The Kentucky Derby is over, the all-but-riveting
$200 million prizefight is in the books and the 2015
NFL Draft has come to a close. It’s almost that time
of the year again and Jacksonville is starting to buzz
with high hopes and zealous expectations. This 2015
NFL season could show signs of realignment with a
bevy of trades already executed and a star-studded
selection of draft picks, who will hopefully prop up
some of the weaker divisions, such as the AFC South
which has fallen quite far since 2007 when it achieved
a combined overall record of 42-22 (.656) and a
combined conference record of 30-10 (.750) that is
still tied for best of all time with the 2013 NFC West.
The fear of disappointment is not to be trifled with.
There is always a lot of hype that surrounds these
excitable rookies well before the time their name is
even called on stage by
our chief magistrate,
Rodger Goodell. Blown
knees, weapon charges
and drug addictions are
a tough thing to foresee.
There is no telling
what these athletes are
capable of once you
grease their palms with
enough money to buy a
fleet of automobiles and
enough liquor to fill up a
pool. The fun and games
don’t stop once you leave
the schoolyard. Strictly
business doesn’t equate
to total maturity.
Being cynical is the
easy thing to do when
you have witnessed a
solid decade of topnotch athletes who leave
the NCAA and venture into the NFL only to become
beached whales stinking up the sidelines with their
fat salary cap slices of the pie. The morbid sentiments
run deeper as you witness favorites from your alma
mater go the same route. Any professional gambler
knows the favoritism stops here.
While it may be tough to accept for those dyedin-the-wool fans out there, the Jaguars—along with
the Tennessee Titans, Oakland Raiders and Tampa
Bay Bucs—have been circling the drain for sometime
now. Jacksonville has been showing small signs of
improvement with every new season though and the
excitement that Shad Khan has been able to bring to
the whole Jaguar experience is keeping the meat in
the seats over at EverBank Field. This year’s annual
draft party was a perfect example of that excitement
that Khan is generating among the fans. The days of
game-day blackouts are over for Jacksonville and the
tide appears to be turning.
The draft ratings are in and Jacksonville, according
to some of the professionals in sports analysis, is
among the top teams in terms of picks. Both Sports
34 June - July 2015 | First Coast Register
Illustrated and CBS Sports gave Jacksonville an ‘A’ for
the draft and NFL.com went as far as giving them an
‘A+’, which was the only team in the AFC besides the
Cincinnati Bengals to earn such a grade.
“Jaguars are coming,” said Sports Illustrated’s Chris
Burke. “Maybe not in 2015, maybe not in 2016, but
soon. This draft without question kept this franchise’s
positive momentum, from a talent standpoint, rolling
in the right direction.”
Senior NFL Columnist Pete Prisco echoed this
sentiment, complimenting the Jags on their general
manager David Caldwell’s job in just his second year
with the team.
“His [Caldwell’s] draft board is loaded with talent,”
said Prisco. “This team is moving in the right direction
and this draft will go a long way in helping that
happen.”
Let’s get down to
brass tacks here. Some
of Jacksonville’s picks
are more familiar than
others, as tends to be
the case in most NFL
drafts, but one thing
Jacksonville seemed to
be consistent with—by
complete coincidence
or absolute purpose—
was
focusing
on
southern
dexterity.
Five-of-eight
Jaguar
picks where players
from southern colleges,
three of them from
the SEC and the
other two from the
ACC. It’s common
knowledge that the
SEC is a powerhouse
conference in NCAA football and has been for a
long time. The ACC, on the other hand, housed the
defending champs of the national title this year and
is without a doubt making a strong push in the right
direction with the addition of Louisville and the
improvements seen in the programs at both Georgia
Tech and Duke.
Speculations aside, every Jacksonville fan should
agree that having players from UF, FSU, Alabama,
Louisville and South Carolina will do nothing but
bolster more fans for the Jaguars. The rubes that are
usually hunkered down in their bunkers on Sunday,
mourning a game day loss or avoiding church, will
come crawling out in full support of a player they’ve
been watching for three college football seasons.
Everybody else may have hated Christian Laettner,
but when he went to the Minnesota Timberwolves in
1992, you can bet your bottom dollar that every Duke
alumnus became a temporary Timberwolves fan
despite the team’s disastrous record during his tenure
there.
And let’s face it, it’s impossible to turn over a stone