How'd we do in the 2012 Draft?

Well the 2012 draft is over and he's my view on how we did. Things started off great. I'm at St John Town center working the Bold City Brigade sign up table. I got to meet so many Twitter follower and loyal Jaguars fans. At 8:00pm the draft starts on time and in the middle of selling shirts and signing up new members one the Brigade members you may know her has @oohkristin on twitter says to me that there is a rumor that the Jaguars will trade up to get Justin Blackmon. I check Twitter and sure enough the Jaguars did just that. They traded up with the Bucs and with the 5th overall pick they select Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon.

Selecting Blackmon was what was needed. For one the pick energized the fan base, but it also means that now the WR corps is a legitimate threat. The Jaguars have for a while now needed a big WR to compete with other teams and Blackmon brings that competition. With the signing of WRs Laurant Robinson and Lee Evans as well as Mike Thomas (in the slot) the Jaguars receiver corp is now whole. Blackmon will wear number 14 for the Jaguars.

The second round of the draft focused on the defensive side of the ball particularly the defensive end position. The Jaguars select DE Andre Branch from Clemson. Branch brings some much needed pass rushing talent to the Jaguars something that has been needed with two straight seasons of Aaron Kampman being on IR. Don't get me wrong I hope Kampman comes back with a vengeance this season. But its nice to know that the Jags are looking to the future with the drafting of Branch. In his senior year at Clemson he racked up 10.5 sacks. with numbers like that he will make a great addition to the Rushmen.

The third round of the draft was Gene's WTF round. I was cooking my dinner during this part of the draft and when I pulled out my phone to see what we did I saw the words punter go past my eyes. I quickly found a tweet from Jaguars beat writer Tania Ganguli that said we drafted Bryan Anger a punter from University of California. At that point I was like Gene was on thin ice. It wasn't until this morning when I saw his highlight reel that I understood what Gene did. He drafted a rookie that for the next four years he would pin opposing teams within the 15 yard line. The guy has a leg and if you don't know what I mean take a look at this:

We didn't have a fourth round pick so I took a nap...

Yes that's Blaine he's going after!

In the fifth round Gene Smith grabbed a guy from University of Nevada Reno named Brandon Marshall. He's an OLB with some talent that could develop into starter material. This was another a good move by Gene. Marshall is someone to watch for the future. Even though the Jags have a strong LB corp those guys will not be around forever.






In the sixth round the Jaguars went to another Division 1 school and drafted Mike Harris from FSU. This was a clutch selection as Harris is a great DB. He will be a good back up nickle and special teams guy and adds plenty of depth. On a side note the Jaguars now have 16 defensive backs on their active roster. That number will be cut down eventually as the off season progresses.






During the final round of the draft Gene Smith regressed and selected a guy from a small school. The Jaguars drafted Jeris Pendleton from Ashland University. He is 346 lbs of DT and I just watched a video on You Tube of him squatting 575lbs. I will add depth to DT for the Jags while starting DT Terrance Knighton recovers from his eye injury.

My overall grade of this draft is B+. The punter drafting did throw me off but the drafting of Blackmon and Branch are vital to this team being competitive. I welcome your thoughts and comments on the draft.