Were the Jacksonville Jaguars thinking outside the box when they drafted a punter in the third round? Or were they just out of their minds?
This is the primary narrative Bryan Anger walks into as an NFL rookie. Anger was a fine punter at Cal, so fine the Jaguars believed they couldn't risk him drifting into the deeper rounds, where his lot usually resides.
Anger might have to average 65 yards per punt for the next, oh, 15 years to make the Jaguars look smart. Every shank, every pooch that skips into the end zone, every flailing tackle attempt will lead to the same inevitable commentary.
"They wasted a third-round pick on this?"
Not exactly an envious position to be in, but Anger is taking it all in stride.
"I'm a laid-back guy in general,'Â " Anger said Saturday during the Jaguars' weekend minicamp, according to The Florida Times-Union. "A laid-back more quiet guy, so I guess I've just always been known to kind of deal with things well. It comes with the territory."
Anger's draft status was a big enough story to be satirized in The Onion under the headline, "Jacksonville 3rd-Round Pick Punter Bryan Anger: 'I Will Punt The Jaguars To Greatness'."
Anger's brother sent him the story.
"At first I was like, 'What the heck is going on?'Â " Anger said. "But I read through the rest and realized it was a big joke. It was funny, comical. I was laughing. My brother said, 'Should we be concerned about this?' And he was cracking up, so it's all right."
There are several money lines in The Onion piece, but I think my favorite fictional quote is the closer:
"All I'm saying is, if it does come to that -- Super Bowl, fourth quarter, clock winding down, Lombardi Trophy on the line -- at that moment, I want to be the punter the Jaguars turn to."
Classic.
