The Jaguars will not draft a quarterback early this year

Stop me if you’ve heard this before — the Jacksonville Jaguars are in an interesting position heading towards the 2020 NFL Draft.

Picking twice in the first round, including a pick in the top-10, the team is in prime position to draft an elite talent at both spots. However, this team has a lot of needs, and for general manager Dave Caldwell and head coach Doug Marrone to keep their jobs, they have to draft well.

Which is where this article takes us.

ESPN’s Todd McShay recently had the Jaguars taking Justin Herbert out of Oregon with the No. 9 overall pick in his mock draft.

Yeah... yeah, no.

There’s probably a near ZERO percent chance the Jaguars use a pick early on a quarterback. The main reason being that the Jaguars have needs at almost every other position, needs that should be higher on the list than quarterback.

The cornerback position still needs to be filled, the Jaguars have to find a way to replace Calais Campbell somehow, the interior defensive line has to improve, and we still don’t know what will happen to Yannick Ngakoue.

On the offensive side, the offensive line outside of center Brandon Linder and right tackle Jawaan Taylor needs to be improved, a second outside receiver to complement DJ Chark is needed, and a running back to give Leonard Fournette a break would help the offense. All of these positions should be filled early, before a quarterback.

Now, drafting one late to compete as a backup I would have no problem with, but a quarterback in the first round would be a mistake for Jacksonvile.

Also, Gardner Minshew is the reason why the Jaguars won’t draft a quarterback early. While Minshew showed limitations, he massively outperformed expectations en route to an impressive rookie season. The Jaguars would be wise to try and stock up at premium positions on offense to maximize the talent the Minshew has, along with breakout stars at receiver and Leonard Fournette. Building up the offensive line and adding weapons around Minshew and the offense should be able to maximize the offense, while keeping what we believe is a talented quarterback on a reasonable salary.

I don’t expect this team to be any good next season, but if Minshew again outperforms expectations, then he is the quarterback going forward for the Jaguars. If he does come crashing back down to earth, and what we saw in the middle of the season was more of the norm, then the Jaguars will more than likely be bad enough to be in a position to drat a quarterback early next year.

(Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields?)

As for this year, no chance they draft a quarterback early.