JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke got a laugh with a one-liner about the franchise having the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft for the second year in a row.
“I’m pretty confident that this will be the last time that I’ll be making the first pick,” he joked at a pre-draft media availability last Friday.
That could be taken two ways: Baalke believes the franchise has begun turning things around and won’t be as bad as they’ve been the past two seasons… or he won’t be employed if the team is again picking first overall in 2023.
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The latter is pretty much a lock, because no franchise or GM has ever picked first for three consecutive drafts.
As for whether the Jaguars (3-14 in 2021) are indeed on their way to at least mediocrity, a lot of that will depend on whether they successfully nailed the back-to-back No. 1 overall picks of quarterback Trevor Lawrence (2021) and defensive end Travon Walker (2022).
It shouldn’t be a big ask when you literally have your pick of any player, but historically it has been. The five other times an NFL franchise had back-to-back No. 1s in the common draft era (since 1967), they failed to turn both picks into impact players.
The Cleveland Browns drafted quarterback Tim Couch first overall in 1999 and defensive end Courtney Brown in 2000, and they picked defensive end Myles Garrett in 2017 and quarterback Baker Mayfield in 2018.
Also doing it twice, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took defensive lineman Lee Roy Selmon in 1976 and running back
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