The plan is for Jacksonville Jaguars first-round pick Anton Harrison to take over at right tackle and “solidify” the position for the team, according to head coach Doug Pederson.
The Jaguars have an interesting situation to navigate among their offensive tackles. After losing starting right tackle Jawaan Taylor in free agency, it seemed 2021 second-round pick Walker Little was primed to step into that role after two years as a backup.
That changed when news broke Wednesday night that left tackle Cam Robinson is expected to be suspended at the start of the 2023 season for a violation of the performance-enhancing drug policy. The selection of Harrison with the No. 27 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft came about 24 hours after word of the impending suspension was made public.
“He’s going to come in and work over on the right side,” Pederson said of Harrison in an interview with Kainani Stevens of Jaguars.com. “He’ll be next to [right guard] Brandon Scherff and sort of solidify that spot for us.
“His versatility, not only to play the left side which he played in school, but he can also move inside and potentially play guard, so there’s so many things that we can do. But we want to keep him in one spot, get him to start developing and growing in one spot and feel comfortable there before we start moving him around.”
The implication from Pederson is that the plan is not only for Harrison to be the Jaguars’ Week 1 starter on the right side, but to stay in that role after Robinson’s suspension is over.
So where does that leave Little? In 2022, he took over at left tackle late in the year and into the playoffs when Robinson went down with a meniscus injury. Little is the obvious choice to be the Week 1 starter at left tackle when Robinson is out of action, but the Jaguars may have a choice to make when the suspension ends.
With Robinson due to count more than $22 million against the Jaguars’ salary cap in each of the next two seasons, it seems unlikely that he’ll be with the team in 2024, as Jacksonville has a pair of starters already on the roster in Little and Harrison.
Does that mean Robinson will be on the trading block before the season starts or just prior to the 2023 trade deadline? Or do the Jaguars intend on Robinson and Little battling for the left tackle job, despite the impending PED ban?
Either way, Harrison holding down the right tackle job seems to offer a bit more evidence that the Jaguars don’t envision Robinson being with the team too much longer.
