Jacksonville Jaguars

Jags a Lock to Take Lawrence with First NFL Draft Pick But After Trevor?

Trevor Lawrence Jaguars Draft
Trevor Lawrence is one of the biggest stars in the making, but who will the teams after him select?

On February 7, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the Kansas City Chiefs for the title of Super LV Champion. Football fans eagerly await the game because it should be a great one. Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback, maybe best player, in the NFL. 

Tom Brady is the greatest player to ever step onto a football field. Every sports discussion from now until the big game, every question, every statement, every prediction will be about Super Bowl LV. But as much as we hype the NFL’s yearly championship, we turn our direction towards the other big event this year, the NFL Draft.

Simply called The Draft, the every April futurism exerciseprovides chances for less than stellar squads to become Vince Lombardi Trophy contenders overnight. Excitement is so pronounced, Super Bowl odds bookmakers calculate the chances of a drafted player helping their new team.

Early 2022 Super Bowl odds peg the Miami Dolphins, who have the third pick in the NFL Draft, a +2500 seventh choice. The Jets, who pick second, are at +8000, while the Jaguars, who choose first, are at +10000.

Big odds? Absolutely, but the odds on the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars would be to the stratosphere if neither team had a top first-round draft pick.

Bookies also post odds on where teams draft players. This year, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence is a quasi-insane -2000 choice to go first. The reason? The Jaguars hired former Florida and Ohio State coach Urban Meyer as their latest HC.

Meyer is a master at getting the most out of quarterbacks. Many consider Lawrence the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck went to the Indianapolis Colts with the first pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Urban shouldn’t go off script and shun Lawrence. Trevor most likely will be the first player taken in the 2021 NFL Draft. But after Lawrence, there are questions. 

What will the Jets do with the second pick?

In Draft Diamonds’ latest mock, the Jets will hand Roger Goodell a piece of paper with Justin Fields‘ name on it. Fields led Ohio State to the NCAAF Championship, where the Alabama Crimson Tide destroyed the Buckeyes for yet another trophy.

The Ohio State signal-caller has all the tools to be a great professional quarterback. This quarterback crop is deep, though. Most have Zach Wilson rated ahead of Fields. 

Then there’s South Dakota player Trey Lance. Mac Jones played in an offensive system at Alabama. He’s another quarterback that could have success at the next level. With so many excellent prospects, the Jets may decide to forego choosing Fields with the second pick and instead trade down for more selections. 

If the Jets trade the pick, what teams are potential trading partners?

A possible trade partner is the Houston Texans. The team that Bill O’Brien destroyed doesn’t have a first-round pick. They traded theirs to the Miami Dolphins, which is why the Dolphins pick third.

The Jets could decide to trade their pick for Deshaun Watson, the Texans’ disgruntled quarterback. Watson, though, has a no-trade clause in his current contract. He could decide not to show up and play for NYJ.

Likelier trade partners are the Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions, and San Francisco 49ers. Going from their current positions to second, give the teams above a shot at the quarterback they want. 

Those teams, no doubt, are in the running for Deshaun’s services. If they don’t trade for Watson, they may call the Jetslooking to move up to the second pick. 

Stafford won’t be in Detroit next season. Detroit and their quarterback, Matthew Stafford, are looking for trade partners. If the Lions want their choice of quarterbacks after Lawrence, they must move up from the seventh pick. 

Once free pay per head betting software sportsbooks offer odds on the player to go with the second pick, keep trade possibilities in mind before betting money. Stafford and Watson should be with new teams while the Panthers, Falcons, Lions, 49ers, and a couple of other franchises could be ringing the Jets’ phone off the hook. 

Miami can go several ways with the third pick

The Dolphins say they’re sticking with 2020 first-round pick Tua Tagovailoa. The former star Alabama quarterback played okay in his first season. He wasn’t exceptional but, then again, how many rookie quarterbacks are?

Miami figures to give Tua what he most requires, a WR1 who can dominate defenses. Devonta Smith won the Heisman this season while catching passes from Mac Jones. Tagovailoa and Smith know each other well.

Drafting Devonta is the smart move. It’s not the move Miami must make, though. LSU wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase has more of an NFL frame. He outweighs Smith by 38 pounds. If the Dolphins get a call from a hungry quarterback team, they may move down thinking they could draft Chase or possibly even Smith.

What the Jets and Dolphins do will determine the outcome of the rest of the NFL Draft’s first round. There’s also something important to keep in mind. 

The Jacksonville Jaguars require more than just Trevor Lawrence to become a Super Bowl contender. Jacksonville is a mess in so many ways. Although the odds and logic say Urban pulls the trigger on Lawrence, he may not.

The list of NFL Draft Round 1 quarterback busts is more extended than Santa’s naughty and nice tally. Blake Bortles, the first quarterback drafted in 2014, and Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariotta, who went 1-2 in 2015, are no longer with the teams that drafted them.

In 2016, Jared Goff and Carson Wentz went back-to-back. Neither the Rams, who drafted Goff nor the Eagles, who landed Wentz, have committed to their starting quarterbacks for the upcoming season. The Bears made Mitchell Trubisky the first quarterback taken in the 2017 NFL Draft. They said before the season ended that they wouldn’t resign Mitch. 

Urban Meyer may decide to either try or trade for Matt Stafford or Deshaun Watson. Or Urban could trade down, get a ton of picks for the next four years, and build a winner around a quarterback like Trey Lance or Mac Jones. This is the NFL Draft, meaning anything is possible. 

Damond Talbot

NFL Draft Diamonds was created to assist the underdogs playing the sport. We call them diamonds in the rough. My name is Damond Talbot, I have worked extremely hard to help hundreds of small school players over the past several years, and will continue my mission. We have several contributors on this site, and if they contribute their name and contact will be in the piece above. You can email me at nfldraftdiamonds@gmail.com

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button