Myles Jack's Fall Ends At No. 36, Jaguars Get Another Stud Defender
Myles Jack was long-considered one of the best players in the 2016 NFL Draft, but – as with Jaylon Smith – knee issues completely destroyed his stock. Concerns over the health of Jack’s right knee and a possible microfracture surgery down the road led to the UCLA linebacker falling out of the first round.
Luckily for Jack, the Jacksonville Jaguars were willing to take a risk on him, as they selected him with the fifth pick in the second round of this year’s draft. By going 36th overall, Jack’s agonizing fall ended early on Friday night and now he can get to the business of getting fully healthy and proving he was worth the risk.
The Jaguars are clearly focused on rebuilding their atrocious defense, as Jack will join first-round selection Jalen Ramsey and last year’s first-rounder Dante Fowler Jr. as rookies in 2016. Ramsey was the top player on many boards this year and Fowler was the No. 3 overall pick in 2015 but missed his entire rookie year after tearing his ACL. Now Jack, possibly a top five talent in this year’s draft, will be arriving as well. If those guys all pan out, the Jaguars will be scary on defense.
Jack still has a lot of work to do. He had surgery to repair the later meniscus in his right knee. During medical re-checks a few weeks ago, teams began to back off of him. The concerns weren’t related to the meniscus, but the rest of his knee. Now he needs to prove those concerns were unfounded.