Florida's Taven Bryan walks on stage after being selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 26, 2018, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
The Associated Press
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - The Jacksonville Jaguars used the NFL draft to build for the future, not necessarily this fall.
They used every pick on down-the-road starters instead of filling pressing needs.
It's a luxury rarely seen in Jacksonville, which made the AFC championship game in January after a decade of failure and futility. The Jags return 18 of 22 starters from a team that led the NFL in rushing and ranked second in total defense.
Top executive Tom Coughlin and general manager Dave Caldwell liked the team's makeup enough that they actually made a best-player-available pick in the first round when they added Florida's Taven Bryan to a defensive line that includes Pro Bowlers Calais Campbell, Malik Jackson and Yannick Ngakoue.
Coughlin says "we want the competition. We want it as much as we can get it. That's the one thing in our game that makes everybody better."
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Commissioner Roger Goodell presents Florida's Taven Bryan with his Jacksonville Jaguars team jersey during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 26, 2018, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
The Associated Press
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan fields questions from the media on his interest in buying Wembley Stadium in London, Thursday, April 26, 2018, in Jacksonville, Fla. The English Football Association has received an offer from Khan of about 600 million pounds ($840 million) for the national soccer stadium, which would continue to host England games and major cup finals after a sale. Wembley has staged regular-season NFL games since 2007 and Khan's Florida-based franchise started playing at the 90,000-capacity stadium in 2013, the year Khan bought London soccer club Fulham. (Bob SelfThe Florida Times-Union via AP)
The Associated Press