NFL Teams Biggest Needs by Draft Order
A brand-new article series! NFL writer Logan Lepiscopo brings a series that will entitle every NFL team biggest offseason need heading into free agency and the NFL draft. Each article will consist of two teams going in draft order. For example, this article will be the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Detroit Lions. If a team has multiple first round picks the team that originally owned that pick will be covered, to avoid repetitiveness and ensure all 32 teams are covered. So, without further ado lets get into the Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions biggest needs this offseason.
Jacksonville Jaguars: Offensive Line
Pick 1 Pick 33Pick 65Pick 70Pick 104Pick 156Pick 178Pick 186Pick 195Pick 196Pick 219Pick 232E. Neal OT ALA D. London WR USCD. Jackson ED USCC. Watson WR NDSUL. Chenal LB WISCD. West G/C ARZ St.C. Turner TE NevadaL. Smith OG VA TechI. Taylor-Stuart CB USCJT Woods S BaylorN. Elliss DT IdahoL. O’Neal Jr. S Texas A&MWhen you look at the Jacksonville Jaguars there are a lot of glaring holes on both sides of the ball. But with Jacksonville holding the number one overall pick yet again, it is important to get a top player in this class at the biggest positional need. Some may argue that getting an edge rusher like Aidan Hutchinson or Kayvon Thibodeaux is in the teams’ best interest, but for the Jaguars to have a future they need to protect Trevor Lawrence. There is not a single tackle in this class better than Evan Neal, and all the tackles with potential to be a franchise guy will be gone by the time Jacksonville gets back on the clock in the second round. Below I put a mock draft that I did on thedraftnetwork.com/mock-draft-machine, this is what I think could be close to a perfect draft for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Top player hitting free agency: Cam Robinson
Cap space: $59.25M
Detroit Lions: Edge Rusher
Having the number two overall pick obviously shows that there are a lot of missing pieces to the Lions being a winning team. The Lions were competitive in many of their games this season, so there is some talent on this team. Though upgrading the wide receiver position is a need for the Lions taking a WR at the number two pick would be quite outrageous with Aidan Hutchinson and Kayvon Thibodeaux on the board. Not only are these two edge rushers too good to pass up on, getting an edge rusher should be one of the Lions top priorities this offseason. Getting to the quarterback was a big problem for the Lions in the 2021-2022 season and getting a rookie edge rusher that has the potential to be a household name is the perfect start. Like the Jaguars I did a mock draft for the Lions (no trades) trying to construct the “perfect draft” for the Detroit Lions.
Top player hitting free agency: Tracy Walker
Cap space: $21.20M