(05-05-2019, 01:27 PM)p_rushing Wrote: (05-05-2019, 12:32 AM)TJBender Wrote: The draft is an inexact science. Based on what I've seen and read, Williams would likely have been gone before the fifth round. Caldwell even said that they knew they didn't have a fourth-round pick and they tried to trade down but couldn't find a taker. In the middle rounds especially (and let's not kid ourselves, compensatory threes are into the middle rounds), you make moves like that. Take the guy who could start tomorrow at one position instead of the guy that grades better today but would be buried on the bench at another spot. Taking Daniel Jones at six or Clelin Ferrell at four is a reach. Taking a linebacker you like at the very end of three because you have a strong feeling he'll be gone by the next time you're on the clock isn't.
(05-05-2019, 12:48 PM)NH3 Wrote: I personally don't feel that the Jaguars reached on drafting Williams, especially if he was the best LB available at that pick. The Jaguars allowed the draft to come to them especially when Allen fell to us. This draft may be one of our best w/respect to multiple early contributors.
Time Will Tell.
NH3...
Both of those players were going in the 1st round. Sure they may have been drafted a few picks later, but they weren't as huge of a reach. He hasn't played against top competition. I really doubt he was getting picked in the 4th round. He said himself he was expecting not to be drafted and was getting calls about signing after the draft. Hopefully he turns out to be a good player, but it's a really big uphill battle.
This is like the punter pick, the Jags needed a punter so we better draft him before anyone else does never mind no one else was drafting him until 2-3 rounds later. Same thing with this pick. Other teams may have liked him, but he wasn't good enough to even get an invite to the combine. Gene Smith's picks were at least known and had measurables listed. It's a huge reach in the 3rd round.
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A punter is a huge reach in the third round. A baseball player is a huge reach in the third round. A 25-year-old with one year of college experience is a huge reach in the third round (even that's debatable). A guy with pending legal trouble is a huge reach in the third round. A linebacker who took 11 visits, was praised at a post-draft press conference by a different team's coach and has numerous personnel execs that knew him and liked him? Not a huge reach in the third round. Teams make bigger reaches in earlier rounds all the time. Also, his measurables are easy to find. If I can find them in a good 30 seconds of searching, I'm pretty sure David Caldwell wasn't sitting there scratching his head to figure out what Williams' 40 time was.
