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Blaine Gabbert is Worst First Round Pick in Jacksonville Jaguars Franchise History

By Daniel Lago

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It’s sometimes painful to look back into the past, especially when it comes to failed draft picks, but we do it anyway. Whether we’re afraid of repeating history or have some masochistic tendencies, we always find ourselves going pack and seeing just how badly former personnel men screwed up draft decisions.

Will Brinson over at CBS Sports just published an article highlighting the low points of every team’s drafts since 1990. The Jaguars have plenty of failed first round picks to choose from, but the worst draft pick ever is easy.

"Jacksonville JaguarsBlaine Gabbert, 10th, 2011Pretty miraculous group of bad wide receivers drafted by the Jaguars with high first-round picks over a 12 year span. Basically every three years the Jags were setting a first-round pick on fire by selecting various wideouts who didn’t amount to much of anything. But it’s not even close: Gabbert is clearly the worst pick. Jacksonville traded up in the 2011 draft to grab the quarterback 10th overall. He went 5-22 in three years, throwing 22 touchdowns and 24 interceptions and averaging 5.6 yards per attempt. The worst part? Gabbert went one pick before J.J. Watt.Notable:R. Jay Soward, WR, 29th, 2000Reggie Williams, WR, 9th, 2004Matt Jones, WR, 21st, 2005Justin Blackmon, WR, 5th, 2012"

The Jaguars managed to waste an absurd amount of draft capital (trading away a second round pick to move up) to select arguably the worst starting quarterback in the modern era of the NFL. That’s not hyperbole – Football Outsiders rated Gabbert as the worst quarterback in the history of the DVOA era. As Brinson mentions, the Jaguars passed on J.J. Watt for Gabbert, but former general manager/destroyer of franchises Gene Smith also passed on a handful of quarterbacks. Choosing Gabbert forced the Jaguars to pass on Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick in 2011, and then forget about guys like Ryan Tannehill and Russell Wilson in 2012.

Gabbert without a doubt is the worst draft pick in the history of the franchise, and maybe one of the worst draft picks ever by any team. He’s certainly in the discussion with players like Ryan Leaf and JaMarcus Russell.

That’s enough of that nightmare. Let’s get back to 2015 and move forward in a more positive direction.

Next: Jaguars bringing in top prospects for visits.

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