2013 NFL Draft: How Can The Jaguars Trade Back?

I recently posted an article on how the Jaguars have three top candidates for the number two spot in the NFL draft.  Even if the Kansas City Chiefs opt not to pick quarterback Geno Smith with the top pick, the Jaguars can just add him to their list of possible selections and will still have three highly probable, successful players to pick from with pick number two.  This is not a situation any team likes to be in.  Teams like the model of the 2012 NFL Draft more.  Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Trent Richardson, all laid out for you in perfect order.  Even with picks 2-7 changing due to trade, it was obvious who would be going high and who wouldn’t be.

The 2013 NFL Draft is nothing like that.

The 2013 NFL Draft is one you want to trade back from.

But how?

Where is this year’s RGIII?  Source: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

The only way I see the Jaguars trading back (Assuming they want to trade back) is if they figure out a player that someone behind them is absolutely in love with.  Maybe it’s the Oakland Raiders demanding Damontre Moore and no other pass rusher or maybe it’s the threat of picking Luke Joeckel that forces the Philadelphia Eagles to trade up.  The Jaguars, if they get serious about trading back, need to find these situations and start to exploit them immediately.  They need a Philip Rivers/Eli Manning scenario.  The question then becomes: who is the most likely player or players to be coveted by another team?

Out of the top defensive ends, I see Damontre Moore as the most likely to be coveted by a team with a top 10 pick.  The guy has been a beast in college and has the physical tools you look for in a dominant defensive end.  Assuming the Jags don’t want him or find him to be of equal value as a few other defensive ends still available, the team could leak that they are thinking about taking him or they could take him and try to shop him over the next couple picks.

The scenario I’m describing is not totally unfamiliar to anybody who pays attention to the three-day ordeal that is the NFL Draft.  Teams constantly try to one-up each other by shopping picks and leapfrogging to ensure they get their man.  With the holes the Jaguars have on their roster, I can see the team wanting to accumulate a few more picks in this year’s draft.  If the team really wants to trade back, though, their options may be limited.

There’s always the combine to put some guy way above the others.  Fortunately, there’s always the Raiders to try and trade with for that guy.

– Luke N. Sims

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