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Jacksonville Jaguars should pass on Leonard Floyd

By Luke Sims

Oct 17, 2015; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs linebacker Leonard Floyd (84) and Missouri Tigers offensive lineman Nate Crawford (55) battle during the second half at Sanford Stadium. Georgia defeated Missouri 9-6. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 17, 2015; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs linebacker Leonard Floyd (84) and Missouri Tigers offensive lineman Nate Crawford (55) battle during the second half at Sanford Stadium. Georgia defeated Missouri 9-6. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports /
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Leonard Floyd is having a meteoric rise up draft boards in the couple of days before the 2016 NFL Draft, but the Jacksonville Jaguars would be wise to take a pass.


Leonard Floyd is making waves as teams jostle for position, throw up smoke screens, and struggle to outplay each other in a pretty rigid draft structure. Every NFL draft has a player that disrupts the entire order and after the exciting trade by the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles it looks like Floyd is that man.

The talk on Twitter is fast and cheap and only fed more by people like Ian Rapoport as Floyd continues to draw attention.

Daniel Lago covered Monday Morning Quarterbacks’ take a couple days ago when it was suggested the Jacksonville Jaguars should trade back for Floyd, saying:

"The move seems kind of wacky, especially if the Jaguars have their pick of Joey Bosa and Myles Jack at number 5, but it’s justifiable if the teams thinks there are lots of talented players deep into the second and third round. Leonard Floyd at 15 is a solid choice as well, but the interesting part of King’s snippet there is the first sentence where he implies the Jaguars are considering Floyd at number 5 overall."

The fact of the matter is that Floyd hasn’t been mind-blowingly impressive, hasn’t shown consistent improvement in college, and seems more like the flavor of the month (or the last couple of days) than anything else. He had 17 sacks in three years, roughly evenly divided per year with 2015 being his lowest total. He also had 26.5 tackles for  a loss in those three years with a high of 9.5 and low of 8.5

Those numbers are decent and paired with top performances in the 40-yard dash, vertical leap, and broad jump, it’s logical that he’s making a quick rise up draft boards. He isn’t jumping off the page as a home run hit, but he’s certainly seen as a strong option.

Next: 5 round Jaguars mock draft

Still, after three years of development at Georgia, it would have been nice to see further progress on the stat sheet from Floyd. At this point it looks like a much lower ceiling than has been implied in recent days. The Jacksonville Jaguars would be wise to give him a pass in round one of the 2016 NFL Draft.

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