The Jacksonville Jaguars moved down twice in April and still landed their guy, Oklahoma offensive tackle Anton Harrison, with the No. 27 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. But would they do it again?
At DraftWire, they did a do-over of the first round after the first eight weeks of the 2023 season. With the Jaguars still picking 27th (they were originally set to pick 24th), they landed Tennessee offensive tackle Darnell Wright instead in the re-draft. Harrison wasn’t selected at all in the first round.
In the real draft, Wright was selected 10th overall by the Chicago Bears. His 66.1 grade on Pro Football Focus is No. 1 among rookie linemen who have played at least half their team’s offensive snaps so far. Harrison has a 56.9 grade.
It’s not exactly a whiff for the Jaguars, though, as Wright was never on the board for them in the first place. However, Jacksonville passed on Ohio State’s Dawand Jones a few times before he was picked by the Cleveland Browns with the No. 111 selection in the fourth round.
In the DraftWire re-draft, Jones was taken sixth overall by the Arizona Cardinals. In his first seven career games, Jones has allowed two sacks and 12 pressures.
With the power of hindsight, the Jaguars probably could’ve waited a bit to get a quality right tackle a bit later. The quick improvements Harrison is making as a rookie should give them plenty of confidence they didn’t make a bad choice, though.
