Jaguars Look at Combine Tackle

The Jaguars front office has been doing more than clicking their stopwatches in Indianapolis this week. Find out who the Jacksonville front office met with today …

The Jaguars may be looking to replace their troubled tackle, Khalif Barnes in the near future. At the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, the Jaguars spent time with former Boston College tackle Gosder Cherilus. When asked what teams Gosder met with, he responded—

“I talked with a few teams. I talked with the Browns, Texans, Jets, Giants, Jaguars, (and) Pittsburgh. Quite a few, at least 20 or 22 teams.

Cherilus has a massive 6’7”, 315 lb. frame who has great athleticism and power, and is slim enough to add another 25 lbs. of muscle without affecting his quickness or agility. Gosder is a smart player who is hard-working and is said to respond well to tough coaching, which he’ll likely receive at the next level. Gosder played both right and left tackle in college, and he was asked which he would like to play in the NFL—

“At the end of the day, each team needs a right tackle and a left tackle. I feel like I can play either. I played three years at right and one at left, and I was very successful at either. I’ve played right my whole life and if that’s where they want me, that’s what I’ll do. If it’s left, and that’s what teams need, that’s where I’ll go.”

Cherilus is slated as the seventh rated offensive tackle prospect by Scout.com, and would likely be a second-round pick at this point. So what would keep Gosder from being selected as an early pick? Here are his negatives: He sometimes needs help in pass protection, as his feet get too wide; he’s stiff in the hips; he has just adequate balance, and he’s susceptible to explosive edge rushers.

When asked about how he feels about football in general, Gosder responded—

“What I tell people many times is that football is what I do but it’s not who I am. Once you step on the field, it’s business. Just coming from where I come from, Boston College, for some reason I always felt people looked at us different. These guys, they’re big, they’re athletic, they’re this, they’re that. But at the end of the day, football is football. When you step on the field, you go at it. I have fun doing it. I’m not dirty. I do everything within the whistle. I’ve never had a personal foul. But if I have a chance to really go at a guy and punish him, I will, because that’s what the game is all about. That’s what the fans want to see and that’s what I feel like I should be doing because that’s my job to do it. That’s what I do.”

With Khalif Barnes entering the final year of his contract with the Jaguars, and considering his off the field issues, the team may be looking to get younger at one of the premiere positions in the game. If Gosder Cherilus can steady the position of left tackle for the foreseeable future for the Jaguars, a second-round pick would certainly be well spent.

---

Charlie Bernstein is the Editor-in-Chief of JagNation.com, and a regular syndicated contributor to FoxSports.com, Sirius NFL Radio, MySpace Sports and Sportsillustrated.com. Charlie is also a member of the Pro Football Writers Association, and is a columnist for the New Smyrna Observer. Feel free to contact him -HERE- with questions or comments.



For more, go to: JagNation.com