JACKSONVILLE, Fla. _ It's impossible to put a stop on the rush to judgment in the NFL. Everyone wants immediate results from the higher draft picks, and there's often little forgiveness for those players who don't produce right away.
Just ask Jaguars' Taven Bryan 2018 first-round draft pick Taven Bryan, who struggled just to get snaps as a rookie, partially because he was part of one of the deepest D-line groups in the league with the likes of Calais Campbell, Marcell Dareus, Malik Jackson, Yannick Ngakoue and Abry Jones.
"You get like two reps (in a game), it's hard to get going and take somebody's spot," Bryan said.
But if there's a lesson for Jaguars' fans and skeptics to show patience with player development, just consider what has transpired with wide receiver D.J. Chark (2018, second-round draft pick) and weakside linebacker Quincy Williams (2019, third-round pick).
The situations with Chark and Williams are vastly different, but they illustrate why first impressions or negative, preconceived notions about small-school origins can be terribly deceiving.
Both Chark and Williams were dogged by skepticism early on. Chark struggled as a rookie trying to play three different receiver spots, making whatever impact he did as a gunner on special teams.
In Williams' case, critics jumped all over the Murray State product during the draft because nobody, including the television announcers for ESPN and NFL Network, knew much about him. They were puzzled why the Jaguars took a player with the 98th overall pick that they had no film on and wasn't invited to the NFL Combine.
Yet here it is Week 4 of 2019, with the Jaguars facing the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High, and both Chark and Williams are expected to play vital roles as starters at their respective positions.
What gives? How did a struggling rookie and almost total unknown zoom right to the top of the depth chart almost overnight?
For one thing, both have a work ethic that teammates and coaches rave about. But more importantly, they had enough confidence in their ability to not let the initial negativity about their NFL future keep them from proving critics wrong.
