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Jacksonville Jaguars 2018 NFL Draft: Trading down seems unlikely

By Daniel Lago

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 01: UTEP offensive lineman Will Hernandez speaks to the media during NFL Combine press conferences at the Indiana Convention Center on March 1, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 01: UTEP offensive lineman Will Hernandez speaks to the media during NFL Combine press conferences at the Indiana Convention Center on March 1, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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The Jacksonville Jaguars have all the options available to them in the first round, but trading down seems unlikely barring a crazy offer.

Only a couple of weeks away from the draft, content is starting to get bone dry. We’re on the umpteenth iterations of everyone’s mock drafts and all of them are going to be wrong.

Still, we just can’t help ourselves.

At least some folks break up the monotony with some fun, albeit contrived, mock draft ideas..

In one of his more unavailing annual columns, Bill Barnwell over at ESPN put together his “All-Trades” mock. In this exercise, every pick in the first round is traded in a vacuum (no trades are coupled with any others) for what Barnwell considers to be a logical reason. This is generally a good excuse to throw together somewhat rational, if completely impossible, trades. For example, Barnwell has the Cleveland Browns trading their pair of first round picks (and then some) to the Indianapolis Colts for Andrew Luck.

When he gets to the Jacksonville Jaguars, he mails it in.

"29. Jacksonville JaguarsJaguars get: 2-42; 3-73Dolphins get: 1-29; 4-129The Jaguars can basically stand pat with their roster at this point, and they are going to get calls from teams who want to move ahead of the Vikings and Patriots to draft offensive linemen. The Jags are all set there after signing Andrew Norwell this offseason, so while they might look for pieces on the edges of their roster — notably a slot corner — they can probably do that in the second round. Miami moves up to find another lineman as the Dolphins desperately try to protect Tannehill. Imagine Brock Osweiler behind that line!"

This is a fairly boring trade on both sides, but the exchange of picks at least seems somewhat plausible. The line that brings pause though is the mention of the offensive line.

The Jaguars are hardly “all set” along the offensive line. Andrew Norwell and Brandon Linder are the only surefire high quality starters along that group. The Jaguars absolutely need some help on the right side, where A.J. Cann has been a disappointment at guard and Jermey Parnell is nearing the end of his contract.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Jaguars stood pat and took a guard (Will Hernandez) or a tackle (Connor Williams) at this spot.

Going back to the compensation, if this is what the Jaguars are going to get in return, a trade seems unlikely. The Jaguars aren’t looking for multiple starters, so it doesn’t make much sense to load up on 7+ draft picks. Instead, stay where you are (or even move up) to get a high quality prospect.

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