Have the Jacksonville Jaguars ever had the No. 24 overall pick in the draft before?

The Jacksonville Jaguars seemed poised to clinch a high pick in the draft at the midpoint of the 2022 season. However, they managed to turn things around and ended up winning the AFC South and making the playoffs.

The downside of qualifying for the postseason (and winning a game) was that the Jags ended up getting the 24th overall selection. This marked the first time they earned a pick outside the top 10 since 2017. That year, they had the 29th overall pick, which they used on Florida defensive tackle Taven Bryan. Remember him?

And before you get the pitchforks out, Jacksonville did have the 20th overall selection in 2020 but that was the result of trading All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey to the Rams. That same year, they held pick No. 9, which they clinched after going 6-10 in 2019.

With the draft inching closer, now is a good time to take a look at the picks the Jags have had in the 20s throughout their history.

When was the last time the Jacksonville Jaguars had the 24th overall pick in the draft?

Surprisingly, this will be the first time the Jaguars will hold the 24th overall selection. Given their lack of success in recent years, they've mostly picked in the top 10 but they've had several selections in the 20s. For example, they've held the 21st overall pick three times.

The first time was in 1997, when Jacksonville took defensive end Renaldo Wynn. The Notre Dame product had a solid career, appearing in 182 games, 73 of those with the Black and Teal. During his five-year stint in Jacksonville, Wynn registered 27 sacks, 348 total tackles, and five forced fumbles.

While those might not be the numbers you expect from a first-round selection, Wynn fared much better than the other two players the Jaguars drafted 21st overall, Matt Jones (2005) and Reggie Nelson (2007). Nelson wasn't a bad pick per se but he really hit his stride until he left Jacksonville in 2010. Meanwhile, Jones didn't do much of a note throughout his tenure with the Jags and often got the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

The Jaguars also had the 29th pick twice. More recently, they used it to choose Bryan. The other time they had it, they took Jay Soward in 2000. Kassidy Hilly, formerly of Jaguar Report, had a sitdown with Soward in 2021 and wrote about his struggles in the NFL.

Other picks the Jaguars have held in the 20s were the 26th in 1999 (Fernando Bryant) and the 28th in 2006 (Mercedes Lewis). And in case you're wondering, Jacksonville has held the same pick in back-to-back years five times in team history.

They held pick No. 2 in 1995 and 1996 (Tony Boselli, Kevin Hardy), the 10th overall in 2009 and 2010 (Derrick Harvey, Eugene Monroe), the 10th overall in 2011 and 2012 (Tyson Alualu, Blaine Gabbert), the 3rd overall in 2014 and 2015 (Blake Bortles, Dante Fowler) and more recently the top overall selection in 2021 and 2022 (Trevor Lawrence, Travon Walker).

Looking at all those past picks, it's fair to say that the Jacksonville Jaguars don't have a particularly great success rate in the first round of the draft. But if they build on last year's success and continue to restock their roster, they won't be picking in the top 10 any time soon.