NFL Draft: Should The Jaguars Trade Back Into 1st Round For A QB?

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

When discussing the upcoming NFL Draft with fellow Jaguars fans, one idea that you’ve probably heard thrown around a lot is using the third overall pick on an ‘elite talent player’, and then trading back into the first round to snag a quarterback. While this may seem like a great idea on the surface (can you imagine Teddy Bridgewater throwing bombs to Sammy Watkins every Sunday?), it is a risky proposition.

To start off, you would have to hope that all of the quarterback-needy teams like Cleveland and Minnesota would pass on taking  a signal-caller with their first pick. While there are several quarterbacks in this draft class that have been deemed “first round worthy”, what are the chances that one of them falls fall far enough to consider trading back up? Not to mention that the team probably doesn’t have all the QB’s graded evenly, so they would not only need a guy to fall, but be lucky enough for it to be their guy.

If the team was lucky enough to have a quarterback that they liked fall far enough to consider a trade, they would then also have to consider the value of the move back up. They would likely be giving up their 2nd round selection PLUS additional picks later in this draft, or possibly a 1st or 2nd rounder in next year’s draft. Now, the player that they would be trading up for would essentially be the team’s second round pick, so that one is a wash. However, is it really worth giving up multiple draft picks for one guy, especially if the picks span multiple drafts?

The point I’m getting at is this: if the team likes a quarterback enough to trade away picks to move up and get him, they should probably just take him third overall. As we all know, quarterback is the most important position and your team has a slim chance of success without a good one. While it would be nice to be able to snag one of the top QB’s, as well as an elite receiver/defender, it’s probably too risky of an endeavor to attempt. I still think the best scenario would be to trade down a couple of spots (Atlanta at six, maybe?), and grab a quarterback then. Obviously, this is easier said than done, but I do think it would be a better route than trying to trade back up for a guy that you could have just picked at three.

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