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While we're probably more than a year away from the 2015 NFL Draft (because, let's be real -- they're gonna push it back again) it's fun to look at the top prospects headed into this college football season and see who could possibly be on our roster headed into the next NFL season.
Matthew Fairburn, contributor to Big Cat Country and one of the feature writers over at SB Nation's Mocking the Draft, put together his 2015 NFL Mock Draft. Fairburn used the latest Super Bowl odds from Bovada to determine the draft order. That lands the Jaguars with the first overall pick because London and tarps or something I don't know.
With Blake Bortles the unquestioned starter in 2015, the Jaguars need to grab a premier defensive player at the No. 1 overall spot. That means a pass rusher, and Fairburn believes it's Nebraska defensive end Randy Gregory.
The 6'6" 230-pound defensive end was, coincidentally, born in Jacksonville, Florida -- so unlike our quarterback, who was born two hours away in Oviedo, Gregory is quite literally a "hometown hero". He spent his undergrad at Arizona Western College, where he collected 82 tackles and nine sacks as a freshman. After the season he broke his leg, forcing him to sit out his sophomore season.
Prior to his junior season, Gregory enrolled at Nebraska where he In his first year at Nebraska, he started 10 games, recorded 64 tackles, earned 10.5 sacks and made one interception that he returned for a touchdown. He led the Big Ten in sacks and earned Nebraska's Defensive MVP award.
Coming into his senior season, he's been lauded by many as one of the best defensive players in the country. Sporting News currently rates him as the nation's best pure pass rusher and the No. 5 player in college football. Several others have him as a high first-round draft pick. Few have him graded as less than a top-three defensive lineman in the country.
So, what do you think? Could the Jacksonville Jaguars take a pass rusher with their first-round draft pick for the first time since 2008? Would you agree with the pick?