Following the success of the 1996 season in which they advanced to the AFC Championship game, the Jacksonville Jaguars will have the 21st choice and only seven total selections when the 62nd NFL draft of college players takes place Saturday and Sunday, April 19-20. The Jaguars had the second selection overall in each of their first two college drafts in 1995 and '96.
The two-day selection process will begin at 12:00 noon on Saturday, April 19, with the first three rounds being completed that day. The remaining four rounds will begin at 11:00 a.m. Sunday, April 20.
"Our thinking in the first part of the draft will be to add players who can be playmakers or impact players," said Jaguars head coach Tom Coughlin. "And as we swing into the second part of the draft, there'll be a strong concern for players' speed and how they can contribute to our special teams. I think we can get a player at No. 21 who can really impact our team and help us win right away.
"But it is a lot different from the last two years in that picking second we had a pretty good idea of who we would be able to draft. Now, picking No. 21, it's a completely different strategy, looking at players that might be available then, but also preparing for the possibility of radical changes before us that would leave a player available to us who might be highly rated that we didn't think we'd have a shot at. It's a different philosophy in terms of the approach.
"We've thought about trading up; we've thought about trading down," Coughlin added. "We've considered all of the scenarios. We'll be prepared for everything."
In addition to the 21st choice in the draft, the Jaguars have six other choices, and all of them are the team's original draft choices. They will alternate with the Washington Redskins, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings -- with whom they tied with 9-7 records in 1996 -- in each round.
Jaguars Draft Picks
Rd.-- No.-- Order
1st-- 1-- 21st
2nd-- 1-- 20th
3rd-- 1-- 19th
4th-- 1-- 18th
5th-- 1-- 17th
6th-- 1-- 21st
7th-- 1-- 20th
The NFL draft will be held at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The entire draft will be televised nationally on ESPN and ESPN2. ESPN will carry the proceedings from 12:00 noon to 7:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday, at which time ESPN2 will take over the broadcast until the end of the day's drafting. ESPN will resume broadcasting at 11:00 a.m. Sunday until 1:00 p.m. ESPN2 will then broadcast the rest of the draft until its conclusion.Each of the NFL's 30 teams will have a 15-minute time limit to make its selections in the first round, 10 minutes in the second round and five minutes in Rounds 3-7. Last year, the first round took 5 hours and 20 minutes, the second round lasted 2 hours and 56 minutes and the third round took 1 hour and 37 minutes.
A total of 240 players will be selected by the 30 teams, including 210 regular selections and 30 compensatory picks. The compensatory selections were awarded to 14 teams which suffered a net loss of certain quality unrestricted free agents last year. All of the compensatory picks fall in Rounds 3-7.
In addition to the cable television broadcasts, WBWL (600 AM) will broadcast live from 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m. Saturday, featuring Jaguars radio broadcasters Brian Sexton and Matt Robinson, as well as Jaguars Inside Report senior editor Vic Ketchman and WOKV sports director Bill Riley and several draft analysts.
WTLV 12 will also televise a live draft special on Sunday from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Matt Robinson and WTLV sports director Dan Hicken will host from inside the Jaguars' lockerroom, with Jennifer Kumik and Brian Sexton contributing and live interviews with head coach Tom Coughlin and senior vice president of football operations Michael Huyghue.
The draft will also be covered live through the Internet on the World Wide Web at http://nflhome.com. and at http://ESPNET.Sportszone.com. The sites will be live on draft weekend with audio feeds from ESPN Radio and player
press conferences, chats with top picks and analysis from former Dallas Cowboys personnel director Gil Brandt.
JAGUARS DRAFT DAY FAN FEST
In conjunction with the draft, the Jaguars are hosting the second annual Budweiser "Draft Day Fan Fest" at 12:00 noon Saturday at the south end of the stadium. Admission is free.
Jaguars fans will be able to watch ESPN draft coverage on large screen TVs, in addition to participating in games and entertainment that will be available. Fans will be able to meet and greet Jaguars players, cheerleaders and Jaxson de Ville.
1996 JAGUARS DRAFT NOTES
In 1996, the Jaguars were originally awarded 14 draft choices. They traded away three of that year's draft choices in 1995, and after making two more trades during the draft, they ended up with 10 total picks. '"The Jaguars had four of the first 63 selections. ' The choice of LB Kevin Hardy made him the highest-drafted defensive player ever by the Jaguars; DE Tony Brackens was the highest-drafted defensive lineman; and the selection of C Michael Cheever in the second round gave the team three offensive linemen drafted in the first two rounds of their first two drafts. Five of their 21 draft choices in two years have been offensive linemen. '"USA Today gave the Jaguars' draft a grade of A-minus, the highest of any team in the AFC and tied for the second-highest grade in the entire league."
ROSTER SUMMARY
(as of April 15)
Players: 64
Offense: 32
Defense: 29
Kickers: 3
Quarterbacks: 4
Running Backs: 5
Wide Receivers: 8
Tight Ends: 3
Offensive Linemen: 12
Defensive Linemen: 9
Linebackers: 8
Defensive Backs: 12
Punters/Placekickers: 3
JAGUARS IN THE DRAFT
JAGUARS DRAFTED (47)
Round 1 (8): DE Jeff Lageman (N.Y. Jets '89), DT Kelvin Pritchett (Dallas '91), TE Derek Brown (N.Y. Giants '92), OT Leon Searcy (Pittsburgh '92), S Dana Hall (San Francisco '92), OT Tony Boselli (Jacksonville '95), RB James Stewart ('95), LB Kevin Hardy (Jacksonville '96)
Round 2 (10): CB Robert Massey (New Orleans '89), WR Jimmy Smith (Dallas '92), LB Eddie Robinson (Houston '92), RB Natrone Means (San Dirego '93), G/OT Ben Coleman (Arizona, '93), CB Bucky Brooks (Buffalo '94), OG Brian DeMarco (Jacksonville '95), MLB Bryan Schwartz (Jacksonville '95), C Michael Cheever (Jacksonville '96), DE Tony Brackens (Jacksonville '96),
Round 3 (5): DE Joel Smeenge (New Orleans '90), DT Don Davey (Green Bay '91), CB Deon Figures (Pittsburgh '93), S Chris Hudson (Jacksonville '95), CB Aaron Beasley (Jacksonville '96),
Round 4 (5): C/G Dave Widell (Dallas '88), WR Willie Jackson (Dallas '94), TE Pete Mitchell (Miami '95), QB Rob Johnson (Jacksonville '95), WR ReggieBarlow (Jacksonville '96)
Round 5 (5): QB Mark Brunell (Green Bay '93), TE Rich Griffith (New England '93), G Greg Huntington (Washington '93), P Pat O'Neill (New England '94), OT Jimmy Herndon (Jacksonville '96)
Round 6 (5): S Darren Studstill (Dallas, '94), LB Brant Boyer (Miami '94), LB Jeff Kopp (Miami '95), OT Marcus Price (Jacksonville '95), S John Fisher (Jacksonville '96)
Round 7 (5): LB Ty Hallock (Detroit '93), S Travis Davis (New Orleans, '95), WR Curtis Marsh (Jacksonville '95), DE Jose White (Minnesota '95), DE Johnie Church (Seattle '96)
Round 8 (2): CB Mickey Washington (Phoenix '90), CB Dave Thomas (Dallas '93)
Round 9 (1): DE Clyde Simmons (Philadelphia '86)
Round 12 (1): WR Keenan McCardell (Washington '91)
Jaguars Not Drafted (16)
P Bryan Barker (Seattle '89), QB Todd Philcox (Cincinnati '89), DT John Jurkovic (Miami '90), OT Jeff Novak (San Diego '90), RB Randy Jordan (L.A. Raiders '93), RB Le'Shai Maston (Houston '93), MLB Tom McManus (New Orleans '93), PK Mike Hollis (San Diego '94), G Rich Tylski (New England '94), WR Chad Askew (New York Jets '95), WR Kendricke Bullard (New England '95), WR Will Moore (New England '95), CB Ricky Bell (Pittsburgh '96), DT Andre Davis (St. Louis '96), OT Chris Oltmanns (Philadelphia '96), RB Chris Parker
(Jacksonville '96), QB Steve Taneyhill (Jacksonville '96),
