Jaguars Top 10 Draft Busts: Quentin Groves

After the 2007 season, the Jacksonville Jaguars thought they were right on the cusp of being a perennial playoff team. David Garrard surprisingly became the starting quarterback and had a very nice season. The Jaguars defense was still good, but it was obvious there were some holes. The most glaring hole was on the defensive line at the defensive end position. Paul Spicer was getting long in the tooth, Bobby McCray left in free agency, and Reggie Hayward hadn't fully recovered from his Achilles injury (nor did he ever). In the 2008 NFL Draft, the Jaguars thought they were just a few pieces away from having one of the top defenses in the NFL again. They knew they needed a pass rush and that's what they were going to address.

In the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft, the Jaguars drafted Auburn defensive end Quentin Groves. The Jaguars sent their 2nd round pick, a 5th round pick, and a 2009 7th round pick to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to move up six spots in the draft, presumably to leap frog the Pittsburgh Steelers, to select Groves. Groves was a sack specialist at Auburn and the Jaguars thought he could be a speed rusher off the edge opposite their first round pick, Derrick Harvey.

Unfortunately for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Groves simply wasn't that good. In his rookie season, he was able to sack the quarterback 2.5 times but he barely played. Groves was limited to mostly special teams and spot duty as a rotational end. After the 2008 season, Groves started 7 games for the Jaguars at defensive end but again was underwhelming. Groves had zero sacks in his second season, and the Jaguars even dabbled in the 3-4 defense a bit letting Groves play stand up linebacker, a position some draft analysts felt he'd fare better at. After the 2009 season, it was clear Quentin Groves was not in the plan for the Jaguars. Gene Smith reportedly wasn't a fan of Groves, even at one point telling Groves the next time he was called to Gene Smith's office, it would be to cut him from the team. In the 2010 off-season, Smith sent Quentin Groves to the Oakland Raiders for a 2010 5th round pick prior to the draft.

The Raiders moved Groves to outside linebacker in their 4-3 scheme and he started 12 games last season.

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