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Jacksonville Jaguars take risk on Walker Little in second round

By Sayre Bedinger

PALO ALTO, CA - NOVEMBER 10: 2021 NFL Draft prospect Walker Little #72 of the Stanford Cardinal plays in an NCAA Pac-12 football game against the Oregon State Beavers on November 10, 2018 at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by David Madison/Getty Images)
PALO ALTO, CA - NOVEMBER 10: 2021 NFL Draft prospect Walker Little #72 of the Stanford Cardinal plays in an NCAA Pac-12 football game against the Oregon State Beavers on November 10, 2018 at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by David Madison/Getty Images) /
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The Jacksonville Jaguars have already made four selections in the 2021 NFL Draft, including the top pick overall in Trevor Lawrence. When you’re investing in a quarterback with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft, you have to do everything in your power to give him support.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have done exactly that by taking Clemson running back Travis Etienne later on in the first round of the Draft and then in the second round going after Stanford offensive tackle Walker Little.

Once upon a time, there was talk that Little could be the top offensive lineman off the board in whatever class he decided to enter coming out of Stanford, but as is sometimes (unfortunately) the case, injuries blocked him from really being able to show much progression over the past couple of years.

Little suffered an injury in the first game of the 2019 season for Stanford after a really good 2018 campaign. After he was injured in 2019, Little decided to opt-out of the 2020 season amidst the pandemic, so no one has really seen him play since 2018.

Frankly, because of that alone, this selection is a tough sell.

The upside is certainly there and NFL teams are obviously comfortable with where Little is at health-wise and in terms of being in shape. Still, when was the last time this guy was around live bullets in a football game?

Those reps can’t be duplicated outside of actually playing, so you’re banking on a lot of ifs with this selection.

The unfortunate thing about this pick is, Little may need a redshirt year to get up to speed against NFL caliber edge players, and the Jaguars are putting this guy in charge of potentially blocking the blind side of number one pick Trevor Lawrence. That’s no small task.

The last time he was out on the field for an actual game, Little was blocking for KJ Costello and Davis Mills. A lot has gone down since that time.

Incidentally, Mills could also be an injury risk type of pick for some team here on day two of the NFL Draft.

Passing on players like Samuel Cosmi, Dillon Radunz, and Spencer Brown, this pick could turn out to be a tough one for the Jacksonville Jaguars in case Little doesn’t reach his full potential.

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