Jaguars Secure No. 25 Overall Pick in 2021 NFL Draft With Rams' Playoff Loss
Over a year ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars named their price for All-Pro Jalen Ramsey by trading him to the Los Angeles Rams for two first-round picks and a 2021 fourth-round pick.
Now, the Jaguars officially know what the final compensation for Ramsey's services truly looks like due to the Rams being eliminated from the playoffs.
Los Angeles lost to the Green Bay Packers in a 32-18 road bout, knocking the Rams out of the Divisional Round. As a result, their season is over and the Jaguars' second first-round pick has been secured at No. 25 overall.
The Jaguars also netted the Rams' first-round pick last year, which they used to select LSU defensive end K'Lavon Chaisson at No. 20 overall.
This is only the second time in franchise history the Jaguars are slotted to pick No. 25 overall. The last time the Jaguars picked there, they selected Syracuse safety Donovin Darius. Darius went on to play for the franchise for nine seasons and is considered by many to be the best safety in franchise history and one of the best defensive backs who has played for the team overall.
Trading Ramsey was one of the biggest deals franchise history and was ultimately the result of Ramsey's fractured relationship with the Jaguars' front office. Ramsey played just two games for the Jaguars in 2019 after essentially being the face of the franchise from 2016-2018.
For context on the types of players the Jaguars could potentially get in the range of the No. 25 pick, here are the last 10 players selected at the spot.
- WR Brandon Aiyuk (2020)
- WR Marquise Brown (2019)
- TE Hayden Hurst (2018)
- S Jabrill Peppers (2017)
- CB Artie Burns (2016)
- LB Shaq Thompson (2015)
- CB Jason Verrett (2014)
- CB Xavier Rhodes (2013)
- LB Dont'a Hightower (2012)
- OG James Carpenter (2011)
The Jaguars own 11 picks in the 2021 NFL Draft, including four in the first two rounds and five within the top-65. This also includes the No. 1 overall pick, which the Jaguars are expected to use on Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
“You see [Clemson QB] Trevor [Lawrence], you see [Ohio State QB] Justin [Fields], you see [BYU QB] Zach [Wilson]. As Shad said, this is a monumental moment for this franchise. We’ve seen some franchises explode and we’ve seen others fail," Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer said on Friday. "I’ve said this many times throughout my career is that when the NFL says it’s a quarterback league, I would say ‘well so is college and so is high school, so is Pop Warner.’ It’s a quarterback sport, so whoever takes that snap, we have got to be right on.
"Who we pick at that quarterback spot, that’s going to be one of the most important decisions I’ve made in my lifetime, along with the partnership of our owner and our general manager. The ones that are out there, my initial study, because I have been studying a lot, I like to use the term elite. I see some elite quarterbacks out there right now.”
