5 Players the Jaguars Should Shy Away From in the 2020 NFL Draft
Entering the 2020 NFL Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars have a bounty of draft picks to make their mark, including two first-round, picks and nine picks overall. For a team with as many picks, and needs, as the Jaguars have, they need to keep their options open.
Despite this, there are always a handful of players that specific teams should shy away from. Whether it is about fit, lack of need, or just poor value, there are always draft prospects with red tape surrounding them come April.
For this exercise, we have identified a few players who don't make sense for the Jaguars for those same reasons. Whether it is in the first round or a later pick, here are five players the Jaguars should
Alabama CB Trevon Diggs
A former wide receiver, Alabama cornerback Trevon Diggs has been one of the players mocked most frequently to the Jaguars at pick No. 20, the pick the Jaguars got from the Los Angeles Rams in return for cornerback Jalen Ramsey. The rationale makes sense -- Jacksonville has a need at cornerback and Diggs is a height/weight/speed prototype on the outside. But overall, he wouldn't make much sense for a Jaguars team that needs to win in 2020.
Why not? His tape shows a cornerback who is still transitioning to a role on defense, one who has a fatal flaw that frequently dooms NFL cornerbacks: inconsistency finding the ball in the air. At times, Diggs flashes the ball skills of a former wide receiver, but at other times (vs. LSU), he shows he is still a work in progress. For the Jaguars, this may be one project they don't have the time to invest in.
Oregon QB Justin Herbert
Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert had a prolific college career but he is considered by most to be the third-best quarterback in the 2020 class, pending the health status of Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. It isn't out of the realm of possibility for Herbert to fall to the Jaguars at pick No. 9 -- crazier things have happened, after all.
But it would be wise for the Jaguars to opt to pass on Herbet instead of investing their top pick into the inconsistent 6-feet-6, 237 pound quarterback. If Jacksonville wants to go with a new signal-caller over Gardner Minshew II and Nick Foles, they need a quarterback who is primed and ready to start and win in 2020. Herbert is far from being that passer, so Jacksonville is better off either taking a different quarterback in the first-round or not take one at all.
Alabama DT Raekwon Davis
The Jaguars are entering 2020 with a massive need at defensive tackle. Jacksonville allowed over 5 yards per carry in 2019, an absolute travesty when you look at how teams defeated the Jaguars week in and week out, especially when the other three teams in the AFC South run the ball extensively. Jacksonville also only had one player not named Calais Campbell notch more than two sacks from the defensive tackle spot.
Despite this, the Jaguars should let another team draft Alabama defensive tackle Raekwon Davis. The 6-feet-7, 313 pound Davis notched 8.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss as a sophomore in 2017 but his production -- and overall play -- fell off a cliff afte that year. In two seasons since, he recorded two sacks and eight tackles for loss. His motor runs hot and cold and he is one of the riskier interior defenders in the class. Jacksonville needs an immediate impact at defensive tackle, and it unlikely that Davis is that.
Wisconsin RB Jonathan Taylor
The Jaguars' offense ran completely through Leonard Fournette in 2019 as the third-year running back had a career season. He touched the ball 341 times and played a staggering 83% of the Jaguars' offensive snaps for the season, leaving little room for a backup running back to have a place in Jacksonville's offense.
And if the Jaguars were to opt for a running back to provide depth, they should go with a running back who has less wear on his tires than Taylor does. Like Fournette, Taylor has gotten a ton of work out of the backfield in recent seasons (968 touches, 926 of which were carries), and any running back who already has that much mileage has red flags around them. Taylor is a talented back, but the Jaguars need fresher legs behind Fournette.
Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts
The scenario where Jacksonville would take Jalen Hurts would be outside of the first round, and if they decided to move on from Nick Foles. In that scenario, Hurts could be either the team's No. 2 quarterback or No. 3, depending on how they feel about Josh Dobbs. But if Hurts was taken in the first few rounds, logic would state they'd be higher on him than Dobbs.
This would mean Hurts would be one injury away from being Jacksonville's starting quarterback. For a coaching staff and front office who desperately needs to win in 2020, this would be far from an ideal scenario considering how far along Hurts needs to develop. He is a rare athlete, just not the type of quarterback Jacksonville should be investing in if they want a backup for Minshew.
