The Jacksonville Jaguars have a far from stellar track record when it comes to the NFL draft. It hasn’t all been bad, though.
Nearly three decades into the franchise’s existence, there are a handful of players who stand out as spectacular first-round choices by the Jaguars. Of course, there are plenty who stand out as especially poor selections.
It’s a little premature to judge the picks made by general manager Trent Baalke, although the early returns on Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne sure look great. But for the sake of the exercise, we’ll exclude players picked in the last three years.
Here are the five best first-round picks ever made by the Jaguars and the five worst:
5th worst: WR R. Jay Soward
The Jaguars had one of the most dangerous offenses in the NFL in 1999 and it looked like it was only going to get scarier when the team added USC standout R. Jay Soward with the 29th pick in 2000.
Instead, Soward was on the field for only 13 games and caught only 14 passes in an NFL career that was defined by missed practices, substance abuse, and suspensions.
5th best: TE Marcedes Lewis
The only tight end ever picked in the first round by the Jaguars made it worth the team’s while. In 12 years with the team, Lewis earned one trip to the Pro Bowl and caught 375 passes for 4,502 yards and 33 touchdowns. Additionally, he was a dominant blocker who often acted as more of a swing tackle than a pass catcher.
Somehow Lewis is still an NFL player 17 years after he was picked by the Jaguars.
4th worst: OT Luke Joeckel
The Jaguars already had a reasonably reliable left tackle on the roster entering the 2013 offseason. But rather than stick with Eugene Monroe, the team drafted his replacement at second overall and traded the incumbent starter to the Ravens.
The gamble didn’t pay off as Joeckel was one of the NFL’s worst left tackles before the Jaguars eventually moved him to left guard in 2016. The team allowed him to reach free agency in 2017 and his career ended after one year with the Seahawks.
4th best: LB Kevin Hardy
In the Jaguars’ second ever draft they took Hardy with the second overall pick. While a microfracture surgery ended his career in Jacksonville after only six years, it was a great run.
Hardy had 28.5 sacks, five interceptions, eight forced fumbles, and 504 tackles during his time with the Jaguars. In 1999, he was a First Team All-Pro.
3rd worst: WR Justin Blackmon
During his time on the field, Blackmon lived up to his billing as the fifth overall pick. The problem is that was only 20 career games.
Like Soward more than a decade before him, Blackmon struggled with sobriety and suspensions that eventually ended his NFL career. It ended with 93 receptions.
3rd best: CB Jalen Ramsey
The Ramsey era in Jacksonville was short-lived and ended with drama, but nobody can argue that the Jaguars messed up the pick.
The fifth overall selection in 2016 was an immediate star and has been a Pro Bowler in six straight seasons now. In his fourth season with the Jaguars, the team got back two first-round picks and a fourth-rounder when it traded him to the Rams.
2nd worst: DE Derrick Harvey
The Jaguars pushed their chips to the middle of the table after an exciting 2007 season by trading away two third-rounders and a fourth-rounder to move up from 26th overall to eighth. That swing for the fences landed them Harvey, who recorded just eight sacks in three years with the Jaguars.
Harvey later joined the Broncos and Bengals, but never recorded another sack after Jacksonville.
2nd best: OT Tony Boselli
It’s hard to beat a Hall of Famer.
The first player the Jaguars ever drafted lived up to lofty expectations and was one of the best left tackles in the NFL, earning five Pro Bowl nods.
A botched shoulder surgery cut his career short, but Boselli still stands as one of the best decisions the Jaguars ever made.
Worst: QB Blaine Gabbert
Missing on a quarterback can set a franchise way back and the Jaguars whiffed in a major way in 2011.
Not only did the Jaguars pick Gabbert — who finished his Jacksonville career with a 5-22 record as a starter, 22 touchdowns, and 24 interceptions — they also traded away a second-round pick to move up and make the pick.
A dozen of the players drafted in the top 16 that year made at least one Pro Bowl. That includes J.J. Watt, a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, who was picked one selection after Gabbert.
Best: RB Fred Taylor
The ninth overall pick in 1998 isn’t a Hall of Famer (yet), but he probably should be. Taylor is 17th in NFL history in career rushing yards with 11,695, behind 14 Hall of Famers, Frank Gore, and Adrian Peterson.
In 11 seasons with the Jaguars, Taylor topped 1,200 yards from scrimmage seven times.
