In the last article about Gene Smith's draft tendencies, I talked about how 8 of the 9 players in which were drafted by the Jaguars were team captains at their respective schools. In the small sample size of draft picks that we have to look at, 7 of the 9 were on the offensive side of the ball. In the 2010 draft that is being touted as one of the deepest defensive drafts in years, we're not expecting the same kind of draft. We've come to expect that the Jaguars will address their defensive woes in the draft this year, but in the case that they do make selections to help the offense, productivity is something that Gene clearly holds in high regards.
Of the 7 players Gene drafted to help the Jaguars offensively, 5 of those players were skill positions excluding only first and second round picks Eugene Monroe and Eben Britton. Each of those 5 players had one thing in common, and that was tremendous productivity at the collegiate level.
Mike Thomas, a 4th round selection, remains the all-time leader for receptions in the Pac-10 with an eye popping 258 receptions over his four year career.
Jarett Dillard, a 5th round selection, crushed records during his years at Rice. He is the all-time leader in the NCAA for receiving touchdowns with 59. That's 9 more than second place receiver and former Jaguar, Troy Edwards. Dillard also ranks 11th in receptions with 284 and 9th in yardage with 4,052 on the NCAA leaderboards.
6th round pick Zach Miller may not have played against the highest level of competition at Nebraska-Omaha, but that doesn't make his stats unimpressive. A quarterback in college, Miller ranks 7th in school history in passing yards. More impressive, though, is the fact that he ranks 2nd in school history in rushing yards with 3,122 yards.
Rashad Jennings, a 7th round pick, passed on the chance to be the starting runningback for Pittsburgh instead choosing to attend Liberty University. In his three years with the Flames, Jennings broke the school record for rushing touchdowns with 42.
Even 7th round pick Tiquan Underwood, who is considered to be more of a developmental, raw prospect, was productive during his time at Rutgers. If Underwood had caught one more touchdown during his collegiate career, he would be tied for the most receiving touchdowns in school history.
So applying that to this year's draft, it seems safe to assume that Gene may avoid prospects with physical skills but little production in college. A player like Arrelious Benn, who left for the NFL after his junior year, has to be questioned in the eyes of Gene for having only caught 7 touchdowns in his 3 years and only 38 receptions in the 2009 season.
- Adam Stites