Jaguars GM has surprising claim about No. 1 pick

Trent Baalke at a press conference — Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke during Friday afternoon’s press conference at TIAA Bank Field. After his arrival in Jacksonville, Florida Friday morning, April 30, 2021, Jacksonville Jaguars first-round draft pick Trevor Lawrence along with team owner Shad Khan, head coach Urban Meyer and the Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke held a press conference in the afternoon inside TIAA Bank Field. They were also joined by the Jaguars 25th pick in the first round of the draft and former Clemson teammate of Lawrence, running back Travis Etienne. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]
Jki 043021 Trevorlawrencea

The Jacksonville Jaguars are preparing to pick first overall in the NFL Draft. According to general manager Trent Baalke, that is where they will be even if they would have been interested in trading down.

Baalke said Friday that the Jaguars have not received any calls from teams looking to move up to the No. 1 spot, and the team is preparing to make the pick.

#Jaguars GM Trent Baalke says nobody's called directly to trade for the No.1 overall pick yet.

Jags appear set to pick at 1. Baalke says w/ a smile "it's a work in progress" in regards to who they will pick. He noted they have a lot of players at top of draft graded similarly.

— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) April 22, 2022

This might not be a great year to have the pick if a team is looking to trade down. A lot of huge pre-draft deals involve teams looking to move up to land a potential franchise quarterback, but this year’s QB class is not viewed as an exceptionally strong one.

Supposedly, the Jaguars are already leaning in one direction as they prepare to make the selection. There appears to be little doubt at this point that they’re not going to move down even if they want to.