Trent Baalke: Jaguars Have Narrowed No. 24 Pick Down To '2 Or 3 Guys'
Armed with a late first round selection in next week’s NFL Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars have been on a mission to narrow down their list of potential selections after a litany of Top 30 visits.
That mission may have proven to be successful, with Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke relaying to the media this afternoon that the team has two to three players that they hold significant interest in at pick no. 24.
“Absolutely it does,” Baalke said when asked if the high volume of potential first round quarterbacks pushes valuable players at other positions farther down.
“When you don’t need a quarterback, and there’s four or five of them in the draft that people are coveting, you know at least five guys are going to go up in there, it is going to push everybody back down, and you hope there’s other positions that aren’t real needs of yours that are heavy at the top end, too, because that will continue to push guys down.
"We need as many guys to go ahead of us as possible, and hopefully we’ll have our pick of two or three guys that we have in mind right now—it’s down to that level—probably two to three guys that we’re really interested in, and we feel like we’ve got a good shot at one of those guys.”
When asked on how the Jags were able to narrow down to two-to-three players from over one hundred, Baalke made clear that there is no set method to the madness, but with experience comes a relative idea to how the board is going to fall on draft night.
“Well, it’s more daunting,” Baalke said. “Yes, is your short answer. I’m just expecting that the board is going to fall a certain way. Three years of experience, you tend to get a feel for how the board is going to fall. That doesn’t mean it’s going to fall; I’ve been sitting at 29 before and had nobody on the board we felt was valued at that level. That happens. We feel good about this group, this class, that there’s going to be enough depth in the draft that there’s going to be a player at a need-position we have valued in that area that will be there when we pick.”
Despite the uncertainties, Baalke made clear that he and other members of the Jaguars brass are highly confident that there will be solid talent available when it is their turn to turn in the slip.
“I hope you’re right,” Baalke said when asked if the depth of the draft means there is likely to be a player of value late in the first round. “It does. Without getting into what our needs are, everybody has an idea of what they think our needs are. Coach and I have a firm belief in what our needs are. We’re not going to get into that right now, especially right before the draft but we feel confident that there’s going to be a good player at 24.”
