With the 2021 NFL Draft starting Thursday night, the Jacksonville Jaguars have a chance to change the fortunes of the franchise for the next decade or more. New general manager Trent Baalke has 10 total picks at his disposal and the first of those picks (No. 1) will be going towards Trevor Lawrence.
Even after taking the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck, the Jaguars have a further four selections in the top-65 picks. Meaning they should find multiple long-term starters in this year’s class.
Every year for some inexplicable reason players with no business going in the first round become premier draft selections like Damon Arnette to the Las Vegas Raiders. The Jags have been known to make similar mistakes, too, and it’s hurt them.
The last time the Jaguars were picking in the 20s of the NFL Draft they reached horrendously for Taven Bryan. To make a long story short, he no longer starts on the Jaguars’ defensive line and is yet to have his fifth-year option extended.
With Bryan’s selection still fresh in the minds of Jags fans, many probably are wondering if some players would represent a similar mistake if elected by the Jags with pick No. 25 in Thursday’s draft. Well, one name comes to mind.
Who would be the worst-case scenario for the Jaguars at 25th overall?
Penn State’s Pat Freiermuth.
Freiermuth has been rumored to the Jaguars for a long time now. His connection to the Jags was amplified when new coach Urban Meyer hired Penn State’s tight ends coach Tyler Bowen, who was Freiermuth’s position coach for his entire collegiate career.
At 6-foot-5, 250 pounds the former Nittany Lion has the coveted size for the position and has shown to be a legitimate red-zone threat throughout his time at Penn State. He is, by all standards, a very strong tight end prospect. So why is Freiermuth the worst-case scenario for the Jaguars to take him at 25? Well, the likelihood is that he could be on the board at 45. Potentially even later.
Rebuilding teams should never make the mistake of drafting need over value, and despite the multiple free-agent additions made this offseason, the Jags are still a team very much in the middle of a rebuild. With so many high-impact players likely still on the board through the team’s first five picks, Baalke’s top priority should be to add the best available prospects to a team that just went 1-15. So whilst adding a quality tight end is a point of emphasis for the team this weekend, it shouldn’t be anywhere close to the top of their priorities on Thursday.
It stands to reason that by the end of the weekend Freiermuth will still be a Jaguar, but missing out on premier talent to reach on a position that rarely produces in their first year would be a colossal mistake for the new regime in their first draft.