Jaguars Go Big on Day One of NFL Draft

The players that were selected in the first two rounds of the NFL draft could not have been the only ones who went to bed with a smile on their face Saturday night. After watching the Jacksonville Jaguars take offensive tackles Eugene Monroe and Eben Britton in the first two rounds of Saturday's draft, one has to imagine that quarterback David Garrard slept more soundly than he has in a long time. Knowing that the Jaguars had solidified the offensive line with two players expected to be the franchise's bookend tackles for the next day had to have made for sweet dreams. Eugene Monroe (6'5, 309 lbs.), the left tackle from Virginia, was a player very few people, including Jaguars general manager Gene Smith, expected to still be available at pick number eight. But thanks to a couple of questionable selections by the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders ahead of them, the Jaguars were able to use a first round pick on an offensive lineman for the first time since 1995, when the club used their first ever draft pick to select Tony Boselli. And while Monroe does not appear to have quite the mean and nasty streak on the field that Boselli possessed, he is similar to Boselli in that he was widely considered to be the best pass-blocking left tackle in all of college football. Some question his run-blocking, but they questioned Boselli's run-blocking too, and it turned out that he was just as effective opening holes in the running game as he was keeping the quarterback safe. The Jaguars believe Monroe will give them the same thing. While it is uncertain where exactly on the offensive Monroe will start at in 2009 since the Jaguars signed left tackle Tra Thomas in free agency, one thing that is certain is that the Jaguars firmly believe that Eugene Monroe is the club's left tackle of the future. With the selection of Monroe in at number eight, I will admit that I was a bit stunned when the Jaguars followed that pick with the selection of Arizona tackle Eben Britton (6'6", 309 lbs.) in the second round. Like a lot of fans, I got caught up in thinking about the Jaguars needs, and was fully expecting the team to draft either Boston College defensive tackle Ron Brace or Connecticut cornerback Darius Butler. But Gene Smith stayed true to his best available player philosophy and selected Britton, who was given a first round grade by most of the pundits heading into the draft. Britton can play both right guard and right tackle, and is expected to compete for a starting spot at both positions in 2009, before eventually settling in as a Jaguars fixture at right tackle. The thing I like about Britton is his attitude. Britton expected to be a first round pick and seems to have a huge chip on his shoulder that he was not. With quotes such as, "Every team that passed on me is going to regret it," and, "When that first game comes, somebody is going to pay for it," already published on the team's website, it looks and sounds like Britton is ready to prove his worth. In fact, he sounds a lot like former second round draft pick Maurice Jones-Drew did coming into his rookie season. If Britton plays with the same attitude and aggression as Jones-Drew does, defensive linemen around the AFC South better watch out - they are about to get their butts kicked. While admittedly not the sexiest of picks, the Jaguars truly made the best possible selections in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft. Yes, they could have selected Michael Crabtree, Jeremy Maclin, or BJ Raji in the first round. Yes, they could have taken Ron Brace, Darius Butler, or even an Everette Brown in round two. But they didn't. What they did instead was to solidify the offensive line for the next decade, and that is better than any wide receiver or other so-called "sexy" pick. With a good offensive line, all of a sudden the quarterback is a lot more confident, the running game a bit more explosive, and the wide receivers you thought were dogs start to look much improved. I hate to use baseball talk when discussing football, but in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars knocked the ball out of the park.