JACKSONVILLE – Day One goes to the chalk.
That was hardly unexpected on the first day of the jaguars.com 2013 mock draft, not with most mock drafts nationwide already pretty certain who the holders of the No. 1 overall selection would take come the first day of the April 25-27 NFL Draft.
Not that there wasn't some drama among the readers.
History tells us that just as there is rarely consensus on mock drafts nationwide, unanimous agreement is a rare thing on our little corner of the mock world, and there were many this year who disagreed with the senior writer's selection of Texas A&M left tackle Luke Joeckel to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Some disagreed succinctly.
"Eric Fisher," wrote SicilianJag.
Fisher, mock-draftniks will know, is a left tackle from Central Michigan and a player some analysts believe has indeed risen far enough draft boards to challenge Joeckel for the No. 1 overall selection.
If you look at most mockers nationwide, in fact, Joeckel-Fisher is the prime dilemma at No. 1 overall to the Chiefs, but there were some readers on Day One avoiding the left tackle possibility. Those doing that liked the idea of the Chiefs taking Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, a player reader William McInnish said "may be the best player in the draft."
To be fair, there were long stretches on Day One when the readers seemed to not be thinking much about the No. 1 overall selection at all. Part of it may have been Joeckel dominating the polling, but it mostly seemed a matter of people wanting to look ahead to the Jaguars' selection at No. 2. There was plenty of debate already about that selection, including a reader or two projecting the Jaguars trading down out of the No. 2 spot.
That brings us to a point we forgot to mention Tuesday, and that's THERE IS NO TRADING in the jaguars.com reader mock draft. This has nothing to do with us thinking the Jaguars wouldn't trade. In fact, logic says they very much likely would like to trade down. It's just too difficult to project trades in a mock, so, in this draft at least the Jaguars are staying at No. 2 overall.
But that's getting ahead of ourselves.
For now, we're settling the matter of the No. 1 overall selection in the jaguars.com reader mock draft, and a few minority voices aside, it was clear from Day One that the most of the readers agreed with the senior writer and most draft analysts. That means the first selection of the 2013 jaguars.com reader mock is:
1.Kansas City | Luke Joeckel, OT, Texas A&M
With that done, it's time to move on to what likely will be the most-heated debate – not only in the reader mock, but in mocks all over the web for the next month.
Not only does no one seem to know what direction the Jaguars may go with the No. 2 selection come April 25, no one really has the first clue. The Jaguars' projections seem to whip in the wind, with the consensus changing by the week. For a while, it was Florida State defensive end Bjoern Werner, then it was Oregon defensive end/linebacker Dion Jordan, with the reality being there seems to be a different pick depending on the mock draft and sometimes depending on the day.
The format of this reader mock calls for the senior writer to offer up a selection, but we'll step away from that idea just this once. For one, the senior writer as most understand lacks courage, but mostly, it seemed best not to influence this selection either way.
You mockers know the names. You know the theories. You've seen the projections and you have your own. Let the debate begin.
