Tony Khan gets his first taste of the ring on AEW as Jaguars executive is ‘knocked out’ by piledriver before his ‘worried’ father and Fulham owner Shad Khan rushes to his side… all ahead of the looming NFL Draft

The Jaguars’ brass may not be fully equipped for Thursday’s NFL Draft after the team’s chief football strategy fell victim to a “Meltzerdriver” during Wednesday’s All Elite Wrestling show in Jacksonville.

Tony Khan, the son of Jags owner Shad and AEW owner, got his first taste of kayfabe wrestling with some help from Jack, the son of late 90210 actor Luke Perry, who returned from a recent suspension.

The scene involved Nick Jackson, one of the ‘Young Bucks’, jumping off the top rope and onto a subdued Tony, who appeared to be knocked unconscious by the impact.

The dramatic episode ends with Shad – who owns both Fulham and the Jaguars – rushing into the ring to check on his supposedly injured son.

Wrestling fans will have to watch Thursday’s NFL Draft to see if Tony is in a neck brace or missing from the team’s war room altogether.

Shad Khan rushes to his son’s side after Tony fell victim to a ‘Meltzerdriver’ on Wednesday

Is Tony Khan injured? Will he be available for Thursday’s NFL Draft? What will the Jaguars do?

For Tony it was his first real action in the ring. But real or not, the piledriver comes at a time when the team is preparing to pick 17th overall in the NFL Draft.

More specifically, Tony will be counted on to provide quarterback Trevor Lawrence with some help on Thursday, and that could come in the form of wide receiver.

The Jags have selected nine wideouts in the first three rounds of the NFL draft in their three decades of existence, and only two of those guys (DJ Chark and Allen Robinson) had 1,000-yard seasons and only one (Marqise Lee ) signed a second contract. with Jacksonville.

It’s a dizzying period of futility that the Jags hope to end in 2024. General manager Trent Baalke and coach Doug Pederson are expected to make an attempt to turn around the franchise’s fortunes at the position during next weekend’s NFL draft.

The Jaguars have five of the first 116 picks, three of which are scheduled for the first two nights of the draft.

Cornerback remains the team’s top need after releasing starter Darious Williams and choosing not to re-sign nickelback Tre Herndon. Jacksonville also has fellow starter Tyson Campbell entering the final year of his rookie contract.

The Khan family and the other Jaguars executives are trying to arm Trevor Lawrence with help

Baalke responded by signing journeyman Ronald Darby to a two-year contract worth $8.5 million in free agency, but Darby is far from a building block for new defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen. Alabama’s Terrion Arnold or Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell would make the most sense with the 17th overall pick.

But no one should be surprised if Jacksonville takes a receiver there too.

The Jaguars lost Calvin Ridley to rival Tennessee in free agency, and Zay Jones is entering the final year of his contract; he signed a three-year, $24 million deal in 2022.

Baalke landed Buffalo’s Gabe Davis on a three-year, $39 million deal last month, but Davis is considered more of an upgrade on Jones than a replacement for Ridley. Drafting a receiver early seems like a given, especially as the Jaguars continue to build around quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

LSU’s Brian Thomas Jr. and Texas’ Xavier Worthy could be options at 17. Whoever it is, the Jags can only hope he ends up being better than all their other early-round receivers.

They missed R. Jay Soward in 2000 and have been chasing it ever since. Their draft list for receivers includes Reggie Williams (2004), Matt Jones (2005), Mike Sims-Walker (2007), Justin Blackmon (2012), Allen Robinson (2014) and Lee (2014).

More recent misses are Chark (2018) and Laviska Shenault (2020).