JACKSONVILLE, Fla.(AP) The Jacksonville Jaguars created all kinds of holes during the offseason.

They released running back Fred Taylor, defensive end Paul Spicer, cornerback Drayton Florence and receivers Jerry Porter and Matt Jones. They also parted ways with linebacker Mike Peterson, left tackle Khalif Barnes, receiver Reggie Williams and safety Gerald Sensabaugh.

And they didn't really fill any of those voids in free agency.

Sure, Jacksonville signed three-time Pro Bowl left tackle Tra Thomas and seven-time Pro Bowl receiver Torry Holt. But both of them are well into their 30s, leaving the Jaguars still looking for long-term solutions at several key positions.

They hope to find them in the draft.

Jacksonville, coming off a 5-11 season that prompted the roster makeover, has the eighth pick in the first round and nine selections overall.

``You don't want to be in this range every year, but when you are, you want to take advantage of it,'' general manager Gene Smith said.

Smith said five or six teams have shown ``fairly strong interest'' in trading into the No. 8 spot. The Jaguars are listening to offers, but also preparing to stay put and draft a player whose contract would call for around $18 million guaranteed.

Jacksonville could go in any direction with the pick, too.

Virginia left tackle Eugene Monroe, Alabama left tackle Andre Smith, Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree, Missouri receiver Jeremy Maclin and Boston College defensive tackle B.J. Raji are likely targets because those are Jacksonville's positions of greatest need.

The Jaguars haven't had a dominant left tackle since five-time Pro Bowler Tony Boselli held the job nearly a decade ago.

Barnes, whose four years were filled with off-field troubles and inconsistent play, was not re-signed after last season. The team had been grooming Richard Collier to take over the position last summer, but Collier was partially paralyzed in a retaliatory shooting just days before the season.

When the Jags signed Thomas last month, they expected him to step right into the starting role. But they also acknowledged that the 34-year-old lineman wouldn't be a building block for the future.

Monroe and Smith could be, and Thomas would be the perfect mentor for either one. The 11-year veteran missed only eight games in his career and hasn't been in trouble.

Holt has a similar background.

Although the Jaguars believe Holt still can perform at a high level, they also feel he would be a terrific tutor for a rookie receiver. And that position remains a priority for Jacksonville, even with Holt's arrival.

Jacksonville released Porter and Jones, and declined to re-sign Williams. Their departures left the team with a receiving corps comprised of Dennis Northcutt, Mike Walker and Troy Williamson.

Crabtree or Maclin certainly would help.

Then again, the Jaguars might be reluctant to draft another receiver in the first round. Coach Jack Del Rio selected Williams with the ninth pick in 2004, then chose Jones with the 21st selection the following year. Neither one lived up to expectations, and Del Rio might not be able to afford another first-round bust, especially at the same position.

Nonetheless, he said the additions of Holt and Thomas give the team some flexibility heading into the draft.

``Had we not been able to fill (those positions) prior to the draft, we would have been feeling some pressure, and that can cause you to make bad decisions,'' Del Rio said. ``So I feel good about the fact that we were able to address those things knowing that long term, yeah, we still have a desire to add players at those positions, but I think it doesn't force you into this feeling like you've got to do it early or anything like that. We'll be able to let the best player available come off the board.''

That could be Raji.

The 6-foot-2, 337-pound lineman might be best suited to play nose tackle in a 3-4 defense, but the Jaguars also could see him playing alongside John Henderson in a 4-3 scheme and giving them a formidable front.

When Jacksonville traded Marcus Stroud to Buffalo before last season, the team thought Rob Meier would be able to fill the position. But Meier struggled in a full-time role, which allowed opponents to focus more attention on Henderson, and the Jaguars never found a way to consistently stop the run or get pressure up the middle.

Smith also didn't want to rule out having one of the top-tier players slip to No. 8.

``I'll take a little bit of luck this weekend, not just with the first pick but in every round,'' Smith said. ``We hope that a guy we covet is there or a player slides to us that maybe we don't anticipate, and maybe this will be a year for that to happen.''

Something the Jaguars won't let slide, especially after all the team's off-field troubles in recent years, is a character issue. Evaluating the character of potential picks has been at the forefront of Jacksonville's pre-draft work, with team owner Wayne Weaver not wanting the kind of problems Barnes, Jones, Williams and others brought to Jacksonville.

``Character matters,'' Smith said. ``I feel like most players in the NFL, if you've evaluated them properly from a talent side, they usually become what they were. And most of the guys who don't, there's a character flaw. There's something that doesn't enable them to do the necessary things to prepare and play to the level of their God-given ability.''

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