What offseason move made by the Jaguars was the most liked by ESPN?
ESPN’s Seth Walder recently handed out offseason grades for each NFL team. Although he wasn’t all that impressed with what the Jacksonville Jaguars did overall, Walder’s favorite move was the addition of offensive lineman Patrick Mekari.
“One move I was a big fan of was signing Patrick Mekari to a three-year deal that averages $12.5 million per year,” Walder wrote. “Mekari is a versatile lineman with experience at center, guard and tackle and had a 95% pass block win rate at guard last season, which ranked fifth best at the position.”
In case your wondering, the Jaguars’ move up the draft board to select Travis Hunter fell into Walder’s “biggest move” category.
“Hunter is the most justifiable non-QB to prompt such a move because of his potential to be a high-end wide receiver and cornerback,” wrote Walder. “But I would not have made this move, which demonstrated a level of overconfidence in the evaluation process that usually does not pay off. The Jaguars mitigated the value damage of the Hunter trade with a nice trade down with the Lions on Day 2.”
As mentioned, Mekari has the extremely rare ability to play all five positions on the offensive line–something that he’s already done in regular-season games during his NFL career.
Among all guards last season, Mekari ranked 18th in ESPN’s pass-block win rate metric. In the run game, he graded out as an average blocker, according to PFF.
“That was insanely rare,” GM James Gladstone said of Mekari, via Jaguars on SI. “I don’t know that that’s something that typically comes up on the market at a cost point that’s affordable enough to pursue.”
After mostly playing left guard last season with Baltimore, Mekari will presumably take over at right guard for the Jaguars. However, his versatility affords the team flexibility to mix and match as they lean into that competition element and search for their best starting five configuration.
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