| |
|
| ||
|
Getting defensive Jaguars load up on line, corner help on day two
Posted: Sunday April 18, 1999 10:56 PM
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- The Jacksonville Jaguars wanted to fill holes and improve depth on defense while avoiding repeats of past mistakes in Day 2 of the NFL draft Sunday. So, they loaded up on defensive linemen and cornerbacks, using all five of their second-day picks at those positions. In the fourth round, Jacksonville selected defensive end Kevin Landolt of West Virginia. The 6-foot-5, 290-pound lineman had eight sacks last season on the same line with second-round pick John Thornton. Jacksonville made its first draft-day trade in three seasons, dealing its sixth- and one seventh-round pick to move up 13 spots in the sixth round and take Emarlos Leroy, a 298-pound defensive tackle from Georgia. The Jaguars had Landolt projected as a third-round pick on their draft board, although Landolt himself thought he might not go until the sixth or seventh round. "Personally, I felt I deserved to go somewhere around the middle of the draft, the fourth or fifth round," Landolt said. "But from the feedback I was getting, I thought it might have been later." Discrepancies like that have marked -- or marred -- the middle rounds of past Jaguars drafts. Around town, the fourth round has been snidely referred to as the "Harry Deligianis round," after the defensive tackle out of Youngstown State who didn't make it past the first cut last season. Another fourth-round bust was defensive tackle Mike Thompson of Wisconsin, who the Jaguars traded up to select in 1995. Coughlin liked Landolt for his stout frame as well as for the coaching he received at West Virginia. The Jaguars are trying to shore up a defense that recorded only 30 sacks last season and finished 25th in the league in yards allowed. "He's a little bit more than just a run-stopper, but I'd like him to be a good solid run defender, first and foremost," Coughlin said. "And pushing the pocket. If nothing else, he can help us to push in the face of the quarterback and let the people come off the edge." The fifth-round pick was Jason Craft, a 5-9 cornerback from Colorado State who clocked a 4.35-second 40-yard sprint in recent workouts. Coughlin targeted Craft as Jacksonville's last chance to go after a player with pure speed, much as they used one of last year's seventh-round picks to choose receiver Alvis Whitted. "He's purely a cover guy, a speed guy who can improve our speed in the secondary," Coughlin said. "We're looking at him to be a nickel or dime guy right away." Craft had four interceptions last year, two more than first-round pick Fernando Bryant. Jacksonville's other selections were seventh-round compensatory picks. Cornerback Dee Moronkola of Washington State had 1,005 career yards in kickoff returns. Defensive tackle Chris White had four sacks last season at Division I-AA Southern. In all, the Jaguars added three cornerbacks and four defensive linemen, including Leroy, an all-state wrestler in high school who went on to Georgia and started 11 games for the Bulldogs last year. Leroy will join a line that has been wracked by injuries and includes two players, Seth Payne and Renaldo Wynn, still recouperating from season-ending injuries last year. "We've always kept a very high number of defensive linemen here," Coughlin said. "We do rotate. We do count on depth. Let's face it, it's been critical the last few years that we had depth or there would have been some serious problems." In eight picks, the Jaguars didn't take anyone at a skill position on offense. They also failed to address middle linebacker, leaving open the possibility they could re-sign free agent linebacker Brian Schwartz to join fifth-year veteran Tom McManus in a competition for the starting job.
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||||||
