Jacksonville Jaguars 2018 Draft Class Review

With the 2018 NFL Draft behind us, it’s time to begin the review process on how each team stacks up with the selections they’ve made. With the success the Jaguars had last season in taking their squad all the way to the AFC Championship, falling a few plays short from stamping their ticket to the Super Bowl, adding depth talent to the roster was on the agenda. Selecting seven players to an already stout unit looks to strengthen Jacksonville’s position to make yet another run. Added defensive talent looks to be the highlights from this draft, let’s review… 

Jacksonville Jaguars 2018 Draft Class Review:

Round 1 – Pick 29 (29)

Taven Bryan (DT)

It really is incredible to view the Jaguars depth chart and see the multitude of talent that resides on their defense with top-end star talent littered in almost every positional grouping. With their first pick in the draft, the Jaguars selected one of the fastest rising players during the combine process with the athletic freak in Taven Bryan. Right off the bat, Bryan hits all the measurables that makes defensive coordinators lick their chops. The combination of size, speed, strength, agility, burst, great movements, and hand placement make Bryan a top flight prospect.

While Taven wasn’t seen as a great contributor statistically in his time in Florida, his progression from season to season is what jumps out on tape every time you watch him play. While his natural position is defensive tackle, ADF believes Bryan will have far greater success playing on the outside as a defensive end. Bryan does have a great first step off the ball with closing speed that is unprecedented for a man his size. Taven weighs nearly 300 pounds and posted a phenomenal 4.98 40 time at the combine, simply fantastic. If we speculate and envision a situation where Bryan could start his career as a rotational player manning an outside presence with his unbelievable closing speed, what team could run to the outside on the Jaguars defense? Even though most have Bryan pegged to be a mainstay as a sub package defensive tackle in year one, ADF can see many opportunities for Taven to show his skill on the outside causing havoc.

While Bryan could’ve benefited from playing another year in college refining his skillset, he should be able to learn on the fly with a world class group able to show him the ropes.           

ADF Prediction: Fantastic potential, requires some coaching.

Round 2 – Pick 29 (61)

D.J Chark (WR)

When the Jaguars selected DJ Chark in the second round, we found ourselves smiling ear to ear thinking of the potential that could come to forwishen for this talented receiver. First, allow me to clarify this by saying we fully understand the limitations in Blake Bortles game which should not fully result in seeing the full potential exploited from Chark in year one, but the potential is there. Adding to that point, Jacksonville does house a wide receiver room that is full of underrated talent that collectively can do some damage on the field.

DJ Chark is quite the specimen possessing great size (6’3” tall), while dropping an eye popping 4.34 40 time back at the combine. Having a true deep threat on this club to go along with a great run attack, should allow the Jaguars to unleash their play action pass with utter brilliance taking advantage of pinching safeties. While some scouts believe Chark will struggle at the next level against press coverage while not understanding the full route tree, and having a weak release off the line, ADF tends to disagree. Some players are great at finding their stride when given the opportunity and we believe that Chark will iron out some weaknesses and prefect his craft making him a very dangerous weapon. If the Jaguars employed a star quarterback rather than Blake Borltes, we’d be singing the praises that much more.      

ADF Prediction: High upside, great potential.

Round 3 – Pick 29 (93)

Ronnie Harrison (DB)

We at ADF were in absolute shock witnessing Ronnie Harrison fall all the way down into the latter parts of the third round to the Jaguars of all teams. The former Alabama standout will show that being selected here will become outright thievery as other teams simply missed the boat. Ronnie looks the part of a true safety standing in the defensive backfield as he aims to punish players that enter his direction. Some scouts don’t believe in Harrison’s talents suggesting he has subpar coverage ability and is nothing more than a hitter; let us remove that notion from your thought process. Harrison has above average ability in coverage while remaining a major asset in run support.

In looking back at some of the hindrances of that Jacksonville defense, it was clear that they don’t possess a clear hard-nosed player that is willing to dish out punishment at the safety position. Barry Church tried his best to play that role, but Ronnie Harrison should be able to overtake him as the season progresses. ADF is absolutely enamoured with the value in this selection and the dividends it shall provide will be astronomical.    

ADF Prediction: High upside, great potential.

Round 4 – Pick 29 (129)

Will Richardson (OL)

As the draft continued for Jacksonville, it was clear that we were becoming huge fans of their first four selections. Adding appropriate depth to an offensive line that has good talent should only continue to make them better. Hedging their bets to cover their backs in case of injury, the Jaguars selected beast of a man in Will Richardson. The nice thing about Richardson is that he does possess good versatility to man a tackle position while kicking inside to play guard if the team requires. ADF would’ve liked to have seen a little better from his testing at the combine to show better agility which is imperative to man a tackle position. Richardson should easily make the roster while housing an important role as a backup player in his first season in the NFL.   

ADF Prediction: Good potential, has off-field concerns.

Round 6 – Pick 29 (203)

Tanner Lee (QB)

This is where the draft begins to fall off for the Jaguars as they chose to take some chances. Selecting Tanner Lee in the sixth round is intriguing only because it makes us question what they staff actually sees in the former Nebraska product. Lee does have good size and a rather powerful arm; however he wasn’t able to put anything tangible together for us to take notice back in college. Low completion percentage teamed with a very high interception rate has our initial evaluation staying far away. Its possible coach Marrone along with Nathaniel Hackett could see talent we don’t, but we believe this is a simple camp arm that won’t muster much in the NFL. 

Round 7 – Pick 12 (230)

Leon Jacobs (LB)

Getting back to adding to their position of strength, the Jags found yet another athletic, speedy edge rusher to add to the mix. ADF is encouraged with this pick as Leon Jacobs checks a lot of the prototypical boxes one looks for when evaluating line backers. While his size may leave something to be desired with his hand in the dirt, he should find a home in blitz packages standing off the edge using his speed and power to get around linemen. Finding his stride in his final season in Wisconsin, Leon was a force providing great penetration taking down ball carriers 10 times behind the line. Jacobs has good potential to steal a job in the coming years but should find himself sparingly used in year one.    

Round 7 – Pick 29 (247)

Logan Cooke (P)

As simple as it gets, this pick was a straight roster fill for a team in need of a punter on the squad. Heading into camp, Logan Cooke will have every opportunity to prove what he can do as it truly is his job to lose. Posting a 41.7 yard career average in punts, Jacksonville will see if his leg can provide that type of distance in the NFL.

2018 Undrafted Free Agent Signings

Tony Adams, OL, NC State

Andrew Motuapuaka, LB, Virginia Tech

Quenton Meeks, CB, Stanford

Mike Hughes, DT, UNLV

Darius Jackson, LB, Jacksonville State

Allen Lazard, WR, Iowa State

K.C. McDermott, OL, Miami 

Dee Delaney, CB, Miami

C.J. Reavis, DB, Marshall

Tre Herndon, CB, Vanderbilt

Lyndon Johnson, DT, Cincinnati

Reggie Hunter, LB, North Carolina Central