The Jacksonville Jaguars 2014 Draft Class is in for a Big Pay Day
By Jacob DeFee
The Jacksonville Jaguars drafted extremely well in 2014 and will soon have to pay up in order to keep the core of the team together.
Jacksonville Jaguars’ general manager Dave Caldwell’s first draft class could not have gone much worse. After guard Luke Joeckel, and safety Johnathan Cyprien signed elsewhere in free agency there is not a single player left on the Jaguars’ roster from the 2013 draft class.
But, Caldwell’s 2014 draft class is completely different. The 2014 class looks like one of the best draft classes in team history if not the best overall.
Caldwell selected some key pieces on both sides of the football in 2014 and the team will soon have to make some big decisions on how to keep them together for the foreseeable future.
To refresh your memory, here is what the Jags’ 2014 draft class looked like:
Round 1: Blake Bortles, Quarterback/Central Florida
Round 2: Marqise Lee, Wide Receiver/Southern California
Round 2: Allen Robinson, Wide Receiver/Penn State
Round 3: Brandon Linder, Guard/Miami (FL)
Round 4: Aaron Colvin, Cornerback/Oklahoma
Round 5: Telvin Smith, Linebacker/Florida State
Round 5: Chris Smith, Defensive End/Arkansas
Round 6: Luke Bowanko, Center/Virginia
Round 7: Storm Johnson, Running Back/Central Florida
With the exception of Storm Johnson, every player from this draft class remains on the Jags’ roster, and six of them play key roles on the team. If Jacksonville wants to keep them together they need to get started on extending their contracts as they are all scheduled to become unrestricted free agents in 2018.
The following is a prediction on what the Jaguars will do with their key players from the 2014 draft class.