Doug Pederson Discusses Jaguars Passing on Aidan Hutchinson: 'Travon We Felt Was a Better Fit For Us'

Two months ago, not many people pegged Georgia defensive lineman Travon Walker as a candidate to be picked by Jacksonville Jaguars at No. 1 overall -- especially not over the perceived sure thing in Michigan pass-rusher Aidan Hutchinson.

But after months of the Jaguars being rumored to be high on Walker, the uber-athletic pass-rusher who played multiple roles for Georgia, the Jaguars made it official and passed on Hutchinson for Walker.

Immediately after the widely-panned selection, Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke and Doug Pederson pointed to a number of reasons why Walker was the pick, including his upside and versatility. And during an interview on Good Morning Football on NFL Network, Pederson elaborated a bit further when comparing the two.

"As we looked and really put our plan together for the draft, you know, defense was an area we felt we could shore up and obviously Travon Walker -- and of course Aidan was there as well," Pederson said.

"Both guys are high-character guys, great athletes, and Travon we felt was a better fit for us, you know, here in Jacksonville."

Doug on @gmfb giving high praise to Came Robinson, Tyler Shatley, Jawaan Taylor and Walker little. Seems to have a lot of confidence in the OL group and that’s why Ekwonu or Neal weren’t considered. #Jaguars pic.twitter.com/LtuvsZl13U
— Clay Harbor (@clayharbs82) May 4, 2022

Taking Walker over Hutchinson has been seen as a risky potential move for several months, and the Jaguars made it official by writing down Walker's name on the draft's first draft card. Hutchinson was seen by many as a safer prospect because of his proven production at Michigan, while Walker recorded never recorded more than six sacks in a season at Georgia and started for just one season.

But the Jaguars were always sold on Walker. The Jaguars never saw Walker's production as an issue, instead noting that he played in a different scheme at Georgia.

"Well, I think when you watch his film, the one thing he does, he does an excellent job of canceling his gap. They played a very gap-oriented defense. He played up and down the line of scrimmage from the A gap all the way out to the D gap, and he rarely was out of gap," Baalke said.

"He's a very gap sound football player. They do a good job of coaching there. This young guy is going to come in with some great coaching behind him. He's young, he's 21 years old and a lot to learn, especially when you step into this league and this arena. Again, the expectation is for him to come in, settle him into one position and get him comfortable, get him playing, and then take it from there in terms of the versatility.

In 2020, Walker played in nine games and recorded 1.0 sack, 2.0 tackles for loss, one interception, and one forced fumble. Walker then had a career season in 2021, starting all 15 games as Georgia finished the year as National Champions. During Georgia's title run, Walker recorded 6.0 sacks, 7.5 tackles for loss, two pass deflections, one fumble recovery, and a team-high 36 quarterback hurries.

Walker then had arguably the best combine performance of any defensive player in 2021, measuring at 6-foot-5 and 272 pounds but still running a 4.51 40-yard dash (98th percentile), a 36-inch vertical jump (80th percentile), 123-inch broad jump (87th percentile), 6.89-second three-cone (93rd percentile), and a 4.32 20-yard shuttle (76th percentile).

The Jaguars said a week before the draft they had four players in consideration for the top pick. Many assumed Hutchinson and Walker were each among those four finalists, but as of now all we know is the Jaguars preferred Walker.

"It was a process for a lot of these guys. We had it narrowed down to six, seven guys for quite some time, and we were working through that, working through the fits. I'm not going to get into comparing Travon to Aidan or any other player in the draft," Baalke said.

"These guys are all individuals and there's -- you look at them for what they are and how they were played in the system they were played in and try to envision how that's going to fit the system that we employ. As far as when did we come up with the final decision, it's never final until you meet with ownership, and we met with ownership yesterday, had a good meeting with Shad for about an hour and a half, two hours in the draft room, and that's when we actually finalized it."