No. 10: Jaguars select: Blaine Gabbert, QB, Missouri
Grade
I like Christian Ponder more, but they had to get a quarterback. This is a bold move up. I like it. You can't win without a franchise passer.
C'mon Pete!
Brian Galliford of Buffalo Rumblings and SBNation.com likes the Jaguars move.
Jacksonville Jaguars: B+
In need of a long-term answer at quarterback, the Jaguars moved up - surrendering a second-round pick in the process - to go get Blaine Gabbert. They'll safely stash him behind David Garrard for a year or two.
Sports Illustrated doesn't seem to like the pick, because they felt defense was a biggest issue.
Two big problems with this pick. One, Gabbert was beloved by all the draft experts. But the truth is that he regressed badly after his prolific sophomore season of 2009. And two, the problem in Jacksonville was not at QB. The problem was the single worst pass defense in all of football: the Jaguars ranked 31st in what we call Defensive Passer Rating (a measure of pass-defense efficiency), 32nd in passing yards per attempt against (torched for 7.53 YPA every time an opposing QB dropped back to pass); and 31st on our Defensive Hog Index, which measures each defensive front. Anything but a big-time stopper on pass defense was a mistake.
ESPN doesn't have a grade yet, but it seems they do like the pick.
How he fits: The Jags have many needs on defense, but this is a good pick and Gabbert will be in a good situation. He can sit behind David Garrard, who is serviceable but not great. Backup Trent Edwards doesn't look like the future and this fan base needs someone to get excited about. Gabbert will be helped by a strong running game and a pretty good offensive line, but his biggest challenge will be thriving without a lot of weapons. He really allows a vanilla and conservative offense to open things up and become less predictable.