(08-10-2021, 09:18 PM)TheO-LineMatters Wrote:

(08-10-2021, 05:13 PM)JagsFansince1995 Wrote: I said I'd just visit but bullseye I know you see the trend.  Most in this thread are concerned with a down rookie yr with injuries and only 1 great game.  It's yr 2 and he's not mentally 100% an trade rumors are flying as normal with player absence.  Him succeeding is usually a 3 to 4 yr evaluation period but most here are done with his 8 game rookie yr.  The narrative is pretty clear about who wants him to succeed.  Although, it does sounds about right for the safe zone comment of, "we want him to succeed as we do all  jags players."  Fans gonna fan tho

extra sarcasm:  I wish most had this same energy when they wanted foles. Waste of time, money, n roster space, bit I digress.

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With Henderson, there is just too much surrounding this kid. It was the poor tackling red flags that he had coming into the draft, the body language he showed when he was drafted, the great first game he had and then the terrible play which followed, the injury and then the rumors which have been swirling around his supposed mental health issues. There's just so much. Usually when there is this much smoke, there's a fire. Trust me, I'd love to be wrong about him. I HATE wasting 1st round draft picks. It drives me insane! I want Henderson and Chaisson both to succeed, even though I was vehemently opposed to both picks. Worse than anything else, I hate seeing my team constantly losing, because of a lack of talent. I want to draft talented, young players which can pull this team out of the depths of despair that we've been in for decades. If that means admitting I was wrong about a player, so be it. I'm rooting for Henderson and Chaisson, but I'm also a realist and I just haven't seen anything yet that makes me believe these two were worthy of where they were taken. I sincerely hope they prove me wrong this season. I wanna start winning or at least getting to a respectable .500 record. I'm tired of losing.

I will start by saying my opposition to the pick at the time had nothing to do with any mental health issues on his part.  I did not know of any so I did not include that in any pre or immediate post draft analysis of him.  I saw the clip where he didn't seem happy, but it could have been he was just caught up in the emotion of being drafted.  But I read a subsequent article where he was interviewed and expressed a happiness to be here...so I brushed it aside.  He played incredibly well the first game against the Colts, had a lesser but still good game the following week, but has gone downhill since.

Last year was viewed by most as a referendum on Minshew.  He was coming off an incredible rookie year where he exceeded all reasonable expectations would would have for a rookie late round pick thrust into action the way he was.  I felt in order for the franchise to make the right decision at the most important position on the field, we needed to give him all the tools necessary to succeed.  Accordingly, my advocacy focused on talent on the offensive side of the ball that seemed to merit first round consideration in all of the pre draft speculation-the offensive line and WR.  My main three candidates for that #9 overall pick were Wirfs, Ruggs and Jeudy, with additional consideration given to Jedrick Wills, whom I dropped because I was uncertain if he could play LT.  The only other thing I had against Henderson is that he represented a temptation to chase need in the aftermath of the Jalen Ramsey trade, and that he would not help definitively answer the question about Minshew.  His UF pedigree played no role whatsoever in my analysis.

Sadly, I find myself echoing completely the sentiments expressed above.  My desire to be right about any pre draft analysis I offer pales overwhelmingly in comparison to my desire that the Jaguars get each and every pick right in the most spectacular way imaginable.  I cannot imagine any Jaguars loving fan who is not simply beaten down by the staggering, overwhelming, oppressive stretch of losing.  I know that being older than most here and being a football fan for some 44 years now, I understand that as a rule, losing seasons are inevitable and part of the NFL cycle that has and will hit every team.  But having no Super Bowls to our credit (trophies or even appearances), in addition to having only ONE (1) winning season since 2008 strains beyond measure the patience I have developed while learning those realities.  I am ready for this team to have an extended bout of winning.  Having that one winning season in 2017, being less than five minutes away from reaching our first Super Bowl, only to completely waste the considerable array of talent accumulated only makes that period even worse.  Knowing that we may have missed on Henderson and Chaisson trying to replace two prominent members of that 2017 team at two premium positions is pouring salt in the wounds.

The only conceivable solace I take in this is the team's poor performance last year led to us getting Trevor Lawrence.  But as great as I think Trevor Lawrence will be for us, that insane rationalization for bad draft picks absolutely MUST STOP!  That won't be a justification any longer because we have our franchise QB.  It's time for the arrow to point straight up.  After this season, there is zero reason that playoff contention should not be the reasonable expectation...but that level of expectation cannot be realized if we continue to miss on draft picks.

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