Mike Mayock is 'a big fan' of Coughlin and Marrone, thinks running back is in play at four

2/22/2017

Mike Mayock joined Jaguars.com Live on Wednesday to talk Jaguars, the draft, and more.

By Jordan de Lugo

Mike Mayock of NFL Network joined J.P. Shadrick, John Oehser, and Bryan Sexton on Jaguars.com Live today and had some interesting things to say about the Jaguars and the 2017 NFL Draft.

Mike Mayock is one of the foremost draft experts for NFL Network.

When the guys from Jaguars.com Live asked Mayock about Tom Coughlin, Mayock had quite a bit to say.

"I'm a big fan of his (Tom Coughlin) old school feel for the game of football and I feel that same way about Doug Marrone."

Mayock also commented on the job Dave Caldwell has done in Jacksonville saying "he (Dave Caldwell) has brought in a lot of good young talent".

The three main topics discussed were Doug Marrone, Blake Bortles and running backs in the draft.

On Doug Marrone Mayock had this to say

"He is highly thought of and respected...
He has a plan and sticks to that plan...
Not a lot bothers him outside the building...
hell build from the inside out"

Nothing in particular sticks out from what Mayock said about Marrone. In fact the only thing that does stick out is the fact that Mayock used a lot of the same language that most have used when describing Doug Marrone. Every one pretty much says "you know what you're going to get with him" and "he is well thought of by around the league the league." Since Marrone was hired to be the Jaguars head coach there hasn't been one negative thing said about Marrone in the national media, and that trend continued today on Jaguars.com Live.

As for Mayock's thoughts on Blake Bortles

"Bortles took a step back a year ago... I was surprised by Blake Bortles' issues"

Mayock clearly was high on Bortles heading into 2016 and was just as shocked by his regression as Gus Bradley, Dave Caldwell, and the rest of Jaguars Nation was. He made it clear that Nathaniel Hackett and Scott Milanovich have to make the improvement of Blake Bortles priority #1. But who are we kidding? We all knew that already.

What is most interesting about Mayock's interview on Jaguars.com was what he had to say about running backs in the draft, in particular this draft.

Running back would be in the conversation whether it be Fournette or Cook.

When you draft Fournette, you gotta feed that bull, he needs 22, 24, 25 touches in the run game and your o line has to have that mindset and Bortles would be the beneficiary of that.

Cook is more of todays NFL, he's gonna get his 20 touches but it might 12 run 8 pass and either way he might score on any play.

You can get running backs in most drafts in the 3rd or 4th round, however when you talk about difference makers its a different situation. Cook and Fournette are difference makers, both are legitimate talent wise top 10 picks.

There's quite a bit to unpack here. None of what Mayock says is revolutionary, but it is interesting. I tend to agree with Mayock that running back should be in play at four. I also agree on the two different playing styles of Fournette and Cook. If the Jaguars were to land either player I agree with Mayock that they would be true "difference makers" especially at the next level.

So the question is which back would rather have?

The ultra physical down hill speedster in Fournette or the ultra smooth open field dynamo Dalvin Cook?

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