How did the rest of the AFC South do in the draft?
The Jaguars made a huge splash in the NFL draft this past weekend. They came up with arguably one of the best draft classes of the year, according to multiple media outlets. However, the Jaguars competition put together some impressive drafts too.
We know that the Jaguars were 100% focused on defense in the offseason. They ranked near the bottom of overall defense last year and needed to drastically improve. Their first two picks, Jalen Ramsey and Myles Jack, will hopefully be names that will be remembered for a long time. But the other teams of the AFC South put some heavy focus in on the offensive side of the ball.
The Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans both spent some of their first few picks in rounds one through three on offensive players. The Titans took Jack Conklin, a road-grating right tackle out of Michigan State. And in the second round, they took Heisman trophy winner Derrick Henry from Alabama. The Titans also landed free-agent running back DeMarco Murray from the Philadelphia Eagles over the off-season. We know that the Titans are going to try and take control of the line of scrimmage with this daunting backfield, but hopefully the Jaguars defense will be much improved from last year and up for the challenge.
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The Texans focused in on offense as well but addressed the wide receiver position. They spent their first round pick on Will Fuller out of Notre Dame. Fuller is an incredibly fast receiver, running the fastest 40-yard dash among receivers at the NFL Combine with a time of 4.32 second. He will definitely be a big time play-making receiver along side DeAndra Hopkins. Fuller tallied up over 2,500 yards receiving and 30 touchdowns while playing for the Irish. The Texans third round pick was spent on Braxton Miller, the Ohio State quarterback turned wide receiver. Miller does not have a lot of experience at the wide receiver position, but his versatility and play-making ability are the reasons why the Texans picked him. And one player to watch out for on the Texans was their fourth-round pick, Tyler Ervin, of San Jose State. He is comparable to Darren Sproles of the Philadelphia Eagles, a shifty, elusive running back that is very difficult to bring down. During his final year at San Jose state, Ervin ran for over 1,600 yards and 13 touchdowns. With all of this talent added to the Texans we know that they were trying to accomplish one thing, and that is getting faster.
While the Indianapolis Colts did not draft any skill position players, they did still target the offense. Their offensive line needed a major improvement and that’s what they spent their picks on. Their first round pick went to Alabama center Ryan Kelly, followed by their third round pick Le’Raven Clark, an offensive tackle out of Texas Tech. Their offensive line was horrendous last year, and shoring up that front was one of their main priorities during this offseason.
The Jaguars will face three highly improved offenses next year and will try to shut
them down for years to come. If the AFC South continues to improve this could become the new powerhouse division in the NFL.
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