3 Observations on the Jaguars Drafting Ouachita Baptist Cornerback Gregory Junior
Needing to solidify the secondary depth before the end of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars took their first step by selecting Ouachita Baptist cornerback Gregory Junior in the sixth round at pick No. 197.
Junior, who was a First Team All-GAC selection last season, appeared in 43 games for Ouachita Baptist and started 33. In 43 games, Junior recorded 128 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 17 pass deflections, and one interception, with seven pass breakups coming in 2021.
With Junior an under-the-radar prospect, what kind of value does he present on Day 3 and what kind of role could he carve out on Jacksonville's roster? We break it down below.
Jaguars placed a big emphasis on Senior Bowl
The Jaguars picked a good amount of Senior Bowl talent and in general senior athletes this draft; Junior, Luke Fortner and Chad Muma were all at the Senior Bowl while Devin Lloyd and Montaric Brown were also seniors. The only picks who weren't were Travon Walker and Snoop Conner. Junior's selection specifically appears to be in large part because he was a senior.
If Junior wasn't a senior when he declared, he wouldn't have got invited to the Reese's Senior Bowl. Getting an all-star game invitation is major for any small-school prospect because it allows them to share the field with a higher level of competition. With Junior at the senior bowl, he went against wide receivers all week who would have been the most talented receiver he faced in all of college. Junior's performance in Mobile is clearly a big reason he is with the team today.
“It’s real important. It’s also important that they dominate their level of competition. When you turn on a small school guy that you feel can compete at this level, he jumps out at you and Greg did that, so we’re very confident he’s going to come in here and now compete obviously," Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke said after the draft. "It’s a much higher level, he’s going to have to adjust to it, but he showed at the Senior Bowl that he was capable of making those steps. We’ll bring him in and let him go to work.”
Gregory Junior is a high-ceiling prospect, the kind you want to take on Day 3
Day 3 is always a complete crapshoot when it comes to the draft, which is why you normally see teams load up on picks in that range. The more picks you make, the more likely you are to land a diamond in the rough. And in most cases, those diamonds in the rough are high-ceiling prospects who are plus-athletes and somehow or another fell through the cracks. In many ways, Junior is the type of prospect you want to see a late Day 3 swing taken on.
You want to take a prospect who is a good athlete at any point in the draft, but especially when you are betting on late picks. Junior isn't an incredibly big corner, but he has legit 4.45 speed, good length, and nearly a 40-inch vertical. He has the athletic profile you typically should look for in cornerbacks taken in the sixth round.
Can Gregory Junior beat Chris Claybrooks for the job?
The Jaguars' top three cornerback spots are locked in with Darious Williams, Shaquill Griffin and Tyson Campbell. Behind them, though, the Jaguars have at least two and up to three spots that still need to be decided. Tre Herndon, Chris Claybrooks and Xavier Crawford are in-house options, while Junior and Montaric Brown will have to be the newcomers looking for a spot. This would leave two players as the odd men out.
Herndon was injured most of last season but is a key special teams player and has inside/out versatility, so he may have the leg up on the No. 4 cornerback role. This would leave Claybrooks at No. 5, competing with Junior and likely Brown and Crawford as well. Claybrooks has terrific long speed and overall athleticism but hasn't been a playmaker in coverage through two years. Still, he has had a lot of reps and will have quite the advantage over Junior at the start of camp. Junior should have a chance to beat him based on the fact he was a recent draft selection and his physical traits, but it may not be easy.
