Skip to main content
Advertising

Jaguars News | Jacksonville Jaguars - jaguars.com

Jaguars.com LIVE: Five takeaways, Kyle O'Brien/Bucky Brooks

20150513-LIVETakeaways.jpg


Senior writer John Oehser's five takeaways from Wednesday's Jaguars.com LIVE with Jaguars director of college scouting Kyle O'Brien and NFL Media analyst Bucky Brooks …

1.The good feeling about the 2015 NFL Draft remains.The feeling among scouts, coaches and personnel types inside EverBank Field about the Jaguars' 2015 NFL Draft matched the thoughts of draft analysts, and all pretty much agreed things went very well for the Jaguars. The Jaguars selected University of Florida edge rusher Dante Fowler Jr. No. 3 overall, then selected solid value more often than not in running back T.J. Yeldon (Round 2), guard A.J. Cann (Round 3), safety James Sample (Round 4), wide receiver Rashad Greene (Round 5), defensive tackle Michael Bennett (Round 6) and wide receiver Neal Sterling and tight end Ben Koyack (Round 7). Director of college scouting Kyle O'Brien talked while the draft was ongoing about the draft going as well as could be expected for the Jaguars, and he reiterated that Wednesday on Jaguars.com LIVE. "We're really very excited to have the guys we got," O'Brien said. "Not only do we feel they're good football players, but we feel they're a really good mix for our locker room and for Jacksonville as a whole. We're very excited about this year's draft."

2.Dante Fowler Jr. made it easy to select him …Jaguars General Manager David Caldwell and Head Coach Gus Bradley each touched on this immediately after the draft – that Fowler became an obvious selection at No. 3 overall as the draft approached. O'Brien said it was easy from early in the scouting process to see Fowler's special traits. "He just kind of jumps off film," O'Brien said. "You hear Coach Bradley talk about 'Code Black' all the time: play hard, play fast, play together. Dante embodies 'Code Black' on the field. He plays his tail off. … He plays the game the way a defensive end should play the game." …

3. … T.J. Yeldon made it easy, too.The excitement over the selection of Yeldon at No. 36 was palpable after the draft, and he did nothing to dampen it at minicamp. O'Brien said as was the case with Fowler, Yeldon's attributes are obvious. "He just knows how to run the ball," O'Brien said. "He has excellent vision. … He has outstanding feel and excellent lateral agility in his pick and slide, then he's got that short-area burst to get to that second level." Brooks said he liked the Yeldon selection, too, calling the former Alabama running back "one of the best running backs in the class" and adding, "He is going to be a guy who gives them what they had in Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew, a bell-cow back who can kind of do everything."

4.Rashad Greene could make an impact.Brooks, a former Jaguars defensive back/kick returner and former scout with the Seahawks and Panthers, said the marriage of Greene – who played collegiately at Florida State – and veteran wide receivers coach Jerry Sullivan could be a fruitful one. "He likes smart players and guys who can do a lot of different things," Brooks said of Sullivan. "When you look at the young wide receivers corps they've assembled, they have a lot of pieces in place. I think Greene is a guy who can step into the rotation and make a bunch of plays on the outside. I would think he's a guy who can make an impact."

5.The Jaguars are already onto 2016.The 2015 NFL Draft happened less than two weeks ago, but if it's not fair to say the Jaguars are already prepared for the '16 draft, it is fair to say they're well on their way. O'Brien said Jaguars scouts turned in lists of projections for the '16 draft two weeks before the draft to give Caldwell an idea about strengths and weaknesses of positions groups for that year's draft. "It helps him see the big picture and get a better game plan about how he wants to approach the draft, and he's done an outstanding job with that," O'Brien said.

This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an issue.

Related Content

Advertising