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Jaguars select defensive end Travon Walker with No. 1 overall pick
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- Jaguars select defensive end Travon Walker with No. 1 overall pick
After weeks of evaluating and collaborating, the Jacksonville Jaguars kept the suspense going right up to the final minute before they were required to reveal their No. 1 overall pick selection in Thursday night's NFL Draft.
Doug Pederson did what many thought was taking a chance, selecting Georgia defensive end Travon Walker with the first overall selection instead of Michigan edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson.
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But Walker, 6-foot-5, 275 pounds, was the betting favorite while most draft analysts had Hutchinson as their choice but he was selected No. 2 overall by the Detroit Lions .
The Jaguars sought the best fit with the best upside, though.
"There's a lot to like in terms of skill set, a very versatile player," Jaguars GM Trent Baalke said just after they selected Walker. "He played all the way down the line of scrimmage from zero technique to seven technique, including the two point off the edge, which is going to be used a lot in our scheme."
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Walker, who watched the draft from an Atlanta hotel with his family, will try under Pederson to help turn a defense around that had only 32 sacks, the fifth-lowest in the league last year.
Walker has a high ceiling, but Hutchinson was considered to be the more polished player becoming just the fourth defensive player to finish second in Heisman Trophy voting and was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the year. Hutchinson's 14 sacks in 2021 was the most in a season in Michigan history.
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There was speculation that Pederson, Baalke and owner Shad Khan were split on deciding between Walker, Hutchinson or offensive tackle Ickey Ekwonu, who was selected sixth overall by the Carolina Panthers .
But Pederson refuted the speculation, saying there was never a split.
"I just want to go out on record and say it was never that way," Pederson said. "I don't know where it came from and that's one of things I loved about our process is the communication and us being on the same page.
"These sort of unnamed sources, so to speak, I don't get into a lot of that. A lot of work went into making this selection tonight, and we're just fired up to have Travon in the building."
Involved in car accident two weeks ago
Walker can effectively play as an interior lineman and a standup outside linebacker. Walker's draft stock soared the most of any draft prospect, going from a projected mid-round pick to the first-ever defensive player from the University of Georgia to drafted in the first round.
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But Walker was involved in a car accident two weeks ago in Georgia that was not publicly disclosed until after he was drafted Thursday night. Walker did not suffer any injuries, according to the Jaguars. Reports indicated that Walker crashed into two parked cars.
"Just a little fender-bender, nothing crazy," Walker said during a Zoom video call with the Jacksonville media Thursday night. "It's not really much of details to give you. It wasn't much to it. Just a little fender-bender. Things happen. Nothing to it really. Nothing I can give you other than it was a fender-bender."
In his only season as a full-time starter in 2021 when the Bulldogs won the national championship, Walker had six sacks and a team-high 32 quarterback pressures. But in three seasons at Georgia, Walker had just had 9.5 sacks.
However, Walker's 35 1/2-inch arms and 4.51 seconds time in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine led to the rapid rise in his draft stock since March.
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The Jaguars have a need for a dominant edge rusher because they had the eighth-fewest pressures in the NFL last season with 146, which led to a low 24.2 pressure rate. And Jacksonville's 32 sacks were tied for the sixth-lowest league last season.
Jacksonville is only the fourth franchise in the NFL since 1977 to select No. 1 overall in back-to-back seasons. The Jaguars join the Cleveland Browns (2017-18 and 1999-2000); Cincinnati Bengals (1994-95), and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1976-77) as the only teams to repeat seasons with the No. 1 pick.
With the Jaguars selection of Walker, it was the Jaguars' eighth top-five pick since 2012, a year before owner Shad Khan assumed ownership of Jacksonville's franchise. Last year, the Jaguars selected Trevor Lawrence with the No. 1 overall pick.
"We've got to get him in here," Pederson said of Walker. "We've got to get him coached up, we've got to get him comfortable, start learning the defense, and we'll see as we go how that affects other people on the defense."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars select edge rusher Travor Walker
