For the second year in a row, the Jacksonville Jaguars hold the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. They will not be taking a quarterback with the top pick like they did last year with Trevor Lawrence, but there are a couple of offensive linemen and pass-rushers who would make fantastic additions in Jacksonville. There’s also a possibility the Jaguars could trade down.
In speaking with reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday, Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke said that “you’re always open for business” when it comes to potentially trading the No. 1 overall pick, per NFL.com.
“Now whether we’ll be able to move it or not (is the question), but we’re very comfortable taking the pick as well,” said Baalke. “We’ve got to be prepared for anything in this league, so to say we won’t shop it is probably not 100% correct, but to say we will is probably not either. So we’re gonna see what comes and if something comes our way and it makes sense to us we’ll make that decision at that time.”
The question, of course, is who would be interested in trading up to acquire the No. 1 overall pick? It seems unlikely that any team will do so, and a big reason why is the quarterback class. If the Jaguars wanted to trade down last year, they absolutely could have. Remember, the San Francisco 49ers gave up a king’s ransom just to move up to No. 3 overall and select Trey Lance. Quarterbacks made up the top three picks in the 2021 NFL Draft, but this year we may not even see one selected in the top 10.
All four of our CBS Sports NFL Draft experts have the Jaguars taking an offensive lineman with the No. 1 overall pick. Chris Trapasso, Josh Edwards and Kyle Stackpole are eyeing Alabama’s Evan Neal, while Ryan Wilson has N.C. State’s Ikem Ekwonu kicking things off.
A trade could occur within the top five depending on which players fall as the draft moves forward, but as for the No. 1 overall pick, the 31 other teams should be fine letting the Jaguars pick whomever they like.
