Draftees the Jaguars regret ignoring in favor of Jay Tufele in the 2021 NFL Draft

The Jaguars could've drafted Amon-Ra St. Brown in 2021

Amon-Ra St. Brown has become one of the best receivers in the league since the Detroit Lions drafted him in the fourth round of 2021. He came up short of the 1,000-yard mark in his rookie season, but the former USC Trojan has crossed it each of the past two years. On top of that, he's earned two Pro Bowl designations and a First-Team All-Pro selection.

Up until this day, St. Brown has not forgotten that 16 receivers were drafted ahead of him, and most of them haven't been nearly as productive as he's been. The exceptions are JaMarr Chase, and Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith, a trio of first-round selections, and Nico Collins, a third-round pick by the Houston Texans.

Like Waddle and Collins, St. Brown has gone on to sign a contract that makes him one of the highest-paid wideouts in the league. And looking back, it's a bit puzzling that the Jags and many other teams passed up the chance to draft him. This is even worse when you take into account that Jacksonville took Jalen Camp, who didn't even make the initial 53-man roster, two rounds later.

Given how bad the Jags' wide receiver corps was in 2021, the Sun God would've probably gotten a chance to show what he could do right off the bat. That year, DJ Chark was projected to be No. 1 but he went down four games into the season after breaking his foot. That left Marvin Jones Jr. as the primary option in the passing game by default.

It's possible that the Jaguars' offense would've still been dreadful in 2021 even if they had drafted St. Brown but, at least, they would've had a foundational piece to build around. Heck, maybe the front office wouldn't have signed Christian Kirk or Zay Jones the following year.

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