Jaguars OTAs: Dwayne Gratz in line to start

The Jacksonville Jaguars have completely revamped their defensive backfield, retaining just a single starter from their backfield in the 2012 season. One of the new additions in the secondary is third-round pick Dwayne Gratz, who appears to be locking in one of the starting positions.

via Ryan O'Halloran of The Florida Times-Union:

Defense: Safety Johnathan Cyprien and cornerback Dwayne Gratz looked completely in place working with the veterans and they are expected to be Week 1 starters.

Gratz was a bit of a surprise pick to some, but the Jaguars looked for very specific things when heading into the draft at the cornerback position.

"A lot of the metrics we used were applied based on the projections of who would be drafted," Tony Khan told Neil Hornsby of ProFootballFocuse.com. "For example, for DBs I had used a metric I called Passes Touched per Target, which was just (Passes Intercepted + Passes Defensed)/Passes Thrown at That DB. Dwayne Gratz fared well here among the pool of "draft worthy" players, particularly among the group of press cover corners with long arms we were targeting."

Gratz actually measured up just as good or better than some of the corners drafted before him at the position and he seemed to hit it off with the Jaguars staff.

"Dave (Caldwell), Gus (Bradley), Jedd (Fisch), Bob (Babich) and I had toured the entire country coast-to-coast. We worked out many of the top players privately and also attended many Pro Days," Khan told ProFootballFocus. "Gus really connected with Gratz during our time in Connecticut, and he seemed like he would be a great fit for us. He had a very strong workout and spent some great one-on-one time with Gus."

Keep reading:

• Former Jaguars LB Daryl Smith signs with the Ravens

• MJD a bit overweight in OTA's, getting into shape

• Redefining the Jaguars

• Jason Babin confident about return