Marquez Williams could be Jacksonville Jaguars’ best 2017 value pick

The Jacksonville Jaguars have not featured a true fullback in recent years, but Marquez Williams could become the lead blocker that the team desperately needs.

Drafted in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL Draft, Marquez Williams wasn’t someone who immediately caught the attention of the NFL world. Seventh rounders rarely do.

But his impact will far outweigh his draft position.

In writing about value draft picks for each NFL team following the 2017 NFL Draft, Sayre Bedinger of NFL Mocks noted that Williams will be the Jags’ best value.  Writes Bedinger:

"Williams won’t carry the ball a ton, and he may not even catch a lot of passes, but this is the type of player whose impact will be made known in an offense when the Jaguars are wearing teams out with their running game."

The running game needs to improve, which is one of the reasons the Jaguars are returning to the fullback position after a few years without one. I pegged him as a possible unsung hero if the Jags fullback does help rejuvenate the team’s flagging ground game.

Blocking first and rushing later may not be sexy, but it can be effective. It’s a proven strategy that many teams rely on, even in today’s pass happy NFL. More importantly for the Jaguars, it could help keep some wear and tear off of valuable 2017 first-round running back Leonard Fournette.

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Fournette is intimately familiar with contact and won’t shy away from hitting defenders, but his tough, aggressive style may go even further if the players he’s running over are in the second level of the defense. Having someone like Williams to clear the way and get him to the second level could be invaluable.

And that makes him far more valuable than the typical seventh round pick. Chalk it up to the fact that the fullback position has almost completely lost its value in recent years (and certainly since Greg Jones was made a second round pick by the Jags in 2004) and that a fullback can still hold plenty of value (much like late-round or undrafted place kickers).

Hopefully Williams can come through in a big way. He certainly looks like he’s ready.