Here’s Jacksonville’s Sleeper Defensive Tackle Option

Crowd-sourcing Jacksonville’s plans for its first-round choice has produced one player most likely to land with the Jaguars at No. 5 overall, Michigan’s Mason Graham. But as Brad Holmes said last week, why put so much effort into predicting the outcome? Just grab some popcorn and enjoy the movie.

That movie could cast Derrick Harmon, not Graham, in a spotlight role for the Jaguars at No. 5. And whether Jacksonville gets the Oregon defensive tackle at 5 or 36, he could be the best at his position.

A dominant factor on an Oregon defense that helped the Ducks advance to the College Football Playoff last season, Harmon led the nation with 55 quarterback pressures among defensive tackles. The next-closest interior lineman had 43.

“A player who can win in different ways,” draft expert Dane Brugler wrote in his annual draft preview, The Beast, “Harmon forces blockers to attack air with his lateral explosiveness or uses strong, crafty hands to swat away the reach of blockers as he bursts through gaps to close on the ball carrier.

Harmon started just one year at Oregon after transferring from Michigan State. And while Harmon (6-5, 313 pounds) has more conventional size than Graham (6-4, 306), there’s a reason why most mock drafts have Graham ranked ahead of him among defensive tackles. Even so, Brugler implied that Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile could plug him in anywhere along the defensive front.

“Though he led FBS interior linemen in pressures,” Brugler said, “he also led the position in missed tackles (12) — even the smallest improvements in his backfield finishing ability would have resulted in double-digit sacks. Overall, Harmon is a highly active and disruptive big man who consistently finds ways to gain freedom from blocks as a penetrating pass rusher and run stuffer. He projects as a scheme-diverse NFL starter, anywhere from one- to five-tech.”

And even if the Jaguars don’t consider Harmon a good fit in Duval County, if he’s still available with the Jaguars on the clock in the second round, he could still be in play. Another NFL team could value Harmon enough to call James Gladstone in an effort to move up to 36.

Gladstone has repeatedly expressed the value he places on draft capital and the 36th overall choice. Trading back would provide more picks and – considering how unpredictable this class has proven to be – allow the Jaguars the ability to select a player later in the second round they would’ve drafted at 36.