jaguars have alluded to this is they and it is specifically Gladstone is they probably are going to rely on a lot of young players on the edge and to generate pass rush for this team. So, in that regard, I think this was a great pick and you know you get somebody to develop behind Josh Hines Allen, trayvon Walker, for them to take under their wing and, yeah, you know you could get a guy who probably, right off the rip, is your edge three because, um, I'm blanking on what the depth chart looks behind them, but it's not great. So they definitely need to address this early, whether it's first, you know, overall, or in the first round, like you did with abdul carter, or later down the road in the fourth round, like I did, and people could argue I might have waited a little too late. But here we are.
Speaker 1:AJ guess, who hosted Oladejo on a visit. We already talked about him earlier who was that? Philadelphia. So again, if Howie Roseman is paying attention, just pay attention to that guy. Just put him on your board and circle that guy as someone to keep an eye on.
Speaker 2:Just follow.
Speaker 1:Howie's lead bro. That was back on the 28th, as Sports Illustrated reported, that the Eagles were hosting Ola Dejo on a visit. So yeah, lots of really solid feedback on him If you just do a quick search. Like you mentioned, a guy who transitioned from stand-up linebacker to edge rusher and that is where he will, I think, make his money in the NFL. 113 on the PFF board. While Oladejo offers a positional versatility, an NFL team will get the best return on investment by keeping him at edge defender. Oladejo's athleticism, explosiveness and long arms are a nice foundation and it appears his best years as a pass rusher are still ahead of him. So yeah, solid pickup there in the fourth round. Um, and, as you mentioned, if Mia had him going you know 40 picks before this or 30 picks before this or so then that's a really, really good value there.
Speaker 1:I continued the trend, jay, at pick 107, with giving Trevor Lawrence some weapons and I went with tight end. Of course, with the departure of Evan Ingram, a lot of pressure is going to be put on Brenton Strange, who a lot of people are very high on. They did sign two more veteran tight ends Hunter Long and Johnny Munt. Those guys are probably not going to be long term solutions. So I went with a guy that I'd seen pop up on our buddy Daniel Griffith's feed and that is tight end Harold Fannin Jr out of Bowling Green. Jay, I sent you a clip of him just absolutely blowing by multiple Texas A&M defenders and then talking about some of the statistics. He put up against some big-time competition such as Penn State. Put up against some big time competition such as Penn State. He's number 103 on the PFF board and I got him here at pick number 107.
Speaker 1:Says here Fannin is a strong receiving tight end with great value after the catch. His blocking reps are good enough to keep him in line as a tight end too, or a wing back on occasion, but his bread and butter and in the NFL will be as a tight end who you can quickly get the ball to after the catch production in a tight end centric passing attack. So yeah, jay, a guy like I said that's been circled on some of our our good friends lists and I found really great value for him here at pick one, oh seven. So this seemed to be a guy that you really weren't too familiar with until you know I we started talking about who our selections were going to be. So Harold Fannin Jr. This is a guy that you think you're going to. You're going to find yourself maybe looking into a little bit more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of the things I noticed when you sent me the clip, of course you know I was sent me the clip, um, of course you know I was on the floor when I saw him juke one db twice like a number. You know what. I want to put the guy's number out there from texas, I don't even want to do him like that, but he juke. Everybody know the clip I'm talking about. He juked the defensive back twice. But one thing I noticed too he had a little bit more like wiggle than I was expecting for somebody that tall and he, yeah, he was extremely tall. So, uh, yeah, I'll be looking into him as well.
Speaker 2:Bowling Green has had interesting prospects. I talked about this with you, phil um, over time. You know they haven't had a lot of people drafted to the NFL, but when they have, you know they've been very interesting prospects. So, yeah, I'll check him out. Um, I think what I will say about the tight end position, and probably me and you probably drafted tight ends, maybe a little too late, but we'll see. We'll see where out they go.
Speaker 2:But I think, like with Liam Cohen's scheme, you know what they probably are looking for is, you know, they don't necessarily need Evan Ingram right, and I think this is important to mention because when you look at his scheme, like they mostly the tight ends that they had in Tampa Bay they used like to do the dirty work right, like that, tight ends that can help them in the run game Maybe that's why they ran the ball so well.
Speaker 2:They had extra help there and people that do the grittyitty work like their tight ends didn't have to be these, you know, insane receiving threats, right. So we'll see. Um, I have to do some film on him to see, like what he offers as a blocker. But all of that being said, yeah, I do think it's going to be a difference in what this regime looks for at that position as opposed to what the last regime looked for. I mean, as we all know, like, evan is a phenomenal receiver, but every time we seen him trying to help or we saw him should I say try to help in the run game, it wasn't pretty right. So I think that's probably why part of the reason why he's not here is because when you look at what Tampa Bay had at that position and what Evan Ingram was is a stark difference there.
Speaker 1:So I think like, yeah, the key there is just finding you somebody who can, who can block well and give you that extra, you know set of help in the run game yeah, absolutely, and I, you know, I believe, if I recall correctly, definitely going with you know guys that are at the higher end of the board at this point to get a PFF grade of an A for this selection. So, oh, also Jay, you know this is probably a little embarrassing. People are probably yelling at the, you know, at their phones or wherever they're listening right now. All Harold Fannin Jr did last year, jay, was lead all conferences in receiving yards with 1,555.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice, I don't know, I don't know what the Bowling Green offensive weapons look like, but 117 catches, 1,500 yards and 10 touchdowns is pretty good.
Speaker 2:It's insane. That is insane. I mean, hey, look, look, he showed up on film against texas a and them. So it wasn't just the people in that conference like, apparently, like this was like the routine for him maybe yeah, so maybe a guy to keep an eye on.
Speaker 1:As far as you know, whoever gets him, um, that that will. They'll get a tremendous value there. To go with another pick of mine, pick 123 here in the fourth round I took LSU cornerback Zai Alexander. This is another guy that I've seen our buddy Daniel Griffith circle as far as some of his you know, some of the numbers is for, when you look at the RAS score, nothing that's going to really jump off of the screen, but from what I could gather, jay, a guy that's just very balanced. He's number 148 on the board for pff, they say.
Speaker 1:Alexander is a fundamentally sound cover corner whose limited athleticism will likely make him either a zone specific cornerback or a potential safety convert due to how reliable he is when tackling and in run defense. So you just talked about it here just a moment ago in terms of just depth, having a guy, I mean, who's not necessarily, admittedly, like the best athlete, but a guy that could be maybe dependent upon to play multiple positions and help out in situation. Now is round four a little bit too early for that, probably. But again, going with people that we trust and people that whose opinions that I respect, and slotting a guy here where, in a position of need, certainly, even though he may not jump off the screen in terms of what we're seeing in, you know, in things that aren't tape, you know, like, just when you're looking at the numbers, you're breaking down things in the pre-draft process. Maybe not a guy that's going to jump off that way but, like I said, a guy that I've seen pop up from some of the people that we trust.
Speaker 2:Yeah, alexander, again, these late round guys. We'll watch a little bit more film on afterwards, but what I will say is this man, alexander, is coming from the wide receiver capital of the world. So, that being said, he's practiced against the best over time, right? Brian Thomas Jr last year, if that is, if Alexander was there last year, because I know a lot of these kids transfer like more than they used to. But I mean, you talk about people like Brian Thomas Jr that have come through there and all of these other receivers as well, in terms of just in the passing game in general, that have come through there, and all of these other receivers as well, in terms of and just in the passing game in general, that have come through lsu. I'm sure he's well battle tested and to get a kid like that fourth round right, I think that is a good thing to get at. You know, at that point of the draft as well. And, um, yeah, again, just kind of saying what I was saying earlier, they do need to add some depth to that room, you know, and you know as early as possible, because they've dealt with injuries there the guys on the back end, obviously, you know they're more so back end and special teams, guys like your buster browns of the world. But all of that being said, man, I agree with you going with a cornerback here. I mean, looks like our theme and our pattern were along the same, like mindset right fixing that defensive back room, which you have, alexander and Nick Imanwari. Getting a receiver for Trevor Lawrence, which you did, adding a half back to develop, you know, because of the Travis Etienne situation. And fixing pass rusher number three, which you did without dual Carter, which is you knocked that out of the park. So yeah, man, I will watch some of Zai Alexander, but I wouldn't be shocked if I'm impressed by him, just for the simple fact he's practiced against the best during his time at LSU.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it looks like he was a transfer, but he had two seasons at southeastern Louisiana but then transferred to LSU in 2023, so obviously good enough for LSU to circle and bring them, bring him into their program. So, uh, you know, maybe a guy to keep an eye on. But, jay, let's get to your final fourth round pick here. This is pick 126, and, lo and behold, another name that I am very familiar with and a guy that I would once again be very happy to hear his name called for the Jacksonville Jaguars on draft night. Who you got here?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I went with your guy, Gunner the Stunner, Gunner Helm, who I know I just mentioned. You know the Jacksonville Jaguars probably are looking for people and I could probably rely on you more so for this that are better blockers than they are pass catchers. But you know I was just going best available player at this point, I do notice. But you know I was just going best available player at this point, I do notice. You know, a lot of the times I've seen Gunnar Helm showing out was in the passing game. He has soft hands for sure guy that'll go up and high pointed over everybody. So you know, if you're looking for an athlete at this position, at the tight end position that's, you know good value to get at that point in the draft where I got him.
Speaker 2:But yeah, a guy, battle tested, has seen the best of the best defensively, your Georgias of the world, your South Carolinas of the world, whatever the case may be. So I went with him there because I mean, I do think they're going to add some help to that room. They have guys who can help them in the regard of blocking right. We already named them Brenton Strange the gentleman, the two guys they picked up in free agency that I'm blanking on. So, yeah, why not add you? You know a guy that's an athlete there that can help you in regards to the passing game. But I would not be shocked if they still kind of gravitate, if they get one more tight end towards those guys that can help them get another body to help in the run game.
Speaker 1:Yeah, gunnar Helm became that safety blanket for Quinn Ewers at Texas and a guy who I think would just be incredibly reliable. Do I think he'll ever be you know that superstar tight end one? No, but I think he could be. He could be a guy that could definitely start for you in situations for a short amount of time and a really good tight end to the 120 on the PFF board. Helm has worked his way into becoming one of the class's best after the catch tight ends. He isn't the strongest run blocker but he does have good feet and pass protection. Getting stronger would give him more opportunities as tight end two with starting potential, so high character guy that I know trevor would be very, very happy to have here in jacksonville.
Speaker 1:Jay, let's get to the latter half of the draft.
Speaker 1:Let me do this here really quick because I only have one more pick, um, and then you can kind of rattle off your fifth, sixth and seventh round picks, because the last pick I had 123 was I.
Speaker 1:Alexander was another one of those selections I got in that Pittsburgh trade back in the third round. So let me just rattle off my last fourth round pick because it's a guy that you're going to talk about here actually in just a moment, and I took Seth McLaughlin here from Ohio State Center and this is actually who your next pick is going to be in the fifth round, so I probably reach for him a little bit. But again, when I'm getting to these later rounds, there's I'm not really familiar with with many of these players. Now Seth McLaughlin, I believe, is coming off of an injury, so this is another guy on on our lists that did have some injury issues in 2024. But what do you know about Seth and what do you think about bringing him in here as a guy that could fill in, possibly in the long-term role, maybe on the interior of the line?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I kind of took the same route as you, just going best available player. Again, a lot of these late round guys I haven't seen, but I did dig up some on PFF on him here. Best available player, even though, again, a lot of these late round guys I haven't seen, but I did dig up some on pff on them here. Uh, but yeah, it says mclaughlin played over 1 800 snaps and I think what they're trying to say is with alabama it might be a typo uh, before transferring to ohio state and winning the remington award for the nation's best center. So you're talking about a guy who has been praised on a national level as the nation's best center Through his grading profile was closer above to average than elite. So I mean, that's what you're approximately what you're getting when you're picking this point in the draft. Right, it's players that are kind of average and not necessarily elite unless they have character issues. Is players that are kind of average and not necessarily elite unless they have character issues. And he says he has his extensive big game experience is an asset. That's something that we need here. Is people that have been in the moment. Right, he's played against your Michigans of the world, all of these other teams. But, yeah, he has big game experience, even though he was hurt through the playoffs prior to that. You know he played in big games. So you know we need those guys who have been in the moment he is a guy again.
Speaker 2:You know you could develop in terms of an offensive lineman, a developmental offensive lineman. I mean, I know they have Luke Fortner and that Liam Cohen worked with Luke Fortner at Kentucky, but still, man, I think, like competition is the name of the game for that offensive line because, as we've seen, we've had to play a lot of backup offensive linemen and when we played them it hadn't been pretty. So how do you fix that? Well, you put competition there right. Not only do you push the starters but you push the backups too and you get better results when you have to fill in a guy on that offensive line. That was your number two or your number three and, um, you know, I think we definitely could see this team even triple dip at offensive line. Uh, if that's even some of the guys that they are, some of the picks that they have later in the draft that they use towards it. But I am am expecting them to build competition for that offensive line and to help the depth, in addition to bolstering the starting offensive line as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, once again going back to the well of guys that have been with winning programs. Look at the schools you've drafted from here. Jay, ohio State this would be the third Ohio State prospect Two Texas prospects so far Notre Dame and then Georgia, and we'll throw UCLA in there for good measure as far as talking about big-time schools. So, yeah, I would certainly be okay with this, you know anything, to maybe get Luke Fortner up out of here, even if this is a guy that's coming off an injury. So you got a couple of picks left here for sixth and seventh round, if you want to just talk about those really quick before we wrap up for the episode and then just kind of recap the whole draft overall.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I went with Kyle McCord with my next pick. And let me, I want to pull up the overall number. That was pick number 182. I think that's one of the ones I got out of the trade, or no? That was one of our original picks, I guess. So I got Kyle McCord quarterback from Syracuse.
Speaker 2:Doesn't hurt to grab a quarterback late in the draft if one is available, and develop them. So yeah, I went with Kyle McCord there Again, I'll have to watch some film on him. But he had his best year statistically, when you look at PFF, at least grade wise, in terms of 2024, he graded at a 90.5. So I mean to get that late in the draft. You know you can't beat that. And again, we we know Trevor Lawrence Wright has had injuries to deal with. You know, hopefully we'll don't have to deal with that this year or in the future. But you know you just can never be too prepared at the quarterback position because you never know your QB2 might have to step up. And then you know if Trevor is not there you have to have a backup for the QB2. So, all of that said, I went with Kyle McCord from Syracuse.
Speaker 2:And then, the last pick, I went with a guy that you were probably familiar with, jake Majors. He was available at that point in the draft. He was, I think he is number 221 on the big board and that's where I got him at pick number 221. So, like the value was even there, again, a kid that's battle tested, that has, you know, lined up against your Georges of the world and Nazir Stackhouse and all of these studs that you've seen on the Georgia line and that you've seen on the rest of these SEC lines. So you get a battle-tested kid there to add more competition right to that offensive line.
Speaker 2:Again, I would not be mad if we invested two late round picks into the offensive line just for the competition aspect of it, because again, when we've had to put in our number twos, they haven't been great and something needs to be done. They're not just the front line, the number one offensive starting line, but the backups as well. A whole stir up needs to happen with this offensive line in general and I think Liam Cohen will look to do that. And players that represent good value like that at the end of the draft are, you know, guys, that they can pick up and try and develop over time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know too much about Kyle McCord but I will speak on Jake Majors. If you got him at pick 221 in the seventh round, that would again be just a great value. I know people are probably confused about taking two centers, like you did here, jay, in the later rounds and with round five and round seven. But you know you do want to try and find guys that are maybe a little bit versatile and I think Jake Majors could be a starter one day. I don't know Again, I don't know enough about Seth McLaughlin and his skill set, but if these are guys that can be versatile and you can move around as far as in the interior, then really, really good value at both round five and round seven. So let's get to a quick recap here. Let's go through Jay's picks first. Once again he traded out of pick number five with the Arizona Cardinals back to pick 16 to draft Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Agbuka and in that pick he also picked up their second round pick, a third round pick and then round two and four picks in 2026. In round two with pick 36, went back to Ohio State with defensive lineman Tyleek Williams, pick number 47. In the second round he went with Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison, round three, pick 70,. He took. Tate Ratledge out of Georgia, round three, pick 78,. Safety Andrew Makuba out of Texas, Pick 88,. Ucf running back, rj Harvey, pick 107. In the fourth round, oluwafemi Oladejo out of UCLA. Edge rusher, tight end Gunnar Helm out of Texas, with pick 126 in the fourth round. Getting to the fifth round, ohio State center Seth McLaughlin, and then the sixth round quarterback Kyle McCord out of Syracuse, and then Jake Major is heading back to UT with pick 221. So so, jay, three Texas picks here. I don't know if you're trying to make me happy, but I am very much okay with this mock draft Three Ohio State players as well, and then you see Notre Dame, ucla and UCF and Syracuse represented as well.
Speaker 1:I only did the first four rounds here. Abdul Carter fell to me at pick number five, so I just had to make that selection there. Nicky Manwari at pick number 36. Pff hated it, but we did not. Kyle Williams, wide receiver out of Washington State, pick number 83 in the third round. Five picks later. Damian Martinez running back out of Miami, florida, pick number 47,. Tight end to Harold Fannin Jr out of Bowling Green, and then, rounding out the fourth round Zy Alexander, pick 123, cornerback out of LSU. And then I also had Seth McLaughlin here, pick 126 in round four.
Speaker 1:Pff gave me a B grade here on those picks that I selected. And, jay, they gave you an A. So what really brought me down was that Nick Emanwari draft. I think I was probably trending towards a B plus or maybe even an A grade like you, but they just really didn't like that pick. But I'm very happy with both of these mocks. We'll get these out on social media as well. But, yeah, how you feeling, jay, as far as how the board fell for both of us. I think there are aspects of both of these drafts. If you kind of put them together, both of these mocks, I should say we would come away from the draft weekend very, very happy yeah, man, um, yeah, I am happy where where we are with these drafts now.
Speaker 2:Admittedly, I just would have have liked to, um, do a little bit more homework on the late round guys. But again, you know we're busy, man, like what can you do, right? So, yeah, again I'll go back and I'll look at some film on a lot of these guys that we got in the late rounds so I can provide some analysis on them as we get closer to the draft. But, yeah, man, I think PFF definitely degraded you a little too harshly there, like that Eamon Worry pick, like I don't know, man. But then again, we've said this you know, pff sometimes don't see things in the same lens as we do, right, and you know, sometimes we've been right when we viewed a player differently than them and higher than them, and sometimes we've been wrong, so it's been the other way around, you know. So, all of that said man, yeah, man, I can't wait to start doing my homework on these late round picks so I can like start like putting out a little bit of analysis on them and also, I mean I probably what I'll end up doing. I'll probably do one more mock once I, you know, evaluate the players that we have and see if I can get some better fits later in the draft.
Speaker 2:But yeah, man, as always, it's always fun to talk about the draft, man. Always fun to heat up these simulators, man, because we didn't have these back in the day, we used to have to do this on pencil and paper and pen and paper, whatever the case may be. So, to heat up these simulators, man, it's always a fun little exercise to do. And yeah, man, I can't wait to give you all more draft coverage heading forward yeah, we love draft season.
Speaker 1:Hopefully, like I said, we are going to aim to put out one more episode, uh, right before the draft on the 24th, and typically we also record on the evening of the draft as well. So, um, we'll have to figure that out as far as um recording schedule and uh, everything like that. But we'll be, we'll make sure to get up some content as soon as possible. But, jay, anything else you want to mention to our audience before we get out of here for the evening?
Speaker 2:now I just, um, as I said, expect that big board, probably tonight, um, to get up, and then we'll probably, um, I want to do like a few scout reports on common players that are mocked to the drag wars, you know, mason Graham, abdul Carter, travis Hunter, so on and so forth, just to give people something to already be on the site for draft day um, that they can refer to in terms of, like, a analysis on the players that we could take in round one. So you know, I want to do that as well. Of course, as I said, I'll do one more mock draft as well, like with maybe you know some better fits after I evaluate my current mock draft. But yeah, man, I can't wait.
Speaker 2:Man, draft season is always fun. Yeah, man, I can't wait, man, draft season is always fun. And yeah, man, just stay tuned to our social media, the website, as we get you all ready for another draft and, more importantly, the first draft without Trent Baalke in that room, and I cannot wait to see the results, just for that fact alone. All right, phil, you can wrap it up.
Speaker 1:What a time. What a time. We did not think it went out. We didn't even know if we were going to be here.
Speaker 1:As far as touchdown Jags, at this point we're recording on Saturday evening, april 12th who knows what we would have been doing if Trent Balky were still around? Who is our coach in that universe? Who? What happened? We don't ever want to know. But, folks, thank you so much for joining us again here on Touchdown Jaguars and for sticking with us throughout the the sporadic uploads. But we are. We're definitely going to try our best and get back in a manageable schedule. So you want to make sure to keep up with us over on social media. Find the Linktree link in the show notes of the episodes. Find Jay at Sports Grind underscore Don and myself at Phil the Filipino F-I-L-I-P-I-N-O, and check out that website Touchdown Jaguars for continuous draft coverage as we pump that out over here on our end. Folks, that is my co-host, james Johnson, and I am Phil Smith, and do not forget to tune in to Touchdown Jaguars for every Jaguar touchdown and we will see you next time. You guys, be safe.