Quote:I see where Caldwell indicated that Atlanta offerred the Jaguars a 3rd round pick to switch places in the first round. What do you think the chances would have been that Bortles would have still been there at pick 6? I totally understand that Bortles was the Jags guy and didn't want to risk losing him to Cleveland, Oakland or a team that loved him enough to trade up to pick 4 or 5. However, how nice would it have been if the Jags made this trade, still got Bortles and was able to also draft Marcus Martin with the pick from Atlanta?

 

I say the odds of losing out on Bortles was extremely low. Buffalo would have traded up to take Watkins and Oakland would not have taken Bortles, although I don't know who they would have taken since Mack would have been selected by Atlanta. Imagine adding the draft's best center to the haul the Jaguars still got. They would have earned an A++ grade rather than the A most experts gave them. I guess I'm just greedy, but I would have rolled the dice on that one and if I lost I would have "settled" for Manziel or Evans and traded back up for Teddy if Evans was the pick.

First off, an extra third rounder wouldn't be enough to make that trade enticing, especially if you knew Bortles was your guy.


Cleveland would have taken him and that extra pick wouldn't take the sting of losing a guy you envision being your franchise QB. Settling for Manziel wouldn't make it any better, especially knowing he's really not the type of guy Gus & Dave have targeted.


Bortles just fits here. It was a risky decision, but nobody will care about an extra third round pick if Bortles pans out.

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