Marlon McCree was the Jacksonville Jaguars’ best compensatory pick

He’s a player many current Jacksonville Jaguars fans probably don’t know, but Marlon McCree has a claim to fame in Jaguar lore after being a compensatory pick.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have unfortunately started to become big players in the draft in recent years, largely because they’ve been bad and held one of the first few selections each year. One thing the Jaguars haven’t had in numerous years is a compensatory draft pick.

That makes sense considering compensatory draft picks are a consequence of letting good players in free agency leave, something the Jaguars haven’t had to worry about in quite a while.

Brad Gagnon over at CBS Sports went through each teams draft history to find the best player they’ve ever acquired via a compensatory draft pick, an exercise that was probably all too easy with the Jaguars. He ended up choosing a blast from the past – former defensive back Marlon McCree.

"Jacksonville Jaguars"

"Best compensatory pick: S Marlon McCree (Round 7, 2001)Front-seven defenders Danny Clark and Bobby McCray both had success as occasional starters after being drafted with seventh-round comp picks in 2000 and 2004, respectively, but McCree had a six-interception campaign as a full-time starter in 2002. He also went on to have some success in Houston, Carolina, San Diego and Denver."

Bobby McCray is probably the more “famous” name between the two and I would’ve gone with him since he had a solid 10 sack season before leaving Jacksonville and signing with the New Orleans Saints. McCree isn’t a bad choice however, as he did start for the Jaguars and hung around in the league for a solid 7+ seasons before retiring.

The big takeaway from this exercise is how bad the Jaguars are at not just drafting, but acquiring compensatory picks. To be fair however, the rest of the teams on the list aren’t exactly trotting out hall of famers as their best compensatory picks. Outside of a handful of franchises that lucked into perennial all pros (Tom Brady, Larry Allen, Hines Ward), most teams have maxed out at finding decent if uninspiring contributors.

But congratulations to Marlon McCree for finding a way to be relevant in 2017!