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The Jacksonville Jaguars have a very top-heavy secondary. The starters are elite — Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye make up the best tandem as long as they’re healthy, Barry Church is incredibly underrated and he and Tashaun Gipson play just outside of a Pro Bowl level.
But after that — what is there?
Newly signed D.J. Hayden figures in at slot cornerback, but the depth just isn’t there. If one of the starting four gets hurt, it could mean very, very bad things for what was a historically good pass defense last year.
In this series, I want to look at the Jaguars’ draft needs and try to find the “sweet spot” for those positions in the draft. I want to find the lowest round where I’ll still be able to pick a better-than-average player so that I can walk away from the draft with as much value as possible.
There are seven positions the Jaguars need — quarterback, offensive lineman, cornerback, tight end, linebacker, defensive end, and running back.
In Part 3 of my series, I’m looking over the cornerbacks and to help me organize the players I’ve used Dane Brugler’s prospect rankings published at NFLDraftScout.com.
Cornerback
| DS Rank | Name | School | Proj. Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| DS Rank | Name | School | Proj. Round |
| 6 | *Minkah Fitzpatrick | Alabama | 1 |
| 8 | *Denzel Ward | Ohio State | 1 |
| 20 | *Jaire Alexander | Louisville | 1 |
| 26 | *Josh Jackson | Iowa | 1 |
| 30 | *Mike Hughes | Central Florida | 1-2 |
| 41 | *Carlton Davis | Auburn | 2 |
| 48 | *Isaiah Oliver | Colorado | 2 |
| 58 | Anthony Averett | Alabama | 2 |
| 71 | *Donte Jackson | LSU | 2-3 |
| 77 | Duke Dawson | Florida | 2-3 |
| 82 | Tony Brown | Alabama | 2-3 |
| 97 | *Kevin Toliver II | LSU | 3 |
| 103 | Isaac Yiadom | Boston College | 3-4 |
| 110 | *Quenton Meeks | Stanford | 3-4 |
| 120 | M.J. Stewart | North Carolina | 4 |
| 126 | Davontae Harris | Illinois State | 4 |
| 137 | Avonte Maddox | Pittsburgh | 4 |
| 142 | *Tarvarus McFadden | Florida State | 4-5 |
| 154 | *Nick Nelson | Wisconsin | 4-5 |
| 157 | *Holton Hill | Texas | 5 |
| 180 | Darius Phillips | Western Michigan | 5-6 |
| 182 | Grant Haley | Penn State | 5-6 |
| 191 | *D.J. Reed | Kansas State | 5-6 |
| 194 | Parry Nickerson | Tulane | 5-6 |
| 208 | *J.C. Jackson | Maryland | 6 |
| 209 | Michael Joseph | Dubuque | 6 |
| 219 | Brandon Facyson | Virginia Tech | 6-7 |
| 235 | Taron Johnson | Weber State | 6-7 |
| 243 | Levi Wallace | Alabama | 7 |
| 253 | Andre Chachere | San Jose State | 7 |
| 255 | Arrion Springs | Oregon | 7 |
Much like quarterback, I believe cornerback is another position where there will be a run early and so that means two things — these players will likely go earlier than they are projected and if you’re sitting at the bottom of a round (like the Jaguars) you will have to “overdraft” in a sense.
Personally, I don’t know why guys like M.J. Stewart, Avonte Maddox, and Davontae Harris have such low grades from Brugler. I could easily see either of them going earlier than the fourth round.
I think the real line between “good enough” and “gone in a few years” is Tarvarus McFadden. He’s a ball hawk but he’s vulnerable to big plays and quick receivers. Because I believe the guys ahead of him will go a little earlier than expected (and because the Jaguars sit at the bottom of each of their rounds) I think they can still find a really good nickel cornerback at the end of the third round.
Look for the Jaguars to target either of Stewart, Maddox, or Harris at the end of the third round and for all three of those guys to be gone by the end of the fourth round.
Sweet spot for Jaguars at CB: Round 3
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