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jaglou53 · 02-11-2022, 04:27 PM

Tony Pauline is one of the most respected experts regarding the NFL draft. While nobody gets them all right, he has an excellent track record on which players will excel at the next level. He has been doing this a long time and appears to do more research/film study than others in this profession. He was interviewed on 1010xl this week and had these impressions of the draft class following the Senior Bowl:

1. There is a wide gap between the 2 premier pass rushers when compared to the left tackles. He loves both Thibodeaux and Hutchinson, although he seems to be leaning towards Thibodeaux due to his higher upside. Initially, he feels Hutchinson may be better but in the long-term Thibodeaux should be more elite. He sees Neal and Ekwonu as better right tackles or guards than the more desired left tackle position. However, if the Jaguars do trade down either would be a solid pick.

2. Tight end is the deepest position in this class. He believes a team like the Jaguars could draft a very good player in the 3rd round or even at the top of the 4th. His favorite is Wydermyer, which differs from many who prefer McBride.

3. He doesn't seem to believe there are any receivers who are "guarantees" to be elite in the NFL. He expects the 1st receiver to be taken after the top 10 picks and is likely to be Garrett Wilson. He indicated that Treylon Burks is going to drop come draft time due to weight concerns and difficulty separating from defensive backs. Overall, he really seems to like this group despite there not being any Jamar Chase's in the bunch. He feels Jahan Dotson would be a very good pick if he fell out of round 1.

4. Trevor Penning, Zion Johnson and Jermaine Johnson improved their stock the most during Senior Bowl week. He believes Zion Johnson will be taken in round 2, but the other two should be 1st rounders.

5. Devin Lloyd and David Ojabo are 2 other players he is very high on.

Although Pauline had no very surprising insights during this interview, I believe there are definitely implications regarding personnel decisions the team will have to make in the draft and free agency. These would include:

1. It would be a mistake to reach for an offensive lineman with the first pick, despite the fact that many mock drafts have us taking Neal.

2. They should not pay too much for a free agent tight end when they could likely draft a very good player in the 3rd round. Guys like Gesicki and Schultz are solid players, but are likely to get much more money than they are worth. Signing a less expensive player like Gerald Everitt, Evan Engram or O.J. Howard would be preferable. Zack Ertz would also be good, as long as the contract is of short duration.

3. The decision on whether to franchise Cam Robinson will be a tough one. He didn't speak much about the overall tackle group so it's difficult to know whether he feels that there are quality right tackles who could be drafted in rounds 2 or 3. Although Robinson certainly isn't worth even close to the $17 million he'd receive, he did only give up one sack last season and might be better able to protect Lawrence than a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick.

Caldrac · 02-11-2022, 05:12 PM

Agreed. Been saying that about Neal personally. As have a few others around here. The TE class is very deep this year. I think I like McBride a bit more because he's seen a lot of success out of the traditional stance from his position. Wydermyer has been fairly consistent at A&M though. I also like Charlie Kolar, Jake Ferguson & Jelani Woods. You can probably get one of them in RD3.

Disheartening to hear that about Burks though. You would think BECAUSE of his size he would be able to get more separation. If he's struggling with that maybe he's not somebody we should be eyeing in RD2. However, if he's correct with his assessment? Dotson's all but cemented himself as a late RD1 candidate. He has a higher ceiling and can do a little bit more overall I think.

It'll be an interesting two months ahead. I think they need to keep Cam Robinson, and they already invested a 2nd RD pick in Walker Little last year to possibly replace him or compete with Jawuan Taylor at RT. I think they would be better off targeting Armstead and Scherff at this point in March. They have a lot of picks in RD6 to where they could potentially move back up into the bottom of RD3 or early to mid RD4 to land a viable prospect at T or G to groom for a year or two behind a veteran they pick up in March.

"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."