One year ago it looked like the Jacksonville Jaguars reached way down to pick Tyson Alualu with the 10th overall pick. One year later it looks like he was a pretty astute pick. He did very well in his rookie year and I think we can all agree that the Jags made the right pick, even though it was a big surprise at the time.
Before we go any further let us take a look at the 2010 Jaguars draft class:
- Round One- DT Tyson Alualu
- Round Three- DT D’Anthony Smith
- Round Five- DE Larry Hart
- Round Five- DE Austen Lane
- Round Six- RB Deji Karim
- Round Six- KR Scotty McGee
This was sort of an abnormal draft, as this team went the non big school/non BCS route and it didn’t produce much in terms of immediate results. I like Alualu and I think he works well in their system and might have had a bigger impact had Aaron Kampman not gone down mid year with an injury. The fact that they took two DE’s a year ago and still need help there does not speak very highly of this draft.
In the end Tyson started every game and racked up 38 tackles, and 3.5 sacks. Smith went down with an injury. Hart and Lane were part of the rotation at DE, Karim ran the ball 35 times for 160 yards and McGee injured his shoulder in pre season. There is a lot of room for improvement here, but if they add a couple more pieces in this year’s draft they could be well on their way to being a winning team once again. For now this draft gets another C grade until some of these other players shows us something.
Related Links:
- Jacksonville Jaguars War Room
- Joshua Lobdell.com