Magic Genie (Smith)

 

Stop me if you have heard this before.  “The Jaguars lack star and fire power at the Wide Receiver position.”  But Matt, they said the position was fine in the offseason!  Well, we all saw this coming and is now rearing its ugly head in more than one way.  Whenever I hear or see this brought up, I always point to the two Rookie Quarterbacks who are doing relatively well at this point in time.  Cam Newton and Andy Dalton.  What can we attribute their success at this point in time?  That’s right, a true, go-to Wide Out who can stretch the field and be a security blanket.  Given this, I will now bring up Dalton and his favorite target, AJ Green.  They went about bringing Dalton into a very nice situation.  They gave him a “growing” partner but one who has all the skills and tools to be a big play and sure-handed player.  They will both play more and grow more together, making them a scary One-Two (also see Stafford and Calvin Johnson).

 

 

This brings me to my draft preview for Week Five and how I see the draft falling into our favor.  I will bring up real fast, Gene Smith’s draft “philosophy” as he has shown so far.  I am talking about doubling up at positions within a round.  Outside of a Number One Wide Receiver, we have needs at Defensive End, Offensive Line, and Cornerback.  Lets break this down a little bit. 

Yes, we have need at Defensive End, but picking back to back rounds where it is a top heavy class and tappers off towards the middle second round, we risk going back a few years were we pick them up late and miss on both Ends.  If we were to go this route in the first and second round, we have a better chance of hitting on both players and get our bookends for several years.  An example of how this could work out is as follows:  We “earn” a top-5 pick.  Quinton Coples from North Carolina fall to us.  Cool, we get the “sure fire” End and possible BPA.  From there we skip to the second round.  There are a few possibilities here.  First, is a man who is killing all aspects of the position.  Melvin Ingram [South Carolina] already this year has 26 tackles, 5.5 sacks, and 2 interceptions.  I have heard rumblings that if he can continue this pace, look out for him in the Heisman voting.  Clearly, he is BPA at this point but not the only option.  Vinny Curry [Marshall] has been linked to us for some time now, and is no slouch, netting 25 tackles, and 4 sacks.  All three players show a knack for getting to the Quarterback and as I mentioned earlier, and will/can anchor the line for quite some time. 

Matt that sounds cool, but what about our stagnant Offense scoring less than 10 points a game?  Well reader, I have a solution for that too!  Again, working with the idea of getting a top-5 pick, we have the pick of the litter in more ways than one.  My favorite scenario is some team (playoff team) still needs that one piece to put them over the top, ala Atlanta last year.  We trade out and gain 5-6 picks doing so.  But without speculating on that this early in the season, there are numerous players to help us out.  Watching ever snap and game, taking everything into account, I have no clear-cut Number One Top Wide Receiver.  Justin Blackmon [Oklahoma State] and Alshon Jeffery [South Carolina] have in a dead heap, staking their claim to be that top spot.  Both are big, strong, run good routes, and have strong hands.  What I can separate and take from these players are as followed.  Blackmon has impressed me this year with his coming back from suspension last year and improving his blocking, who last year I knocked for him not wanting to do so.  But does get a down rating for his ball security and “show boating (see the Texas A&M game where he was showing off and lost the ball in the end zone).” Alshon has played okay, but has lacked the numbers this season due to horrid Quarterback play all season.  Looking past the first round, we get into the high potential and very solid group of “those that are next.”  Looking into the second round we have a pure-bred Jaguar type of player.  Mohammed Sanu [Rutgers] is a big physical wideout who can play well off the ball and make all the plays/run the routes.  Others in this range in the same mold are Dwight Jones [North Carolina], Juron Criner [Arizona], and Greg Childs [Arkansas].  The “last 4” worth a top-3 round selection are: Marvin McNutt [Iowa], Chris Owusu [Stanford], Nick Toon [Wisconsin], and Jermaine Kearse [Washington].  These are known as you get what you see.  All are big bodied, strong handed, and all run all the routes. 

Here is a visual of what I am selling.

            (Defensive End doubling)

                                Round One: Quinton Coples, North Carolina

                                Round Two: Melvin Ingram, South Carolina  

                                Round Three: Marvin McNutt, WR Iowa

                                Round Four: Josh Robinson, CB Central Florida

                                Round Five:  William Vlachos, C Alabama

                                Round Six: Tom Compton, OT South Dakota

                (Wide Receiver doubling)

                                Round One: Alshon Jeffery, South Carolina

                                Round Two: Mohammed Sanu, Rutgers

                                Round Three: Donnie Fletcher, CB/S Boston College

                                Round Four:  Ben Jones, C/G Georgia

                                Round Five: Matt McCants, RT UAB

                                Round Six: Bernard Pierce, RB Temple