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Who Did Jaguars Select In First Two Rounds Of ESPN's 2024 NFL Redraft?

After seeing how the season played out, how would things have gone differently for the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first two rounds of the 2024 NFL draft knowing what we know now?

ESPN recently tried to figure that out. Each of their 32 beat reporters recreated the first two rounds of the 2024 NFL draft.

In the first round for the Jaguars, they still ended up with wide receiver Brian Thomas, but took him at their original draft position of 17th overall, rather than trading down to pick 23 where Jacksonville selected him last April.

Thomas put together a huge rookie season. In what was a loaded wide receiver draft class, Thomas was not only the most productive of the bunch, but he was one of the most productive receivers in all of football as well.

He finished 2024 catching 67% of his 129 targets, averaging 14.7 yards per catch. Thomas ended the year with 1,282 receiving yards, good for the fourth-most among all receivers, along with scoring 10 touchdowns.

With his speed and route running ability, Thomas is a threat at all levels of the field, and perhaps the most impressive part of his production is that defenses knew he was getting the ball and still couldn't slow him.

Then in the second round, the Jaguars passed on defensive tackle Maason Smith and instead selected safety Calen Bullock, who was originally the 78th overall pick by Houston.

Bullock filled the free safety role in Houston as a rookie and had terrific ball production with five interceptions and five pass breakups.

He also allowed a completion rate of just 45% and held opponents to just 12.2 yards per catch and graded out quite well as a run defender by PFF's metrics.

As we all know, the Jaguars' secondary was often picked on last season, ranking 24th in completion rate and in the bottom three in passer rating, interceptions, and yards per pass attempt. Safety will be arguably the team's biggest need this offseason.

"If the Jaguars knew safety play would have been a major issue in 2024 (a league-high 14 pass plays of 40 or more yards), they would have taken Bullock, who led all rookies with five interceptions to go along with 51 tackles," wrote ESPN's Michael DiRocco.

Smith, meanwhile, played 384 snaps as a rookie and totaled 14 pressures and three sacks. Smith ranked 133rd in PFF's run defense grade and was 100th among defensive tackles in pass rush win rate.

Insider Makes Key Revelation On Jaguars GM Job

The Jacksonville Jaguars are starting to see their front office come together after a busy Monday.

First, the Jaguars announced Hall of Fame left tackle Tony Boselli as the team's new Executive Vice President of Football Operations. Then, the Jaguars put in requests to speak to five general manager candidates in New York Giants assistant general manager Brandon Brown; Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant general manager Mike Greenberg; Chicago Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham; Cincinnati Bengals senior personnel executive Trey Brown; and Los Angeles Chargers assistant general manager Chad Alexander.

There has been a looming question about the general manager job for weeks, however. With Boselli clearly primed for a front office role since the Jaguars began their coaching search last month, it has been fair to wonder if any general manager who enters the mix would actually be the No. 2 football executive in Jacksonville.

According to CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones, however, this does not appear to be the case.

"I'm told this Jaguars GM position will be considered the Primary Football Executive with the league office. So this is a bona fide GM job," Jones said on social media.

This is a big development for a number of reasons, though hardly a surprising one. It is clear that Boselli will not loom over the incoming general manager despite his EVP title, a big contrast from when former Jaguars general manager had to answer to EVP Tom Coughlin.

"Boselli will report to Khan, as does new head coach Liam Coen. The team's general manager will also report to Khan once that hire has been made in the weeks ahead. The new general manager will then join Coen and Boselli to form a football leadership unit that will collaborate and align on all major football decisions, develop a long-term strategy for sustainable on-field success, and provide counsel to the team owner," the Jaguars said in a statement on Monday.

For a general manager to see this job as a step-up, they would likely want concessions in terms of sway and overall power when it comes to building the roster. And even with a Hall of Famer now in the front office, it appears the Jaguars' next general manager will get exactly that.

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