Jaguars

The Jaguars and 49ers raised some eyebrows around the league during the draft, as they went almost entirely against consensus board rankings with their selections. While some around the league will give San Francisco a pass because of GM John Lynch‘s resume, other execs are “much more skeptical” about what Jacksonville did, per Jason La Canfora of SportsBoom.

“I don’t get the Jaguars draft,” one general manager said. “Were they just trying to be different? I didn’t like where they took any of those players, really.”

“They took on a lot of projects is what it looks like to me.”

Another GM told Canfora, “I can understand wanting to do things differently to some degree, but they took it too far.”

Jaguars

Jaguars rookie TE Nate Boerkircher talked about his lack of college production and said that he doesn’t believe he was underutilized, but was overshadowed by the team’s weapons on the perimeter.

“I would say there’s a lot that goes into it,” he said, via Jags Wire. “I wouldn’t say I was always underutilized. I want more passes for sure. Everyone does. Like we go back to A&M, we had a complicated offense. It was a great, versatile offense. We had two first-round talent receivers with Mario Craver and KC (Concepcion). And so, those are the guys we really wanted to attack, and so it just is what it is. I just filled my role and played it to the best of my ability.”

Titans

The Titans took WR Carnell Tate fourth overall in the draft, which came as a surprise to some. One NFL GM expressed concerns with Tate’s speed to Jason La Canfora, citing it as a reason Tate might not ever truly ascend to become a true No. 1 receiver.

“It’s hard to find a lot of true No. 1 receivers with that 40 time,” the GM said.

“It doesn’t really happen. Taking a receiver without the speed to take the top off a defense there, that’s too high to me.”

Many felt LB Arvell Reese was the right choice at that pick, who ended up going one pick later to the Giants. A longtime NFL personnel exec thinks Reese was undeniably a top-five talent, but doesn’t feel the same about Tate.

“He’s going to regret passing on Reese,” one longtime NFL personnel exec said. 

“The guy who took him (Giants coach John Harbaugh with the fifth pick) will know how to use him, watch. That’s a big, powerful dude. He’s going to be a handful on the edge in that defense. You have to willing to move him around and think outside the box, but that size and power, that’s a top five pick my man. Not the wide receiver.”