According to a report from James Palmer, the Jaguars aren’t looking to package their multiple early-round picks to move up in the draft.
It’s been hard to talk about anything other than the first overall pick when it comes to Jacksonville’s draft plans, and for good reason. In quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the team will land the biggest star in franchise history and (hopefully) the answer at the position they’ve so desperately been searching for over the greater part of two decades.
But beyond the Lawrence pick, the Jaguars have a big opportunity to add players on both sides of the ball who can contribute right away. They have two picks in each of the first two rounds as well as a pick at the top of the third. That means they could add several players or package some of those picks to trade up if they’re targeting someone in particular.
However, a report from NFL Network’s James Palmer seems to indicate the team is leaning toward the former. He said that Jacksonville is currently not looking to sacrifice those picks to move up.
“(The Jaguars) really do believe that the pick at 25 and then again at 33… 45, 65… they believe they need immediate-impact players,” Palmer said. “And I’m starting to get the sense it doesn’t look like Jacksonville’s looking to trade up and use some of this capital to see if they can slide up and get somebody.”
Palmer added that it seems more likely that the Jags would look to trade down and add even more picks than they would be to move up to pick someone in the first or second rounds. According to Palmer, the team is looking to address weaknesses in the trenches with those early picks as well as a tight end, arguably the biggest position of need after quarterback.
“Look for them to look into the defensive line, they addressed it in free agency, but they still would like to get work done there,” Palmer said. “They believe that this draft class has more talent on the outside than it does on the inside, and then the offensive line maybe for some depth, they like the five starters they have, and tight end, massive need…”
This would seem to check out. The Jags’ needs are more general than specific, and it’s hard to imagine there’s a prospect that would be picked before No. 25 that they’d be willing to package picks to move up for. Tight end Pat Freiermuth, one of the most important targets for Jacksonville, will almost certainly still be available when the team picks at the top of the second round.
This also seems to indicate that receiver isn’t very high on the Jaguars’ radar despite it being a commonly projected move for them to take a player like Kadarius Toney or Rondale Moore at No. 25. That would be a luxury move, but it’s a deep receiver class, and there are positions of greater objective need.
We’ll have all the answers soon enough, as the draft starts Thursday night. But for now, it seems like Jacksonville is content to hold onto the picks it has rather than try to be aggressive on draft day.
