Quote:And I really don't think people have a grasp on just how bad the condition that the roster was in by the time Ol' Gene Smith got done with it. Did you see that list that popped up in the O-Zone from today? The "core players" for this team should be the First through Third Round selections from 2009 through 2012. The eleven players selected from those twelve spots are:

 

<p style="margin-left:40px;">Eugene Monroe, Eben Britton, Terrance Knighton, Derek Cox - 2009

<p style="margin-left:40px;">Tyson Alualu, D'Anthony Smith - 2010

<p style="margin-left:40px;">Blaine Gabbert, Will Rackley - 2011

<p style="margin-left:40px;">Justin Blackmon, Andre Branch, Bryan Anger - 2013

<p style="margin-left:40px;"> 

Just look at that list! Only seven of those players are even in the League, much less core contributors for anyone, not just Jacksonville! And one is a Special Teams only guy. Caldwell didn't have a rebuild job, there was nothing left to rebuild. He had to start from the ground up.

 

And then, in his first draft this is what he was looking at for First Round selections:

 

<p style="margin-left:40px;">Eric Fisher T, Luke Joeckel T, Dion Jordan DE, Lane Johnson T, Ziggy Ansah DE, Barkevious Mingo LB, Jonathan Cooper G, Tavon Austin WR, Dee Milliner DB, Chance Warmack G, D.J. Fluker T, D.J. Hayden DB, Sheldon Richardson DT, Star Lotulelei DT, Kenny Vaccaro DB, E.J. Manuel QB, Jarvis Jones LB, Eric Reid DB, Justin Pugh T, Kyle Long G, Tyler Eifert TE, Desmond Trufant DB,  Sharrif Floyd DT, Bjoern Werner DE, Xavier Rhodes DB, Datone Jones DE, DeAndre Hopkins WR, Sylvester Williams DT, Cordarrelle Patterson WR,  Alec Ogletree LB, Travis Frederick C, and Matt Elam DB.

 

You're supposed to rebuild your franchise from the ground up from that?!?! That class was so bad that four, four!!!, Guards were selected in the First Round. I'm not saying that the team doesn't need to make improvement and a lot of it. But I am pointing out that I don't think any team ever was faced with the situation that Jacksonville was in when Khan took over the team. It's as close to the literal and non-exaggerated term of "historical" as you can possibly get.

 

My only issue with the way they handled the roster in Dave's first year was how they completely blew it up and really didn't add any pieces that first year.  There was no reason they had to let go of a guy like Darryl Smith, and I know there were others that still had gas left in the tank and weren't taking up a ton of cap room.  They completely stripped this team down to nothing and I feel like we're still fighting back from that. 

 

I still think we're missing that veteran presence on the team that can rally the troops when the time comes.

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