(04-28-2018, 06:25 AM)Jags02 Wrote: [ -> ]I guess we can call this the "all backups" draft. Despite Caldwell's claim that he looks to draft starters in the first three rounds, this year we drafted three backups...
Round one - backup to Malik Jackson
Round two - backup to Donte Moncrief
Round three - backup to Barry Church
Look at it this way, each player will compete for the starting position. Each player drafted so far is the best possible football player we can get. The position is secondary affecting or better stimulating the competitiveness of our own best players. This is how great teams develop. Every athlete accepts the challenge of staving off a fierce competitor.
As the saying goes...'with each victory the samurai tightens the helmet'. The veteran player spends his career competing.
Projecting these new pro players to be back-ups is old Jaguars' thinking. There's no way on earth Tom Coughlin will allow his staff to 'draft for depth' as the know-nothing local media loves to characterize the doings of a NFL draft. I hope we have finally reached and end of local media members throwing their weight around expecting the Jaguars to comply with their opinions. We don't draft for depth any more. We draft young men who understand they are expected to give the veterans on our roster, fair, honest competition, and, if they prevail, they will have earned a starting position. Tom Coughlin has always insisted his veteran players know they will compete for their positions and Tom is not going to accept lesser effort from anybody. Lesser effort is all it takes a unchallenged veteran to win the starting job. The same is true when you deliberately draft a player who poses no threat to the established veteran.
Veterans LOVE competition. Athletes love competition. Show me a pro basketball player who doesn't want to go head to head with any other player in the league in a game of twenty-one. I know of no pro wrestler who doesn't want a cage match with folded chairs against the reigning champ. Not a baseball player in the major leagues who doesn't want to take a crack at hitting off the consensus league ace pitcher. This is what's in their juices. They thrive on competing. It makes them the most competitive player at their position AND when you stimulate competition for roster spots on a regular regime you then find your team is also competitive within the division, conference and ultimate they will be competing for the Lombardi Trophy.
When a tub of goo sportswriter pens an article telling us who we should pick to provide "depth" at a position, it tells me he or she knows NOTHING about football.
Sadly for over a decade the Jaguars have taken heed not to upset the apple cart - not to cross up a existing veteran with competition steep enough to win a position battle outright.
Double-digit losses year after year were the result.
In one year, Tom Coughlin has woken the superior athletes who had been hibernating. The result was a divisional crown. Regardless of who is up and down in the AFC South we won it with toughness and competitive spirit.
Winning begins with competition within each and every unit of your squad. It's Tom Coughlin and David Caldwell's job from now on to make sure we have a steady flow of competitive players, who pride themselves in being the absolute best player they can be.
All three draft picks so far will have immediate impact on the roster. Let's hope our beloved veterans understand the best man wins and once it is settled they accept they STILL are a vital part of our continuing effort to be the NFL franchise. Losing a positional battle fairly is no excuse to sulk and feel sorry for oneself. Attrition quickly reverses success unless the next man up is competent and just as competitive as the down guy. Dumping salary after unit battles is a grave mistake. Your roster is never more than one deep and all too frequently the next man up is a taxi squad guy from another NFL team, who probably doesn't have any idea about the system. Retaining veterans is always a big part of roster maintenance. Losing a unit battle is NOT a excuse to dump a contract beyond reasonable circumstances. A guy could have a period of bad followed by a rebound. Cutting talent is the last resort, not the first option.