JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—The Jacksonville Jaguars gave quarterback David Garrard extra protection on the first day of the NFL draft and new targets on the second.
A day after the Jaguars fortified their offensive line with talented tackles Eugene Monroe and Eben Britton, they addressed a gaping hole at receiver.
Jacksonville drafted speedy Arizona standout Mike Thomas in the fourth round and Rice’s Jarett Dillard in the fifth round Sunday, two guys who should help the Jaguars replace receivers Matt Jones, Jerry Porter and Reggie Williams.
“Jacksonville is a good spot for me to come in and compete for a job, compete to make this team,” said Dillard, the 144th overall choice.
No doubt.
The Jaguars parted ways with Jones, Porter and Williams in the offseason. They signed seven-time Pro Bowler Torry Holt last week, but Holt will be 33 years old this summer and isn’t a long-term solution.
Thomas and Dillard could be.
Thomas, a 5-foot-8, 193-pound Texan, caught 259 passes for 3,231 yards and 23 touchdowns in college. He holds the Pac-10 record for receptions, returns punts and kicks, and could give the Jaguars another undersized star from out West. Jacksonville drafted Maurice Jones-Drew in the second round in 2006, and the 5-foot-7 running back from UCLA accounted for more than 6,000 all-purpose yards and 40 touchdowns in three seasons.
Thomas, the 107th overall selection, hopes to have similar success.
“It’s very annoying to know that you’re a lot better than where you’re picked at,” Thomas said. “That’s just the NFL for you. It puts chips on shoulders, just like Maurice Jones-Drew. He was overlooked and so was I, and look at him. He’s getting the last laugh.
“I’m coming in with that same mentality. I know I can play. I know I belong in this league. I’m just ready to make an impact and make a name for myself.”
Jacksonville’s director of player personnel, Terry McDonough, compared Thomas to Carolina’s Steve Smith. He said Thomas ran the 40-yard dash in 4.29 seconds at the NFL Combine and wowed Jacksonville’s coaching staff at the Senior Bowl and in the East-West Shrine game.
“What we thought last year was we didn’t have a guy that could catch it and do anything with it,” McDonough said. “The coaches said, ‘We need a player that when you throw him the ball, he can get fast quick.’ That’s what this guy can do. He can get off the spot. He’s got burst.
“It’ll be a little different than what you guys have seen around here the last couple years.”
Dillard wasn’t nearly as fast as Thomas, but his productivity was impossible to overlook. Dillard caught 292 passes for 4,138 yards at Rice and set an NCAA record with 60 touchdown receptions.
“I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for almost my whole life,” Dillard said. “So I have it now and it’s basically, ‘What are you going to do with it?'”
The Jags gave Garrard two more pass-catching options with Nebraska-Omaha tight end Zach Miller in the sixth round (No. 180) and Rutgers receiver Tiquan Underwood in the seventh (No. 253). Liberty running back Rashad Jennings was the team’s other seventh-round pick (No. 250).
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound Miller played quarterback at Nebraska-Omaha, but switched positions at the Division II all-star game, the Cactus Bowl. He caught five passes for 116 yards and a touchdown in the Cactus Bowl, an impressive transition for a guy who spent his entire career under center. He threw for 1,508 yards, ran for 1,061 more and accounted for 29 scores as a senior.
“I’m the poor man’s Tim Tebow,” Miller said.
The Jaguars also addressed two needs on the other side of the ball, drafting defensive tackle Terrance Knighton and cornerback Derek Cox with consecutive picks in the third round (Nos. 72 and 73).
Knighton, a 6-foot-3, 317-pound run-stopper from Temple, could step in alongside John Henderson and fill the spot vacated when the team traded Marcus Stroud to Buffalo before last season.
“We thought he was probably the one guy left that has the ability to be an eventual starter,” general manager Gene Smith said. “He’s got ready-made size. The arrow’s up on his development.”
Although many mock drafts had Knighton going in the fourth or fifth round, the selection of Cox was even more of a head-scratcher.
The Jaguars traded a second-round pick in 2010 and a seventh-round selection this year to New England to get the 6-foot-1, 188-pound defender from William & Mary. One analyst had Cox rated as the 106th best cornerback in the draft.
The Jags saw him much differently.
“If he’s not a starter over the first two years, then we made a mistake,” McDonough said. “You do not give next year’s (second-round pick) unless you think he’s going to start. If our eyes are right, it’s going to be a great pick.”
