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Jacksonville Jaguars Grab Arian Foster in Kiper’s 2009 Re-Draft

By Daniel Lago

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Coming off a massively disappointing 5-11 season in 2008, the Jacksonville Jaguars went into the 2009 NFL Draft in a state of flux. Head coach Jack Del Rio was safe after signing a big contract the year before, but then-owner Wayne Weaver decided to promote a well-renowned scout to the general manager position – Gene Smith.

There’s no need to dig up the awful… just awful memories from that horrific regime, but Mel Kiper Jr. over at ESPN decided it would be fun to look back at the 2009 NFL draft and slot the players to new teams based on hindsight. The Jacksonville Jaguars originally chose offensive tackle Eugene Monroe. In his re-draft, Kiper has the Jaguars looking at a ball carrier currently on a division rival.

"8. Jacksonville Jaguars: Arian Foster, RBFoster’s actual slot: UndraftedJacksonville’s actual pick: Eugene Monroe, OTEasily the top steal of 2009, Foster went undrafted, falling on injury questions, fumble issues and (of course) positional value. (All of those things can of course be disputed — I’m just stating what the reality was from the team perspective at the time.) He’s second only to McCoy in rushing yards for this class (6,309) and also has more than 2,000 receiving yards. Foster dips slightly on future potential, having missed time in each of the past two seasons."

Monroe was probably Gene Smith’s “best” draft selection during his catastrophic tenure as GM, but Monroe essentially fell into his lap thanks to the teams at the top of the draft opting for more boom-or-bust prospects at tackle (Jason and Andre Smith).  Regardless Monroe was an average left tackle who played well enough to keep his starting job, but never well enough to live up to his top 10 draft position.

It’s interesting to see Kiper go with a running back here, considering how much confidence the Jaguars had in up-and-coming rusher Maurice Jones-Drew at the time. Kiper has Michael Bennett going 11th to the Buffalo Bills, and I think he would’ve been a significantly better fit at the time, especially after taking future draft bust Derrick Harvey the year before.

What do you think? Who do you wish the Jaguars had taken in the 2009 draft?

Next: Jaguars go defense in mock draft.

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