Quote:I would disagree with you when it comes to the case of a very early pick like we have this year.  

 

If you make that pick based on team needs, and throw out talent as a criterion, you are drafting for short term results and ignoring long term value.  You would be drafting for the next 8 games, when the 3rd overall pick should be spent on a player for the next 8 years.   This team has a lack of star players.   This is (we hope) our last chance to draft this high.   If there is a defensive lineman who is a better value than another player who plays a position of need, if we don't take him, then not only do we have less overall talent on our team as a result, but we also wind up in a situation where we have to face a guy like JJ Watt twice a year for the next 8 years.   You've let another team pick a player who is better than the one you picked before them!  

 

Besides, the 3rd overall pick isn't the only shot we have at filling team needs.   We have free agency, and the rest of the draft.  

 

With the 3rd overall pick, you have to pick the very best player.   It's a rare shot at getting a star player.  Even if the guy plays defensive line. 

 

The reason people are saying we will pick defensive line with our first pick is because there are a couple of defensive linemen rated higher than everyone else in the draft. 

 

I never said we should reach for lesser talent. I hated the Tyson Alualu pick when JPP was on the board. Gene Smith was like the 49ers picking Alex Smith instead of Aaron Rodgers. I think Jaguars fans forget the mistake in the past was picking the wrong guys to fill needs. If there is a player at a position we need who grades in the top five - and I am not saying there is - you pick him instead of a defensive lineman who also grades in the top five. If the best player available will be the next J.J. Watt, of course I will like having him - as long as there is not a safety who will be the next Earl Thomas.

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