Bold move by Jaguars to nab UF's Harvey

Florida Times-Union sports columnist Gene Frenette is at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium covering the Jaguars in the NFL draft. This is his second entry after Jacksonville selected Florida defensive end Derrick Harvey with the 8th overall pick.

Wow! The Jaguars really do expect to win now and wasted no time with the first bold move of the NFL Draft.

By moving up from the 26th spot to the Baltimore Ravens' No. 8 slot to select Florida defensive end Derrick Harvey, the Jaguars took a major step toward fixing the weakest part of their team -- a pedestrian pass rush.

Not only did the Jaguars get a premiere pass-rusher, they got away with not having to give up their second-round pick in the process. Surrendering two third-round picks and a fourth-rounder to move up 18 spots in the first round was almost a steal.

"When you have that opportunity, you take advantage of it," said Jaguars' coach Jack Del Rio. "We didn't think we had enough ammo to get into the top 10. We weren't going to give away the whole draft."

Another factor that makes this trade a bonanza for the Jaguars is, given the depth of their roster, there's no guarantee that the third and fourth-round picks would have much of an impact or even make the team at all.

"We felt it was a reasonable trade," said James Harris, the Jaguars' vice-president of player personnel. "Defensive linemen can go any place. If we wait to [the 13th pick], we may miss him. We had him clumped in with a group of guys in that [bottom of the top-10].

"We're not sure if two third-rounders could come in and make the team. This was about evaluating our team and looking to strengthen it."

Harvey figures to fortify a Jaguars' pass rush that finished tied for ninth in the NFL with 37 sacks last season, but had a difficult time in the 31-20 AFC playoff loss to the New England Patriots. Quarterback Tom Brady completed 26 of 28 passes and was never sacked after John Henderson got to him on the opening play.

The Jaguars gladly let former Florida Gator Bobby McCray, a part-time starter at defensive end, walk into free agency after he registered just three sacks in 2007 after a 10-sack season the year before. At minimum, Harvey will come in and be a situational third-down pass rusher, but he should immediately challenge for a starting spot.

Del Rio said he didn't think the Jaguars "had the ammo" to get up into the top-10 of the draft, but they found a willing partner in the Ravens, an organization where Harris and Del Rio were both employed before coming to Jacksonville.

In Jaguars' history, the two draft-day trades that brought the Jaguars huge impact players were quarterback Mark Brunell in 1995 (for a third and fifth-round draft pick) and running back Fred Taylor in 1998 (for quarterback Rob Johnson).

For the first time in the Jack Del Rio regime, they made a bold trade that could net a similar result.