Jacksonville Jaguars: 5 best draft picks all-time
By John Buhler
Defensive Tackle. Georgia Bulldogs. Marcus Stroud. 3. player. 52.
The 2001 NFL Draft has been deemed as one of the greatest drafts ever for finding defensive tackle talent. Jacksonville found arguably their greatest defensive player to date with the No. 13 pick in the 2001 NFL Draft, when they selected defensive tackle Marcus Stroud out of Georgia.
Stroud grew up in nearby Thomasville, Georgia and starred alongside Richard Seymour in Athens for Jim Donnan’s Georgia Bulldogs for four SEC seasons. For seven years with the Jaguars (2001-07), Stroud was an absolutely dominating force on their defensive line. Stroud went to three straight Pro Bowls from 2003-05 during his peak NFL seasons.
Stroud would retire in 2011 after not making the New England Patriots roster. He finished his 11-year NFL career with 424 tackles, 29.5 quarterback sacks, and 39 passes deflected. Alongside fellow defensive tackle John Henderson, the Jaguars had one of the best interior defensive lines in Hurricane Henderstroud.
After Coughlin left Jacksonville to go coach the New York Giants, it was the defense that took control of the franchise behind head coach Jack Del Rio and defensive coordinator Mike Smith. Stroud certainly lived up to the hype coming out of Georgia in 2001, and helped usher in a new era of Jaguars football in the mid-2000s.
Next: 2. RB Fred Taylor, 1998, No. 9 overall