ESPN Lambastes Jaguars for Value in Trade-Up for Devin Lloyd

The Jaguars were seen as big losers in the Devin Lloyd trade according to a recent piece from ESPN reviewing the draft's top trades.

The Jacksonville Jaguars left last week's first round of the NFL Draft with Georgia pass-rusher Travon Walker and Utah linebacker Devin Lloyd, but it wasn't without paying for it. 

The Jaguars took Walker at No. 1, but their next pick wasn't until No. 33. And after linebacker Quay Walker went off the board to the Green Bay Packers at No. 22, the amount of first-round linebackers was left to simply Lloyd and Lloyd alone.

As a result, the Jaguars traded the No. 33 pick, the No. 106 pick (fourth-round), and the No. 180 pick (sixth-round) for the No. 27 pick, taking Tampa Bay's spot in the first round and ensuring one of the draft's top linebackers would land in Jacksonville.

But did the Jaguars get good value for the selection? While the only top-100 pick they gave up was No. 33 overall, ESPN's Seth Walder's recent piece on the five best in-draft trades paints the Jaguars as big losers in their deal with Tampa Bay.

Walder looked at what he considered the five best trades of the draft and placed the Jaguars and Buccaneers trade at No. 5. Of course, this isn't ideal for the Jaguars because Walder and his value chart considered the Buccaneers as not only winners of the trade, but because the flow of the draft showed the Jaguars may have given up a bit too much for Lloyd.

"This trade was particularly tough for Jacksonville (or strong for Tampa Bay, depending on your perspective) because of the two picks made before it," Walder said.

"One pick prior, the Jets traded up from No. 35 to No. 26 in a move that cost them surplus value equivalent to pick No. 150, while Jacksonville's surplus value surrendered was worth pick No. 95. Before that, the Bills made a small move up and only surrendered surplus value worth around pick No. 140. The market had moved down and yet Jacksonville still paid a hefty price for the right to select Devin Lloyd."

In short, Walder says the Jaguars gave up picks that equate to the value of the No. 95 overall pick when they moved up six spots for Lloyd. Meanwhile, the Jets traded the 35th, 69th and 163rd picks to the Titans for the 26th and 101st picks for Jermaine Johnson -- a more balanced and fair deal than what the Jaguars struck with Tampa Bay. 

"No, I generally don't -- when we offer, we try to just do a fair deal. So, there wasn't a ton of negotiating," Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke said on Thursday night after selecting Lloyd. 

"We presented an offer, they came back with a slightly different offer and we settled right in the middle. If you want the player, you want the player. It doesn't pay to try to win every trade. It was a fair trade for both sides. We were just fortunate they were willing to work with us."

The Jaguars entered the draft with 12 picks but left with seven players and one future pick; between the Lloyd trade, a later trade for Snoop Conner and a trade with Tampa to move out of the fifth and pickup a fourth round pick in 2023, the Jaguars gave up five picks in 2022. 

In general, trading up equates to poor value for teams but it can be countered by making a high quantity of picks elsewhere and, of course, by hitting on the pick. The Jaguars didn't make a lot of picks to make up for the value they lost in Lloyd, so they are going to have to hope his play makes the deal worth it.

"I'm not going to divulge the board, but obviously this was a draft where there was a certain number of guys that we had graded above the line and we were getting to the point where we needed to make a move," Baalke said.

"This was something that didn't just happen. We were considering this going into the draft. So we were fortunate enough that it worked out, and Tampa got what they wanted and we got what we wanted.

Lloyd, a former safety, appeared in 47 games and started 32 for Utah after redshirting his freshman season. After collecting six tackles as a backup in 2018, Lloyd became a full-time starter in 2019. He earned honorable mention All-Pac 12 in 2019 after leading the team with 91 tackles, along with 11 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, three pass deflections, and one interception.

Lloyd was named a first-team All-Pac 12 member in 2020 as he started five games. The Utah team captain recorded 48 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, two sacks, and one forced fumble, leading the team in tackles and tackles for loss.

Lloyd started 13 more games in 2021, being named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-Pac 12 as he recorded 110 tackles, 22 tackles for loss, eight sacks, 10 pass deflections and four interceptions.