Linked to either Aidan Hutchinson or an offensive tackle at No. 1 overall, the Jaguars appear to have identified a sleeper for the honor of being the draft’s first player selected.
Buzz is building on Travon Walker, per ProFootballNetwork.com’s Tony Pauline, who adds the Jaguars have identified the Georgia defensive end as a player they could select with the first pick. The Jags will use one of their allotted 30 prospect visits for a Walker meeting.
Walker tested well at the Combine, posting a 4.51-second 40-yard dash despite his 272-pound frame. This bettered Hutchinson’s 4.74 clocking. Hutchinson (260 pounds) bettered Walker in the 20-yard shuttle and three-cone drills. The Michigan product also is coming off a dominant senior season, registering 14 sacks and forcing two fumbles, finishing second in the Heisman voting. Used as less of a pure edge compared to Hutchinson, Walker recorded six sacks as a junior to help the Bulldogs to their first national championship since 1980.
ESPN’s Scouts Inc. ranks Hutchinson as this draft’s top prospect, slotting Walker eighth. Mel Kiper Jr.’s latest mock draft sends Hutchinson to Jacksonville and Walker to Carolina at No. 6, though NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah moved Walker to the No. 2 overall pick. The Jags are “widely expected” to draft Hutchinson, ESPN.com’s Matt Miller adds, but Walker has at least crept into the equation.
Jacksonville using its franchise tag on left tackle Cam Robinson seemingly decreases the likelihood of a tackle pick. The team has used four first-round choices on defensive linemen since 2015 (Dante Fowler, Taven Bryan, Josh Allen, K’Lavon Chaisson), but the AFC South squad’s free agency spending spree did not include any edge rusher additions.
Why are teams allowed only so many visits? Seems needlessly prohibitive.
You actually only need to visit prospects that have a reasonable chance of making the roster and that number falls well below 30.
Smoke and mirrors.
I agree. They could be trying to shop the pick for multiple picks, but I don’t see it likely that anyone would bite. Detroit would probably like to keep Hutchinson in Michigan.
Jags logic: Draft Lawrence #1 overall, draft a RB later on….Then draft an edge rusher!
If they don’t draft for TL, then he is/will be a wasted pick. support your ‘franchise QB’ Jags.
Adding QB support certainly makes sense but the defense has to stop opponents to actually get the offense onto the field. Only the Seahawks had a worse time of possession last season so the Jags pursuit of defensive help has some merit too.
The QB was obvious, the RB was stupid over an OL is obvious. The best & solid pick is an OL to protect TL. If they draft an Edge, how does that keep TL upright? Ask Burrows how that went. Draft the OL and be wise about it.
I watched every snap he played for Georgia. Heck of a player who will be a very good pro. Big fan of his, but he’s not a top 5 pick in my opinion.
He is t even the best at his position so they should trade Down if they want him
Jacksonville is so dumb. When you hold the first overall pick you don’t need to be deceptive!
Seriously dude? You do if you don’t want a team to trade over u and get the .5 pick.
Did anyone else see how Hutchinson was completely shut down by the Bulldogs??? His stats are inflated by playing inferior teams. Not saying Walker is a #1 overall pick but I am saying Hutchinson isn’t either.
UGA literally gameplanned around Hutchinson. Almost every single rollout was opposite Hutchinson’s side, they got the ball out extremely fast to neutralize his pressure, double teamed him or chipped him with RB or TE all night, and ran the ball to the other side of the field well over half the time.
Hutchinson had his career game against Ohio State. I think the stay quays said it was the greatest statistic game they had ever recorded for a D lineman. Your theory doesn’t stand up.
I agree. Hutchinson got shut down by the SEC team. I would draft any of the OL over any of the edge rushers. OL got tested a ton and has plenty of tape to support their abilities. This is why Detroit should trade down or trade their 29 year old LT to Cinci or Chargers, draft an OL to pair with Sewell, they use the extra picks to build the team. The OL is where the value outweighs the need when drafting top 3.
I don’t believe any of these draft “rumors.” The team leaked that themselves, trying to get another team to consider making an offer for the pick.
I guess maybe if the Jags keep drafting raw pass rushers for their star potential, eventually one of them will turn out to be a star.
Law of averages
Jags would be stupid to draft anything but a tackle, protect your QB!!!
But then again, it is the Jags
You seen how their offseason went don’t expect anything less .
They won’t take him.
2013 was the last time the Jags went back to back drafts without using their first pick on homegrown talent. They’ve revamped the scouting department so it will be interesting to see if they can finally break their addiction to Florida based players.
That’s crazy, I had no idea about that. I just can’t see any way they rate this guy above Thibodeaux and Hutchinson, but drafts are a crapshoot and if that’s the way they’ve been drafting, who knows. He could certainly end up the best of the bunch.
Hutchinson overrated? Only stats against inferior teams? I watched every single play of this season, and that’s not the case. What about his 2 sacks against Ohio State? 2 more against Penn St and a very quick QB in Clifford. And yes he had dominant stats against teams like Rutgers and Maryland, but that’s what your supposed to do! If he didn’t he’d get blamed for “disappearing” in those types of matchups! I’m not saying that Hutch will be the next LT or even a Bosa brother. But he is not overrated, I will tell you that much
That dude watched one game of his and made a proclamation (which wasn’t even an accurate take, in my opinion).
Walker is a freaking beast. His sack numbers were low because there was so much pressure from everyone on that team. The whole defense should be drafted in the first 2 rounds.