Jordan Jefferson is joining Brian Thomas Jr. and Maason Smith in Jacksonville.
The Jaguars are importing the bayou to northeast Florida, it seems.
Jacksonville selected LSU defensive tackle [autotag]Jordan Jefferson[/autotag] with the 116th pick in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL draft on Saturday, making him the third former Tiger the team has picked this weekend.
He joins first-round selection [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag] and second-round selection [autotag]Maason Smith[/autotag] in Duval. The move will also pair him and Smith up once again with former LSU defensive coordinator [autotag]Matt House[/autotag], who was hired as the Jags’ linebackers coach this offseason.
Jefferson spent just one season at LSU as a graduate transfer from West Virginia. He began the season as a rotational player but became a starter when [autotag]Mekhi Wingo[/autotag] went down with injury.
Maason Smith is heading to Jacksonville where he’ll be teammates with Brian Thomas Jr. once more.
[autotag]Maason Smith[/autotag] became the fourth former LSU player to be taken in the 2024 NFL draft and the first on Day 2 on Friday. Smith was drafted in the second round by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
After three seasons at LSU, Smith is joining a Jaguars defensive line with a lot of talent but one that’s also a bit thin.
Smith said he thinks Jacksonville is the best situation for him, and that his draft night was the best day of his life so far, according to WJXT’s Jamaal St. Cyr.
“It’s just excitement, man,” Smith said. “I’ve been dreaming about this since I was 6 years old. Just being able to live that dream out, I told my mom yesterday, ‘Ma, it’s different when your dreams are staring you right in the face.’
When I got that call, when they said Jacksonville, my heart just dropped. Because I don’t think there’s a better situation for me to go to. I think that God always has a plan, and I preach about one thing: uncommon favor. And just sticking to that and believing that God’s going to put me in the place I need to be. And he did.
“I’m just grateful for this opportunity, but it was definitely the best day of my life up to this point.”
Maason Smith said that getting drafted by the Jaguars made today "the best day of my life up to this point." pic.twitter.com/gGoOArrPBI
Smith is the second LSU player drafted by the Jaguars. He’ll be reunited with [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag], who Jacksonville took in the first round. He’ll pair back up with former Tigers defensive coordinator [autotag]Matt House[/autotag], who Jacksonville hired as linebackers coach this offseason.
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Maason Smith and Brian Thomas Jr. will be teammates at the next level, as well.
[autotag]Maason Smith[/autotag] is teaming with [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag] in Jacksonville.
The Jaguars selected the former LSU defensive tackle in the second round of the 2024 NFL draft with the 48th pick, reuniting him with his former college teammate, whom the Jags drafted with the 23rd pick.
Smith’s decision to declare for the draft after his redshirt sophomore season came as a surprise. He missed nearly the entire 2022 season after tearing his ACL in the season opener, and his production suffered when he returned in 2023.
A former five-star recruit, he has a high-upside as a second-round pick although he will be a project. He’ll join a loaded Jacksonville defensive line that also possesses Josh Allen, Arik Armstead and 2022 first-overall pick Travon Walker.
Smith finished his LSU career having appeared in 22 games, including 17 starts. He totaled 47 tackles (9.5 for loss), 6.5 sacks and a pair of pass breakups.
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The trio represented the most LSU players drafted in the first round since 2020.
The first round of the 2024 NFL draft on Thursday night was an eventful one for former LSU Tigers.
In total, three were taken in the first 32 picks — quarterback [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag] (second overall, Washington Commanders), receiver [autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag] (sixth overall, New York Giants) and receiver [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag] (23rd overall, Jacksonville Jaguars) — marking the most LSU players drafted in the first round since 2020.
It was also the first time LSU had two top-10 picks since 2017, and the Tigers became the first program in the modern era to have a quarterback and receiver tandem both picked in the top 10, though that feat was matched later the same night by Washington.
Daniels, Nabers and Thomas all attended the draft in person in Detroit and went on stage to shake commissioner Roger Goodell’s hand. Here are the best photos from their special night at the draft.
LSU made history Thursday, becoming the first school in the modern era to have a quarterback and wide receiver selected in the top 10 of the same draft.
LSU made history in the first round of the NFL draft, becoming the first school in the modern draft era to have a quarterback and wide receiver selected in the top 10 of the same draft.
The Commanders picked LSU quarterback [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag] with the No. 2 pick before LSU wide receiver [autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag] joined the NFC East a few picks later, going to the Giants with the No. 6 pick. Both destinations were popular mock draft slots for the top LSU prospects.
A few picks later, Washington became the second school to accomplish the feat when quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and wide receiver Rome Odunze went No. 8 and No. 9, respectively.
LSU is the 1st school in the Common Draft Era to have a QB & WR selected in the top 10 of the same draft.
Later in the draft, another LSU prospect came off the board: [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag] went to the Jaguars at No. 23.
Daniels, Nabers and Thomas heading to the league is reminiscent of another trio to come out of Baton Rouge in recent years. [autotag]Joe Burrow[/autotag], [autotag]Justin Jefferson[/autotag] and [autotag]Ja’Marr Chase[/autotag] did something similar, but that trio was split over two drafts.
If Daniels, Nabers and Thomas go on to have the same success of Burrow, Jefferson and Chase, life will go well for the newest LSU trio in the NFL.
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Projecting the Jaguars’ selections on day two of the 2024 NFL draft
Round one of the 2024 NFL draft is in the books, with Jacksonville moving down the order and netting picks this year and next, yet ultimately selecting the prospect it claimed was the choice all along on Thursday night, wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. from LSU.
“He was going to be the pick at 17,” Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke said after the first round.
“We just felt the way the board looked and where the needs were, the teams in between us, we felt we had a chance. There’s risk, there’s reward. You make the move back, but we felt we were going to get a really good football player that we had high on our board with the move back. Fortunate that Brian was still there.”
Moving forward, the Jaguars have eight selections over the draft’s remaining six rounds, including picks No. 48 in the second round and No. 96 in the third round on Friday.
Additionally, the trade Jacksonville completed with Minnesota on Thursday strengthened the Jaguars’ arsenal of 2025 picks to nine, including six between rounds one through four. The club could use present and future picks as chips for a potential trade-up over the next 36 hours.
Jaguars Wire projects Jacksonville’s approach to its day two selections below.
Jaguars Wire used the Pro Football Focus mock draft simulator for this exercise, with all slider settings median.
Alabama defensive back Kool-Aid McKinstry (1) gestures in celebration after Tennessee failed to convert a 4th down in the fourth quarter of a football game between Tennessee and Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023.
Atlanta receives: No. 48 overall (second round), No. 116 (fourth round, via New Orleans)
A bigger move-up was considered here as Buffalo took cornerback Cooper DeJean with the first pick of the second round.
But with the run on wide receivers continuing into the 30s, pushing the next defensive back selection to No. 42 (Houston: safety Tyler Nubin), Jacksonville was fortunate to see another respected prospect slip outside their pre-draft projected range and didn’t rush a move in this scenario.
Still available at pick No. 43, Jacksonville trades with Atlanta — arguably in need of more picks after spending its first on a quarterback who probably won’t start until 2026 — to hop cornerback-needy Las Vegas (No. 44) and Indianapolis (No. 46) and take Alabama’s Kool-Aid McKinstry.
The 5-foot-11 and 1/2-inch, 199-pound McKinstry is considered one of if not the best man coverage cornerback in this draft class, making it surprising that he fell out of the first round. His average athletic testing results while running on a Jones fracture in his right foot at Alabama’s pro day could have played a factor.
Still, McKinstry proved dominant against opposing receivers throughout his college career. He started a game by Week 2 of his freshman year and several more before it was over, defended 16 passes as a sophomore and allowed 40+ receiving yards in a game just twice as a junior.
In total, McKinstry tallied 92 tackles, two sacks, five tackles for loss, two interceptions and 25 passes defended over 42 games and three seasons with the Crimson Tide. He allowed 47.9% (70-of-146) of his career targets in coverage to be caught, per PFF.
With 35 punts returned, 418 punt return yards and 11.9 yards per punt return on his résumé from Alabama, McKinstry could reasonably fill the NFL’s recently-instituted second return specialist position for Jacksonville.
Round 3, Pick No. 96 (compensatory pick): Michael Hall Jr., DL, Ohio State
Oct 8, 2022; East Lansing, Michigan, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes defensive tackle Michael Hall Jr. (51) sacks Michigan State Spartans quarterback Payton Thorne (10) in the second quarter of the NCAA Division I football game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan State Spartans at Spartan Stadium.
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The Jaguars held onto the cornerstone of their defense by giving edge rusher Josh Allen a five-year extension earlier in April and solidified their interior defensive line by signing veteran Arik Armstead in free agency the month before.
But Jacksonville’s defensive trenches remain in need of depth reinforcements and potential long-term starters. Four interior linemen, including Armstead, will play the 2024 season at 30+ years old.
Enter Michael Hall Jr. from Ohio State, who Jacksonville snags here with plenty of tread on his tires. A redshirt season in 2021 and lingering injuries in 2022 limited Hall to 301 defensive snaps over his first two seasons, before starting in seven of 12 appearances in 2023.
In those three years, over 714 snaps, Hall recorded 45 tackles including 10 for loss, six sacks, one fumble recovery and 48 quarterback pressures, the latter stat via PFF. His 7.5 tackles for loss in 2022 led the Buckeyes, despite his lack of consistent playing time that season.
Hall presents a unique frame — 6-foot-2 and 3/4-inch, 290 pounds — making him a tweener defensive line prospect, likely to split time between strong-side defensive end and three-technique defensive tackle.
No matter how you look at Hall positionally, he possesses an above-average wingspan and arm length for a defensive line prospect, which is certain to catch Baalke’s eye. 13 of the 17 defensive line prospects he’s drafted in his career as a general manager have had 33+ inch arms; Hall’s are 33 and 1/2-inch.
Instant 2024 NFL Draft grades: Jacksonville Jaguars select Brian Thomas Jr., WR, LSU
The run on receivers paused after the ninth pick in this draft and was rejuvenated when the Jacksonville Jaguars picked LSU wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr.
Thomas Jr. projects as an immediate starter on the outside opposite Christian Kirk after receiver Calvin Ridley’s departure. He is a deep ball monster and should replace some of that production in his rookie season with the Jaguars.
Size, speed, length, and explosion, Brian Thomas Jr. was a nightmare to defend on the loaded LSU offense. Thomas Jr. will bring that same level of deep ball production to the next level and force defenses to respect the deep portions of the field.
Brian Thomas Jr. is teaming up with Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville.
[autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag] is joining forces with Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville.
After trading back from their original slot at No. 17, the Jacksonville Jaguars selected the former LSU receiver with the 23rd pick in the 2024 NFL draft. Thomas joins a receiving corps in need of a clear No. 1. It added Gabe Davis to a group that includes Christian Kirk and Zay Jones but lost Calvin Ridley in free agency.
Thomas was the fourth receiver taken after Marvin Harrison Jr., former teammate [autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag] and Rome Odunze. He’s the third LSU player to be selected in the first round. [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag] went second, marking the most LSU players selected in the first round since 2020.
Jayden Daniels was the second quarterback off the board on Thursday night.
Former LSU quarterback [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag] is heading to the nation’s capital.
The 2023 Heisman Trophy winner was selected by the Washington Commanders with the second pick in the 2024 NFL draft on Thursday night. He was the second quarterback off the board after Caleb Williams, who went to the Chicago Bears with the first pick.
He becomes the highest-drafted LSU quarterback since [autotag]Joe Burrow[/autotag] went first in 2020.
Daniels is heading to the league after a prolific two-year run in Baton Rouge, and he led the nation in most quarterback statistics in 2023. Now, he joins a QB-needy Commanders team coming off a 4-13 season.
He’ll be paired with a new coaching staff led by head coach Dan Quinn and recently hired offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury. It’s a Washington roster that already has weapons in place: receivers Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson, running backs Austin Ekeler and Brian Robinson Jr. and tight end Zach Ertz.
Daniels is the first of an expected three LSU players drafted Thursday night. [autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag] and [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag], his top college receiver targets, are projected to go in the first round as well.
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Brian Thomas Jr. has been one of the biggest risers during the pre-draft process.
As draft day is now upon us, there are three clear wide receivers at the top of the class in Marvin Harrison Jr., LSU’s [autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag] and Rome Odunze.
However, once you get beyond that group, the next man up could be another LSU star: [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag] Thomas has been seen as a first-rounder for most of the cycle, but his stock has soared over the last couple of months after a very impressive NFL combine showing.
Appearing on Good Morning Football with Peter Schrager on Thursday morning, coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] said he sees Thomas as an incredible athlete who is just starting to realize the full potential of his abilities.
“Ascending in my eyes,” Kelly said. “This is a guy that is just breaking onto the scene. He won a state championship in basketball, he’s just an incredible athlete who I think is scratching the surface. Tall, athletic. He’s not just a guy that runs nine routes. He can run after the catch, he’s very slippery after he catches the football, he can make people miss, I just think he’s a guy who continues to get better and better.”
Thomas has a pretty wide range with which he could be picked, though he is almost certainly going to be a first-round pick. Some mocks project him going in the top 15, while other have him falling toward the end of the round.
But regardless of how long he’s on the board, he’s going to provide a very high-upside receiver for whichever team selects him.
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