Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke and coach Doug Pederson told the media last Friday that they are down to four players who are under consideration for the No. 1 overall pick. Those four players are likely Michigan edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, Georgia edge rusher Travon Walker, North Carolina State Ikem Ekwonu, and Alabama offensive tackle Evan Neal.
Jaguars Wire has already made cases for and against taking Georgia’s Travon Walker and Michigan’s Aidan Hutchinson earlier this week. We’re back to continue this on Thursday, but this time we are examining the pros and cons of Ekwonu having his name called first. Let’s get started.
The former Wolfpack offensive tackle is a mauler and recorded an insane 67 pancake blocks last season, according to ESPN. Some draft scouts consider Ekwonu the best offensive lineman in this year’s class.
He makes sense for the Jaguars because they still need help protecting second-year quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Jacksonville also has an offensive-minded head coach in Pederson who won a Super Bowl in Philadelphia with one of the best offensive line units in the entire league. Therefore, Pederson may prefer the pick to be used on Ekwonu.
However, Baalke’s comments and answers on Friday seemed to indicate that he’s leaning toward Walker. Many media members and people around the league believe the Jaguars are only considering two players at No. 1, and those two players are Hutchinson and Walker. If the team did draft Ekwonu, it would feel like the Jaguars are drafting for needs rather than the best player available.
When looking at some of the downsides of Ekwonu as a prospect, NFL.com said that he’s fierce but can be a little out of control. They also stated that he needs work in pass protection, has trouble pairing his hands and feet, and carries his weight too far outside in pass slides.
Out of Ekwonu and Neal, Ekwonu is the better offensive tackle prospect because of his production. One figure that this can mostly be hinged on is the fact that he almost had 70 career pancake blocks, which is an insane figure.