Draftees the Jaguars regret selecting in favor of LT Luke Joeckel in 2013

Draftee the Jaguars regret ignoring for Luke Joeckel: Ezekiel Ansah, DE

If you were in need of pass-rush help or looking for a quarterback in 2013, that draft wasn't for you, or at least the first round. Only one signal-caller was taken, EJ Manuel at No. 16 and most of the edge rushers selected in the top 50 ended up flopping in the NFL. The exception was Ezekiel Ansah an intriguing talent that only started playing football in college and went to the Detroit Lions at No. 2, three picks after the Jags took Joeckel.

Born in Ghana, Ansah tried out for BYU's basketball team but didn't make the cut. He had much better luck in track and field and eventually made the transition into football. Even though he had never played before, he thrived and became one of the hottest defensive end prospects ahead of the 2013 draft.

Ansah's playmaking prowess carried over into the pros. He had eight sacks and two forced fumbles in 14 games as a rookie. He then started all 16 games in 2014 but only had seven quarterback takedowns. But the best was yet to come and he registered 14.5 sacks and made the Pro Bowl in 2015. That was the first of two times he posted 10+ sacks in a season throughout his football career.

The downside of drafting Ansah is that he was somewhat inconsistent early in his NFL career and was eventually slowed down by injuries. From 2018-2020, the former Cougar missed 28 games and he would walk away from football after the 2020 season. But just like Justin Pugh, he would have been a better choice than Joeckel.