(04-29-2023, 08:21 PM)OG-JAGFAN Wrote: My take. 

The first 3 picks were offense. It was clear that supporting the Qb was the top priority. I have no problem with the picks in these rounds.

The team is bringing in a ton of competition. Players like Devon Lloyd who appeared to be lost at times are going to feel the pressure. Competition is always good.

The team decided to take 13 swings this year. Will have some strike outs, base hits, and hopefully some home runs. I do not buy a ton of stock on where a player is drafted. Sure the odds drop of getting a starter in every round. There are also plenty of cases were great players drop in later rounds for stupid reasons. See Tom Brady 6th round or Jerry Rice dropping to 16th overall from a lackluster 40 yard time. There are plenty of other examples.

The team is comfortable with Herndon at nickle. Unless they make a move outside the draft I do not see many options at corner.

I know these were not the Draft Expert type of picks. The so called Experts get as many wrong as the average GM. Mike Mayok was a draft expert king so he got his shot at GM. We know how that turned out. My point is because a player is not on ESPN or NFL network draft board does not mean it's a bad pick. They very well could all be bust. I am taking the wait and see approach.

I would like to personally thank you for well thought out post. I have the same thoughts. 

I saw this draft as a GM gets his buggy in the grocery store and says ok I know what I lacked in 2022, so lemme make some specific selections to increase my chances. 

The culture has changed in Duval and I kept hearing that word during the draft process. Dougy P is trying to bring a championship to this city and he knows what he needs to get there. For all we know, maybe they had Trevor’s input along with a couple of other guys. 

The Harrison pick was a homerun. I heard a few experts say he was the best tackle in the draft. He can play both sides and he can play guard. We lost Taylor, Cam will be suspended, and Little still has the jury out. Harrison will be a day 1 starter and will be protecting our franchise. Homerun pick since we got the best tackle in the entire draft. 

Strange was blocking people in the ground, and running extra crispy routes and torquing his body and making sure handed catches.  Engram might be on a 1 year tag and demand a lot of money that we can’t afford. But Strange brings quality personnel at that position. Extremely strong hands and catches fluidly and is tough to bring down. He can create mis-matches on weak side backers, come out the backfield, motion, etc. 

Bigsby made me think of Tavian Banks. Taylor was the man, but it was cool to see Banks doing his thing before he got hurt. Bigsby brings raw talent that Hasty just didn’t have. Last year Hasty made the long TD but outside of that he didn’t bring much to the table. Tank Bigsby can give us what Corey Grant did back in 2017. He can also play special teams. He’s a scat back or for you Mopar guys…scat pack. 

The Miller pick put guys like Muma and Lloyd on notice. Lloyd led all LB with 5 takeaways in 2022, but he also led all LB of being out of position. Muma came in and was as pedestrian as you could get. Miller will also give us room to move our backers around until we find a good fit. He will also play special teams.

Abdullah - him and Bigsby are my favorite picks. If this guy was 3 inches taller and 10 more pounds he would have been a top 5 pick. He’s a 34 OLB that runs a 4.4 he will cause all kinds of problems with his speed alone against Left and Right Tackles that run 4.Evers if he can keep the big guys off him, he can blow plays up.

Lacey will get some work at 34 DE/DT he adds some bulk along that defensive front and has the athleticism to run plays wide and the size to space eat and clog some stuff up. 

Johnson is a big guy at 6’2” 200 pounds, runs a 4.52. Dalvin Cook ran a 4.53 back in 2017. Jenkins is on notice and will have all the competition he can handle come camp time. One thing this guy has is he brings the hat. He knocked a few guys silly and he’s rangy. Jenkins struggles in coverage, but we will see if Johnson can put the clamps on better than Jenkins. 

Washington missed the final 3 games of his college career and still led the team in receiving yards. He didn’t run at the combine or pro day but this dude was making OBJ type catches. He’s a short strider and will be a match up night mare for any safety or LB. He only had 8 drops his entire collegiate career. Another offensive weapon for Lawrence to go along with Strange, Bigsby, Etienne, Kirk, Engram, Jones, and Swagnew. That’s a lot of weapons for #16.

Hallet and Hodges offer depth, youth and special teams. You always hope for a diamond in the rough but they will have a chance to show what they got.

You can also see that our front office is getting ready for Lawrence’s payday. We’re going to be losing some guys that we would normally keep in any other era, but with the contract they are gearing up for you have to accept that some positions will not be addressed like you want. On the other hand, this draft could turn out to be a bust and they all stink, or we may find 3 starters and a couple rotation guys. We can’t draft Hall of Famers every single pick and we can’t have Pro Bowlers at every position. 

Maybe they are gearing up for Budda Baker, maybe not. 

Our focus should be to win our division and make the playoffs. The AFC South should run through Duval, and play in front of our fans at the Bank. Take it one game at the time from there. 

At the end of the day, we still have one of the best coaches in all of football and we have a superstar QB going into his 3rd year. He took this same roster minus the draft to the playoffs and won a game. Let Lawrence Cook!

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