SB Nation has accomplished the primary spherical of its nineteenth annual crew neighborhood mock draft!
This 12 months’s mock will probably be two rounds — full outcomes will probably be posted on Thursday morning.
Right here was my course of in Spherical 1 because the mock basic supervisor for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Jacksonville’s new regime is anticipated to covet trench gamers on both aspect of the road of scrimmage coming into the 2025 NFL Draft.
“We might all agree that it wants to enhance, proper?” head coach Liam Coen stated at his introductory presser. “To enter playoff video games and to go do it, you’ve obtained to have the ability to run the soccer and cease the run, in the beginning.”
Michigan defensive sort out Mason Graham and LSU offensive sort out Will Campbell have been probably the most generally mocked prospects to the Jaguars for a while. They rank fourth and fifth on Arif Hasan’s consensus massive board as the highest linemen within the draft bar Abdul Carter.
The final assumption is that (with Carter, Cam Ward and Travis Hunter off the board) New England will take Graham or Campbell with the fourth decide. Then Jacksonville will take the opposite with the fifth decide.
That’s not the way it shook out in SB Nation’s mock.
- Tennessee Titans — Cam Ward, QB, Miami
- Cleveland Browns — Travis Hunter, CB/WR, Colorado
- New York Giants — Abdul Carter, DE, Penn State
- New England Patriots — Armand Membou, OT, Missouri
This leaves the Jaguars with their choice between Graham and Campbell.
Past Ward-to-Tennessee, Graham-to-Jacksonville has been the preferred player-to-team projection of this draft cycle, and never simply as a consequence of being the consensus prime participant accessible.
The embellished Wolverine product is destined for a prolonged and productive NFL profession as a three-down defensive sort out. He makes use of his championship-level wrestling background to his benefit; Graham annihilates single blocks with startling stop-start means, uncommon technical prowess, and maybe the very best motor of any 2025 prospect, no matter place.
The query is whether or not he can repay the high-end funding by turning into a high-end participant. Graham weighs 306 kilos (59th percentile for DT prospects) and his arms are 32 inches lengthy (eleventh percentile). He can get bounced by double groups and lose steam on bull rushes. It might go a great distance for him to land in a penetrating four-down entrance, fairly than a scheme that asks its linemen to occupy a number of gaps.
Graham has the instruments to develop into a Christian Wilkins-like playmaker who frequents opposing backfields like clockwork. Perhaps he turns into a useful rotational piece as a substitute. That vary of outcomes ought to work wonderful for Jacksonville, which completed third-worst in sack charge (5.5%) and stress charge (16.9%) in 2024.
The Jaguars didn’t signal a defensive lineman among the many 10 free brokers they added in March, however you may count on them to prioritize that unit with the ten draft picks they must spend in April. “We’re going to permit these rookies to get an opportunity to get out on the sector and assist us this coming fall,” basic supervisor James Gladstone stated in March.
The writing is on the wall. Jacksonville should add disruptive linemen to make life simpler for Josh Hines-Allen, Travon Walker, and your complete defensive unit, and there’s no higher prospect within the class (not named Abdul) who would fill that gap higher than Graham.
Nevertheless.
The Jaguars have Trevor Lawrence.
As nice because it’d be to assist Hines-Allen and Walker, there’s little question that the crew will prioritize Lawrence over every other participant. “He’s our man,” Coen stated. “He’s the franchise.”
Drafting an offensive lineman within the first spherical could seem underwhelming since Jacksonville’s beginning 5 for 2025 is just about set, contemplating the assets tied to Walker Little, Ezra Cleveland, Robert Hainsey, Patrick Mekari, and Anton Harrison. However even when a first-round rookie couldn’t beat out a projected starter throughout coaching camp, there’s no probability that any crew’s Week 1 beginning line will begin and end 17 common season video games.
“We’re setting the usual for what we’re truly trying to do, and that doesn’t depend offensive line out of the equation within the draft both,” Gladstone stated following the primary wave of 2025 free company. “That’s one other place that does have attrition all through the course of a season so we’ll by no means really feel like we’ve obtained sufficient.”
Coen apparently instructed former colleague and present Raiders basic supervisor John Spytek, “You realize, Spy, the one factor I underestimated earlier than I obtained right here was how good the O-Line was in Tampa … we had two first-round picks and two second-round picks in that line, and Ben Bredeson was a fourth-round decide. So you bought to speculate.”
Lest we neglect that the third department of Jacksonville’s soccer management unit is Corridor of Fame offensive sort out Tony Boselli, the franchise’s first-ever draft decide.
If this new administration group repeats historical past by spending its first-ever decide on a stalwart blocker, would that be a shock?
Like Graham, Campbell is extra of a mid-first-round prospect who’s been bumped up as a result of this 12 months’s draft class is comparatively weak on the prime after Hunter and Carter. He doesn’t come with out flaws.
Regardless of beginning at left sort out since he joined LSU in 2022, Campbell is anticipated by many to maneuver inside to protect and even middle on the subsequent stage. His arms are 33 inches lengthy (thirty eighth percentile) and his wingspan is 77 inches lengthy (4th percentile). On prime of the size considerations, his foot motion will be gradual and inconsistent. His overaggressiveness results in losses towards inside counters and penalties for false begins.
Campbell might not survive on an island towards NFL go rushers. Perhaps he can! But when he does develop into an inside offensive lineman, his weaknesses could possibly be mitigated and his strengths — strike energy, grip power, aggressive toughness — could possibly be maximized.
The widespread oversimplification is that Campbell could possibly be an important guard or a good sort out. The latter would nonetheless be useful contemplating its restricted provide within the league. Even when Campbell does find yourself at guard, the flexibility to play any place on the offensive line at an average-or-better charge is borderline priceless.
Drafting an inside lineman on both aspect of the ball with the fifth general decide might not sound interesting, however once more, this 12 months’s class is weak on the prime. That’s partly why Boise State working again Ashton Jeanty has been a current stylish projection for the Jaguars. Until they luck into Carter or Hunter, Jacksonville gained’t have the ability to maximize worth within the first spherical as a consequence of the place they’re slotted to select.
Graham would fill an apparent roster gap and should develop into a dominant NFL participant. However, past serving to Lawrence, the Jaguars may favor Campbell as a substitute due to his character.
By all accounts, Graham appears to be a tough employee and a robust chief — it’s simply that Campbell seems to be a step above. In 2023 and 2024, he was voted a crew captain and have become the primary lineman at school historical past to earn LSU’s prestigious #7 jersey, given to the crew’s prime playmaker.
Coaches, scouts, and analysts take turns raving about Campbell’s soccer management. It’s one of many foremost causes he’s projected to be drafted by the Patriots, and one of many foremost causes he’d be coveted by the Jaguars as properly.
“We’ll prioritize folks and gamers which might be intangibly wealthy,” Gladstone emphasised at his introductory presser (and quite a few occasions since). “By doing so, they are going to elevate our ecosystem, our crew, by being nothing greater than themselves.”
“I feel many individuals speak about, the thought of that being necessary to them. I actually look ahead to displaying our workers, our gamers and our followers that we’re going to be disciplined in prioritizing it.”
There’s a superb probability of Campbell being chosen fourth, subsequently unavailable to the Jaguars, when the true NFL Draft begins in just a few days. On this situation, although, Jacksonville makes an announcement by taking the highest participant on the similar place as their first-ever decide 30 years in the past.
I’m certain Tony can be the primary to welcome Will to Duval.
Associated: Jaguars look to the trenches with the No. 5 decide
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