There were a number of players linked to the Jaguars after they secured the first overall pick in this year’s draft and there was a point when reports indicated head coach Doug Pederson was pushing for an offensive lineman over a defensive player.
Jacksonville made their long-awaited selection on Thursday night and it was edge rusher Travon Walker out of Georgia. Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson and General Manager Trent Baalke held a press conference after the selection was announced and Pederson cut off a reporter asking a question about those reports to say there was “never a split” about what direction to take with the top pick.
“It was never that way, I don’t know where that came from,” Pederson said.
One imagines there were a lot of discussions about what direction to go over the last few months, but word that Walker would be the pick began growing several days ago and it seems unlikely that would have been the case if there were a deep divide about which path to take.