DOES THIS MOCK DRAFT PICK MAKE SENSE FOR THE JAGUARS?!

0:00I made the transition out of the military, but I didn't want to stop pushing my limits or protecting the nation. So I joined the CIA. Now I conduct strategic operations and intelligence activities globally. It's a career that draws on my significant military and leadership experience. Keep serving our nation's interests. Join the CIA's Directorate of Operations. Visit CIA.gov slash careers to learn more and apply. Maximal Jaguars fans welcome in to do vault daily presented by ginjag.com. I'm Jordan Lua. Thanks someone for being here. Monday, March 16th. We are marching on. No pun intended towards the 2026 NFL draft. It kicks off on April 23rd. The Jaguars are currently not slated to have any picks on April 23rd, the first round of the NFL draft Thursday night. So they do have a ton of picks on day two and day three on day two. They have 56, 81, 88 and 100.

1:00They have four picks in between 56 and 100. And so a lot of the times you look around the web, a mock draft might only cover one round. Some of them cover more rounds, including an NFL draft on SI who Justin Melo does a great job despite being a Titans guy. He does a great job covering the NFL draft and providing some of these, you know, more in-depth mock drafts. And so he dropped a new mock draft today, you know, now that free agency, it's not over by any stretch of the imagination, but it's winding down a little bit. A lot of the top names are off the board when it comes to free agency. So he did a two round mock draft. Eventually, I'm sure he'll step that up and get the full day two in there and the Jaguars will have more picks. And you've seen some other mock drafts where that happens. I mean, obviously look right here. I don't do every pick for every team, though. I'm focusing specifically on the Jaguars. We did drop a mock on Friday, but this is an interesting one. I'm excited to look at it because the Jaguars make a pick of a position that some folks

2:06might just be like, why? Is that not redundant? Is that not a little weird? So I'm excited to get into it. Really appreciate y'all tuning in. If you enjoy the content, please like and subscribe. You can also check out ginjag.com, pick up some new DuVolgear help support. The channel look good while doing it, and I'll also hit that high button. So at 56 overall, the Jacksonville Jaguars, they select cornerback, Chris Johnson, San Diego State. And this is what Justin Mella has to say. The Jacksonville Jaguars need more depth at cornerback, despite resigning Monteric Brown. San Diego State's Chris Johnson would be a terrific option to have at boundary corner. But Johnson is a sticky coverage player who can thrive in any scheme. I think all of that's true. I really do. And just in general, if we're only talking about the position that the Jaguars draft at 56 overall, not the player, but the position, what positions do the Jaguars need the most

3:09is cornerback among them? Definitely not. You know, you have Travis Hunter. You have Buster Brown, who his contract indicates that he will be a starter for at least the next two years, Buster Brown. Just the way that contract is written, the Jags don't have a team out until after 2027. Then you also have Jari and Jones, who you've got under contract for a couple of years. You've got Jordan Lewis, you brought back Christian Braswell, you have Keith Taylor. There's only one person, however, that projects to play outside corner for a long time, as well as Chris Johnson or better than Chris Johnson in that room. That's Travis Hunter, obviously, right? So Chris Johnson does provide a type of ceiling that I think could make you say, if this is the best player on your board, just go get him. But we're going to have a little bit more nuance talk about it, but I do think, obviously,

4:12as we've talked about, as the roster stands right now, I think interior defensive line, edge, I think, honestly, off-ball linebacker, tight end, maybe even offensive line. Left tackle, right tackle, a guard spot, or not right tackle, left tackle and guard. You can make a lot of argument, wide receiver. There's arguments that cornerback might be the deepest position on the Jaguar's roster right now, and it might legitimately be, I mean, you have four very good players at corner right now. Travis Hunter, elite upside, Monteric Buster Brown, good starter, especially in this system.

5:16Jordan Lewis, great slot player, Jari and Jones, really good slot player, but I can also play outside at a reasonably high level. And then Christian Braswell acquitted himself well when on the field last year, and then Keith Taylor was on a practice squad. They signed him Christmas Day, and they liked him so much what he brought to the table that they brought him back before free agency started. So this is a deep group at corner for the Jax, no question about it. And again, when I like an interior defensive line, edge, the Jaguar is currently, in my opinion, have four players that you can legitimately argue can impact the quarterback up front. That's Josh Heinz Allen, that's Trayvon Walker, that's Dennis Gardek, and that's Eric Gromstead. And yes, Eric Gromstead in a rotation and healthy, which he was not healthy at the end of last season, helps you rush to the passer.

6:18Danny Stricko, BJ Green, could develop into that, right? Mason Smith could develop into that. It's starting to feel less and less likely. I think the Jaguars need, based on the way they've handled free agency so far, to draft at least two players on the defensive front that can impact the quarterback. And my argument is I think you want seven, seven total guys. I think the Jaguars currently have four. It's possible you could have development on the roster from the young guys. So like at minimum, if the Jaguars do not address this in free agency, I think the Jaguars need two high impact defensive linemen, you know, rushers, edge and interior total. At minimum, I want two new guys to come in here and compete.

7:22Now, does that mean you can't take cornerback at 56? We'll talk about that on the other side first that our mind y'all, the tournament is back. The upsets are inevitable and underdog is the best place to get in on all the action playing on underdog is easy. Just pick whether your favorite players will go higher or lower on stats like points, rebound, steals and more. And now you can also take a look at teams, team picks. I made the transition out of the military, but I didn't want to stop pushing my limits or protecting the nation. So I joined the CIA. Now I conduct strategic operations and intelligence activities globally. It's a career that draws on my significant military and leadership experience. Keep serving our nation's interests. Join the CIA's Directorate of Operations. Visit cia.gov slash careers to learn more and apply. Craving the coffee flavor you love. But without the caffeine, Kachava's got you covered with their newest coffee flavor.

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10:30they don't want to trade out and a player like Chris Johnson is on the board. Who in my opinion is closer to somebody that should be taken in the first round than somebody that should be available at 56? Like Chris Johnson legitimately possesses everything you could be looking for in my opinion in a NFL draft prospect cornerback, outside of like elite size and elite speed. But he's got, I mean his tape is fantastic. He's got quick feet, quick trigger, he's smart, plays the game at an extremely high level, especially in zone coverage, right? Like a elite, truly elite zone coverage corner who has ball skills, 6 foot, 193 pounds, 30 and 5-8s arm, 9 and 7-8s hands, got big hands, that's helpful when you're trying to make impact on the wide receiver, when you're trying to disrupt the ball, all that

11:34stuff. 4-4 flat, 40 yard dash, 1-5-4-10 split, 38 inch for 10-6 broad, 17 bench press reps. The guy has it all. I mean the name is questionable, right? Chris Johnson, we might need to change that to like Christopher Johnson or something, giving me flashbacks of Chris Johnson just running all over the Jaguars defense. He did that to some good Jaguars defense, it's too man, goodness gracious, he was a problem. But yeah, so this is the type of player that to me might just transcend the idea that you need to go get a certain position. And I know everybody talks about best player available in an ideal world. Well, things aren't perfect all the time. And there's also tears, like tear systems, like let's say Chris Johnson is in the same tear as someone available on the Jaguars board. That player is at interior defense of line or edge or a linebacker.

12:38Do they take Chris Johnson or do they take that guy? I mean, I think you take the other guy. But let's say Chris Johnson is a tear or two ahead of anybody that they have at interior defense of line, at edge, at linebacker. Take Chris Johnson, absolutely, take him because he's a good player. And good teams stay good by taking good football players. And you, the problem is not going and addressing needs. The problem is addressing needs outside of your actual draft evaluations. The problem is selecting a need when there are much better players available at other positions. And look, Chris Johnson, if you have an injury and you have Chris Johnson waiting in the wings, that's amazing, right? That's absolutely fantastic. And then also, when it comes to Monteric Brown, his contract is only through 2027 from

13:39a actual, like they could hold on to him through 2028 if they want to, but like they got a team out after 2027, big team out, like you look at his contract, we've got the trash truck coming by right now this morning. But you look at his contract and following the 2027 season, which again, you got 2026, 2027, but following 2027, you know, they do have a team out. They can save $5 million by moving on from that contract. There's a couple board years and stuff like that. But Chris Johnson, his path to being a starter would be 2028. And you could also sit here and say, look, just because we're paying Buster Brown $11 million on the cap $11.95 million in 2027, doesn't mean Chris Johnson can't come in and compete and if he's better, he's better and it is what it is. And we'll have an really expensive good backup in Buster Brown. So like, I don't think that, I don't think getting Chris Johnson at 56 is the most excited

14:48I could be for a pick because like Grayson Houghton, I would be more fired up about an interior defensive lineman who I have in the same range as Chris Johnson or Derek Moore, Malachi Lawrence. But Chris Johnson is a really good prospect. And if I was just doing rankings, he would be ahead of those guys, but they would all be in the same tier. So it'll be fascinating to see if like this situation presents itself. I kind of think Chris Johnson's going to be gone when the Jaguars pick at 56. If they pick at 56, if they don't move up or move down or whatever, I kind of think he's not going to be available at that spot. But you never know, this is a deep corner class. You could definitely be available. And I'm not in the business of if this guy is ranked higher and in a tier higher than

15:48everybody else on my board, just passing on him because I need an interior defensive lineman. Look, if it comes down to it and the Jaguars only land one defensive line player, whether that be Edge or interior defensive line and in the draft, go back to free agency, go back to the trade well, like figure it out, but don't in my opinion reach. That's where you really get in trouble. So if it was Chris Johnson, I'd be fine with it. As long as he is at the top of their board, basically. And as long as they have a plan in place to make sure that they have more rush than they currently have on the defensive front, really appreciate you all tuning in. If you enjoy the content here, please like and subscribe. Y'all have a good one.