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NFL draft Winners and Losers: Jaguars are your 2016 bandwagon team

The Jacksonville Jaguars have displayed a lot of patience with coach Gus Bradley. It has been a prudent, long-term approach.

One would imagine Bradley won’t be given that kind of patience if the Jaguars lose again this year, not after the fine offseason they’ve had.

At the end of last season, a lot of people had already glommed onto the Jaguars as a 2016 sleeper. The bandwagon is really rolling now. The Jaguars made the best pick of the first round, somehow taking cornerback Jalen Ramsey, the best player in the draft, fifth overall. They might have made the best pick of the second round too.

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We don’t know what linebacker Myles Jack’s career will end up being, and that’s the reason he was still available for the Jaguars in the second round. Jack’s career could be cut short because of a knee issue. Dr. James Andrews told Jack he doesn’t need microfracture surgery, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, although that seems impossible to predict. Maybe he’ll have a great 10-year career. Or be fantastic for three or four years. Nobody knows for sure.

(AP)
(AP)

But if Jack is good for just the length of his first rookie deal, the Jaguars have added some big-time talent this offseason. Don’t forget that pass rusher Dante Fowler, last year’s third overall pick, is returning from a knee injury. With a little bit of injury luck, the Jaguars will be adding three first-year defenders with top-five talent.

And the free agents? Defensive end Malik Jackson might have been the No. 1 free agent this offseason. Kelvin Beachum can play left tackle. Tashaun Gipson gives the Jaguars a playmaking free safety. Chris Ivory should help at running back. The roster will be a lot better than it was at the end of last season.

It’s worth pumping the brakes a bit, and pointing out that the Jaguars were just 5-11 last year. They were outscored by 72 points, and were 18th in yards gained and 24th in yards allowed. That came in a weak AFC South, too. They still have a long way to go.

But the Jaguars have a quarterback in Blake Bortles who might break through in his third season. Allen Robinson is a star receiver. They should be able to run the ball too, and it would be a shock if the defense isn’t much improved.

The Jaguars haven’t had a winning record or made the playoffs since 2007. There’s a chance that streak ends this season. After the offseason they’ve had, that should be the expectation in Jacksonville. The Jaguars are the official sleeper of the 2016 NFL season.

Here are the rest of the winners and losers from day two of the NFL draft:

WINNERS

Baltimore Ravens: Ozzie Newsome said before the draft that his last few drafts weren’t up to the standard he and the Ravens have set. This year looks like your typical Ravens draft.

Offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley was a solid pick at No. 6. The Ravens moved back in the second round and still got Boise State pass rusher Kamalei Correa, another good pick. Then in the third round their pick was BYU defensive end Bronson Kaufusi, a versatile athletic player who can help up front.

That’s a future left tackle and two intriguing players for the front seven. Just what we’d usually expect from the Ravens.

Ohio State: The Buckeyes had a draft for the ages.

Braxton Miller (AP)
Braxton Miller (AP)

They had five players taken in the top 20. Ohio State saw seven players taken in the first two rounds, which tied an NFL record for the common draft, which dates back to 1967. The 10 players they had selected in the first three rounds is an NFL record. They shattered the record too, because the old record was eight. It was an impressive collection of talent the Buckeyes had last season (how exactly did they not go to the College Football Playoff or even win the Big Ten?).

The most interesting pick of the lot might be Braxton Miller, who went in the third round to the Houston Texans. The prolific quarterback-turned-receiver gives the Texans another weapon for new quarterback Brock Osweiler. Houston added receiver Will Fuller in the first round. Bill O’Brien should get creative with Miller.

It was a pretty big day for Ohio State. The NFL has never seen a run like that before from one school.

Ted Thompson: Thompson, the Green Bay Packers general manager, doesn’t often trade up in drafts. He did trade up to get Clay Matthews years ago, and that worked out. Packers fans hope his move up in the second round on Friday works out as well.

If nothing else, it seemed to foil the plans of the rival Chicago Bears.

The Packers moved up in the second round to take Indiana offensive tackle Jason Spriggs, a first-round-level talent who gives the Packers depth now and a high-level starter for the future. The trade was probably necessary. The Packers moved right ahead of the Bears, who presumably would have been interested in Spriggs too. Right after the Packers traded up, the Bears traded down. The Bears ended up taking Kansas State offensive lineman Cody Whitehair.

Thompson isn’t the most aggressive general manager in the league. But between signing tight end Jared Cook and moving up in the draft to take Spriggs, he’s showing a little more urgency than usual.

LOSERS

Connor Cook: A few folks mocked Cook in the first round, usually with the last pick of the round to the Denver Broncos. Maybe he wouldn’t be a first-round pick, but the second round seemed like a good bet for Cook. Nope. Not the third round either.

(AP)
(AP)

When the third day of the draft starts, Cook will be the biggest name still on the board. The Michigan State quarterback, a player who was once considered a possible a top-10 pick, probably won’t be a top-100 pick. There were 98 picks in the first two days and Cook wasn’t one of them. Six quarterbacks did go in the first two days.

Cook could still have a good career (ask fellow Spartan and fourth-round pick Kirk Cousins), but the less a team invests in a quarterback the more willing they are to move on quickly. Ask 2015 fourth-round pick Bryce Petty, who is already an afterthought of the New York Jets after they took Christian Hackenberg on Friday. It was a rough couple days for Cook.

DeMarco Murray, and the Titans' DeMarco Murray trade: I didn’t get the Murray trade when it happened. What sense did it make for the Tennessee Titans to invest in an expensive running back who looked to be fading last year, who was unlikely to be useful by the time the rebuilding Titans became good?

Now it’s even more confusing.

Murray, who is scheduled to get at least $6 million each of the next four seasons, was basically usurped when the Titans picked Alabama running back Derrick Henry in the second round. You don’t take a back 45th overall for him to sit long. So now Murray really doesn’t fit with the Titans’ plans.

We’ll see how Tennessee plans to use its backfield this season. But a few months after trading for Murray, the Titans didn’t seems to show a lot of confidence in him by picking Henry.

Jerry Jones: The Cowboys should feel they have a shot this season to win the NFC East, and maybe more. Two years ago, when Tony Romo was healthy, they were Super Bowl contenders. They had a rare opportunity as a hopeful contender who, as a result of a down season, had two picks in the top 34 to add immediate help. Almost everybody else in the top 10 is in full rebuild mode, but that's not the case in Dallas.

And the Cowboys turned their draft into a Jerry Jones production, grabbing headlines instead of adding two final pieces to a pretty good 2016 roster.

The Cowboys took Ezekiel Elliott fourth overall, passing on Jalen Ramsey. I didn’t get that move .And while Jaylon Smith is a fantastic story, and the emotional moment he was picked was one of the best of this draft, it’s a risky pick that likely doesn’t help this year. The Cowboys won’t rule Smith out of 2016, but it’s hard to see him making an impact this season. He has a massive upside, but it's a huge risk after a devastating knee injury he suffered in Notre Dame's bowl game.

The Cowboys could have played it safe. Jack was a better option to help right away. Reggie Ragland doesn’t have Smith’s upside, but he has two good knees and can help right now. A defensive lineman might have helped too. But Smith was a splashy pick, so you knew the Cowboys were going to do it.

Then the Cowboys made another odd pick in the third round, taking Nebraska defensive tackle Maliek Collins. College production isn’t everything, but you’d like to see a player get more than eight career sacks against college offensive linemen, like Collins did.

The Cowboys might end up looking brilliant, if Elliott looks like 2014 DeMarco Murray and Smith comes back 100 percent. However, there was an easy path Dallas could have taken to help themselves right away. But what fun would that be?

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!