After revealing that they were down to four candidates for pick No. 1 last week, the Jacksonville Jaguars could be down to two or three heading into Tuesday. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Aidan Hutchinson’s chances to be the pick are declining, which points to North Carolina State’s Ikem Ekwonu, Georgia’s Travon Walker, or even Alabama’s Evan Neal being the top options.
“There has been a lot of conversation about Aidan Hutchinson going No. 1 overall,” Schefter said on ESPN’s “NFL Live”. “That seems to be decreasing right now. The focus seems to be on Travon Walker, the Georgia defensive end. It seems to be on Ickey Ekwonu, the North Carolina State offensive tackle. It could even be Evan Neal. But it certainly feels like momentum is building away from Aidan Hutchinson going No. 1 and to other players going to Jacksonville.”
Schefter added that it seems the Jags’ key front office figures have different ideas of who to take first overall and that taking Hutchinson isn’t completely ruled out. Those two people are head coach Doug Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke.
This aligns with what NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah said Monday, too, but he labeled Ekwonu as Pederson’s favorite and Walker as Baalke’s favorite. Both of these rumors have long been circulating in the football community, but hearing national analysts speak about them brings some validity to the situation.
In Baalke’s past, we’ve seen him go for players who have tremendous physical attributes, and the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine allowed Walker to display that. In Indianapolis, he ran a 4.51 in the 40-yard dash and registered a 123″ broad jump figure at 272 pounds. We’ve also seen Baalke favor prospects with long arms, and Walker is also the definition of that with 35.5-inch arms.
As for Ekwonu, he makes a lot of sense for an offensive mind like Pederson. When Pederson won Super Bowl LLI, it was with a dominant offensive line. He had notables like Jason Kelce, Brandon Brooks, and Lane Johnson on the line, an it made life easier on backup quarterback Nick Foles.
Adding Ekwonu (or possibly Neal), would bolster the group in front of quarterback Trevor Lawrence. In all likelihood, the starting line would consist of a combination of Cam Robinson, Walker Little, Brandon Scherff, Tyler Shatley, and the first-round pick. On paper, that would be the strongest group the Jags have had in a while.
