Who Do Jaguars Take in 2006 Re-Draft?

The 2006 NFL Draft was a good one for the Jacksonville Jaguars, landing two popular franchise pillars with their first two picks.

But what if the Jaguars could do it over?

In a re-draft of the 2006 NFL Draft with hindsight in mind, Pro Football Focus went with a different selection for the Jaguars at No. 28 -- Maurice Jones-Drew, who the Jaguars drafted in the second-round in 2006 to pair with UCLA teammate and first-round tight end Marcedes Lewis.

"The Jaguars originally drafted Marcedes Lewis, who went 22nd overall to the Broncos in this redraft. Jacksonville instead adds another former UCLA Bruin to its offense in Jones-Drew, whom the team actually selected in the second round," PFF said.

"MJD is the franchise’s all-time leader in rushing touchdowns (68), and his 8,071 rushing yards are second only to Fred Taylor. Jones-Drew made three Pro Bowls and was a two-time first-team All-Pro in his NFL career."

As for Lewis, PFF had him going No. 22 to the Denver Broncos, leaving him off the board for the Jaguars at No. 28.

It is frankly a bit surprising to see Jones-Drew fall even this far. Jones-Drew was one of the best players of the entire class and even won an NFL rushing crown with Blaine Gabbert as his quarterback, proving his worth and his mettle.

According to Pro Football Reference, Jones-Drew was the ninth-most valuable player of the entire 2006 class based on his weighted approximate value. The only names in front of the former Jaguars star running back are Jahri Evans, Haloti Ngata, Andrew Whitworth, Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall, Mario Williams, Kyle Williams, and Tama Hali.

Jones-Drew ranked even higher in terms of weighted approximate value accumulated for the team that originally drafted him, ranking all the way up at No. 5.

Simply put, the 2006 draft did not put out many players better than Jones-Drew. Even taking positional value into account, Jones-Drew should have been at worst a top-15 pick in this re-draft and should have even gone ahead of Lewis.

The fact the Jaguars still had a chance to land Jones-Drew feels like a bit of an oversight, but he would have been a heck of a first-round pick as well.