Jacksonville Jaguars biggest need heading into the draft is guard
By Daniel Lago
After investing most of their free-agency budget on the defensive side of the ball, the Jacksonville Jaguars still have pressing needs along the offensive line.
With the 2017 NFL Draft quickly approaching, questions are still abound about what the Jacksonville Jaguars might do with the 4th overall pick. With the team hosting a variety of the top prospects, their intentions will likely remain unknown right until Roger Goodell steps onto the podium to announce their selection.
The only thing we have to work with is the state of the roster, one that looks quite different after a fairly active free agency period. The front office chose to focus on the defense, adding new starters in Calais Campbell, A.J. Bouye, and Barry Church. The team also acquired a new starting left tackle (Branden Albert), but he’s more of a short-term plug than a long-term solution.
ESPN recently asked all their team bloggers for each franchise’s biggest need heading into the draft, and Mike DiRocco chose to focus on guard for the Jaguars:
"Left guardThe Jaguars didn’t address the position in free agency and seem satisfied with re-signing Patrick Omameh and allowing him to compete for the job with several other veteran reserves. That doesn’t rule out the Jaguars taking a guard early in the draft, but the Jaguars didn’t make the position a priority this offseason. They believe the offensive line will be fine in 2017. That’s a leap of faith — or a bit of whistling in the dark — because you could argue a new right guard is also needed given A.J. Cann‘s poor play last season."
As DiRocco notes, the Jaguars conspicuously left the offensive line alone in free agency. They had the chance to try and lure in a big name guard like Kevin Zeitler or Larry Warford, but they decided against spending oodles of money on them. I think that absolutely points to the front office drafting at least one offensive lineman if not a few. The interior of the line is in dire need of depth and adding youth to develop through the draft seems like a sure bet. Expect some big guys in the mid-to-late rounds.