Draft clock is ticking for Jags but time is not a luxury Jets can enjoy
The NFL season is four months away but for fans the optimism begins now, the week of the Draft.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are “on the clock,” the term used to describe the time allowed to make their pick from the top college prospects, and will have first choice.
Fans are hoping their team lands a player who turns an ailing franchise around or adds that key piece of the jigsaw to push them over the line, or sneaks someone in the sixth round who turns out to be the next Tom Brady. That enthusiasm carries fans through the off season.
The first round starts in the early hours of Friday and the presumed first pick by the Jags is Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence..
Experts predict that the first four picks off the board will all be quarterbacks – a first in the modern draft era.
The overwhelming No 1 outside of quarterbacks is Florida tight end Kyle Pitts. The 6ft 5in pass catcher had 12 touchdowns in just eight games in the past season and looks set to fall to Miami, leading fans to speculate about the future he could have as a weapon for last year’s quarterback pick Tua Tagovailoa.
But, there’s change in the air when it comes to the draft as the NFL starts to feel a little more like the NBA, where the value of the top five picks is significantly more than those that follow.
The LA Rams have made the playoffs in three of the past four years but have not selected in the first round since 2016 and won’t until at least 2023. Their philosophy has been to look for value in picks and that generally, unless you are at the top of the order, that can come in rounds two to seven.
The Texans and Seahawks also traded away first-round picks for known quantities, while Kansas joined them last week. The shift in momentum is based on the concept of keeping the scouting in-house, not attending the public showings such as Pro Days – where a player runs scripted plays – or even the Senior Bowl, all all-star game for the top college players. The logic is that being around scouts from other teams only muddies their view of a player.
Back at the top, the pressure is on to make the “right choice”, and this year there are a few head coaches who are new to teams and, in fact, new to NFL head coaching jobs. Experienced college coach Urban Meyer has the momentous task of turning around the Jacksonville Jaguars and will start to do so with the “guaranteed” pick of Lawrence.
Nick Sirianni takes over at Philadelphia and will have the 12th pick, while Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith gets to pick fourth. Both teams don’t “need” a quarterback but Atlanta may take one to play behind Matt Ryan for a year or two.
In New York, Jets coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas face the most pressure. They drafted QB Sam Darnold three years ago, and while many think the previous coaching system failed the passer, the new backroom team decided to move on and start afresh. Saleh was asked this week if he felt the pressure in the run-up to the draft and his reply was a concise “no”. But he is in New York, and whether he inherited a poor team or not, it won’t be long before the Big Apple fans and media start their microscopic inspections of the team.
So to Saleh and Douglas, I say this, enjoy your pressure-free days but, come Friday morning, you will be officially on the clock in a city where time moves quicker than most.