The Jacksonville Jaguars aced all their picks in the first three rounds of the 2021 NFL Draft. All of them, aside from safety Andre Cisco, are still around. However, they didn't have nearly as much success in the last four rounds. This becomes even more frustrating when you take into account that there were intriguing prospects available, and the Jags passed on all of them. One of them, in particular, stings more than the others.
Damian Parson of Bleacher Report took a look at the biggest steals of the 2021 draft and included Amon-Ra St. Brown, pointing out that he's gone on to be one of the top wide receivers in the league despite the fact that he was the 17th off the board that year.
"Over the years, plenty of newly drafted prospects make bold statements about teams paying for passing them up or remembering the players drafted before them," Parson wrote. "Amon-Ra St. Brown is one of the few to live up to the hype."
Parson continued, "St. Brown fell to the fourth round of the 2021 NFL draft, which didn't sit well with him. He can still name all 16 wideouts who were drafted before him, which he said he'll never forget. St. brown is one of the best pound-for-pound wide receivers in the league. He has outplayed his draft position and brougth immediate reliability and consistency to the Lions' passing attack."
In case you were wondering, some of the receivers that were taken before St. Brown include Ja'Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, Nico Collins, and DaVonte Smith. All of them have become impact contributors, so you can't blame their respective teams for taking them and passing on St. Brown. On the other hand, the likes of D'Wayne Eskridge and Amari Rodgers have been underwhelming, so it's easy to see why he feels disrespected.
Heck, even Dyami Brown, who signed with the Jags in free agency, got off to a slow start to his career and didn't put it all together until last year. So even though he's off to a promising start to his stint in Jacksonville, there's no denying that St. Brown is the superior player of the two.
St. Brown has hauled in 430 catches for 4,851 yards with 33 touchdowns in 66 games with 58 starts. He's crossed the 1,000-yard mark three consecutive seasons, and came close in his rookie campaign with 912 yards. Furthermore, the Anaheim Hills, California native has earned three Pro Bowl nods and two First-Team All-Pro designations. This is a long-winded way to say that he's vastly outperformed his draft slot.
The Jaguars dropped the ball when they passed on Amon-Ra St. Brown
In Jacksonville's defense, they didn't take a receiver in the first four rounds, but they did select Jalen Camp in the sixth, and he never played a down for them. Even worse, passing on St. Brown has come back to haunt them. Not long ago, the former USC Trojan was dubbed their kryptonite, and rightly so. He's torched the Jaguars the two times he's faced them, posting a combined 22 receptions for 275 yards with four touchdowns in those matchups.
Of course, players' readiness is always variable, and if clubs had known St. Brown was going to turn into a game-changer, they wouldn't have passed on him. Heck, the Detroit Lions didn't take him until the fourth round, so you can't give the Jaguars that much flak for not taking him. Then again, neither of the players they drafted in Round 4, edge rusher Jordan Smith and defensive tackle Jay Tufele, panned out, so Jacksonville doesn't get a pass either.
In the end, there's nothing the Jaguars can do. In fact, their fortunes might not have changed that much even if they had drafted Amon-Ra St. Brown. Nevertheless, it stings to know that one player they passed on turned out to be their Achilles' Heel.