The on-field drills at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine are in the books, but determining how much they matter is a challenging exercise.
While there’s obvious value in seeing exactly how athletic prospects are (otherwise, why do the drills), it’s also a little silly to let anything other than game tape determine how players stack up.
With that in mind, it doesn’t quite feel right to make many changes to the first-round mock draft published last week.
Instead, here’s a Jacksonville Jaguars-centric mock draft with a guess at nine players the team could target with their selections in the 2023 NFL Draft:
1st round (24th overall): Darnell Washington, TE, Georgia
Jaguars coach Doug Pederson was with the Philadelphia Eagles when the team drafted Dallas Goedert early, even though they already had a Pro Bowl tight end in Zach Ertz.
Evan Engram or not, Washington makes a ton of sense for the Jaguars.
Despite getting a career-year out of Engram, the Jaguars still had blocking specialist Chris Manhertz on the field nearly 40 percent of time.
Washington, a 6’7, 264-pound Goliath of a tight end, would be like an additional offensive lineman on the field for Jacksonville. But unlike Manhertz, he can offer plenty in terms of receiving skills too.
2nd round (56th overall): Emmanuel Forbes, CB, Mississippi State
Forbes is one of the more unique draft prospects of 2023.
On one hand, he’s an experienced and productive cornerback with the length that Trent Baalke loves, the most pick sixes in FBS history, and 4.35 speed. On the other hand, he’s the Jack Skellington of the draft class at 166 pounds.
That unique physique in a class full of good cornerbacks could mean Forbes is available in the middle of the second round where the Jaguars would be well-positioned to give his skills a chance to blossom.
3rd round (88th overall): Byron Young, EDGE, Tennessee
If the Jaguars want to find an edge rusher that checks all their typical boxes, they’ll have to pick one earlier than the tail end of Day 2.
Here I believe they’ll have a shot at drafting a productive and über-athletic player in Young, who was an All-SEC selection last year and had a fantastic combine performance.
However, Baalke has never drafted an edge rusher with arms shorter than 33 inches and Young’s arms are a half-inch under that threshold at 32.5 inches. It doesn’t help either that Young’s a still relatively raw player who turns 25 next week.
4th round (119th overall): A.T. Perry, WR, Wake Forest
Experts have cooled on the idea of the Jaguars drafting a wide receiver early, due mostly to the seemingly imminent reinstatement of Calvin Ridley.
While adding Ridley to a receiving corps that includes Christian Kirk and Zay Jones means the Jaguars aren’t desperate for talent at the position, the team could certainly use some size on the outside.
Perry is a little over 6’3 with 4.47 speed and a 35-inch vertical.
That size and speed combo could lead to Perry going before the start of Day 3. But the Jaguars may be able to land him in the middle of the draft if his history of drops and inconsistency knock him out of the top 100 picks.
4th round (125th overall): McClendon Curtis, G, Chattanooga
The Jaguars have reportedly been keeping an eye on Curtis for a long time and it makes sense. There aren’t exactly 6’6, 324 pounders with 35-inch arms growing on trees.
Curtis played a low level of competition and his technique will need cleaning up, but there’s a plenty of size, length, and strength to work with and mold into an NFL player.
5th round (157th overall): Carter Warren, OT, Pittsburgh
After serving as Kenny Pickett’s blindside protector in 2021, Warren’s senior year at Pittsburgh was cut short by a torn meniscus that eventually required surgery to repair.
At the combine, Warren measured in at 6’5, 311 pounds with 35 3/8-inch arms.
6th round (166th overall): Chammari Conner, CB, Virginia Tech
Conner is a Jacksonville native who was a four year starter for the Hokies with experience all over the secondary. With the Jaguars, Conner could play safety or move down and line up as a nickel.
If nothing else, his impressive combine performance (which included a 40.5-inch vertical) showed he has the skills to be a contributor on special teams.
6th round (195th overall): Tavion Thomas, RB, Utah
The Jaguars have a rising star in Travis Etienne Jr., a second-year back in Snoop Conner, and they re-signed JaMycal Hasty in February. But coach Doug Pederson still made it clear that they want to add talent in the backfield.
In Thomas they could get a little more thunder to complement the lightning they already have on the roster. Conner is the heaviest of the aforementioned trio at 222 pounds, and Thomas has him beat at 237 pounds. He’s a downhill runner with a knack for picking up yards after contact.
7th round (205th overall): Truman Jones, EDGE, Harvard
The 2022 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year was a team captain for the Crimson and finished his collegiate career with 14.5 sacks and 28.5 tackles for loss.
At the Shrine Bowl, he measured in at 6’3, 251 pounds with 33 5/8-inch arms.
His stats and size weren’t enough to earn Jones a combine invite, but they could be enough to land him in the tail end of the draft. A 4-3 defensive end in the Harvard defense, Jones will likely take time to adjust to a 3-4 outside linebacker role.
