If there are two areas that the Jaguars left relatively unchanged this offseason, it’s the offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage. On the offensive side, the only major addition was second-round tackle Walker Little, and while the team added several players on the defensive line like Roy Robertson-Harris, none of the additions stand out as particularly splashy.
That’s why it stands to reason those will be positions the team will look to address heavily after the 2021 season. According to the latest 2022 two-round mock draft from Draft Wire’s Luke Easterling, the Jags bolstered their personnel in the trenches with their first two picks.
Easterling projects the team will receive the sixth overall pick next year, which will be used to draft Texas A&M defensive end, DeMarvin Leal. The rising junior totaled just 37 tackles (down one from his freshman year) and 2.5 sacks. He’ll need to boost that production if he wants to be a top-10 pick, but the talent is clearly there. Plus, his 6-foot-4-inch, 290-pound frame gives him prototypical size for a hand-in-the-dirt defensive end.
Jacksonville hopes it already has a pair of future star edge rushers in Josh Allen and K’Lavon Chaisson, but Leal would give the team another starting-caliber option for an interior 3-4 end.
With the team’s second-round pick, Easterling projects the team will go for an offensive tackle once again, this time Ohio State’s Thayer Munford. The fifth-year senior is one of the most experienced offensive linemen in all of college football, with 33 collegiate starts to his name.
He enters 2021 as a fourth-year starter, and though he needs to show more to justify a potential first-round selection, he’d be an excellent option with the 38th pick, as Easterling projects. Munford was the top offensive tackle in the Power Five last year in terms of pressure percentage allowed, per Pro Football Focus, at just 1.2%.
Assuming Cam Robinson, who was franchise tagged this offseason, walks at the end of the year, that would leave Little as the presumptive starter. He’s a bit of a project player, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to add another talented player like Munford to the mix.
Obviously, a playoff-contending season for the Jags would change this outlook markedly, but for now, it seems like a solid guess at what the team’s plans will be next April.