they call it a reach, but that's OK

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for? - Robert Browning

For the first time in I don't know how long, the Jaguars did what I hoped they would do in the draft. Time will tell if it was the right thing, but in my mind, it was at least a good thing.

In the first round they knew they couldn't get Derrick Harvey, the defensive end from Florida. He'd be long gone by the time they'd pick, and they needed a defensive end in the worst way. The prevailing thought, even by me, was get the next best one....or the best one available when you pick. They went and traded several picks, moved up to the 8th pick in the draft and got they guy they wanted. Floyd Reese, ex-general manager of the Titans, called it overkill, which could help explain why the "ex" is in front of that title and he's working for ESPN instead of the Titans now. Others (ie. Mel Kiper Jr., supposed draft expert, and his clone, Todd McShay) are criticizing the move, saying there were better players available for the 8th pick, and Harvey was a reach at number 8. That isn't the point. If you're trading up...no matter what spot you're trading to, you need a few things to happen. First, you need another team willing to trade with you. You need to have what they want to trade with. You need to have something worth trading for. The Jaguars had all that getting to the 8th pick. There was no guarantee they'd have that at 12 or 15 or whatever....so you jump when the situation allows it. They were willing to trade a few picks for Harvey. It didn't matter what pick it was. He wasn't going to be out there at 26, and maybe he wouldn't have been a "reach" if the Jaguars could have moved up to...say...the 17th pick in the draft, but the reality of it all is...there's no guarantee the team with the 17th pick wants to trade with you. They have their own agenda, and could very well want nothing to do with a trade. In fact, if they're in your division and want to make your life miserable, there's a fair chance they won't trade with you, just to stop you. Who cares if you make the guy the 8th or 28th pick. If you believe he's what you need to beat the Colts and the Patriots of the world, you move.

Then in the second round, they got another defensive end, Quentin Groves. This was one of the names I thought might be their first round pick, but he was still available when they picked in round two. OK, maybe we went a little overboard in the defensive end category, but we definitely addressed my concerns. They moved up to get this guy too, but to get him they traded away their 7th round pick next year. My hope is...he'll be Mr. Irrelevant.

Being as how we traded out 3rd and 4th round picks to jump up to get Harvey, the rest of the first day of the draft had nothing for Jacksonville....but I don't think it had to. We got a linebacker, defensive back and running back in the later rounds who might develop into something, but they're there mostly for depth, I imagine. After taking Jerry Porter in free agency, I feel better about our only other glaring weakness...wide receiver. Overall....going from here into training camp, I'm feeling pretty optimistic.