Jacksonville is expected to address the free agency departure of wide receiver Calvin Ridley to Tennessee via the upcoming NFL Draft. Although the Jaguars added former Buffalo receiver Gabriel Davis before Ridley’s exit, the club is projected to add another outside pass-catcher in the early rounds.
But which prospect, and with which pick, remains to be determined as the draft plays out. There will be no shortage of options as the NFL Mock Draft Database’s April consensus big board includes 12 wide receivers in the top 50 prospects.
According to John Shipley of Jaguar Report, though, at least one top-end receiver prospect has captured Jacksonville’s intrigue: Malik Nabers of LSU.
In Shipley’s most recent Jacksonville-based mock draft, the Jaguars sent the No. 17 overall pick, the No. 48 pick (second round) and a 2025 sixth-round pick to Chicago in exchange for the No. 9 selection, to take Nabers, who fell near the bottom of the top 10 picks in this Pro Football Focus mock draft simulation.
He offered the following, insightful reasoning.
Some teams will have Nabers as the No. 1 receiver in the draft, while others will have him as No. 3 behind Marvin Harrison Jr. and Rome Odunze. When speaking with team sources in Jacksonville, though, the impression is the Jaguars are extremely high on Nabers. If they move up for a No. 1 receiver, I think it will be Nabers. Nabers has the athleticism and yards after catch potential to be a big-play threat from Day 1, and the Jaguars could move him around the formation (much like Calvin Ridley should have been used) with Christian Kirk in the slot and Gabe Davis at X.
Some draftniks have pitted Nabers against Harrison, son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison Sr., in the No. 1 wide receiver argument for the upcoming draft. Their reasoning for propping up Nabers’ skill set is sound.
Over three seasons with LSU, Nabers racked up 189 receptions for 3,003 yards and 21 touchdowns, averaging 15.9 yards per catch. He experienced a Consensus All-American campaign in 2023, recording 89 catches for 1,569 yards and 14 scores as the primary target of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels.
At his Pro Day workout, Nabers logged a 4.38-second 40-yard dash, a 42-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot, 9-inch broad jump at 6-foot and 1/4-inch, 199 pounds.
The Jaguars enter the 2024 NFL Draft with eight selections, including five in the first four rounds, and their full set of 2025 picks available to barter. If they covet one of the top wide receivers in the class, or a player at another position, they have the resources to go up and get one.
