5 teams that would be wise to trade up in the NFL Draft

Expect a handful of teams to trade up in the 2020 NFL Draft. Here are five candidates who are most likely to move up to get their guy next weekend.

Easily the most exciting thing about an NFL Draft is teams’ movement up and down the board. Though we see trades happen all the time, in-season or not, there’s nothing quite like seeing an organization methodically play chess with their draft positioning. Some times, teams move back to collect draft capital, whether that’s later in the current draft or in a future one.

But let’s be real for a second here. You can’t help but get fired up to see a team attempting to move mountains to trade up just so they can get their guy. Most often it’s to land a franchise savior at quarterback. In other instances, perhaps they are looking for a pass-rusher or a skill-position player whose dominance in college will translate right away and help a playoff team.

Regardless, we never really know which teams are going to have the stones to move up or find the right trade partner to pull it off. Every year, there are teams it wouldn’t shock us if they moved up, but similarly, there is always at least one team who ends up trading up that comes as a complete surprise. That’s what makes the first round of the NFL Draft so utterly compelling.

Here are five likely candidates to trade up in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft next weekend.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are one of five teams with multiple first-round picks this year. They have their own at No. 9 and the No. 20 which comes way of the Los Angeles Rams from the Jalen Ramsey trade made last season. Jacksonville is swimming in draft capital with 12 total picks with four in the top 100 and seven in the top 150. They have the assets to make a move up the board.

Though it make not make a ton of sense for the Jaguars to move up from No. 9 because we don’t expect them to draft a quarterback this year, they have the resources to move up from No. 20 into somewhere in the teens. Assuming they go with an offensive tackle or a defensive star at No. 9, they could be in the market to get a great wide receiver in the teens should they move up.

Of course, they could stay pat with their two first-round picks. Jacksonville is in dire need of talent and the Jaguars may not want to part ways with its other top-50 pick coming in at the top of the second round. However, they need more cornerstone players than ever to help fix their broken culture down in Duval.

If they can assure themselves of two Pro Bowlers with their first two picks, then they should do whatever is necessary to get those stars. The other part in all of this is head coach Doug Marrone and general manager David Caldwell‘s seats are warm to say the least. Former EVP Tom Coughlin is out of the building. If the Jaguars are a grease fire again, both Marrone and Caldwell are gone.