Who Do Jaguars Land in 2007 Re-Draft?

The Jacksonville Jaguars have not traditionally been the best-drafting franchise throughout their history. In fact, they have gone long stretches of executing ill-fated drafts.

While recent picks like Travon Walker, Trevor Lawrence, Brian Thomas Jr, and more likely than not, Travis Hunter are looking to flip this narrative, it will take some time due to the Jaguars' past.

One of the long-lost Jaguars draft picks that set the franchise back at the time came in 2007 when the Jaguars selected Reggie Nelson at No. 21 after a trade down. While Nelson went on to have a fine NFL career, he was not a fit with the Jaguars and was one of many failed picks at the time.

So, who should the Jaguars have drafted instead?

In a recent re-draft of the 2007 NFL Draft, Pro Football Focus has the Jaguars staying at No. 17 instead of trading with the Denver Broncos. As a result, the Jaguars landed former Carolina Panthers star Charles Johnson instead.

"The Broncos originally moved up four spots on draft night to select edge defender Jarvis Moss. Johnson didn’t get to play much in his rookie season, but he went on to become one of the NFL’s better pass rushers over the next decade," PFF said.

"From 2008 to 2016, Johnson earned an elite 90.2 PFF pass-rush grade. He was a crucial part of the defensive turnaround in Carolina at the time. Though the Panthers lost Super Bowl 50, Johnson earned a 90.2 PFF pass-rush grade and produced a sack against Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos."

Considering how long the Jaguars searched for a pass-rush during this era, Johnson would have been a stellar pick. He did go in the third round originally, though, and nobody was clamoring for the Jaguars to take him at the time.

As for the 2007 first-round picks the Jaguars passed on in favor of Nelson, the group consists of Jon Beason, Joe Staley, and Greg Olsen. Any of these picks would have made sense at the time in terms of pure value, and it is hard to imagine any of them would not have worked out in a big way for the Jaguars.