With the 16th Pick in the 2011 Dawgs By Nature Mock Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars Select...

With the 16th pick in the 2011 Dawgs By Nature Community Mock Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars select...

Ryan Kerrigan, DE, Purdue

This selection and write-up was made by sleepy042:

Just for some perspective, while the Browns are my 1st string team the Jaguars have always been my 2nd string team to root for. This is due to the fact I was stationed at Camp Lejeune NC in the Marines when the NFL announced the Panthers & Jaguars as expansion teams. While everyone was rooting for Carolina I went the other way & started pulling for Jacksonville (shout out to Alfie Crow from Big Cat Country) which was ironic if anyone Googles where Camp Lejeune is...

The Jaguars enter 2010 with HC Jack Del Rio in a precarious position. For the past 2 seasons the Jaguars have started off the season fairly well but with their playoff destiny in their own paws they have faded down the stretch sitting out the post season. Del Rio also enters the 3rd year of the retooling of the team as the Jags forays into FA in the recent past & the dismal failure that was the 2008 draft with DE Derrick Harvey & Quentin Groves still lingers. In 2009, JAX reloaded the OL with OT's Eugene Monroe & Eben Britton to be the LT & RT resepectively. In 2009 the Jaguars only netted 14 sacks (1 every 36.4 pass attempts) and gave up 28 passing TD's (1 every 18.2 pass att's). We upgraded the DL in FA with a big splash with Aaron Kampman who was coming off a torn ACL from mid-2009 as the Packers shifted to the 3-4 which he didn't fit. In 2010 the focus was on the interior of the DL with Tyson Alualu & 2009 3rd RD DC Terrance Knighton who were supposed to work in rotation with D'Anthony Smith who tore his ACL in training camp. Kampman was everything we wanted until he suffered another torn ACL at the mid point of the season & our pass rush fell off. JAX finished with 26 sacks (1 every 19.5 pass att's) but the secondary was shredded by abysmal play.

If the Texans (64.7% 8.2 ypa 33-13 ratio) hadn't been so horrific in their pass defense the Jags would have very likely seen Del Rio & former CLE DC Mel Tucker hit the road in the offseason. For the 2nd year in a row Derek Cox led the team with 4 ints but he was benched for a week by Del Rio & no one else on the team had 2 ints. The safety play was the weakest in the league as the Jaguars gave up 65% comps, 8.3 ypa with a 28-13 ratio.

While taking a QB for the future is needed there isn't one with a grade this high after Newton & Gabbert. We do need a WR but elite talent is off the board and the top interior OL was taken the pick before us (Brad Meester is getting real old & the OG spot needs an upgrade). I looked long & hard at Jimmy Smith & was close to pulling the trigger on him but he didn't take his Pro Day serious enough for me. Ras-I Dowling was also an option until he injured his hamstring at the Combine (after missing most of LY with a leg injury) as I would have had him start at CB or FS like Malcolm Jenkins.

The NFL lockout however means that whomever I draft has to have lots of experience at the CFB level & be of high character & make an impact. My needs here (pass rush/pass defense) equal the best available player on MY board here as the Jacksonville Jaguars select DE Ryan Kerrigan from Purdue with the 16th pick.

Truthfully we don't know how long Kampman (32 on 11/30) will be able to play with 2 ACL injuries in 2 years though he's farther along now than after his 1st. In Kerrigan I get a 3 year starter (35 starts) who has made 90.5 plays behind the line of scrimmage in his career. He was a team co-Captain LY, an academic All-American the L2Y and went up against good, solid OT's in the Big 10. At 6-3 265 he ran a 4.71 40, 10'2" broad jump & had 31 reps which shows he's got a solid weight room ethic. In comparison Kampman is 6-3 260 as listed on the Jags website so his size won't be an issue. Kerrigan is a great fit to the Jaguars DL front & from here we can start looking at the board for a FS, QB, WR or OG/C in the 2nd round to fill other needs.

I think we're getting to the point now where some of the picks are more difficult to make because you have teams who seem to retool but can't break out because they don't have the "it" factor in several areas. Does a guy like Kerrigan help get Jacksonville over the hump? The Jaguars seem to have had quite a few busts, and if they ever have a chance to win the AFC South, one of these picks will have to work out first.

The New England Patriots are on the clock next (email has been sent to sleepy042).