The Jacksonville Jaguars are gearing up for their 2018 NFL season and while the roster looks stacked and most position groups look set for the foreseeable future, there is one important position that still has some question marks:
Quarterback. Blake Bortles.
Granted, Blake has had a very good training camp so far but you can’t blame analysts and draft experts from predicting that the Jaguars will want to take advantage of a window where their roster — especially their defense — is probably as good as it has ever been.
Trevor Sikkema at TheDraftNetwork.com is one of those analysts, taking this year’s Super Bowl odds and deciding who the Jaguars will chose with the No. 21 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
No. 21 – Jacksonville Jaguars
PICK: Justin Herbert, QB, Oregon
Some mock drafts will show Herbert going much higher than this, but with limited success in the time he’s played I’m not ready to put him any higher than this to a spot where I like him going.
I know I’m not alone here, but I think Bortles is going to have quite the cool-down year from the mistake free 2017 we saw a year ago. I think that will be about all the Jaguars’ front office wants to handle of him and they’ll bring a guy in who they hope can execute a pass/run offense like Bortles but more consistently in both areas.
We have a long season ahead of us, but if training camp is any indication the Jaguars will stay on course with Bortles. He’s admittedly looked very good — good enough to continue to build around him — and I the Jaguars pick later than No. 21 overall, meaning that Herbert will likely be gone.
If Bortles cools down like Sikemma believes, or even plays at the same level of inconsistency as last year, I can see them going with a quarterback around this spot in the draft. But if the Jaguars win the AFC South once again and can go deep into the playoffs like they did last season, quarterback just ain’t gonna happen.
What do you think? How would you feel about a quarterback in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft?