Way-Too-Early 2023 Mock Draft: Jaguars Go For Another Bulldog
The 2023 NFL Draft is far, far away ... and yet, the dog days of summer make an event 10 months away worth pondering.
With training camp kicking off for the Jacksonville Jaguars on July 24, the full focus is on the 2022 season. We have seen the Jaguars practice together for spring workouts, seeing rookies and new additions mesh with veterans and returning players in OTAs and minicamp and other workouts.
The benefit of seeing the Jaguars practice this spring is we have a fuller and more complete idea of what the team looks like than we did even in the days after the draft. Talking about a team on paper is one thing, but seeing the team in person is a completely different perspective.
As such, we have a better idea now of what the Jaguars needs and areas for improvement may be for this upcoming season and next offseason. Naturally, this leads to mock draft speculation.
Looking at mock drafts a year ahead is always a bold exercise. Last year, it was impossible not to find the likes of Spencer Rattler and Sam Howell at the top of mock drafts. Travon Walker, the eventual No. 1 pick, likely wasn't found in any, while Rattler was benched before transferring and Howell became the No. 144 overall pick this past weekend.
But they do give us a solid baseline to look at the year ahead. For example, this mock draft from Bleacher Report from last offseason had 15 of its first-round selections become first-round picks last week. That is below 50%, but then you consider names like Andrew Booth and Breece Hall who were still high picks and it isn't the worst early barometer.
And while the 2022 season hasn't taken place, every team still has needs. Needs will never go away for a franchise, no matter how set the roster is.
"My experience is to build rooms as strong as you can and get as much competition as you can possibly get because it makes that room that much better," Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke said after Day 2 of the draft.
"If we can address needs along the way and you always have needs, you never go into any part of the process and say we don’t have any needs. There are always needs to address, but we’re going to take the best player available and when a need crosses over that then we will connect the dots. Otherwise, we’re going to take the best player."
With all of this in mind, we take a look at a recent 2023 mock draft by Pro Football Network to weigh in on where the Jaguars may need help and how that help may end up on the team.
So, what do we make of their pick and what could it mean moving forward?
No. 5 overall: DL Jalen Carter, Georgia
A year after the Jaguars took a Georgia Bulldog with the No. 1 overall pick, PFN has the Jaguars taking another one at No. 5 overall in Jalen Carter. Unlike Walker, who played inside and outside for Georgia but projected best as a true edge defender, Carter is a bonafide interior defensive line prospect at the next level. Think closer to Quinnen Williams than Walker or Aidan Hutchinson.
"Much was made of Georgia’s national championship-winning defense last season — and for good reason. While the unit sent five players to the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, possibly their best prospect returned to school. Jalen Carter is a 6’3″ and 310-pound DT with imposing arm length, immense twitch and burst, and a vat of stored power," PFN said.
"Drop him into any scheme, and he will thrive. Fifth overall may ultimately be his floor, as genuine pass-rush threats from the interior are increasingly rare."
An All-SEC Second-Team selection in 2021, Carter is a former five-star recruit who was ranked by 247Sports as the No. 18 best recruit in the 2020 class. Carter joined other athletic marvels across the Georgia defensive line such as Walker, Devonte Wyatt and Jordan Davis and was arguably the most impressive last season, which says a lot since Georgia had three defensive linemen drafted in the first-round.
Carter appeared in eight games as a freshman and recorded 14 tackles and three tackles for loss. He then exploded as an impact player in 2021, recording three sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss last season.
Jacksonville's top five interior linemen last year -- DaVon Hamilton, Roy Robertson-Harris, Adam Gotsis, Malcom Brown, and Taven Bryan -- recorded 11 sacks, 20 tackles for loss and 29 quarterback hits, with no player recording more than three sacks, nine quarterback hits or six tackles for loss. The unit generally was solid, but the Jaguars lacked a true play-maker and pass-rusher up front.
The Jaguars will rely on Robertson-Harris and Arden Key to provide the pass-rush this year, but Key is on a one-year deal and Robertson-Harris is entering a key year on his free agency deal. There is a real chance the Jaguars have a gaping need in the middle of their defense next year.
"Look, they're a National Championship team, and for a reason. They've got a really good defense, and there's a lot of good players on that defense, and Travon is one of them," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said last year after the Jaguars selected Walker.
"It was just exciting to kind of get to know this player, as we do with all the players over the last several months, and really dive into who they are as people and how they can fit our room."
