Anton Harrison gets love in NFL Draft do-over despite Jaguars' rough start to 2024

Offensive tackle Anton Harrison became a key contributor for the Jacksonville Jaguars in his rookie season. Although he got off to a rough start, he finished the season strong. Expected to make a leap in Year 2, the former Oklahoma standout has struggled a bit in 2024. However, that didn't stop Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report from showing him some love in his latest do-over.

Knox re-did the first round of the 2023 draft and had the Jags taking Harrison again, citing his improvement as the season progressed. This time, though at No. 24.

"While the former Sooner hasn't been perfect for Jacksonville—he allowed five sacks as a rookie, according to Pro Football Focus—he hasn't been a disaster either. He started all 17 games last season and seemed to progress rapidly as the 2023 season went on."

What makes Harrison's success more impressive is that he switched sides. Having mostly played on the left side for the Sooners, he moved to right tackle as a rookie. It wasn't always pretty, with the Washington D.C. native struggling against All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones early on.

However, Harrison eventually turned the corner. After giving up five sacks in the first eight games, he didn't allow any in the last nine. This season, he's given up seven total pressures and two sacks. He hasn't been much better in the run-blocking department, posting a Pro Football Focus grade of 45.1. Not an ideal start, most definitely.

The silver lining is that Harrison's issues are fixable. In the following clip, he got beaten, but mostly because he slipped.

Moreover, the sophomore right tackle hasn't been outright bad. He's still playing at a high level, he simply must cut down on the mistakes.

Despite his struggles, though, Harrison has proven to be a more-than-capable replacement for Jawaan Taylor, who signed a top-market contract with the Kansas City Chiefs last year.

Anton Harrison must be part of the solution for the Jaguars moving forward

The Jacksonville Jaguars have failed to find consistency and rhythm on offense. One big reason has been an inability to run block and pass protect. In the former area, they rank 28th in the league in rushing yards before contact.

While Tank Bigsby and Travis Etienne have enjoyed success running the ball the past two weeks, their production will be much better if the offensive line steps on. On the other hand, they must also give Trevor Lawrence better protection. So far, they've surrendered seven sacks and 10 quarterback hits to start 2024. That's simply too much.

Although Lawrence must make better decisions, he's also struggled because he doesn't always have enough time for routes to develop.

Of course, the playcalling could also have been better. If the coaching staff knew the O-Line had struggled to hold their own during the game, it was odd to ask them to maintain their blocks for so long.

The good news is that the Jacksonville Jaguars have time to fix their issues. As Anton Harrison showed in 2023, you can get off to a less-than-ideal start but turn things around. He'll need to do it again this season.

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