Sports

2020 NFL Draft: Looking back at the Jacksonville Jaguars’ draft hits and busts

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — YOUR OFFICIAL JAGUARS STATIONS: Get caught up on the potential picks the Jaguars could make on the Action Sports Jax Jaguars Draft Show on Thursday at 7 p.m. on CBS47 and FOX30

The Jacksonville Jaguars will be on the clock Thursday night with the ninth and 20th overall picks in the first round in the 2019 NFL Draft.

The Action Sports Jax team on CBS47 and FOX30, your Official Jaguars Stations, are getting ready for the draft by looking back at the Jags past draft hits and busts.

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JAGUARS DRAFT HITS:

YANNICK NGAKOUE - The third round pick is already one of the franchise’s best sack masters in team history. NGakoue has been durable playing 65 games and has been a game wrecker at times with 37.5 career sacks. NGakoue made the Pro Bowl in 2017 -- in other words, he’s performed like a top 15 pick and not a third round pick.

TONY BRACKENS - The Jaguars all-time sacks leader (55) stopped playing in 2004 and 15 years later still holds the record. Brackens was drafted at the top of the 2nd round in 1996, but was a huge part of the glory years in the early years of the franchise.

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MAURICE JONES-DREW - MJD got passed over by all 32 NFL teams - almost twice - before the Jaguars selected the running back with the 60th pick of the 2006 NFL Draft. The Jaguars got incredible value from Jones-Drew as he was a touchdown machine during his career with 79 of them and led the NFL in rushing in 2011.

RASHEAN MATHIS - The Jacksonville native was another second round hit for the Jacksonville Jaguars because he delivered with big plays. Mathis is the franchise's all time leader in interceptions and has 32 picks in his career. Mathis made the Pro Bowl and was named All Pro in 2006.

DAVID GARRARD - Garrard is the only quarterback the Jaguars have ever drafted that outperformed his expectation. He was picked in the 2003 NFL Draft in the fourth round and would go onto win the starting job in Jacksonville a couple of years later, started 76 games, threw for more than 16,000 yards and earned a second contract with the team.

JAGUARS DRAFT BUSTS:

LUKE JOECKEL - The second overall pick of the 2013 draft and the first pick of the Dave Caldwell era never worked out. This was not a star studded draft as we look back on it, but Joeckel was expected to be a cornerstone of the rebuild in Jacksonville and was gone by 2016 and now out of the NFL in 2019.

JUSTIN BLACKMON - From a talent standpoint, Justin Blackmon was not a bust because he could play football. Blackmon's troubles happened off the field. The sad story included a four game suspension in his second year for violating the league's substance abuse policy. After returning to action in 2013, he got suspended again and never played another NFL game. The Jaguars had traded up to get Blackmon in the 2012 Draft.

BLAINE GABBERT - The Jaguars thought they had their franchise quarterback in 2011 when Gene Smith traded up for the young qb out of Missouri. Gabbert was thrown into action before he was ready to play and it never went well in Jacksonville. After 28 games in a Jaguars uniform, the team traded him to San Francisco. Gabbert is still a backup in the NFL never lived up to the franchise QB hopes. It also doesn’t help that JJ Watt was the next pick behind Gabbert.

DERRICK HARVEY - The Jaguars thought they had the player to put them over the top and make a Super Bowl run in 2008 when they drafted Derrick Harvey. They likely drafted the biggest bust in team history. The Jags traded several picks to move up and get the pass rusher out of Florida. Harvey delivered 8 sacks in 47 games and was out of the NFL by the age of 26.

RJ SOWARD - This pick from the Coughlin coaching era was a lot like the Justin Blackmon selected from an off the field problems perspective. The 29th overall selection in the 2000 NFL Draft, Soward has alcohol related problems and would only play in 13 career games in the NFL.

PHOTOS: Jaguars players picked in the first round of the NFL Draft